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‘We’re in Uncharted Territory’: Lake Oroville Levels Reach Historic Low, Impacting Recreation

/in , , /by /KCRA3by Stephanie Lin

In a year already plagued by pandemic and wildfires, Californians are also entangled with the crippling effect of drought.

“Every year, there seems to be a disaster and issues,” lamented California State Parks Public Safety Chief Aaron Wright, who responded to help Oroville through the Camp Fire and many other crises.

In 2017, hundreds of thousands of lives were threatened when massive flooding damaged the Oroville Dam. Today, changing weather conditions have created a stark contrast from years ago: Hot temperatures and low rainfall have left miles of dusty, cracked shorelines exposed.

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Senate Approves Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill With Funds for California

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Jennifer Haberkorn

The Senate on Tuesday approved an expansive bill to rebuild the nation’s aging roads and bridges, with $8.3 billion specifically targeted to water infrastructure projects in the West and billions more to fund national projects to mitigate the impact of wildfires.

After months of negotiation among President Biden, Democrats and a group of moderate Republicans to forge a compromise, the Senate voted 69 to 30 in favor of the legislation. In the end, it had support from 19 Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

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Ways to Save Water During the Drought — and Whether It’s Worth Doing at All

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Jessica Roy

In case you hadn’t heard, California is once again in a drought.

But don’t take our word for it. The pictures tell a chilling (or, rather, incrementally heating) story. Boat slips on dry land. “Bathtub rings” around lakes. Juvenile salmon cooked to death in warming rivers. And the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a report on Monday that outlines just how much damage has been done and who’s to blame: “It is a statement of fact, we cannot be any more certain; it is unequivocal and indisputable that humans are warming the planet.”

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Dry California Tourist Town to Guests: ‘Please Conserve’

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Olga R. Rodriguez and Haven Daley

Tourists flock by the thousands to the coastal town of Mendocino for its Victorian homes and cliff trails, but visitors this summer are also finding public portable toilets and signs on picket fences pleading: “Severe Drought. Please conserve water.”

Hotels have closed their lobby bathrooms and residents have stopped watering their gardens in the foggy outpost about 150 miles (240 kilometers) north of San Francisco after two years of little rain sapped many of the wells Mendocino depends on for potable water.

Mendocino’s water woes were compounded in recent weeks when the city of Fort Bragg a few miles to the north — its main backup water supplier — informed officials that it, too, had a significant drop in its drinking water reserves after the Noyo River recorded its lowest flows in decades.

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Hydropower Levels Under Careful Watch as Drought Ravages the West

/in , , /by /Powerby Sonal Patel

Intensifying drought conditions in California and historically low water levels at the Oroville Dam on Aug. 5 forced the state’s Department of Water Resources to shut down the 644-MW Edward Hyatt Power Plant—the fourth-largest energy producer of all California’s hydroelectric facilities.

While the current drought is affecting 95% of the West, it is bearing down severely in California and in the Colorado River Basin. Multiple reservoirs monitored by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation are “substantially” affected. The federal agency reported on Aug. 8 that at least six of its 44 major reclamation reservoirs—including Hoover Dam and Glen Canyon Dam—have now fallen to their lowest storage values in the last 30 years.

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Roseville to Take 1.2 Billion Gallons From Wells to Supply Residents With Water

/in , , /by /Fox40by Connor Malone, Bridgette Bjorlo

The city of Roseville plans to take 1.2 billion gallons from its wells to supply about 53,000 households with running water this summer.

State reservoirs have receded to their lowest point in years. To prepare for dry seasons, Roseville has invested in new technology to boost its groundwater supply by ingesting water from previous snowmelt and rainy seasons into underground wells so when water is most needed, the city isn’t entirely reliant on Folsom Lake.

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As the Climate Warms, Electricity Demand Shows a Regional Shift

/in , /by /pv magazineby Ryan Kennedy

Even though American spent more time at home in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, retail residential sales of electricity per capita rose by only 1% per person, year-on-year from 2019 to 2020, said the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration. The agency said that warmer weather in 2020, especially a particularly mild winter, increased electricity usage from air conditioning, but cut U.S. electricity usage for space heating during colder months.

EIA reported that from 1960 to 2010, per capita U.S. electricity use posted a 3% average annual increase. That trend slowed over the past decade due to warmer weather and energy efficiency upgrades. Since 2010, per capita residential electricity use has fallen 5% in the U.S.. That means 2020 represented an uptick in demand relative to the broader trend.

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California Water District Pays Millions Over ‘Unauthorized Diversion’ From Federal Canals

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler

An obscure farm-irrigation agency in the San Joaquin Valley, the Panoche Water District has been struggling with a monumental scandal the past three years, with top officials under criminal indictment for embezzling public funds and illegally dumping toxic waste.

It turns out the district has also been allegedly taking water from the federal government.

Earlier this year Panoche agreed to pay the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation nearly $7.5 million to compensate for “unauthorized diversion of water” from two federal canals, according to a settlement agreement obtained by The Bee.

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‘Code Red’: UN Scientists Warn of Worsening Global Warming

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Seth Borenstein

Earth is getting so hot that temperatures in about a decade will probably blow past a level of warming that world leaders have sought to prevent, according to a report released Monday that the United Nations called a “code red for humanity.”

“It’s just guaranteed that it’s going to get worse,” said report co-author Linda Mearns, a senior climate scientist at the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research. “Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.”

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Historic Drought in U.S. West Will Persist Through October

/in , , /by /The Mercury Newsby Bloomberg

The historic drought stretching across California and the U.S. West will likely last through October, with only minor improvements expected in parts of Arizona and New Mexico.

Drought now covers almost 95% of 11 western states, including all of California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Oregon and Idaho, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Above-normal temperatures and a dearth of rainfall is expected from August to October, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s monthly report.

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