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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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Marin Water Officials Scrutinize Costs for Bigger Reservoirs, New Pipelines

/in , , /by /Marin Independent Journalby Will Houston

Marin Municipal Water District officials, continuing their quest to boost supply, met this week for a detailed cost assessment on expanding reservoirs and connecting to new sources.

District staff stressed to the board that — unlike other options under review such as desalination and recycled water expansion that can produce a continual flow of water — enlarging reservoirs or building pipelines to outside suppliers does not guarantee water will be available when needed.

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Can Desalination Be a Solution for Drought in SoCal?

/in , /by /KCETby Chris Iovenko

California is currently suffering through its worst drought in over 1,200 years, a fact painfully illustrated by a hot, dry summer, nearly empty reservoirs, and a historically diminished Colorado River. New water restrictions have gone into effect across the state. As California scrambles to conserve water, desalination plants, facilities that use reverse osmosis filters to purify seawater and transform it into drinking water, have increasingly become part of the discussion.

 

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Mono Lake Was Supposed to Have Been Saved From Going Dry. Now, the ‘White Stuff’ Forces a Reckoning

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

The few who live along the shores of Mono Lake are accustomed to the peculiarities of this high desert basin.

Famously strange limestone spires known as tufa towers rise from the water. The lake contains so much salt that it’s barren of fish. In the arid sands beyond, sagebrush thrives, and that’s about it.

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Water Authority General Manager Sandra Kerl Named CUWA Board Chair

/in , , /by /Water News Network Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

San Diego County Water Authority General Manager Sandra L. Kerl is taking the reins as board chair of California Urban Water Agencies (CUWA), a nonprofit corporation that supports development of sound water policy statewide.

The Water Authority is one of 11 member agencies of CUWA that are collectively responsible for serving drinking water to about two-thirds of California’s population. As the united voice for the state’s largest urban water purveyors, CUWA provides a technical perspective to promote common understanding and consensus-based solutions for urban water issues.

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The West’s Most Important Water Supply is Drying Up. Soon, Life for 40 Million People Who Depend on the Colorado River Will Change.

/in , , /by /The Denver Postby Conrad Swanson

White sandstone cliffs create a ring around Lake Powell in contrast to the honey- and red-colored desert rock nearby. Evidence that water once, not all that long ago, filled America’s second-largest reservoir.

Fed by the Colorado River, Lake Powell, in south-central Utah, has seen wet years and dry years over the past two decades. Mostly dry years.

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Despite More Stored Water Than in 2021, California Will Keep Closing Spigots

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

As drought conditions persist and with the potential for another dry winter due to La Niña, some good news: the California State Water Resources Board learned Wednesday reservoirs in the northern and central parts of the state have more water than at this time last year.

State Water Project reservoirs across Northern and Central California remain below historical averages after three consecutive years of drought.

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