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As West Burns, House Passes Major Drought and Wildfire Resilience Package

/in , /by /Gristby Emily Pontecorvo

The Western U.S. saw wildfire season kick into high gear last week. As firefighting crews made progress toward containing a blaze in Yosemite National Park in California, another fire erupted near the Oregon border and quickly became the largest California wildfire of the year. Flames also tore through tens of thousands of acres in northern Montana and eastern Idaho.

On the other side of the country, in swampy but fire-free Washington, D.C., Democratic lawmakers were feeling the heat.

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State Can Seek Environmental Safeguards for Oroville Dam Beyond Federal Regulations, California Supreme Court Rules

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Bob Egelko

The state Supreme Court allowed local governments and conservation groups Monday to ask the state for further safety measures and environmental safeguards at the Oroville Dam despite federal authority to license the facility, where a breach and spill forced 188,000 people to evacuate their homes in 2017.

The ruling will not interrupt operations at the nation’s tallest dam, a 770-foot structure on the Feather River in Butte County. But the 5-2 decision enables California water officials to conduct additional review, under state environmental laws, of the dam and other federally regulated water projects.

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Practical, Pure, Potable

/in , /by /WaterWorldby Cari Dale

Advanced purified water first flowed from Pure Water Oceanside on Dec. 30, 2021, making the site the first operational indirect potable reuse facility in San Diego County, Calif. The project treats the City of Oceanside’s wastewater flows and, after additional residence time in the ground and further treatment, will distribute the finished purified drinking water to city customers later this summer.

The $71 million project took eight years of planning and two years of construction during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Settlement Blocks New Federal Fracking Leases in California

/in , /by /AP Newsby Kathleen Ronayne

Leasing for new oil and gas drilling on federal land in central California is temporarily blocked under a settlement announced Monday between the state and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

The deal, which still needs court approval, centers on more than 2,500 square miles (6,475 square kilometers) of land and subsurface mineral rights owned by the federal government in California’s Central Valley, a hub for oil and gas activity.

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Worsening Drought Drives California Water Prices to All-Time High

/in , /by /Bloombergby Mark Chediak and Kim Chipman

California water prices are at all-time high as a severe drought chokes off supplies to cities and farms across the Golden State.

The price of water on the Nasdaq Veles California Water Index touched $1,144.14 an acre-foot on June 27 — up 56% since the start of the year. The index tracks the average price of water-rights transactions in five markets in the state.

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Drought Driving Tough Talks on Water Cuts

/in , , /by /Las Vegas Review-Journal by Colton Lochhead

Nevada and two of its neighboring southwestern states are still working on ways to drastically cut water use from the Colorado River as a deadline set by the federal government to address the worsening conditions along the river quickly approaches.

John Entsminger, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, said his organization is still at the table with the other so-called lower basin states of California and Arizona as they work to respond to a call from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to propose unprecedented cuts in water use along the river in order to protect critical power and water delivery infrastructure at lakes Mead and Powell.

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Opinion: Saving the Colorado River Requires Cooperation From All Parties in West

/in , , /by /Las Vegas Sun

These days, when we talk about water, we aren’t talking about “drought” — we’re talking about a new and enduring climate scenario. Despite fluke flooding like the Las Vegas Valley experienced Thursday night, we must act accordingly.

There is simply not enough water in the West to sustain the level of water consumption we currently demand. And there likely won’t be. Ever.

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Vice President Kamala Harris to Announce $1 Billion to States for Floods, Extreme Heat

/in , , /by /CNBC

The White House is making more than $1 billion available to states to address flooding and extreme heat exacerbated by climate change.

Vice President Kamala Harris is set to announce the grant programs Monday at an event in Miami with the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other officials. The competitive grants will help communities across the nation prepare for and respond to climate-related disasters.

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Opinion: Can Newsom Finally Win Long Delta Water Conflict?

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Dan Walters

Will the fifth time be the charm for California’s decades-long effort to replumb the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta so that more Northern California water can be transported to Southern California?

Don’t count on it.

Last week, the state Department of Water Resources released a draft environmental impact report on the latest iteration of the 57-year-long effort to change the Delta’s role in water supply, a 45-mile-long tunnel officially named the “Delta Conveyance.”

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Rain Helps Lake Mead Rise — 3 Inches

/in , , /by /Las Vegas Review-Journalby Marvin Clemons

With monsoon rains four out of the last five days in the Las Vegas area, there is at least one plus — Lake Mead has risen 3 inches.

At 7 p.m. Sunday the top of the lake was 1,040.99 feet above sea level at Hoover Dam. Five days ago, July 26, the lake measured at 1,040.75 feet.

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