You are now in California and the U.S. Media Coverage category.

Ukiah Enrolls in First-of-Its-Kind California Water Sharing Program Following Landmark Drought, Curtailments

/in , /by /The Mendocino Voiceby Kate Fishman

A historic new program in California will allow water right holders in the Russian River watershed to share water allocations among one another this year as they face near-inevitable curtailments on water use. Ukiah played a leading role in developing the new initiative, and its city council voted unanimously to participate in the program on Wednesday night.

In presenting the program before councilmembers, Ukiah Water Resources Director Sean White suggested that it arose as an alternative to possible litigation against the State Water Resources Control Board.

Full Story

‘The Moment of Reckoning Is Near’: Feds Warn Huge Cuts Needed to Shore Up Lake Mead, Colorado River

/in , , /by /USA Todayby Janet Wilson

A top federal water official told Congress on Tuesday that shortages on the Colorado River system have taken an even grimmer turn, with a whopping 2 million to 4 million acre-feet of reduction in water use needed by 2023 just to keep Lake Mead functioning and physically capable of delivering drinking water, irrigation and power to millions of people.

Levels at the reservoir have dropped to an all-time low of 28% of capacity, with no relief in sight, said Camille Touton, Bureau of Reclamation commissioner who testified early Tuesday to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Full Story

Gavin Newsom’s Drought Strategy Is a Major Departure From Jerry Brown’s Mandatory Water Cuts. It’s Not Working

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Dustin Gardiner

If Gov. Jerry Brown’s drought strategy was defined by the “we’re-all-in-this-together” mantra of collective sacrifice, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s approach has been guided by the more individualistic notion of “it’s not one size fits all.”

Newsom, despite the state facing a third year of exceptional drought conditions, has refused to follow in Brown’s footsteps by mandating that all residents cut their water use.

Full Story

These Five People Could Make or Break the Colorado River

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Sammy Roth

Alex Cardenas. J.B. Hamby. Jim Hanks. Javier Gonzalez. Norma Sierra Galindo.

There’s a good chance you’ve never heard of them. But with the Colorado River in crisis, they’re arguably five of the most powerful people in the American West.

Full Story

Opinion: Painful Colorado River Cuts Are Coming, Whether Basin States Agree or Not

/in , , /by /AZ Centralby Joanna Allhands

The window to avoid even more painful cuts on the Colorado River just closed.

The federal Bureau of Reclamation is asking states to conserve 2 to 4 million acre-feet of water, just to keep Lake Powell and Lake Mead out of critically low territory in 2023.

And we’ll need a plan to do so by mid-August when shortage levels and other important operating details for the next water year are set.

Full Story

Stubborn La Niña Looks Like It May Stick Around for a Rare Third Year

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Paul Duginski

A stubborn La Niña climate pattern in the tropical Pacific is likely to persist through the summer and may hang on into 2023, forecasters say.

La Niña has been implicated not only in the unrelenting drought in the U.S. Southwest, but also in drought and flooding in various parts of the world, including ongoing drought and famine in the Horn of Africa.

Full Story

Drought Picture Grows More Bleak for Agriculture

/in , /by /AgAlertby Christine Souza

As California toils through a third consecutive drought year, many Sacramento Valley farmers, well known for supporting waterfowl that stop along the Pacific Flyway, are being left high and dry.

The farmers are facing water-supply challenges that are worse this season than in previous dry years.

“This drought is hitting Northern California really hard and in some unprecedented ways,” said Ellen Hanak, director of water policy for the Public Policy Institute of California, speaking last week on drought at a meeting of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture.

Full Story

California Drought: “Smart” Water Meters Coming to San Jose, Other Bay Area Cities in Latest Effort to Boost Conservation

/in , /by /The Mercury Newsby Paul Rogers

You’ve got a smartphone. Maybe a smart watch. Or even a smart doorbell.

In the coming months and years as California struggles with worsening droughts, millions of Bay Area residents will soon be getting a smart water meter.

Full Story

A Project Looking to Move Water From Utah to Colorado’s Front Range Gets New Funding, Partner

/in , /by /The Colorado Sunby Chris Outcult

The way the story goes, the one Fort Collins resident Aaron Million first told more than a decade ago, the whole thing started with one of those ah-ha moments, a split-second grasp of some sliver of grand opportunity.

Million, who in the mid-2000s, was pursuing a master’s degree in agriculture and resource economics at Colorado State University, was holed up in the library on a Sunday night. At some point, Million’s attention wandered to a collection of early 1900s Colorado state maps. Million fixated on a 41-mile stretch of the Green River that briefly swerves in and out of the Northwest corner of the state.

Full Story

To Survive Severe Drought This Summer, California Should Learn From Cape Town’s Water Crisis

/in , /by /TIMEby Aryn Baker

In my household we shower every few days. We don’t flush every time. After a dinner party, I empty my guests’ water glasses into the houseplants. It’s been four years since I lived through Cape Town’s water crisis, but hard-earned habits die hard. My water conservation routines may sound like too much information, or even borderline unhygienic, but as the threat of water scarcity looms large around the world, they may well be worth adopting.

Full Story