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After Wildfires, Scorched Trees Could Disrupt Water Supplies

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Brittany Peterson

In a California forest torched by wildfire last summer, researcher Anne Nolin examines a handful of the season’s remaining snow, now darkened by black specks from the burned trees above.

Spring heat waves had already melted much of the year’s limited snowfall across California and parts of the West when Nolin visited in early April. But she and her colleague are studying another factor that might’ve made the snow vanish faster in the central Sierra Nevada — the scorched trees, which no longer provide much shade and are shedding flecks of carbon.

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‘We Woke Up and We Lost Half Our Water’ How Climate Change Sparked a Multistate Battle Over the Colorado River.

/in , , /by /Intelligencerby Kyle Paoletta

The Colorado River’s 1,450-mile run begins amid the snowy pinnacles of the Rocky Mountains and ends in the subtropical waters of the Gulf of California. Over the millions of years the river has been running this course, it has gradually carved through the Southwest’s crimson limestone and shale to create a succession of unimaginably vast canyons: Ruby, Cataract, Marble, and Grand. The writer Marc Reisner described the Colorado as the “American Nile.” The Hualapai call it Hakataya, “the backbone.”

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Do Spring Storms Help With California’s Drought Conditions? Not as Much as You Might Think

/in , , /by /ABC 10by Monica Woods

 California is heading into its third year of drought after record dry stretches.

One of the biggest losses the state saw in the 2022 water year was the lack of rain and snow during the typically wet January to March time frame. Historically, December through March are the wettest months for the state. The past three years have come up short for precipitation leading to water restrictions and bigger conservation efforts.

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Dry Weather Forecast Calls for Higher Food Prices and Billions in Farm Losses

/in , /by /Forbesby Chloe Sorvino

Third-generation San Joaquin Valley farmer Gary Beene will plant only half his 1,200 acres this year. He doesn’t have enough water for the other half.

“We’re working on survival more than anything else and getting through this year,” said Beene, who farms tomato, almond, cotton and garlic with his sons and grandson on the land his grandfather settled in California in the 1930s after sharecropping in Oklahoma. “It’s pretty discouraging. I’m hoping to steer my grandchildren away from agriculture. It’s sad.”

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Energy Shift Creates Opening for ‘World’s Largest Batteries’

/in , , /by /AP News by John Flesher

Sprawled like a gigantic swimming pool atop a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan is an asphalt-and-clay pond holding enough water to produce electricity for 1.6 million households.

It’s part of the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant, which uses simple technology: Water is piped from a lower reservoir — the lake, in this case — to an upper one, then released downhill through supersized turbines.

Supporters call these systems “the world’s largest batteries” because they hold vast amounts of potential energy for use when needed for the power grid.

The hydropower industry considers pumped storage the best answer to a question hovering over the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy to address climate change: where to get power when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing.

(Editor’s Note: The San Diego County Water Authority and the City of San Diego are partnering on the proposed San Vicente Energy Storage Facility project. More information: www.sdcwa.org/projects/san-vicente-pumping-facilities/)

 

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Gov. Newsom to Ask Legislature for $750m as State Looks to Conserve Water

/in , , /by /Action News Nowby Jafet Serrato and Brandon Downs

During Gov. Gavin Newsom’s visit to Butte County on Tuesday, Newsom said he will ask the legislature for $750 million to help with drought conditions.

At the Hyatt Powerplant at Lake Oroville, which shut down last year due to record low lake levels, Newsom spoke about how the state needs a different approach to water conservation.

Newsom already invested $5.2 billion in the past three years for water security for all Californians.

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Marine Heat Wave Currently Forming Off California Coast, Federal Forecasters Say

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Tara Duggan

Federal scientists have created a new tool for forecasting marine heat waves, and they say one is currently forming in the North Pacific Ocean not far from the California coast.

The marine heat wave currently predicted to linger into fall is not expected to have the impact of “the blob” — the name for a period of high seawater temperatures that persisted along the West Coast from 2014 to 2016. But scientists say their new prediction models will help forecast similar extreme ocean warming events that are expected to increase in duration and intensity with climate change.

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Dry as a Bone: Las Vegas Enforces New Water Restrictions

/in , , /by /KGUN 9by Newsy

The megadrought gripping the Western United States is widening.

Fifty-seven percent of the country and 100% of Nevada is in some level of drought, and nowhere is it as obvious as along the Colorado River.

In the Southwestern U.S., the massive Lake Mead Reservoir near Las Vegas is not as massive as it used to be. The water level has dropped to near-record-low levels.

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Opinion: Food Shortages, Rising Prices … We’ve Been Warning About This for Years

/in , , /by /AZ Centralby Paul Orme and Dan Keppen

As the Ukraine war kindles fears of rising food prices, the recognition of a secure domestic food supply – driven in large part by irrigated agriculture in the Western U.S. – is something we need to talk about.

The Family Farm Alliance last month released a report that describes current and projected food shortages resulting from the Russia-Ukraine war. This is nothing new, from our standpoint. The domestic food security issue is a concern that we’ve warned our policy leaders about for more than 15 years.

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Newsom Reappoints Turlock Woman to Board That Will Make Key Decisions on River Flows

/in , /by /The Modesto Beeby John Holland

Dorene D’Adamo of Turlock will serve four more years on the State Water Resources Control Board, which deals with river flows and other key issues.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the reappointment, subject to confirmation by the state Senate. D’Adamo, an attorney, first was named to the five-member board in 2013.

The board oversees California’s complex system of water rights and is part of the response to the now three-year drought. It also deals with drinking water quality, notably a recent grant to provide free bottled water to users of tainted wells in Stanislaus County.

 

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