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These Before and After Images Show the Devastating Effects of California’s Drought — From Space

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Yoohyun Jung

Sometimes, it takes zooming out to a bird’s eye view to fully understand the devastating impacts of drought in California.

Images captured from space by government and private satellites offer a sobering look at how the current drought — in year three — is affecting the state’s land and natural resources.

The latest data from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows about 97% of California in moderate or worse drought, with much of the Central Valley and southern portions of the state in the worst conditions.

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Popular SF Bay Area State Park Closes Campground for Summer Due to Drought

/in , , /by /SF Gateby Amy Graff

A favorite San Francisco Bay Area spot for sleeping under towering redwood trees is temporarily shutting down its campground again this summer because of California’s historic drought.

Portola Redwoods State Park said Tuesday that its campground facilities with 55 sites and four group sites will be closing Aug. 5 and not reopening for the remainder of the season because of low flows on its main water source, Peters Creek. (The campground closes every winter, from Nov. 1 to April 1.)

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California’s Worst Drought on Record Spells Trouble for Classic Green Lawns

/in , , /by /The Wall Street Journalby Jim Carlton

This wealthy Los Angeles suburb is famed for its celebrity residents and meticulously landscaped homes. After a crackdown on water use, it is now gaining renown for having some of the brownest lawns in America.

“My kids are asking me, what is going wrong with this grass?” said Siran Galstian, whose once verdant lawn is dying. “I have tears in my eyes, because I love the grass and they like playing in it.”

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Butte County Supervisors Accept Final Drought Plan

/in , /by /Enterprise-Recordby Jake Hutchison

The Butte County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the finalized drought plan Tuesday with the stipulation that it would be a living document that develops as conditions change.

Water and Resource Conservation Director Kammie Loeser was joined by Assistant Director Christina Buck to deliver a series of presentations on water with the first focus surrounding a major analysis project that has occurred over the past six months.

 

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A Napa Filmmaker Looked and Found Roundup, the Weedkiller Tied to Cancer, ‘Everywhere’

/in , /by /Capital and Mainby Evelyn Nieves

Early one winter morning, as Brian Lilla was riding his bike through Napa, California’s hills and meadows, he spotted farmworkers driving ATVs through rows of vines. They hauled huge canisters of the weedkiller Roundup. As the workers sprayed vines, a chemical smell shot through the air.

Having moved to Napa from Oakland nine years ago with his wife to start a family in the seemingly healthy environs of the country, Lilla found himself paying more attention to the use of Roundup after his daughters, now 8 and 5, were born. One day, he recalled, he saw the herbicide sprayed in a vineyard across the street from his daughters’ school.

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Audit: California Too Slow to Fix Contaminated Water Systems

/in , /by /AP Newsby Kathleen Ronayne

The water that comes out of the tap for more than 900,000 Californians is unsafe to drink and the state isn’t acting fast enough to help clean it up, state auditors said in a report released Tuesday.

Thousands of water systems supply the state’s 39 million people, and about 5% of them have some type of contaminant, like nitrates or arsenic, in them, according to the audit. That means people can’t safely drink the water or use it to cook or bathe. Most of the 370 failing systems are in economically disadvantaged communities, many in the Central Valley, the state’s agricultural heartland.

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Western Drought Reaching Catastrophic Levels

/in , , /by /Ag Infoby Corryn La Rue

The western United States continues to suffer from a historic level of drought. California Natural Resources Agency Secretary Wade Crowfoot spoke during the Western Food and Ag Issues Summit hosted by Agri-Pulse. He offers a key example of the drought’s severity.

“We are facing a worsening regional drought across most of the American West that’s unprecedented in nature. I spent the first half an hour of my day with the Western Growers talking about the Colorado River Basin.”

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California Drought Leading to Tens of Millions of Trees Dying in State

/in , , /by /CBS Bay Areaby Devin Fehely

California’s deepening drought has resulted tens of millions of tree deaths, increasing the risk of wildfires and threatening the state’s surviving trees.

“It’s obviously a concern and sad as well,” said Luis Garcia, who recently moved to the east foothills above San Jose’s Alum Rock Park.

Cal Fire estimates more than 173 million trees have died either from bark beetles or directly as a result of the drought over the past 20 years.

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American Canyon Facing Water Squeeze Amid Drought

/in , /by /Napa Valley Registerby Barry Eberling

American Canyon is making urgent calls for water conservation and suing Vallejo over a water disagreement as it tries to eke out every drop amid a historic drought.

The city’s water supplies are on the edge. Demand in recent years is about 2,800-acre feet of water annually. City officials estimate a potential 470 acre-foot deficit this year if demand remains the same.

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Opinion: The Drought is Decimating My Farm and Many Others. What California Should Do to Help Us

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Joe L. Del Bosque

As I drive across my family’s farm in the San Joaquin Valley, it feels as if I’m traveling on a chessboard. I cross one square with crops and then another without crops — our fields that must lay fallow. Our farm’s crops have been decimated by the drought.

Last year, reduced water deliveries in the state led to 395,000 acres of cropland being idled, according to UC Merced researchers, and about 8,750 agricultural workers lost their jobs.

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