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Paper Records and Steel Vaults: Can California Water Rights Enter the Digital Age?

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ari Plachta

From an unremarkable office in Sacramento, Matthew Jay can pinpoint any moment in California history when somebody was granted the right to transfer water from any particular lake, river, stream or creek.

An analyst with the California State Water Resources Control Board, he is a custodian of millions of pieces of paper. Some are over a hundred years old and are crammed into towering filing cabinets and vaults. The room is so heavy that its floor needed to be reinforced.

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Major Storm Dumps Snow, Closes Mountain Routes in California

/in , , /by /AP News

A major Christmas weekend storm caused whiteout conditions and closed key highways amid blowing snow in mountains of Northern California and Nevada, with forecasters warning that travel in the Sierra Nevada could be difficult for several days.

Authorities near Reno said three people were injured in a 20-car pileup on Interstate 395, where drivers described limited visibility on Sunday. Further west, a 70-mile (112-kilometer) stretch of Interstate 80 was shut until at least Monday from Colfax, California, through the Lake Tahoe region to the Nevada state line.

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Rainy Years Can’t Make Up for California’s Groundwater Use

/in , , /by /ARS Technicaby K.E.D. Coan

Over a third of American vegetables are grown in California, largely in the state’s Central Valley. The region also produces two-thirds of the nation’s fruits and nuts. These crops—and the many Americans who produce and consume them—are heavily reliant on California’s water supply. But, given recurrent and severe droughts, the state’s groundwater supply has been strained.

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Sierra Could Get 80 More Inches of Snow By Christmas

/in , /by /KTVUby Lisa Fernandez

Snow, snow, snow!

The folks at UC Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab have been tracking the fluffy white stuff and predict that Christmas will be the snowiest day of the week.

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Merced Irrigation Officials Scramble to Fix Groundwater Plan, As Fear of Restrictions Loom

/in , , /by /Merced Sun-Starby Madeline Shannon

Officials with Merced-area water agencies say they’re updating a key regional groundwater plan after the California Department of Water Resources said it didn’t go far enough to reach state water sustainability targets.

 

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Large Water Pipeline in Kings County Raising Questions, Concerns

/in , /by /SJV Waterby Lois Henry

A large water pipeline being built near Lemoore in Kings County is raising eyebrows as much for its possible uses as for the name associated with its construction — John Vidovich.

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Water Officials Set to Wring More Savings From Stressed Colorado River

/in , , /by /KNPR Radioby Nate Hegyl

Last week water officials from Nevada and two other Colorado River states said they would reduce their draws from the ailing waterway.

Now they need to make that happen.

Water leaders in Nevada, Arizona, and California signed an agreement to voluntarily reduce their take from the Colorado River to help stave off mandatory cuts in the upcoming years.

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California Reservoir, With Estimated $3.9B Cost, Gains Funding Approval

/in , /by /ENR Californiaby Tim Newcomb

California is taking steps toward a 2024 start of construction on the 1.5-million-acre-feet Sites Reservoir thanks to new funding.

The California Water Commission in December determined the Sites Reservoir, located on the west side of the Sacramento Valley, is eligible for funding through the state’s 2014 voter-approved Proposition 1 Water Storage Investment Program, thereby opening access to $800 million, about 20% of the project’s $3.93 billion price tag.

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Water Worries in West Force Sports Teams to Get Creative

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Erica Hunzinger

The Arizona Diamondbacks ripped out the grass at Chase Field ahead of the 2019 season, replacing it with synthetic grass. It was a business decision, but it also ended up being a water-conservation measure.

The Phoenix-based major league baseball team thought it would save 2 million gallons a year. In the first season, the savings were closer to 4.5 million gallons, which is roughly the annual water usage of 49 households in the Phoenix area, according to the Arizona Department of Water Resources.

“This challenge has been approaching for years and has been on our radar,” said Diamondbacks President and CEO Derrick Hall, whose team has saved 16 million gallons of water since the turf was installed. “We have tremendous relationships with the state’s legislators and executives, and have had discussions about water for years.”

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Opinion: The Lower Basin Inked A Plan To Save Lake Mead In Just 4 Months. But We’re Not Done

/in , /by /Arizona Republicby Joanna Allhands

The takeaway from the “500-plus plan,” the recently inked effort to save Lake Mead, can be summed up in just three words:

We’re. Not. Done.

That doesn’t make the deal any less consequential.

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