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Massive Northern California Reservoir Project Scaled Back to Reduce Costs

/in , /by /San Jose Mercury Newsby Paul Rogers

An ambitious plan to build the largest new reservoir in California in 40 years to supply water to homes and businesses from the Bay Area to Los Angeles, along with Central Valley farmers, is being scaled back considerably amid questions about its $5 billion price tag and how much water it can deliver.

Sites Reservoir is proposed for construction in remote ranch lands in Colusa County, about 70 miles north of Sacramento. The reservoir, originally designed to be four times as big as Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park and nearly as big as San Luis Reservoir between Gilroy and Los Banos, received more money than any other project two years ago from a water bond passed by state voters during California’s historic drought.

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Megadrought ‘Unprecedented In Human History’ Likely the New Normal Across the West

/in , , /by /CBS News San Franciscoby John Blackstone

Come spring, the American West’s vast water reservoirs are supposed to fill with melting snow. However this year, as in recent years, the large reservoirs of Lake Mead and Lake Powell in the Colorado River basin have seen declining water levels — an ominous trend that a new study warns could signal a looming megadrought.

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Pandemic Could Complicate Efforts to Upgrade State Drinking Water Systems

/in , , /by /SF Gate/Bay City News Foundationby Kiley Russell

An unprecedented and fledgling statewide effort to shore up hundreds of struggling drinking water systems could face intense pressure from the novel coronavirus pandemic as the program is rolled out in coming months.

For almost a year now, the California Water Resources Control Board has been working to craft the program, and on Tuesday it approved a policy designed to guide the spending of $1.3 billion over 10 years to save some 300 water systems that are failing or at-risk of failing.

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With People Staying Home, Water Use Has Changed Dramatically Around Boston

/in , , /by /NBC 10 Bostonby Alec Greaney

Life has been different around Boston for weeks during the coronavirus pandemic, and you can see one way it’s changed entire communities in an essential resource: the water supply.

Water use has dropped nearly 6% across the region during the past eight weeks, during the governor’s stay-at-home order, according to figures compiled this week by the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority and cited by the city of Newton. The supplier compared use from March 18 to May 6 against averages from the previous three years.

Non-essential businesses have been shuttered and Boston and Waltham, both home to large commercial districts, experienced heavy drop-offs of 13.7% and 13.1%, respectively. Milton and Nahant have also used significantly less water in their areas, with Nahant down 9.1% from an average year.

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Fyfe Company System Rehabs Water Pipeline

/in , , /by /Trenchless International

San Diego County Water Authority identified the need to rehabilitate sections of the pipeline while executing its strategy to make major investments in the region’s water delivery system.

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California’s Mountain Snow Cover is Vanishing a Month Early, in a Worrying Setup for Fire Season

/in , , /by /The Washington Postby Diana Leonard

On Monday, California fire officials gathered to launch the state’s annual Wildfire Preparedness Week. The message they delivered was clear: Summer 2020 would not mimic summer 2019, when wildfires mostly remained small and manageable into August.

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Judge Throws Water on California Bid to Slow Delta Pumping

/in , , /by /Courthouse News Serviceby Nick Cahill

In California’s eternal water wars, Trump’s push to send the liquid gold from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to farmers in the south was contested by the state and environmentalists in federal court Thursday.

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California Agriculture and COVID-19

/in , , /by /California Ag Todayby Tim Hammerich

In recent weeks, we’ve been sharing stories of how California agriculture is adapting under the current circumstances stemming from COVID-19. I have a few more for you here today.

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic reverberate through California agriculture, according to speakers at an online forum. During a virtual town hall hosted by chairs of the Legislature’s agriculture committees, economists said changes in diets and buying habits have disrupted every aspect of the farming business. One analyst said agriculture faces a “one-two punch” from the pandemic shutdown and a slow economic recovery.

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Regulating Microplastics in Drinking Water: California Retains its Vanguard Status

/in , , /by /The National Law Reviewby Olivia Molodanof

The California State Water Resources Control Board is poised to become “the first regulatory agency in the world to specifically define ‘Microplastics in Drinking Water.”‘ In September 2018, the California legislature adopted Health and Safety Code section 116376 via Senate Bill No. 1422, adding microplastics regulations to California’s Safe Drinking Water Act.

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Senate Panel Moves Major Water Bills, Adding PFAS Actions

/in , , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Dean Scott

The Senate’s environment panel pushed through two major water infrastructure bills Wednesday, rejecting a GOP member’s attempt to give Western states more authority over water supplies but agreeing to direct the EPA to set drinking water limits for “forever chemicals” known as PFAS.

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