The U.S. government warned on Friday that it may impose water supply cuts on California, Arizona and Nevada to protect the Colorado River and its two main reservoirs from overuse, drought and climate change.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation unveiled three possible action plans: one to impose cutbacks, another to allow western states to work out a reduction plan on their own, or a third and least likely option of taking no action.
Neena Kuzmich, Deputy Director of Engineering at San Diego County Water Authority, with more on the San Vicente Energy Storage Facility Project.
San Diego County Water Authority aims to provide thousands of homes with power by storing energy in the San Vicente Reservoir.
Neena Kuzmich of the @sdcwa joined FOX Weather to discuss this proposal and how the project would work. @MarissaTorresTV pic.twitter.com/a1DQ1JEPF6
— FOX Weather (@foxweather) October 27, 2022
A Nevada water agency has taken the first concrete step toward accounting for evaporation and other losses in the Colorado River’s Lower Basin. The new analysis attempts to pinpoint exactly how much water is lost, and who should cut back to bring the system closer to a balance between supply and demand. An analysis compiled by the Southern Nevada Water Authority estimates the total amount of water lost in the river’s lower reaches. If implemented in its current form, the proposal would translate to significant cutbacks for users in Nevada, Arizona and California.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in its U.S. winter weather outlook that La Niña will make an appearance December through February for the third year in a row. It’s not unusual to see two consecutive winters marked by La Niña, but what U.S. forecasters are calling a “triple dip” is uncommon. Going back some 70 years, this has occurred only two other times.
More than 300 East Bay homeowners have been fined for excessive water use, ignoring repeated warnings to cut back and instead guzzling at least 8 times as much water every day — and in some cases 30 or 40 times more — than their neighbors as California’s drought continues. The list released late Tuesday by the East Bay Municipal Utility District includes many wealthy and prominent residents, among them developer Tom Seeno, former Chevron vice president George Kirkland, and former Safeway CEO Steven Burd.
The California Department of Justice on Wednesday issued a “legal alert” intended to help protect people from water shutoffs as the state continues to struggle with drought, rising prices and the lingering economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. State Attorney General Rob Bonta said he issued the alert partly as a response to an estimated 40% increase in the price of certain types of water transactions so far this year and the fact that roughly 1.6 million Californians have fallen behind on their payments as of January 2021
The San Francisco Bay Area is far behind Southern California in reusing water. Policy experts say it could take decades for the state’s second-most populous region to catch up — the lower half of the state recycled 83% more water than the Bay Area last year.
Standing outside Google’s Bay View campus in Mountain View in early August, wearing a pool-blue collared shirt and a gray blazer, California’s Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot pressed the state’s northern region to do more.
“If you spend time in Orange County, there’s a chance that you’re consuming purified water that’s been recycled,” he said. “We need to expand water recycling throughout the Bay Area.”
New Mexico, Texas and Colorado have negotiated a proposed settlement that they say will end a yearslong battle over management of one of the longest rivers in North America, but the federal government and two irrigation districts that depend on the Rio Grande are objecting. New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas on Tuesday announced that the states had brokered a deal following months of negotiations. While the terms remain confidential, his office called it “a comprehensive resolution of all the claims in the case.”
Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the United States and a critical source of water for Nevada, Arizona and California. But right now, it’s at only about 25 percent of total capacity.
Arizona Senator Mark Kelly is calling on federal officials to halt funding for California’s Salton Sea project until the state gives up more of its Colorado River Water, a letter from the senator said Tuesday. The letter, sent to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, said that the Department of the Interior needs to step in to secure the river’s water and ensure that the 40 million people who rely on its waters don’t go thirsty.
