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California’s Drought Regulators Lose Big Case. What it Means for State’s Power to Police Water

/in , /by /Sacramento Beeby Dale Kessler and Ryan Sabalow

California’s drought regulators have lost a major lawsuit that could undermine their legal authority to stop farms and cities from pulling water from rivers and streams.

With California in its third punishing year of a historic drought, an appeals court ruled Monday that the State Water Resources Control Board lacks the power to interfere with so-called “senior” water rights holders and curtail their diversions of water from rivers.

The case stems from orders imposed by the state board in 2015, during the previous drought, when it halted farms and cities throughout the Central Valley from taking water from the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers.

 

 

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Stressed Colorado River Keeps California Desert Farms Alive

/in , , /by /Associated Press

When Don Cox was looking for a reliable place to build a family farm in the 1950s, he settled on California’s Imperial Valley.

The desert region had high priority water rights, meaning its access to water was hard for anyone to take away.

“He had it on his mind that water rights were very, very important,” said his grandson, Thomas Cox, who now farms in the Valley.

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100 Years After Compact, Colorado River Nearing Crisis Point

/in , , /by /Associated Pressby Chris Outcalt and Brittany Peterson

The intensifying crisis facing the Colorado River amounts to what is fundamentally a math problem.

The 40 million people who depend on the river to fill up a glass of water at the dinner table or wash their clothes or grow food across millions of acres use significantly more each year than actually flows through the banks of the Colorado.

In fact, first sliced up 100 years ago in a document known as the Colorado River Compact, the calculation of who gets what amount of that water may never have been balanced.

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What the Western Drought Reveals About Hydropower

/in , , /by /EnergyWireby Jason Plautz

The relentless Western drought that is threatening water supplies in the country’s largest reservoirs is exposing a reality that could portend a significant shift in electricity: Hydropower is not the reliable backbone it once was.

Utilities and states are preparing for a world with less available water and turning more to wind and solar, demand response, energy storage and improved grid connections. That planning has helped Western states keep the lights on this summer even in severe drought conditions.

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‘Clairvoyant’ 2012 Climate Report Warned of Extreme Weather

/in , /by /Associated Pressby Seth Borenstein

Record high temperatures in urban Europe as heat waves bake the planet more often. Devastating floods, some in poorer unprepared areas. Increasing destruction from hurricanes. Drought and famine in poorer parts of Africa as dry spells worsen across the globe. Wild weather worldwide getting stronger and more frequent, resulting “in unprecedented extremes.”

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Northstate Rice Farmers Struggle to Grow Crops as Drought Persists

/in , /by /KRCR TVby Jessica Shippelhoute

Dry, cracked rice fields can be seen driving along Interstate 5 in Glenn and Colusa counties. This year has been more than challenging for farmers as California continues its third consecutive year of extreme drought conditions.

KRCR spoke to fourth-generation farmer Chris Johnson on Monday about not being able to plant crop due to lower water allocation from the Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District (GCID).

 

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In Mexico’s Dry North, Colorado River Adds to Uncertainty

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Suman Naishadham and Gregory Bull

When Gilbert Quintana, a farmer in the Mexicali Valley, learned he would soon lose 15% of his water supply, he did what he’s done before in a pinch: buy water from other growers in northern Mexico.

But Quintana worries that such workarounds won’t always be possible. The water used to irrigate his 2,000 acres of (800 hectares) of Brussel sprouts, green onions, and lettuce comes from the over-tapped Colorado River, which a megadrought in the American West due in part to climate change is rapidly depleting.

 

(AP EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part of a collaborative series on the Colorado River as the 100th anniversary of the historic Colorado River Compact approaches. The Associated Press, The Colorado Sun, The Albuquerque Journal, The Salt Lake Tribune, The Arizona Daily Star and The Nevada Independent are working together to explore the pressures on the river in 2022.)

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Here’s The Alarming Amount of Ice California’s Longest Glacier Just Lost in the Heat Wave

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

Mount Shasta, the widely recognizable face of California’s far north, has lost almost all its defining snow cover for a second straight year.

Another summer of scorching temperatures, punctuated by the recent heat wave, has melted most of the mountain’s lofty white crown, typically a year-round symbol of the north state’s enduring wilds.

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Opinion: Broad-Based Buy-In is Key to Bay-Delta Water Plan

/in , /by /CalMattersby Jennifer Pierre and David Guy

California is at a transformational moment when it comes to managing water. As aridification of the western United States intensifies, we have an opportunity to advance a better approach to flow management in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and our rivers through a process of voluntary agreements to update the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan.

The agreements, signed by parties from Red Bluff to San Diego, propose a new structure for managing water resources in the Delta and beyond in a way that is collaborative, innovative and foundational for adapting to climate realities while benefiting communities, farms, fish and wildlife.

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Campaign Aims to Dispel Common Myths About Water Use in Las Vegas

/in , , /by /Las Vegas Sunby Ray Brewer

As soon as the U.S. Department of the Interior last month announced that Nevada would lose 8% of its water allotment from the Colorado River next year amid the continuing drought, officials with the Southern Nevada Water Authority started fielding questions from concerned residents.

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