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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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Opinion: If Our Colorado River Water Supply is Cut, Prepare to See Empty Shelves at the Grocery Store

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Mike Wade

When you go to the grocery store and fill the cart with food for your family, you are part of a long process that begins with soil, water, sunlight and the labor of farmers and farm workers. Most likely, the farms that grow most of your food are in a neighboring rural area or within a day’s drive from your home. California grows 61 percent of U.S.-produced fruits, nuts and vegetables. Many of our winter fruits and vegetables come from the Imperial and Coachella valleys as well as from the San Joaquin, Salinas and Sacramento valleys the remainder of the year.

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Lake Mead Water Level Falls to 1,040ft, Dead-Pool Level Inches Closer

/in , , /by /Newsweekby Robyn White

Lake Mead’s water levels have fallen to 1,040 feet, inching ever closer to dead-pool level.

Lake Mead, a reservoir formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, has been drying up because of the ongoing drought in the western United States. It stretches across Nevada and Arizona.

According to new data from Lakes Online, as of July 28 at 4 a.m local time, Lake Mead had fallen to 1,040 feet. At the beginning of 2022, the Lake was at 1,066 feet.

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Opinion: Can San Joaquin Valley Agriculture Survive With Less Irrigation? Here Are Ways to Do It

/in , , /by /The Fresno Beeby Caitlin Peterson

Change is coming to farming in the San Joaquin Valley. Because of the need to reduce groundwater pumping to comply with the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, we’ve estimated that at least 500,000 acres of farmland will need to come out of irrigated production in the coming years.

This is a major shift for California’s agricultural heartland, and one that will have profound impacts on the region’s residents, workers, economy, and environment.

 

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How ‘Spreading Like Wildfire’ is Getting a Terrifying New Meaning in the California of Climate Change

/in , , /by /CNNby Bill Weir

On a ridge overlooking the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, it would have been possible to see the first flickering flames of the Oak Fire and then how it engulfed its surroundings.

It took just 24 hours to mushroom to 10,000 acres and become California’s biggest wildfire this year.

“That’s crazy fast,” said Joe Amador, one of thousands of firefighters from across the state now deployed to fight the blaze.

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‘Little Point’ to Restarting Trump Water Case, Judge Says

/in , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Maya Earls

Democratic-led states, tribes, and conservation groups will not see a Trump-era water rule declared invalid before the Ninth Circuit decides the issue or the EPA issues a new rule, a federal judge in California ruled.

The plaintiffs wanted the US District Court for the Northern District of California to resume their lawsuit over the Clean Water Act Section 401 Certification Rule issued in 2020 that they said unlawfully restricted states’ and tribes’ ability to reject water polluting projects.

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As Drought Intensifies, Newsom Plans California’s Biggest Water Project in Half a Century

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

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office renewed its commitment on Wednesday to launching California’s biggest water project in half a century, unveiling a newly configured plan for a 45-mile conveyance tunnel through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

The estimated $16 billion pipeline, iterations of which have circulated for decades, is designed to better move water from the state’s wet, rural north to drier, more populated points south. The proposed tunnel would allow water shipments to bypass the delta’s sensitive wetlands and aging water infrastructure, thereby protecting and even boosting water supplies for the Bay Area, Southern California and farmland in between.

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