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Facing a Drought, California’s Farmers Make Hard Choices

/in , , /by /The Mercury Newsby Lisa M. Krieger

In wetter times, these feathery beds of asparagus would produce generations of tender green spears, reaching for the vast San Joaquin Valley sky.

On Monday they were disked into the dry dirt, their long lives cut short by unreliable and expensive water.

“It’s a really sad day,” said Fresno County’s Joe Del Bosque, who has destroyed 100 acres of organic asparagus so he can divert precious water to more valuable melons. “The water is so uncertain this year. We didn’t think we’d have enough to carry it through.”

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Drought Intensifies and Expands in the American West

/in , , /by /Courthouse News Serviceby Matthew Renda

The scale of the drought hitting the American West is beginning to crystallize as Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona experienced their driest year in terms of precipitation on record, according to the National Center for Environmental Information.

In Utah and California, it was the second-driest winter on record. For Wyoming, it was the third-driest ever. For Colorado, only three winters were ever drier in the 127-year history of record-keeping at the center.

“This is extreme,” said Peter Gleick of the Pacific Institute.

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Opinion: Investment in Delta Tunnel, Sites Reservoir Will Ensure Water Supply

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Heather Dyer

California just recorded its’ third driest winter in history, so it’s no surprise that State Water Project deliveries have been cut to just 5% of contracted amounts.

This is bad news for regional water agencies who collectively depend on the State Water Project for a fourth of their water supply.

But these agencies have seen the climate change writing on the wall for a long time. In fact, Southern California has been in an extended drought for the last 20 years. Because of this, 11 San Bernardino Valley water agencies have identified close to $650 million worth of local stormwater capture, storage and recycling projects they plan to build over the next 50 years to lessen their dependence on State Water Project imports.

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Drought Imperils Economy in California’s Farm Country

/in , , /by /The Wall Street Journalby Jim Carlton

Sitting in a pickup truck on his almond farm 100 miles north of San Francisco, Tom Butler pointed to a withered grove he has been planning to bulldoze in order to save his little remaining water for younger trees.

“It’s not a decision any farmer wants to make,” the 42-year-old said last week. “We’re in survival mode.”

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California’s 2021 Drought: What’s Happening Now and What the Water Shortages Mean For You

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

In the Bay Area, most people get their water from big utilities that have lots of water, even during a drought. Your tap is not at risk of running dry.

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and East Bay Municipal Water District, two of the region’s largest suppliers, have already said they’re likely to get by this summer without the need for water restrictions. They’re still urging conservation, however.

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Declining Lake Powell Levels Prompt Colorado River States to Form New Plan

/in , , /by /KUNC Coloradoby Luke Runyon

Declining levels at the second-largest reservoir in the U.S. have spurred officials in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico to search for ways to prop it up.

Lake Powell on the Colorado River is dropping rapidly amid one of the southwestern watershed’s driest years on record. It’s currently forecast to be at 29% of capacity by the end of September — the lowest level since the reservoir first started filling in 1963. Its sister reservoir downstream on the Colorado River, Lake Mead, is also approaching a record low this year.

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Opinion: Balance Pain of Drought on Farmers and Fishermen Equitably

/in , , /by /CalMattersby John McManus

In the first week of May a young salmon boat captain struggled to keep his boat stable and fishing while getting bashed by an unruly spring wind storm near the San Mateo-Santa Cruz county line. Far offshore, where the continental shelf drops off and a huge volume of marine nutrients circulate from the ocean bottom to the surface, salmon gathered. So did borderline gale force winds on top of a 10-foot swell. It looked like the scene at the end of the movie, “The Perfect Storm.”

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Water in Shorter Supply than Ever, California Reps Take Aim at State’s Poor Policies on Capitol Hill

/in , , /by /The Sun

With communities on the West Coast once again threatened by extreme drought, Republicans on the House Committee on Natural Resources held a hearing on Wednesday to discuss the issue.

Central Valley representatives Kevin McCarthy (R–Bakersfield), Devin Nunes (R–Tulare) and David Valadao (R–Hanford) joined the committee to address the drought.

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Money for Water Debt May be Available but Can California Get it to Those in Need?

/in , /by /San Joaquin Valley Waterby Jesse Vad

As pandemic restrictions begin to ease in California, a race is on to get money in place to help with massive and growing household water debt before the statewide moratorium on shutoffs for non-payment is lifted.

Some observers are looking at June 15, when Gov. Newsom said he’ll lift the state’s mask mandate, as a potential date for release from other COVID-19 mandates, including the water shutoff moratorium.

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Severe Drought, Worsened by Climate Change, Ravages the American West

/in , , /by /The New York Timesby Henry Fountain

This year, New Mexican officials have a message for farmers who depend on irrigation water from the Rio Grande and other rivers: Unless you absolutely have to plant this year, don’t.

Years of warming temperatures, a failed rainy season last summer and low snowpack this winter have combined to reduce the state’s rivers to a relative trickle. The agency that controls irrigation flows on the Rio Grande forced the issue. To conserve water, it opened its gates a month later than usual.

Severe drought — largely connected to climate change — is ravaging not only New Mexico but the entire Western half of the United States, from the Pacific Coast, across the Great Basin and desert Southwest, and up through the Rockies to the Northern Plains.

In California, wells are drying up, forcing some homeowners to drill new ones that are deeper and costlier. Lake Mead, on the border of Arizona and Nevada, is so drained of Colorado River water that the two states are facing the eventual possibility of cuts in their supply.

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