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Amid California Drought, Santa Clara County’s Water Conservation Isn’t Going Well

/in , , /by /SF Gateby Amy Graff

One of the largest water districts in the San Francisco Bay Area is falling dramatically short of water conservation goals amid extreme drought conditions across California.

Santa Clara Valley Water declared a water shortage emergency in June with its reservoirs reaching historically low levels, requiring customers to reduce water use by 15% compared with 2019 levels. In July, the district fell short of the goal with residents only reducing water use levels by 6% compared to 2019 levels, according to newly available data first shared by the San Jose Mercury News.

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Drought: Marin Water Utility Weighs New Fees for Excessive Use

/in , , /by /Marin Independent Journalby Will Houston

The Marin Municipal Water District is considering whether to charge new penalties for high water users during the drought.

The proposal discussed by the district’s board this week would set varying caps on water use during the “summer” and “winter” billing periods. Ratepayers would be charged a fee for every 748 gallons used above that cap.

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Drought on Mendocino Coast: State Water Board Amends Curtailment Orders to Expedite Water Deliveries

/in , , /by /The Ukiah Daily Journalby Justine Frederiksen

To expedite the delivery of much-needed drinking water to coastal Mendocino County residents whose wells have gone dry, the California State Water Resources Control Board has amended its previous curtailment orders to allow the city of Ukiah to draw water from the Russian River for emergency supplies.

“The State Water Board has pre-approved a health and human safety exemption allowing the city of Ukiah to provide emergency supplies to (coastal Mendocino County communities),” said Erik Ekdahl, deputy director of the Division of Water Rights, explaining Wednesday that the board did not want “bureaucracy to get in the way of providing emergency drinking water to people who really need it.”

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State’s Curtailment Orders Draw Lawsuits From Modesto-Area Water Users and San Francisco

/in , /by /The Modesto Beeby John Holland

The state’s curtailment of river diversions has drawn lawsuits from eight irrigation districts in and near Stanislaus County, along with San Francisco.

The three filings claim that the State Water Resources Control Board exceeded its authority with the Aug. 20 orders. The plaintiffs also said they did not get enough chance beforehand to make their cases for continued diversions.

One suit was filed Sept. 2 by the Modesto, Turlock, Oakdale and South San Joaquin irrigation districts and San Francisco. It involves the Tuolumne and Stanislaus rivers.

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Water Arrives at Desperately Dry Lower Klamath Wildlife Refuge

/in , /by /The Oregonianby Alex Schwartz

The Bureau of Reclamation began releasing water from the Klamath River to Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge on Sept. 3. Advocates hope it will improve wetland habitat on the refuge for migrating birds this fall. Last week, California Waterfowl Association officially purchased approximately 3,750 acre-feet of water from Agency Ranch in the Wood River Valley, above Upper Klamath Lake, having announced the purchase and fundraising effort this spring. Lower Klamath has been plagued by insufficient wetland habitat due to a lack of deliveries from the Klamath Project for the past 20 years.

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Opinion: Tainted Water and the Tijuana River — A Border Tragedy

/in , /by /Water Education Foundation by Rita Schmidt Sudman

As I walked along the ocean at Imperial Beach enjoying the sun casting shadows on the waves, several families were wading into the water seemingly not noticing the patrolling lifeguard warning them that the water was too polluted for swimming. I wondered if some swimmers heard the warning so many times – often over 200 days a year – that they became immune to the notice. After all, there was no smell and the ocean looked normal.

 

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Desalination Offers Great Promise, Requires Further Research, Panelists Say

/in , , /by /American Society of Civil Engineersby Jay Lund

With much of California and other western U.S. states experiencing significant drought, the need to pursue further advancements in desalination has never been greater. This was a central theme of an Aug. 11 webinar, titled “Discussion on Desalination — Treatments, Research, and the Future,” conducted by the WateReuse Association.

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California Reservoir Levels Continue to Drop. Here’s Why Relief May Be Coming Even Later in the Year.

/in , , /by /ABC10by Monica Woods

Dangerously low water levels at Shasta Lake were captured on drone video by ABC10 reporter John Bartell and photojournalist Tyler Horst on Tuesday.

Shasta Lake is California’s largest reservoir, capable of holding 4,552,000 acre feet of water. Right now, it has 1,186,057 acre feet of water stored. Breaking that down into percentages, the reservoir is at 26% capacity and 42% of average for this date.

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New Projects On Colorado River Keep Coming Despite Water Shortage

/in , , /by /KJZZby Ron Dungan

The Bureau of Reclamation recently declared a water shortage on the Colorado River, but that hasn’t stopped states from proposing new water projects.

Just about every drop on the Colorado River is accounted for. But climate change has reduced the amount of water in the system.

Gary Wockner is with Save the Colorado, a conservation group that is tracking new projects.

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California Drought: Santa Clara County Residents Failing to Meet Water Conservation Goals

/in , , /by /Mercury Newsby Paul Rogers

On June 9, as California’s historic drought deepened, the largest water agency in Santa Clara County declared a drought emergency and asked the county’s 2 million residents to cut water use by 15% from 2019 levels to preserve dwindling supplies.

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