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FEMA Ranks Los Angeles County as Riskiest in the Nation; Riverside, San Bernardino Counties in Top 10

/in , , /by /CBS Los Angeles

Los Angeles County is the riskiest county in the country according to a new risk index – and Riverside and San Bernardino counties are not far behind.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Risk Index looked at 18 kinds of natural disasters, such as coastal flooding, drought, landslides, tsunamis, earthquakes, wildfires, strong winds, volcanic activity and heat and cold waves. The ranking also takes into account economic damage and the community’s ability to recover from a disaster.

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Harnessing Rice Fields to Resurrect California’s Endangered Salmon

/in , , /by /Inside Climate Newsby Liza Gross

California’s salmon populations have been dangerously close to extinction for decades. A new partnership may help tip the scales toward recovery.

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TUD Efforts to Acquire PG&E Water Rights and Infrastructure ‘Still On Track’

/in , /by /The Union Democratby Guy McCarthy

Tuolumne Utilities District efforts to acquire water rights and infrastructure from Pacific Gas and Electric Co. were slowed by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, but TUD’s general manager said Tuesday that negotiations with the utility giant are “still on track,” and he is optimistic an agreement could be reached this year.

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California is Scrambling to Avoid Blackouts. Your Refrigerator Could Help

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

Sometime next summer, there’s a decent chance a heat wave will bake the American West, and California’s power grid will again be stretched to its limits. As the sun sets, solar panels will start generating less electricity even as temperatures remain high. Power plants that burn natural gas will fire up as quickly as possible, in a race to keep air conditioners blowing and avert the need for rolling blackouts.

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Wall Street Eyes Billions in the Colorado’s Water

/in , , /by /The New York Timesby Ben Ryder Howe

There is a myth about water in the Western United States, which is that there is not enough of it. But those who deal closely with water will tell you this is false. There is plenty. It is just in the wrong places.

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California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta – a Short History of Big Changes

/in , , /by /YubaNetby Jay Lund

Deltas globally adjust with changes and fluctuations in external conditions, internal dynamics, and human management.  This is a short history of big changes to California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in the past and present, and its anticipated future.  This history is important for understanding how many of the Delta’s problems have developed, changed, and continue to change.

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Wall Street Can Now Bet On the Price of California Water. Watch Out

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Michael Hiltzik

Wall Street’s reputation as one of America’s premier innovation machines can only be enhanced by a new futures contract that began trading publicly on Dec. 7. It allows investors to bet on the price of water in California.

Those who take the gamble are effectively betting that the spot price for water will rise during the life of the contract; they’ll pocket the difference. Sellers are betting that the price will fall.

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Climate’s Toll on the Colorado River: ‘We Can Weather Maybe a Couple of Years’

/in , , /by /The Arizona Republicby Ian James

Beside a river that winds through a mountain valley, the charred trunks of pine trees lie toppled on the blackened ground, covered in a thin layer of fresh snow. Weeks after flames ripped through this alpine forest, a smoky odor still lingers in the air.

The fire, called the East Troublesome, burned later into the fall than what once was normal. It cut across Rocky Mountain National Park, racing up and over the Continental Divide. It raged in the headwaters of the Colorado River, reducing thick forests to ashes and scorching the ground along the river’s banks.

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Water Authority and GSA To Settle On Sagging Friant-Kern Canal Resolution

/in , /by /The Sun Gazetteby John Lindt

The Friant Water Authority cleaned up some of the most important work in the last month of the year hashing out a legal settlement with farmers in southern Tulare County.

Represented by the Eastern Tule Groundwater Sustainability Agency farmers agreed to contribute at least $125 million to repair the significant subsidence-caused sag in the gravity-fed canal that has cut water deliveries by 60%.

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Many Scientists Now Say Global Warming Could Stop Relatively Quickly After Emissions Go to Zero

/in , /by /Inside Climate Newsby Bob Berwyn

Parts of the world economy may have been on pause during 2020, dampening greenhouse gas emissions for a while. But that didn’t slow the overall buildup of atmospheric carbon dioxide, which reached its highest level in millions of years.

If anything, research during the year showed global warming is accelerating. Symptoms of the fever include off-the-charts heat waves on land and in the oceans, and a hyperactive and destructive Atlantic hurricane season.

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