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Improved North Bay Reservoir Levels a Hopeful Sign for 2022

/in , , /by /The Press Democratby Mary Callahan

Winter rains have bolstered water storage in the region’s two key public reservoirs, reversing months of decline and starting off 2022 with hopes for a less-uncertain year ahead.

A lot depends on how the remainder of the rainy season shakes out. After rain this week, the forecast calls for dry weather later this month,  followed by months in which the North  Coast stands an equal chance of above-normal and below-normal precipitation under La Niña atmospheric conditions.

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Marin Utility Considers Delaying Water Pipeline Project

/in , /by /Marin Indepedent Journalby Will Houston

With its reservoirs nearly refilled, the Marin Municipal Water District is considering delaying a proposed $100 million project to build an emergency water pipeline across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.

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With Less Water on the Surface, How Long Can Arizona Rely on What’s Underground?

/in , /by /KUNCby Alex Hager

In Arizona, verdant fields of crops and a growing sprawl of suburban homes mean a sharp demand for water in the middle of the desert. Meeting that demand includes drawing from massive stores of water in underground aquifers. But some experts say they’re overtaxed, and shouldn’t be seen as a long-term solution for a region where the water supply is expected to shrink in the decades to come.

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Anti-Government Conspiracies Create Another Challenge to Addressing Drought in the West

/in , /by /Deseret Newsby Matthew Brown

For more than a century, a system of government and legal agreements has largely resolved water disputes among those living in America’s most arid region of the country.

The methods of conflict resolution were at work in December when water bosses in California, Nevada and Arizona agreed to cut their use of Colorado River water to avoid penalties under a compact that divvies up the river among seven western states and Mexico.

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State Grid of China Switches on World’s Largest Pumped-Hydro Station

/in , /by /PV Magazineby Emiliano Bellini

The State Grid Corporation of China, which is China’s largest state-owned grid operator and power utility, has commissioned, last week, the 3.6GW Fengning Pumped Storage Power Station, a pumped-storage hydroelectric power station located in Hebei province.

The construction of the $1.87 billion project, which was implemented in two 1.8GW phases, was started by engineering company China Gezhouba Group Company Limited in 2014.

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Precipitation Since Oct. 1 Tops Previous Full ‘Water Year’ in California

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Jessica Flores

More precipitation has fallen on California during its current “water year” than in the full prior 12-month span, the National Weather Service says.

The downpours and mountain storms of recent weeks have helped boost the state’s precipitation volume to 33.9 trillion gallons thus far for the water year that began Oct. 1, compared to the previous water year’s 33.6 trillion gallons, the service said Sunday. Lake Tahoe by comparison contains roughly 40 trillion gallons.

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2022 Promises Continued Climate Extremes, But Also A Glimmer of Hope for Californians

/in , , /by /KQED by Ezra David Romero

It’s a brand new year, and perhaps you have hopeful resolutions in mind—losing weight, getting politically active, leaving your house more often.

But when you look over your shoulder, the demon that was 2021 is lurking behind you. In its eyes is the pandemic that kept you in your house for way too long, on its breath are the flames that nearly burned down your favorite part of the Sierra, the sweltering heat from last summer, and the wildfire smoke choking out the space in your lungs.

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Opinion: The Importance of California’s Agricultural Water Supplies

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Chris Scheuring

Wendell Berry famously said that eating is an agricultural act. That makes all of us into farmers, and nowhere is that more true than in water terms.

For farming is irreducibly the process of mixing dirt, water and sunshine to bring forth from the ground what we need to eat. And no matter who you are, it’s true:  somebody, somewhere, must devote a lot of water to the process of feeding you.

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In Pinal County, Colorado River Shortage is Forcing Growers to Plant Fewer Ccres

/in , , /by /Arizona Republicby Brandon Loomis

More than two decades of dry winters and drying Colorado River reservoirs will finally produce a long-feared landscape of drier farms in central Arizona starting this month.

Desert farmers, especially the 900 or more in Pinal County, start the new year with massively reduced allocations from the canal that delivers water hundreds of miles from the river.

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Plentiful Early-Season Sierra Snowpack Signals ‘Remarkable Turnaround’ Amid Historic Drought

/in , , /by /The Mercury Newsby Jakob Rodgers

A series of record-setting blizzards in recent weeks that buried roads, snarled holiday traffic and even temporarily shut down ski resorts have combined to offer California a glimpse of hope after two years of historic and punishing drought.

Snowpack across the Sierra Nevada appears far ahead of historical averages — an unexpected respite from years of bone-dry forecasts, leaving climatologists cautiously optimistic about drought conditions improving across the state.

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