Thomas Birmingham, general manager of the massive Westlands Water District since 2000, Wednesday announced plans to step down at the end of 2022. His announcement follows the election of four new members to the Westlands Board of Directors on Nov. 8 who would give a so-called “change coalition” a solid majority of six seats on the nine-member board.
In the fall, rice fields in the Sacramento Valley usually shine golden brown as they await harvesting. This year, however, many fields were left covered with bare dirt. “It’s a disaster,” said rice farmer Don Bransford. “This has never happened. Never. And I’ve been farming since 1980.”
More than 500 households in the rural Arizona desert are set to be without running water starting January 1, 2023, as first reported by NBC News. The homes, located in Rio Verde Foothills—an affluent, unincorporated community in the state’s Maricopa County, were built without complying to Arizona’s usual 100-year water supply requirement.
Snowcapped mountains not only look majestic — They’re vital to a delicate ecosystem that has existed for tens of thousands of years. Mountain water runoff and snowmelt flows down to streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans — and today, around a quarter of the world depends on these natural “water towers” to replenish downstream reservoirs and groundwater aquifers for urban water supplies, agricultural irrigation, and ecosystem support.
Five small islands roughly the size of backyard swimming pools float next to the concrete riverbank of Bubbly Creek, a stretch of the Chicago River named for the gas that once rose to the surface after stockyards dumped animal waste and byproducts into the waterway. Clumps of short, native grasses and plants, including sedges, swamp milkweed, and queen of the prairie, rise from a gravel-like material spread across each artificial island’s surface.
The nation’s drinking water and wastewater systems are warning that a nationwide rail strike could snarl shipments of critical chemicals like chlorine and imperil their ability to provide safe drinking water and sewage services across the nation. The threat of a national freight rail strike spiked yesterday after the country’s largest rail union rejected a tentative deal with railroads that are critical to shipping chemicals needed for disinfecting drinking water and wastewater.
Most Californians don’t expect to see anything like a white Christmas, but this year, even a damp Christmas is looking unlikely. An update to the Climate Prediction Center’s official winter forecast shows a hot and dry season ahead for much of the Golden State.
Minor improvements can be found in the state’s drought situation, according to the latest drought monitor. Data from the early November storm that dumped up to 5 feet of snow in the Sierra and brought soaking rain to the valley is included on this week’s monitor. While the storm system didn’t vastly improve conditions, it is a decent start to what is a critical year for California’s water resources.
Pleasanton is set to see a 5.5% rise in the annual rates for wholesale water services from the Zone 7 Water Agency for each of the next four years after its Board of Directors voted 5-2 to approve the price increase last week. Intended to help fund water treatment efforts and regional supply projects as well as maintain Zone 7 operations and reserves, the first new rate will go into effect in February and each subsequent rate increase will occur on Jan. 1 of each year.
A controversial proposed dam seems to have a new pathway forward. But how far will it get through California’s byzantine world of water rights? Nobody seems to agree on an answer. The Del Puerto Canyon Reservoir is a joint project between the Del Puerto Water District and the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractor Authority on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.
