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

El Niño Makes an Exit, but La Niña Could Bring Dry Conditions Back to California

/in , /by /Los Angeles Times by Hayley Smith

After a year of dominance, El Niño’s wrath has come to end — but its climate-churning counterpart, La Niña, is hot on its heels and could signal a return to dryness for California.

El Niño is the warm phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation, sometimes referred to as ENSO. The climate pattern in the tropical Pacific is the single largest driver of weather conditions worldwide, and has been actively disrupting global temperatures and precipitation patterns since its arrival last summer.

Full Story

‘Collaboration for the Sake of Success’ is Critical to Water Resilience

/in , /by /AgNet West Radio Network by Lauren McEwen

In a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed on May 8, Westlands Water District, Metropolitan Water District, and Friant Water Authority agreed to improve collaborations on surface, groundwater, transfers, and exchanges of water from the San Joaquin Valley to Southern California.

Furthermore, a second MOU was signed between Metropolitan and Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley, a coalition that aims to advance water accessibility across the state. The MOU intends to identify, develop, and initiate water projects for the Central Valley to solidify water resilience.

Full Story

As California Water Agency Investigates Top Manager, Some Worry Progress Could Be Stymied

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

In the three years that Adel Hagekhalil has led California’s largest urban water supplier, the general manager has sought to focus on adaptation to climate change — in part by reducing reliance on water supplies from distant sources and investing in local water supplies.

Full Story

Column: DWP’s New Leader Wants to Shake Things Up. It Won’t Be Easy

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Sammy Roth

An honest-to-goodness map of the American West would show L.A.’s tentacles everywhere.

You’d see canals — the Los Angeles Aqueduct, running along the base of the Sierra Nevada, carrying water from the Owens River; the State Water Project, meandering through the San Joaquin Valley, supplying many Southern California cities and farms; and the Colorado River Aqueduct, cutting through the desert on its mission to deliver water from desert to coast.

Full Story

California’s Largest Water Agency to Consider Firing General Manager

/in , /by /Politicoby Camille Von Kaenel

The board of the agency that delivers water to nearly half of Californians will consider firing its top leader over claims of retaliation, harassment and cultivating a toxic work environment at a special meeting Thursday morning, according to an agenda and three people with knowledge.

Full Story

What Frequent Water Main Breaks Say About America’s Aging Infrastructure

/in , /by /KPBS by John Yang, Kaisha Yang

U.S. drinking water is among the world’s safest and most reliable, but aging infrastructure across the country is posing challenges. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that there’s a water main break every two minutes. Shannon Marquez, professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University, joins John Yang to discuss why these problems are so common.

Full Story

Turf Replacement Rebates To Increase Thanks To $38M Grant

/in , /by /Patch by Paige Austin

A $38 million state grant awarded this week will be used to increase rebates to businesses and institutions that replace turf with water-efficient landscaping as a deadline looms to phase out turf at commercial, industrial, municipal and institutional properties.

In addition to the rebate program, the money will also be used to help thousands of low- income households install water-efficient irrigation systems.

Full Story

Colorado River Negotiators Say They Need More Time, As Biden Administration Wants Deal By Election

/in , /by /KJZZby Alex Hager

The policymakers working on a new management plan for the Colorado River say they need more time to bridge disagreements about how to share its water.

State negotiators from Wyoming to California are under pressure to agree on new guidelines for managing the river. The current rules expire in 2026, but state leaders disagree about who should bear the brunt of cutbacks to water demand. At a meeting this week in Colorado, John Entsminger, who manages water in Nevada, says those hard decisions probably won’t come soon.

Full Story

Bakersfield, Cal Water Lift 5-day-old Water Advisory

/in , /by /Bakersfield Californian by John Cox

The city of Bakersfield and California Water Service Co. on Sunday lifted the do-not-drink, do-not-use advisory issued Tuesday to 42 commercial customers south of Lake Truxtun after an oil company reportedly allowed pressurized natural gas and crude oil into the municipal water system.

A notice shared shortly before 4:30 p.m. said that after multiple rounds of intensive, one-way flushing, “test results have confirmed that it is safe to resume normal water use from the water distribution system.”

Full Story

Sites Reservoir: California’s Largest New Reservoir Project In Decades Moves Forward

/in , /by /KTVU Fox 2 by KTVU Staff

California is moving forward with a plan to build the state’s largest new reservoir in 50 years.

This comes after a Yolo County judge dismissed a lawsuit last week from the Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the River and other environmental groups that were aiming to block the project, the Mercury News reported.

Full Story