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How to Beat the Drought? Inland Empire Water Agency Wants to Make it Rain

/in , , /by /The Press-Enterpriseby Steve Scauzillo

Programs from the drought-busting handbook practiced by Southern California water agencies include recycling water, building storm-water capture basins and offering cash rebates for replacing thirsty lawns with xeriscape landscaping.

With the grip from a second year of drought tightening, a regional water-planning agency in the Inland Empire is moving ahead for the first time in its history with a more controversial program: cloud seeding.

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Are Two More Dry Years Ahead For California?

/in , , /by /The Manteca Bullitenby Dennis Wyatt

Water use in Manteca increased 3 percent overall or 13.6 million gallons last month compared to the depth of the last drought in September of 2017. That’s good news given the city has added more than 8,000 residents since Jan. 1, 2017 for a 10 percent population gain. The bad news it might not be enough. Despite a light dusting of snow Thursday along the high Sierra crest at the upper reaches of the Stanislaus River watershed critical to urban and agricultural users in South San Joaquin County, hydrologists are indicating a number of weather models don’t look promising.

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How Much Is Water Worth? Why A Billionaire-Owned Stake In A California Water Bank Could Be Worth More Than $1 Billion

/in , , /by /Forbesby Michela Tindera and Chloe Sorvino

How much is access to water worth? In this episode, we aim to answer that question by looking at the Kern Water Bank, one of California’s largest underground water storage facilities. From above, it looks a lot like a giant puddle. But underneath it has the capacity to hold the equivalent of roughly 500 of New York City’s Central Park Reservoirs. And, as one expert says, it’s the “absolute jewel” of California water banking.

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‘Extreme Year’: Past 12 Months Among the Driest Ever in California History

/in , , /by /The Union Democratby Guy McCarthy

The current ongoing two-year dry period in California, punctuated by the third-driest water year on record for the Central Sierra, is part of California’s overall arid fate so far in the 21st century, according to the state Department of Water Resources.

The Golden State’s hydrology now increasingly resembles conditions in the Colorado River Basin this century, where multiple, consecutive, drier-than-average years are mixed with an occasional wet year. California’s last wet water year was 2016-2017, the second-wettest on record.

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Lake Tahoe Falls to Alarmingly Low Level – Environmental Impacts Could Result

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Gregory Thomas

This week, a historically dry period in California will come to bear at Lake Tahoe, where the water level is expected to sink below the basin’s natural rim. That’s the point at which the lake pours into its only outflow, the Truckee River.

It’s not a crisis, researchers and conservationists say, but it marks another extreme swing for Tahoe amid historic drought, wildfires and erratic weather, all intertwined with climate change and becoming more prominent aspects of the alpine environment.

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As Drought Worsens, California Farmers Are Being Paid Not to Grow Crops

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

Green fields of alfalfa and cotton rolled past as Brad Robinson drove through the desert valley where his family has farmed with water from the Colorado River for three generations. Stopping the truck, he stepped onto a dry, brown field where shriveled remnants of alfalfa crunched under his boots.

The water has been temporarily shut off on a portion of Robinson’s land. In exchange, he’s receiving $909 this year for each acre of farmland left dry and unplanted. The water is instead staying in Lake Mead, near Las Vegas, to help slow the unrelenting decline of the largest reservoir in the country.

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Drought Emergency: Dublin San Ramon Services District Raises Rates Amid Stage 2 Water Shortage

/in , , /by /CBS SF Bay Area

The Dublin San Ramon Services District Board of Directors has approved stage 2 water shortage rates in response to worsening drought conditions in California.

As with other local water agencies, the DSRSD already declared a state 2 water shortage emergency, mandating a 15 percent conservation in water use from customers compared to 2020.

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Southwest Conditions Historically Dry Since 2020, Report Finds

/in , , /by /Las Vegas Review-Journalby Blake Apgar

People who live in the Southwest know it’s been especially hot and dry the past couple of years, but a new government report shows those conditions are actually historic.

Precipitation across multiple basins in six states from January 2020 through August 2021 was the lowest recorded since researchers started tracking with gauges in the late 1800s.

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Opinion: A Joint Effort to Protect the Central Valley’s Water, Ecology

/in , /by /Capitol Weeklyby Curtis Knight, Jeff Mccreary, Tim Johnson and David Guy

Like a human fingerprint, California’s Sacramento Valley is truly unique. On the leading edge of ecological and economical sustainability, it’s also an exceptional place to live, work, and raise a family.

The Sacramento Valley joins together a world-renowned mosaic of natural and human abundance: productive farmlands, teeming wildlife refuges and managed wetlands, the largest salmon runs south of the Columbia River, dynamic rural and urban communities, and life-giving rivers and creeks that support it all.

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Hydropower Decline Adds to the Strain on Power Grids in Drought

/in , /by /NBC 4

After water levels at a California dam fell to historic lows this summer, the main hydropower plant it feeds was shut down. At the Hoover Dam in Nevada — one of the country’s biggest hydropower generators — production is down by 25%. If extreme drought persists, federal officials say a dam in Arizona could stop producing electricity in coming years.

Severe drought across the West drained reservoirs this year, slashing hydropower production and further stressing the region’s power grids. And as extreme weather becomes more common with climate change, grid operators are adapting to swings in hydropower generation.

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