A key Colorado River conservation goal just got more realistic.
The Bureau of Reclamation approved an agreement this week that will keep 700,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Mead that would have been used by the Imperial Irrigation District, which uses more water from the river than any city or farming district in the West.
If it seems there have been more and bigger earthquakes in Southern California recently, it’s because there have been more.
Dr. Lucy Jones, a seismologist from California Technical Institute in Pasadena, posted on social media that there have been 13 earthquakes in Southern California with magnitudes of 4.0 or greater this year.
The Imperial Irrigation District in California, which uses more Colorado River water than any other district in the West, finalized an agreement on Monday to leave up to 700,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Mead through 2026.
As part of the landmark conservation agreement with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the district will receive federal funding for conservation programs from 2024 through 2026 to conserve up to 300,000 acre-feet a year of water that will remain in Lake Mead to aid the drought-stricken Colorado River.
South of Headgate Rock Dam, beyond riverbanks lined with willow and mesquite, the broad floodplain of the Colorado River spreads across emerald fields and sun-bleached earth.
The Colorado River has nourished these lands in present-day western Arizona for millennia, from the ancestral Mohave people who cultivated corn, squash, beans, and melons, to the contemporary farmers of the Colorado River Indian Tribes, or CRIT, whose reservation extends for 56 miles along its namesake river.
The federal government is expected to announce water cuts soon that would affect some of the 40 million people reliant on the Colorado River, the powerhouse of the U.S. West. The Interior Department announces water availability for the coming year months in advance so Western cities, farmers and others can plan.
Behind the scenes, however, more elusive plans are being hashed out: how the basin will share water from the diminishing 1,450-mile (2,334-kilometer) river after 2026, when many current guidelines that govern it expire.
In a new study, UC San Diego researchers suggest Mars has large amounts of liquid water miles beneath its surface after analyzing data from NASA’s InSight lander mission.
Why it matters: Knowing if, when, where and how much water exists on Mars helps scientists determine the water cycle and evolution of the planet, and whether it can sustain life or was able to in the past.
California’s history is defined by building great and innovative infrastructure projects that improve our quality of life and set our state up for continued economic prosperity. From the Golden Gate Bridge to interstates 5 and 80, these projects are symbols of how major infrastructure investments can drive incredible economic growth. Though the creation of these projects was seemingly impossible to many at their inception, they quickly became an essential part of our critical infrastructure fabric that sustains our economy and way of life.
We are at a similar crossroads in building reliable water infrastructure to deliver water to two-thirds of Californians through the Delta Conveyance Project. This proposed project has been studied, refined, redesigned and rerouted due to extensive public input and thoughtful improvements by Gov. Newsom’s administration.
Bakersfield customers of California Water Service could be paying 34.5% more each month to fill their tubs and flush their toilets in coming years.
That’s how much the water company is seeking to boost rates over 2026, 2027 and 2028, subject to approval by the California Public Utilities Commission. If approved at the requested amounts, Bakersfield residents who use 8,977 gallons a month would see a bill of $47.87 go to $56,58 in 2026, then $61.02 in 2027 and $66.20 in 2028.
Fresno drivers headed to the Bay Area via Pacheco Pass on Highway 152 can’t help but take note of a sprawling inland sea that seemingly appears out of nowhere among the yellowed, oak-dotted foothills.
This is San Luis Reservoir, essentially a 2 million acre-foot holding tank built to irrigate San Joaquin Valley farms and supply drinking water to Silicon Valley. Its construction was considered such a significant addition to California’s water supply that President John F. Kennedy turned out in 1962 to push the dynamite plunger.
The month of July kicked off with a dire warning: A rare, long-duration heat event was forecast to bring extreme heat risk across the West, with triple-digit temperatures and dangerous fire conditions expected in much of California for days on end.
That outlook quickly proved accurate — and would end up defining almost the entire month in the Golden State, which would see little relief from unrelenting heat.
