You are now in California and the U.S. Media Coverage category.

Photos: Drone Views of EBMUD Reservoirs as California Faces Extreme Drought

/in , /by /Mercury Newsby Jane Tyska

After a very dry winter and spring, all of California is now in some level of drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. One year ago, just 58 percent of California was in drought.

In the East Bay, the East Bay Municipal Utility District’s reservoirs total system capacity is currently at 61% full, which is 73% of average. The district is in decent shape for now, but is encouraging its customers to conserve water as much as possible. The Upper San Leandro Reservoir (63% full) and the Briones (93% full) and San Pablo Reservoirs (55% full) are fed from the Pardee Reservoir (87% full) in Calaveras County, which provides 90% of EBMUD water. From Pardee, the water travels 95 miles through the Mokelumne Aqueduct to the East Bay, where it’s treated and stored until needed, serving 35 municipalities and 1.4 million customers.

Full Story

Water Groups Join To Oppose Planned St. George Pipeline

/in , /by /Nevada Public Radioby Joe Schoenmann

A southern Utah city plans to pull additional water from the Colorado River, but the move amid a historic drought has left some concerned. A 140-mile pipeline approved by the Utah Legislature would serve St. George, a fast-growing city of nearly 90,000 people — up from fewer than 75,000 a decade ago. A new “straw” into the river would increase demand on the Colorado River system, even as federal officials deal with a shrinking Lake Powell, which would be the source of the pipeline.

Full Story

Thousands of Central Valley Farmers May Lose Access to Surface Water Amid Worsening Drought

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Times by Julia Wick

As California endures an increasingly brutal second year of drought, state water regulators are considering an emergency order that would bar thousands of Central Valley farmers from using stream and river water to irrigate their crops.

Full Story

California Senators Press Congress for $1 Billion to Prep for Future Drought

/in , , /by /Courthouse News Serviceby Nick Cahill

With rural wells running dry and reservoir levels dwindling amid the Western drought, California senators are pressing Congress for an infusion of cash to renovate the state’s collapsing drinking water system.

But instead of new dams or desalination plants, Senators Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla want the state to take a more innovative approach in prepping for future megadroughts experts predict will only worsen due to global warming.

Full Story

Lake Powell Level About to Hit a Historic Low as West’s Water Crisis Deepens

/in , , /by /The Salt Lake Tribuneby Brian Maffly

Lake Powell will soon hit its lowest level since Glen Canyon Dam started trapping the Colorado River’s water in 1963 — even with emergency releases of water from reservoirs upstream. The Bureau of Reclamation announced Thursday that the lake elevation will soon drop below 3,555.1 feet above sea level, the record set in 2005, back near the start of a 20-year dry cycle plaguing the Colorado River Basin.

Full Story

Interior Secretary: Drought Demands Investment, Conservation

/in , , /by /ABC Newsby Patty Nieberg

Confronting the historic drought that has a firm grip on the American West requires a heavy federal infrastructure investment to protect existing water supplies but also will depend on efforts at all levels of government to reduce demand by promoting water efficiency and recycling, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said Thursday.

Haaland told reporters in Denver that the Biden administration’s proposed fiscal year 2022 budget includes a $1.5 billion investment in the Bureau of Reclamation, which manages water and power in the Western states, and more than $54 million for states, tribes and communities to upgrade infrastructure and water planning projects.

Full Story

Opinion: Will the Drought Contingency Plan Be Enough to Save Lake Mead? Maybe – For Now

/in , , /by / AZ Centralby Bruce Babbit

Lake Mead is disappearing. It has already fallen more than 146 feet since 2000.

Last week the Bureau of Reclamation forecast that it will likely drop another 42 feet in the next five years, drawing the lake surface down to a level barely sufficient to generate power and release water for downstream water users in California and Arizona.

Full Story

Climate Scientists Meet As Floods, Fires, Droughts And Heat Waves Batter Countries

/in , /by /NPRby Rebecca Hersher

More than 200 of the world’s leading climate scientists will begin meeting today to finalize a landmark report summarizing how Earth’s climate has already changed, and what humans can expect for the rest of the century.

The report is the sixth edition of an assessment of the latest climate science from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a United Nations body that coordinates research about global warming. The last edition of this report came out in 2013 — an eternity in the world of climate science, where the pace of both warming and research are steadily accelerating.

Full Story

Without Enough Water to Go Around, Farmers in California Are Exhausting Aquifers

/in , , /by /NPRby Dan Charles

The next time you pick up some California-grown carrots or melons in the grocery store, consider the curious, contested odyssey of the water that fed them. Chances are, farmers pumped that water from underground aquifers on a scale that’s become unsustainable, especially as the planet heats up. Facing an ongoing drought that is squeezing surface water supplies, farmers are extracting groundwater at higher rates to continue growing food as usual.

Full Story

Forever Chemicals: California Unveils Health Goals For Contaminated Drinking Water

/in , /by /CalMattersby Rachel Becker

California took a major step today towards regulating dangerous “forever chemicals” in drinking water by proposing new health limits for two of the most pervasive contaminants.

State environmental health officials recommended goals of one part per trillion and less — a minuscule amount 70 times smaller than the federal government’s non-binding guideline for drinking water nationwide.

Full Story