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As the Colorado River Shrinks, Can New Technology Save Water on Farms? The Answer Is Complicated

/in , , /by /Arizona Public Mediaby Alex Hager

On a warm November day in Yuma, Arizona, the desert sun is beating down on a sea of low, green fields. Here, near the banks of the Colorado River, Matt McGuire is surveying an expanse of vegetables that sprawls into the desert landscape.

“You find it on the grocery shelf and it’s a leafy green,” he said, “it probably came from here. Because about 80-85% of the vegetables in the wintertime come from this area.”

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Will the SF Bay Area Continue to See More Rain Than Usual? Here’s What Experts Say.

/in , , /by /SF GATEby Amy Graff

After an atmospheric river unleashed a torrent of rain over Northern California in October, the state saw another moisture-rich system in November and then a parade of storms across December.

With a wet start this season, the rivers are rushing, the waterfalls flowing and the reservoirs beginning to rise. The snowpack is signaling a remarkable turnaround after two dry seasons. The Hyatt Power Plant is back online at Lake Oroville after it was forced to shut down due to historic low reservoir levels in August.

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Governor Outlines Climate Action Spending in Budget Proposal

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Deborah Sullivan Brennan

Gov. Gavin Newsom called for $22.5 billion in state spending to combate climate change next year, offering a suite of solutions that mirror climate action and decarbonization efforts now underway in San Diego.

In a presentation Monday on his proposed budget for fiscal year 2022-23, Newsom announced a projected surplus of $45.7 billion and unveiled his proposals to use the windfall to combat COVID-19, climate change, homelessness, high costs of living and crime.

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Recent Storms Washed Microplastics Into San Francisco Bay, Studies Show

/in , /by /abc 7 Newsby Dan Ashley and Tim Didion

Walk along Damon Slough in Oakland and you’re likely to see trash heading towards San Francisco Bay. David Lewis of the environmental group Save the Bay, says much of it comes from the nearby 880 freeway and local storm drains.

“Every time it rains, anything that’s on the streets goes into the storm drains and straight out into the bay unfiltered. And we see this on all of the freeways and all of our urban road,” Lewis explains.

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As Persistent West Coast Ridge Builds, California (Mostly) Warms Up and Dries Out

/in , , /by /Weather Westby Daniel Swain

Taking stock: a good start to Water Year 2021-2022

I’ll keep this part pretty short and sweet: for the Water Year to date, most of California is in pretty good shape when it comes to precipitation. And that’s good news, given the historic severity of the regional drought as recently as late September.

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Newsom’s California Blueprint Includes $750 Million for Drought Response

/in , , /by /AgNet Westby Brian German

Governor Gavin Newsom has released his 2022-23 state budget proposal, the California Blueprint. The $213 billion budget includes significant investment for addressing coronavirus, wildfires, homelessness, and drought. California is currently experiencing a $45.7 billion surplus heading into the next fiscal year. Building on the $5.2 billion dollar investment in water issues last year, the budget proposal includes an additional $750 million investment to address the ongoing drought.

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Marin, Santa Cruz May Relax Water Restrictions

/in , /by /KTVU FOX 2by Tom Vacar

It’s been almost a month since the Bay Area’s last atmospheric river and the hope is there will be more rain in the coming weeks, so water restrictions can be eased.

California can hope that’s the fairytale like water story in Marin and Santa Cruz comes true statewide: eased restrictions. The two major atmospheric rivers and some other healthy rains came to the Bay region since October, working wonders for water supplies.

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Continued Drought Early in a Possibly Wet Year

/in , /by /California WaterBlogby Jay Lund

California’s 2021 calendar year is over, but its 2022 Water Year (which started October 2021) is already three months old and still early in its wet season.  So far this wet season is actually wet.

It is a good time to assess the condition of the present drought and whether it is likely to end with this wet season.  And under such conditions, what are water management activities and policy initiatives we should be doing?

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Phoenix Among Those Voluntarily Losing Colorado River Water

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Felicia Fonseca

The city of Phoenix this week outlined how it will voluntarily contribute water to a regional plan to shore up the country’s largest reservoir that delivers Colorado River water to three states and Mexico.

The river cannot provide seven Western states the water they were promised a century ago because of less snow, warmer temperatures and water lost to evaporation. Water managers repeatedly have had to pivot to develop plans to sustain it for the long-term.

Phoenix, the nation’s fifth-largest city, is among entities in the river’s lower basin that are part of the “500+ Plan” meant to delay further mandatory shortages. All pieces of the plan haven’t been finalized, but farmers and Native American tribes are expected to play a big role.

The Colorado River serves more than 40 million people in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, California, Wyoming, Utah and Mexico. Lake Mead and Lake Powell store the water and are used to gauge the river’s health.

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California’s Recent Rains Won’t End Our Stubborn Drought. These Charts Show Why

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

California just received more precipitation in the last three months of 2021 than it got in the previous year. The mountains are heaped with historic amounts of heavy snow. But the rain had no sooner given way to sun than state regulators issued new rules forbidding water-wasting practices such as hosing down sidewalks and driveways. What’s going on?

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