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Can Hydropower Help Solve the Climate Crisis? This $63-Billion Plan is Banking On It

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Sammy Roth

Conservationists in California and across the West are deeply skeptical of hydropower, and it’s not hard to see why. There’s a long history of government agencies damming spectacular canyons, choking off rivers, obliterating fish populations and cutting off access to Indigenous peoples. It’s a history detailed in books such as “Cadillac Desert,” and experienced by anyone who has spent time fishing, kayaking or swimming in the region’s reshaped waterways, or hiking alongside them.

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Positioned for the Future: San Diego County Water Authority General Manager Sandra L. Kerl

/in , , /by /California Water & Power (California Municipal Utilities Association) by Matt Williams Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

There have been many surprises and unanticipated outcomes in the long wake of the pandemic. Like most workplaces, the San Diego County Water Authority had to quickly adapt a year ago, and that process continues to evolve under the leadership of General Manager Sandra L. Kerl. In a conversation with California Water & Power, Kerl discusses how her organization has embraced change and continues to prepare for the future.

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Fish or Farmers? Newsom Drought Declaration Would Trigger New War Over California Water

/in , , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler and Ryan Sabalow

When a bipartisan group of state legislators held a press conference last week to demand that Gov. Gavin Newsom declare a statewide drought emergency, they assembled at a withered farm field east of Fresno, complete with piles of dead trees in the background.

The choice was no accident. With California already experiencing drought-like conditions, Central Valley farmers and their elected representatives are the ones putting the most political pressure on Newsom to make it official.

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‘New Normal’ for U.S. Climate is Officially Hotter – and’ New and Experts See Trouble for California Experts California

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kellie Hwang

The official “new normal” for the U.S. climate is warmer than ever before — and the changes are ominous for California, experts say.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Tuesday released its new climate averages, based on the 30-year period from 1991 to 2020. The averages, known as “climate normals,” are updated every 10 years, and they show most of the known the country, including California, heating up.

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Fresno County Leaders Declare Local Drought Emergency. One Says Drought is ‘Man-Made’

/in , , /by /Fresno Beeby Yesenia Amaro

The Fresno County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday passed a resolution proclaiming a local drought emergency.

The vote on the resolution during Tuesday’s special meeting was unanimous. The resolution comes after Fresno leaders joined officials from three other Central Valley counties on Friday to declare a regional drought emergency and urge Gov. Gavin Newsom to do the same statewide.

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Bay Area Democrats Want to Pass Climate Change Laws. Can They Deliver?

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Tal Kopan, J.D. Morris

Now that Democrats have full control of Washington for the first time in a decade, Bay Area lawmakers want to make sure they don’t walk away empty-handed. For many of them, that means seeing green. After several years of historically severe wildfires, heat waves and recurring drought conditions, bills related to climate change are at the top of the agenda for many lawmakers with local ties.

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Napa Prepares City Water Use Curbs in Pursuit of 15% Consumption Cut After Dry California Winter

/in , , /by /Napa Valley Registerby Howard Yune

Irrigation curbs, car washing restrictions and the shutoff of fountains may return in the city of Napa amid shrinking water supplies on the tail of a dry California winter.

Tuesday night, the City Council is scheduled to vote on a “moderate water shortage” declaration intended to cut consumption by 15%. Approval would mark the return of water-use restrictions last rolled out in the mid-2010s when a six-year drought led California to mandate across-the-board cutbacks statewide.

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Drought Intensifies Forcing Rationing of Colorado River Water

/in , , /by /White Mountain Independentby Peter Aleshire

The US Bureau of Reclamation last week warned water users to brace for a 500,000 acre-foot cut in water from the Colorado River as a historic drought continues to tighten its grip on the Southwest.

The cutback comes on top of a 200,000 acre-foot reduction Arizona water users agreed to last year in an effort to put off this day of reckoning. The Central Arizona Project provides more than a third of the state’s water. The reductions will mostly impact farmers.

The sparse snowpack this winter soaked into the ground during the hot, dry spring — producing little runoff.

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Marin County Water District to Consider More Drought Restrictions This Week

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicle by Jessica Flores

After recently approving the Bay Area’s first widespread restrictions on water customers amid worsening drought conditions, officials with the Marin Municipal Water District will vote Tuesday on imposing more.

 

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California Senate Proposes to Spend $3.4 Billion on Drought

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Adam Beam

Mired in yet another drought that threatens drinking water, endangered species of fish and the state’s massive agriculture industry, Democrats in the California Senate on Thursday detailed a $3.4 billion proposal designed to gird the state for a new crisis on the heels of a deadly and disruptive pandemic.

The proposal would equal all of the state’s combined spending during the previous drought, which lasted from 2012 to 2016, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office. That drought occurred after the Great Recession, when California routinely battled multibillion-dollar budget deficits and struggled to pay for state services.

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