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‘Liquidation of Cows.’ How the Drought Creates Chaos on California Ranches, Dairy Farms

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler

Jennifer Beretta has been working as a dairy farmer since she was 6 and knows some of her family’s 700 cows by name. One of her favorites, a Jersey named Harmony, has won top prizes at the Sonoma County Fair.

“I raised them from when they were babies,” said Beretta, 33. “I watched them grow up to be milk cows. You get attached to them. They have personalities.”

But business is business, and right now business is bad. California’s devastating drought has dried up most of the Beretta Family Dairy’s pastures, driven up the cost of feed and made milking cows unprofitable. The Beretta family has sold off more than 40 of its cows this year, and could sell more before too long.

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Infrastructure Talks Leave Biden’s Entire Agenda at Risk

/in , /by /AP Newsby Alan Fram

President Joe Biden’s latest leap into the Senate’s up-and-down efforts to clinch a bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure deal comes with even more at stake than his coveted plans for boosting road, rail and other public works projects.

The outcome of the infrastructure deal, which for weeks has encountered one snag after another, will affect what could be the crown jewel of his legacy. That would be his hopes for a subsequent $3.5 trillion federal infusion for families’ education and health care costs, a Medicare expansion and efforts to curb climate change.

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Desalination Advances in California Despite Opponents Pushing for Alternatives

/in , , /by /Reutersby Daniel Trotta

Environmentalists say desalination decimates ocean life, costs too much money and energy, and soon will be made obsolete by water recycling. But as Western states face an epic drought, regulators appear ready to approve a desalination plant in Huntington Beach, California.

After spending 22 years and $100 million navigating a thicket of state regulations and environmentalists’ challenges, Poseidon Water is down to one major regulatory hurdle – the California Coastal Commission. The company feels confident enough to talk of breaking ground by the end of next year on the $1.4 billion plant that would produce some 50 million gallons of drinking water daily.

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Can Retrofitting Dams for Hydro Provide a Green Energy Boost?

/in , , /by /Yale Environment 360by James Dinneen

In 1969, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finished construction of the Red Rock Dam on the Des Moines River in Marion County, Iowa. One of thousands of U.S. dams built that decade, its purpose was to moderate seasonal flooding, allowing the Corps to release the million-and-a-half acre feet of snowmelt it impounded each spring at will. And for more than 50 years, aside from providing locals with a reservoir in which to fish and go boating, that’s all it did.

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Will Delta Water Users Sue — Again — To Stop California’s Drought Rules?

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Rachel Becker

Drought-plagued California is poised to bar thousands of farmers, landowners and others from pumping water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta watershed, a move that irrigation districts said exceeds the water board’s authority.

The emergency rules would be the first time state regulators have taken such wide-reaching action during a drought to prevent diversions from the massive Delta watershed stretching from Fresno to the Oregon border.

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Worst Drought in 20 Years? A County-by-County Look Around the Bay Area

/in , , /by /NBC Bay Areaby Rob Mayeda

Summer-dry conditions in spring were a leading indicator that this year’s fire season was off to an early and potentially more intense start.

Current drought conditions are leading to “record dry fuel moistures,” a repeating phrase attached to most of this year’s major wildfires in a season that is outpacing the 2020 fire season in acres burned by nearly a three-to-one margin as of July 25.

Extremely dry conditions coupled with intense heat waves have led to a significant increase in fire danger in 2021 not just in California but also for much of the western United States as drought conditions accelerated in severity during the last year.

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Get Ready To Pay More For Tomatoes, As California Growers Reel From Extreme Weather

/in , , /by /The Washington Postby Laura Reiley

Tomato sauce is feeling the squeeze and ketchup can’t catch up.

California grows more than 90 percent of Americans’ canned tomatoes and a third of the world’s. Ongoing drought in the state has hurt the planting and harvesting of many summer crops, but water-hungry “processing tomatoes” are caught up in a particularly treacherous swirl (a “tormado”?) of problems that experts say will spur prices to surge far more than they already have.

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TID Experiencing Fourth-Driest Year in 90 Years

/in , , /by /Turlock Journalby Angelina Martin

With just one month left in the precipitation year and little rainfall to show for it, Turlock Irrigation District and its customers are currently experiencing the fourth-driest year on record.

According to TID hydrologist Olivia Cramer, the Tuolumne River Watershed has received just 18.23 inches of precipitation since Sept. 1, or just about half of the historical average. The TID precipitation year, which is different from the water year, runs from Sept. 1 through Aug. 31 and will come to an end next month. The water year runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.

This year’s 18.23 inches of rainfall come as the region experiences a second-straight year of drought conditions and puts 2020-2021 in the record books as TID’s fourth-driest precipitation year on record. The three driest years on record in order are 1977 (10.90 inches), 1976 (17.46 inches) and 2015 (17.50 inches).

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Drought Moves DNR to Recommend Water Restrictions for More Than 500 Minnesota Cities

/in , /by /KSTP.comby Jessica Miles

The sounds of sprinklers have become silenced in many communities this summer due to dry conditions.

Michael Lee, of Buffalo, tried hard to keep his lawn up.

“It’s (the drought) not stopping the weeds. We’ve got thistles and stuff that are coming up, and I try to nip those when I can, but yeah, it’s been rough,” he said.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources says when the state drought plan hits a certain stage, as it now has, it triggers mandatory actions, including water restrictions.

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‘It’s Been Dropping Fast All Year’: Concerns Rise Over Water Levels at Lake Oroville

/in , , /by /Fox40by Lonnie Wong, Katelyn Stark

The drought is taking its toll on dams and rivers throughout California and there is no clearer example than at Lake Oroville where water levels have been dropping all year.

“It’s been dropping fast all year,” said fisherman Jeremiah Corlin. “It’s been slowing down, but it’s still dropping fast.”

The Oroville Dam is the state water system’s tallest, but boaters and fishermen have witnessed the water level fall nearly 250 feet below average.

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