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Billion-Dollar Disasters: The Costs, in Lives and Dollars, Have Never Been So High

/in , , /by /Inside Climate Newsby Judy Fahys

Extreme weather will surely have its own chapter in the turbulent history of 2020. The human and economic toll of Covid-19 was already enormous this fall, when it became clear that 2020 was on track to break the previous record for big weather disasters, fueled in part by climate change. From the derecho that battered the Midwest with hurricane-force winds to unprecedented wildfires that scorched more than 700,000 acres in Colorado and gave California its worst fire season in history, weather and climate events like these represented only a few line items in the latest tally of the nation’s billion-dollar disasters.

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Farmers Swap Out Irrigation Methods To Keep The Colorado River From Growing Saltier

/in , , /by /Aspen Public Radioby Jodi Peterson & KVNF

AJ Carrillo farms 18 acres outside of Hotchkiss, Colo., in the high desert of the Western Slope about an hour southeast of Grand Junction.  When he irrigates his peach orchard, water gushes from big white plastic pipes at the top of the plot and takes half a day to trickle down to the other end of his five-acre orchard. Carrillo is planning to convert his Deer Tree Farm from flood irrigation, which is commonly used in Western Colorado, to a new and much more efficient style of irrigation – microsprinklers.

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Is Farming with Reclaimed Water the Solution to a Drier Future?

/in , , /by /Salonby Cirrus Wood

On a Saturday in late October, Carolyn Phinney stands hip-deep in a half acre of vegetables, at the nucleus of what will one day be 15 acres of productive farmland. “You can’t even see the pathways,” she says, surrounded by the literal fruits of her labors. The patch is a wealth of herbs, tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, kale, winter squash, and zucchini. So much zucchini — fruits the size of bowling pins hidden under leaves as big as umbrellas.

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Dismal California Snowpack is Bad Sign for Water Supplies

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

A month into California’s peak storm season, the lack of wet weather is beginning to weigh on the state’s water supply.

The snowpack in the Sierra and southern Cascades, which provides as much as a third of the water used by California cities and farms, is about 55% of average for this time of year. It hasn’t been this low at this time since 2017, when the state was emerging from a five-year drought.

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Climate Change Measures Top California Environmentalists’ 2021 State Priorities

/in , , /by /The Mercury Newsby Martin Wisckol
California is helping lead the charge in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but more needs to be done as climate change remains the state’s top environmental issue in 2021 issue, according to top environmental lobbyists in Sacramento. Other issues on their agenda include plastic pollution, recycling, wildlife protections, and greater repair and reuse of appliances and electronic products before they are discarded.
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Sites Reservoir Awarded $13.7 Million in 2021 Federal Budget Bill

/in , /by /Sun Herald.com

Sites Reservoir was awarded $13.7 million in the 2021 federal spending bill, authorized through the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act, according to a press release. With the passage of the legislation, Congress has now approved approximately $23.7 million in WIIN Act funding to the Bureau of Reclamation for Sites Reservoir.

 

Historic Colorado Wildfire Season Could Impact Drinking Water For Millions

/in , /by /4CBS Denverby Dillon Thomas

The historic wildfire season of 2020 could impact drinking water for more than a million Colorado residents. Environmental researchers and natural resource specialists have conducted a BAER Survey, which stands for Burned Area Emergency Response. The survey evaluated how the record-breaking Cameron Peak Fire and East Troublesome Fire could impact Colorado’s snowpack and watershed. The Poudre and Upper Colorado River Basins provide drinking water for more than a million people in northern Colorado, and soon those in Thornton. The Colorado River also flows from Willow Creek Reservoir near Granby to Las Vegas and farther southwest.

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Large Energy Storage Project Would Create New Reservoir Above Isabella Lake

/in , /by /Bakersfield.comby John Cox

A $3 billion pumped-water energy storage project has been proposed along Isabella Lake that would help even out power delivery from California solar and wind farms at a volume and longevity dwarfing the large battery installations envisioned for eastern Kern.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is reviewing a Walnut engineering company’s plan to create a new reservoir above the lake then use pumps and underground pipes to turn it into a rechargeable dam and hydroelectric generator putting out a whopping 2,000 megawatts of power for up to 12 hours at a time.

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San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency Prepared for Another Drought Year

/in , , /by /Record Gazetteby Rachael Garcia

With the dry start to the winter rainy season, the probability of the Pass area entering a multi-year drought is increasing. But that isn’t such a bad thing here due to the fires scorching vegetation, creating instability if it rains and possible flooding said San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency General Manager Lance Eckhart.

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Federal Spending Bill Includes Funding for Dam Repairs, Snow Measurement Technology

/in , , /by /KRCR-TVby Kassandra Gutierrez

The proposed federal spending bill for 2021 includes funding for the Oroville Dam, Sites Reservoir Project and new snow measurement technology. If passed by Congress, part of the massive omnibus spending bill would allocate $1 billion towards restoration projects and drought relief efforts.

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