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Glenn County Residents Continue to Feel the Impacts of the Drought

/in , , /by /KRCR-TVby Kelly DeLeon

The recent rains were much needed, but they were not enough to get the state out of the drought.

One of the first counties in the Northstate to declare a local drought emergency, Glenn County, is still experiencing water supply issues.

“The rain is always good and the snow is even better because snow will last for a while and melt and come down and refill what has been depleted when people are using. It had a positive impact. Dramatic? I wouldn’t say so,” said the director of Glenn County Planning & Community Development Services, Don Rust.

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California Drought: Santa Clara County Residents Exceed Water Conservation Targets

/in , , /by /The Mercury Timesby Paul Rogers

After months of falling short, Santa Clara County residents have finally begun to hit the target when it comes to water conservation — and the threat of higher water bills may have played a role.

Following two record-dry years, the Santa Clara Valley Water District declared a drought emergency in June and asked the county’s 2 million residents to cut water use by 15% from 2019 levels.

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UC Study Finds Safe Drinking Water Remains Out of Reach for Many Californians

/in , /by /NBC Bay Areaby Bay City News

An estimated 371,000 Californians — about 1% of the state’s residents — rely on drinking water that may contain high levels of toxic chemicals such as arsenic, nitrate or hexavalent chromium, according to a study from the University of California campuses in Berkeley and Los Angeles.

In a news release issued Tuesday by UC Berkeley, researchers said the results of the study likely understate the number of people impacted by unsafe drinking water, as the study included just the three chemicals.

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California’s Drought Reckoning Could Offer Lessons for the West

/in , , /by /Tucson Sentinelby Matt Vasilogambros

The golden hills of California have turned green in recent weeks after a series of storms delivered much-needed rain and snow to a state suffering from two years of drought.

But state officials and water policy experts are still urging caution even in these wet conditions, pushing for water-saving measures as the drought is expected to continue throughout much of the West.

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Desalination Has Guided Water Exchanges for Israel and Jordan. Could It Play a Role in the Colorado River Basin’s Future?

/in , , /by /The Good Men Projectby Sharon Udasin Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

Shattering the stillness of a frigid January moonlit sky, the sunrise’s amber aura glimmers over the Tinajas Altas mountain range — giving way to a sandscape of semi-succulent shrubs.

The sun’s increasingly insistent rays animate an otherwise desolate desert corridor that links the city of Yuma, Arizona, to the San Luis Port of Entry along the U.S.–Mexico border. White school buses shuttle Mexican agricultural workers to Arizonan farm acreage, home to America’s heartland of winter leafy greens. Just a few miles west is the Colorado River, the region’s historic lifeblood — a lifeblood that is so under threat that the Bureau of Reclamation declared its first-ever federal shortage for the basin on Monday.

(Editor’s Note: The interviews for this story took place from fall 2019 to spring 2020 as part of the author’s Ted Scripps Fellowship at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Environmental Journalism. The story was supported by The Water Desk, an independent journalism initiative based at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Environmental Journalism.)

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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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