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

This Giant ‘Inland Ocean’ is Southern California’s Last Defense Against Drought

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Louis Sahagun

Mechanical engineer Brent Yamasaki set out amid the recent blistering heat wave to take stock of the giant dams, pumps and pipes that support Diamond Valley Lake in Riverside County, the largest storehouse of water in Southern California.

The reservoir, which he helped build 25 years ago, is 4½ miles long and 2 miles wide and holds back nearly 800,000 acre-feet of water — so much that it would take 20,000 years to fill it with a garden hose.

Full Story

Bureau Blocks Water Transfer to Help Save SJ Valley Farmers

/in , /by /Manteca Bullitenby Dennis Wyatt

Farmers on the western edge of the parched San Joaquin Valley have little or no ground water resources this year. The South San Joaquin Irrigation District and Oakdale Irrigation District have legal rights to 200,000 acre feet of water sitting behind New Melones Reservoir beyond this year’s needs of the farms and urban customers they serve. The two districts want to help the farmers who will face a difficult choice: Let tens of thousands of acres of productive orchards die and leave cropland fallow or else accelerate groundwater pumping to exacerbate dropping aquifers the State of California has identified as a pressing issue.

Full Story

As the Drought Persists, Here’s How Phoenix is Prepared

/in , /by /AZ Big Media

Water is a precious resource in a desert city like Phoenix. Community members understand the importance of water conservation to keep the city thriving. Unlike other areas in the southwest, Phoenix is not in a water shortage. While the drought is serious, Phoenix is prepared.

Over 20 years into the current drought, Phoenix continues to have access to several water supplies, including Salt, Verde, and Colorado River, groundwater reserves, and reclaimed wastewater for crops and sustainable activities. Investments in infrastructure, strategic and innovative planning on behalf of city leaders, and long-standing water conservation programs are just some of the reasons why water supplies in Phoenix will remain in good shape.

Full Story

San Diego County Water Authority Confirms Region ‘Drought Safe’ This Summer

/in , , /by /Times of San Diego by Debbie L. Sklar and City News Service Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

Despite continued hot and dry conditions in California, the San Diego region is protected from drought impacts this summer and through 2045, the San Diego County Water Authority announced Monday.

According to a statement released by the Water Authority, “no shortages or regional water-use mandates are in the forecast, the result of three decades of strategic investments that create an aquatic safety net for San Diego County’s $253 billion economy and quality of life for 3.3 million residents.”

Gary Croucher, Water Authority Board chairman, thanked San Diegans for their efforts to “make sure that we have enough water to meet the region’s needs now and for decades into the future.”

Full Story

Drought: Transbay Pipeline, Desalination Plant Could Boost Marin’s Dwindling Water Supply

/in , /by /CBS SF Bay Areaby John Ramos

Communities across the state are desperately searching for ways to make their dwindling water supplies last. In Marin County, one water district is considering sources that they’ve looked to in the past.

The Marin Municipal Water District gets almost all of its water from the Mt. Tamalpais watershed. But one look at Nicasio Reservoir, now at less than 30 percent capacity, shows how dire the supply situation is becoming.

Full Story

New Bill Would Make it Easier to Transfer Water Throughout California

/in , , /by /ABC 30by Dale Yurong

Growers are dealing with severe cutbacks in the surface water deliveries they normally receive from reservoirs.

The lack of steady irrigation has already impacted spring cropping decisions made by farmers.

Full Story

$630 Million Project Launches, to Replace Wastewater Pipes Under South Bay and Harbor Area

/in , /by /Daily Breezeby Donna Littlejohn

After more than a decade of planning, community meetings — and more planning — an ambitious $630 million effort to replace two aging underground wastewater pipes officially launched on Monday, June 21, as a two-story-high electric tunneling machine was lowered underground at the sanitation plant on the border of Carson and Wilmington.

Full Story

Drought: Emergency Project Being Built to Protect California Water Supplies

/in , , /by /The Mercury Newsby Paul Rodgers

In a new symbol of California’s worsening drought, construction crews are putting the finishing touches on a $10 million emergency project to build a massive rock barrier through part of the Delta in Contra Costa County to preserve water supplies for millions of people across the state.

The 800-foot long barrier — the size of San Francisco’s Transamerica Pyramid laid on its side — is essentially a rock wall, 120 feet wide, built in water 35 feet deep.

Its purpose: To block salt water from the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay from flowing too far east and contaminating the huge state and federal pumps near Tracy that send fresh water south to 27 million people — from San Jose to Los Angeles — and to millions of acres of farmland in the Central Valley and beyond.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Full Story

Pricey Rock Barriers and Desalination Plants: The Latest in California’s Drought War

/in , /by /Courthouse News Serviceby Nick Cahill

Normally the cargo moving through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta contains expensive commodities meant for ports all around the world, but in drought-riddled California the most indispensable freight is currently destined for the river bottom.

Tugboats pushing and pulling barges loaded with boulders have suddenly become key performers in the state’s battle with a rapidly expanding drought, delivering supplies needed to reinforce California’s buckling water system. Around the clock crews dump the expensive cargo into the river strategically, racing to block salty tidal flows from the water pumps that sustain billions of dollars worth of crops hundreds of miles away.

Full Story

San Diego County Water Authority: Region “Drought Safe” This Summer

/in , /by /KPBS-FM/TVby City News Service Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

Despite continued hot and dry conditions in California, the San Diego region is protected from drought impacts this summer and through 2045, the San Diego County Water Authority announced Monday.

According to a statement released by the Water Authority, “no shortages or regional water-use mandates are in the forecast, the result of three decades of strategic investments that create an aquatic safety net for San Diego County’s $253 billion economy and quality of life for 3.3 million residents.”