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Desalination Can Now Be Owned and Operated by Private Entities in Monterey County

/in , , /by /Northern County Weeklyby Christopher Neely

With an extreme drought tightening its grip, drawing concerns about the future of water in Monterey County and throughout California, the county’s Board of Supervisors overturned a 33-year-old law to allow the private ownership and operation of desalination facilities within the county.

Previously, desalination facilities were limited to public ownership, a rule that was criticized as more of a political decision than anything else.

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Californians Finally Climbed on Water Conservation Wagon in May

/in , , /by /Courthouse News Serviceby Kevin Winter

California Governor Gavin Newsom has been urging Californians to conserve water after another dry winter. And according to preliminary data from California State Water Resources Board, Californians cut their water use in May by 5% from the previous May.

Erik Ekdahl, deputy director of the water board’s Division of Water Rights, said a board meeting Tuesday that the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada Mountains is gone for the season and the area will not see significant precipitation any time soon.

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Even in a ‘Megadrought,’ Some Eye New or Expanded Colorado River Dams

/in , /by /E&E Newsby Jennifer Yachnin

Even as a persistent drought strangles the Colorado River and threatens the viability of giant reservoirs and dams erected decades ago, Western states and local governments are eyeing more projects to tap the flow of the 1,450-mile river and its tributaries.

Whether those potential new reservoirs or other diversions would further tax an already overwhelmed system, or actually help states and municipalities adapt to a changing climate while making better use of their dwindling supplies, is a point of contention between environmentalists and water managers.

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In the Wake of Fires and Floods

/in , /by /High Country Newsby Jonathan Thompson

The image that popped up on my Twitter feed last week was beyond alarming, it was  surreal: An entire house, a big one, sliding off its foundations and floating slowly down the muddy, swollen Yellowstone River. It was such an unexpected sight, so bizarre, that I could do little more than gawk at it, mutter an expletive and scroll down to the next crazy image of disaster.

But then I read the caption, and that stopped me: This wasn’t just some random building, it was an apartment complex that housed several Yellowstone National Park employees and their families.

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Tunnel Vision: What’s Next for the Governor’s Plan to Replumb the Delta?

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Rachel Becker

California water officials are poised to release the first environmental review of a controversial project to replumb the Delta — a plan in the works for decades that has alternately been called a water grab or a critical update to shore up state supplies.

Known as the Delta Conveyance Project, a tunnel supported by Gov. Gavin Newsom would take water from the Sacramento River and bypass the vast Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, funneling the flows directly to pumps in the south Delta or straight to Bethany Reservoir at the northern end of the California Aqueduct.

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Marin Grand Jury Report Blasts Water Supply Planning

/in , /by /Marin Independent Journalby Will Houston

The Marin Municipal Water District has failed to adequately prepare for severe drought and should create a four-year water supply, the Marin civil grand jury said in a new report.

Last year, the district faced depleting local reservoir supplies as soon as summer 2022. While rains in late 2021 nearly refilled reservoirs, the drought “exposed serious shortcomings” in the district’s ability to offer a reliable water supply and has shaken public confidence in the district’s leadership, the report states.

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Clean Energy, Water Projects Get Boost in Spending Bill

/in , /by /E&E Newsby Jeremy Dillon and Hannah Northey

House Democrats’ $56.3 billion fiscal 2023 Energy-Water spending bill released last night seeks to bolster a host of Biden administration clean energy and water infrastructure deployment goals that are running into funding limitations this year.

In total, the bill’s topline number would represent an increase of $3.4 billion above the fiscal year 2022 level, including $48.2 billion for the Department of Energy, $8.9 billion for the Army Corps of Engineers and $1.9 billion for the Bureau of Reclamation.

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Why Summer Fires in California Are So Dangerous

/in , /by /The New York Timesby Soumya Karlamangla

It’s almost July, which is typically the beginning of California’s fire season.

You’ve probably heard that wildfires in the Golden State have increasingly become a year-round danger, no longer limited to a few months a year. But even still, the start of the traditional summer-and-fall fire season brings a slew of heightened risks for us to contend with.

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A Major California Reservoir Has Hit Its Peak for the Year at Just Over Half Full

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Grace Toohey

Lake Oroville, the largest reservoir in a state system that provides water to 27 million Californians, has already reached its peak level for the year, barely surpassing half of its capacity, according to the Department of Water Resources.

Officials had warned the lake — key to the roughly 700-mile State Water Project, which pumps and ferries water across the state for agricultural, business and residential use — was at “critically low” levels on May 8.

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7 States Must Figure Out How to Conserve an Unprecedented Amount of Water

/in , , /by /KUNC/NPRby Alex Hager

Water managers in the western U.S. are facing a monumental task. Federal officials have given seven states an August deadline to figure out a plan to conserve an unprecedented amount of water. Without major cutbacks in water use, the nation’s two largest reservoirs are in danger of reaching critically low levels.

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