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Sen. Kelly Asks Feds to Halt Salton Sea Project Funding Until California Gives Up More Colorado River Water

/in , , /by /12NEWSby Hunter Bassler

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.

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As State Seeks Water Lifeline With Delta Tunnel, Small Delta Town Remains Concerned

/in , /by /FOX40by Karma Dickerson

California has long had a mismatch. “Where the waterfalls and where the people are. Much of the water, about two-thirds, fall in the Sierra Nevada, but most of the population is in the Central Valley, the Bay Area, along the coast or in Southern California,” said Carrie Buckman, Environmental Program Manager with Delta Conveyance.

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United States of Megadrought

/in , , /by /Politicoby Arianna Skibell

Drought has engulfed large swaths of the country, threatening parts of the nation’s food and power supply. And it’s getting worse.

More than 80 percent of the continental U.S. is experiencing unusually dry conditions or full-on drought, which is the largest proportion since the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration began tracking 20 years ago.

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Colorado Snowpack Levels at 229% of Average, A Good Start for Lake Mead

/in , , /by /KLAS Las Vegas by Greg Haas

Snowpack in the Upper Colorado River Basin is more than double the average normally seen at this time of the year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s website.

A snapshot of the water situation shows above-average precipitation levels at five of the nine regions that make up the basin, and overall snowpack at 229% of average as of Oct. 24. Overall, precipitation is at 83% of average.

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Opinion: Enough Messing Around. Will the Feds Mandate Cuts to Save Lake Mead or Not?

/in , , /by /Arizona Republicby Joanna Allhands
The Gila River Indian Community announced in August that it would no longer leave part of its sizable Colorado River water allocation in Lake Mead, citing lack of progress on a deal to stop it from tanking.

Two months later, the tribe became the first major Arizona player to take the feds up on a new offer to voluntarily leave water in the lake.

What changed?

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California Ranch Works to Replenish Groundwater Supplies

/in , , /by /Yale Climate Connectionsby YCC Team

California farms grow about a quarter of U.S. food, and that takes a lot of water. Many farmers rely on water pumped from the ground. But over time, pumping is depleting the aquifers. And severe droughts are making the problem worse.

“Eventually, you’re going to run out of water,” says Don Cameron, vice president and general manager of Terranova Ranch in California’s Central Valley.

To help protect the ranch, he’s been working for years to replenish groundwater supplies.

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The Marin Water District has a New Drought Plan

/in , , /by /KTUV Fox 2by Tom Vacar

The Marin Water District has a new plan to deal with California’s worsening drought.

As of Oct. 24, Marin reservoirs have more water than normal, but the county said they’re not waiting for things to get worse.

Marin’s seven reservoirs hold 80,000 acre feet of water, the new plan would kick in when levels fall below 70,000 acre feet. The prior conservation plan didn’t go into effect until levels fell to 50,000.

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Environmental Groups Push for Increased River Flow in Wake of Delta Algal Bloom

/in , , /by /ABC7 by Tim Didion

The destructive algal bloom that struck San Francisco Bay this summer has researchers looking at both causes and solutions. But now, several environmental groups are demanding action on a similar challenge miles upstream from the Bay. They’re focused on a toxic bloom that’s become almost a yearly occurrence in and around the Delta.

 

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Opinion: We Must Wake Up to the World’s Water Crisis

/in , /by /The Hillby Tara D. Sonenshine

Amid a tidal wave of bad news – from inflation and the war in Ukraine to climate change and divisive politics – there is one story that might trump all others in importance, and yet it receives the least sustained global attention: water.

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Send Mississippi River Water to Southwestern Reservoirs? New Analysis Casts Doubts.

/in , /by /The Mercury Newsby Frederick Melo

As an environmental scientist, Roger Viadero had to scratch his head over news reports last summer of the thirsty demand in Palm Springs and Las Vegas, among other western cities, for water from the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes.

The letters pages of the Palm Springs Desert Sun newspaper broke their own records for online traffic last June with readers’ proposals to siphon some 22 billion gallons of water per day from the Midwest. To solve the Southwest’s water crisis, the desert denizens wrote, a series of canals and reservoirs could pipe water from the flood-prone Mississippi River to the Colorado River, a supposed win-win for everyone.

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