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

Seven Weeks of Near-Record Low Snowfall in the Colorado River Basin Have Water Managers Worried

/in , , /by /The Salt Lake Tribuneby Zak Podmore

The water level in Lake Powell was at a record low when rain and snow began to fall across the Colorado River Basin in October, soaking dry soils ahead of the winter season.

Water managers, who hoped the trend would build into an above-average snow year that might delay a looming water crisis in the Southwest, watched the snowpack drop to near zero in November. Then, after a massive storm cycle brought six feet of snow to parts of the Rockies around the New Year, they again breathed a sigh of relief.

Full Story

Opinion: Byzantine Water Laws Will Leave Californians High and Dry

/in , /by /Cal Mattersby Richard Frank and Holly Doremus

It’s been said that California is confronting a 21st century water crisis armed with 20th century infrastructure and 19th century laws. That’s indisputably true.

California’s water rights system was created in the latter half of the 1800s. It has changed surprisingly little since then. In a state that prides itself on environmental innovation, it’s alarming that California’s calcified water rights system is out of sync with current needs.

Full Story

Experts – Once Again — Tell Senate Panel That California’s Key Climate Change Strategy Is Flawed

/in , /by /Cal Mattersby Julie Cart

Legislators today debated the Newsom administration’s long-term strategy for cutting greenhouse gases, with some experts reiterating their common refrain that parts of California’s cap-and-trade program are deeply flawed.

A panel of experts and the Legislative Analyst’s Office told lawmakers at a Senate hearing what they’ve heard before: The market-based cap-and-trade program that California relies on to do the heavy lifting to reduce climate-warming pollutants is unlikely to achieve the state’s 2030 targets.

Full Story

Feds’ Central Valley Project Expects to Send No Water to California Farms This Year, Little to Cities

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

After an extraordinarily dry start to the year, the federal government announced Wednesday that most farms in California will likely receive no water from the state’s biggest reservoirs in 2022, the latest fallout from drought and a blow to an agricultural industry already crippled by tight supplies. Cities and towns, meanwhile, will get just a fraction of the water they requested.

An impending third straight year of drought has left California’s federally managed reservoirs, including giant Shasta and Trinity lakes, soiled by cracked earth and “bathtub rings,” and standing as striking images of the state’s aridity. Many of the storage sites are at near-record lows for this point in the wet winter season, and officials at the Bureau of Reclamation say there’s just not enough water for everyone who needs it.

Full Story

Citing Drought, US Won’t Give Water to California Farmers

/in , /by /AP Newsby Adam Beam

With California entering the third year of severe drought, federal officials said Wednesday they won’t deliver any water to farmers in the state’s major agricultural region — a decision that will force many to plant fewer crops in the fertile soil that yields the bulk of the nation’s fruits, nuts and vegetables.

“It’s devastating to the agricultural economy and to those people that rely on it,” said Ernest Conant, regional director for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. “But unfortunately we can’t make it rain.”

Full Story

California’s Drought Endures: Feds’ Central Valley Project Announces 0% Water for Farmers

/in , , /by /Fresno Beeby Dale Kasler

Farmers in California’s Central Valley are in for another brutal summer of drought.

The federal government announced initial 2022 water allocations Wednesday for customers of the Central Valley Project, and the figures were dismal: Most irrigation districts in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys can expect to receive no deliveries from the project’s vast network of reservoirs and canals.

 

Full Story

Snow Falling: As Climate Warms, Overhauling California Water Projections Gains Urgency

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Rachel Becker

Packed onto the slopes of the Sierra Nevada is a precious source of water for California — a frozen reservoir that climate change is already transforming.

As the planet warms, the spring snowpack is dwindling. The snow is creeping up mountainsides to higher elevations, melting earlier in the year and seeping into dry soils rather than washing into rivers and streams that feed reservoirs.

Full Story

Climate Change, Drought Are Endangering Hydropower Production From Lake Powell. Is It Time to ‘Balance the Water Budget’?

/in , , /by /The Salt Lake Tribuneby Zach Podmore

The water level in Lake Powell was at a record low when rain and snow began to fall across the Colorado River Basin in October, soaking dry soils ahead of the winter season.

Water managers, who hoped the trend would build into an above-average snow year that might delay a looming water crisis in the Southwest, watched the snowpack drop to near zero in November. Then, after a massive storm cycle brought six feet of snow to parts of the Rockies around the New Year, they again breathed a sigh of relief.

Full Story

MID Sets Water Allotment and Lets Farmers Share Supply Amid Yet Another Drought

/in , , /by /The Modesto Beeby John Holland

The Modesto Irrigation District will deliver about 60% of its usual water this year because of the persistent drought.

The district board voted 5-0 Tuesday morning for this allotment from the Tuolumne River. It affects about 58,000 acres of farmland, as well as a treatment plant that eases reliance on groundwater in Modesto and a few other towns.

MID is in relatively good shape as California’s drought enters its third year. The Turlock Irrigation District, which also diverts from the Tuolumne, has not yet set a 2022 allotment for its nearly 150,000 acres.

Full Story

As Climate Change Costs Mount, Biden Seeks to Price Damages

/in , /by /AP Newsby Matthew Brown

In the coal fields of eastern Montana, climate change is forcing a stark choice: halt mining that helped build everything from schools to senior centers or risk astronomical future damage as fossil fuel emissions warm the planet and increase disasters, crop losses and premature deaths.

One of the largest mines in this arid region straddling the Wyoming border is Spring Creek — a gaping hole among sagebrush hills where house-sized mechanical shovels dig up millions of tons of coal annually, much of it shipped overseas and burned in Asian power plants.

Full Story