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Conserving Water Is Still A Priority For California. How About Other States?

/in , /by /San Gabriel Valley Tribuneby Steve Scauzillo

The Metropolitan Water District last week re-upped its turf-removal program, providing greater incentives for homeowners to replace thirsty lawns with drought-tolerant plants. In Utah, the state’s Division of Water Resources is encouraging residents to use more water so it can justify spending $3 billion on a pipeline that will take more water from Lake Powell, which is fed by the Colorado River, a source of water for Southern California residents. This tale of two states brings up an interesting question: Is water conservation de rigueur or passé?

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Sites Reservoir Is Sacramento Valley’s Water Project. But L.A. Is Taking A Huge Role

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler and Ryan Sabalow

As water projects go, Sites Reservoir has always been the Sacramento Valley’s baby – a multibillion-dollar reservoir conceived by Valley farmers, carved out of a ghost town an hour north of the Capitol. Around the Valley, “Build Sites Reservoir” signs dot the roads along mile after mile of orchards and rice fields. But a funny thing has happened as the Sites project, designed as the largest reservoir built in California since the 1970s, pulls together its financing: It’s becoming much less of a Sacramento Valley venture. Over the past two years, scared off by the anticipated costs of storing water there, Valley agricultural irrigation districts have steadily reduced their ownership shares of Sites, giving way to water agencies from Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley.

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Stanford Experts Discuss Impacts Of Downsizing The Delta Twin Tunnels Project

/in , /by /Stanford Newsby Michelle Horton

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced this week his plan to downsize the Delta twin tunnels project, a controversial $17 billion water conveyance system aimed at diverting water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to the Central Valley and Southern California. The tunnels are intended in part to reduce the impacts that massive pumps at the south end of the Delta currently have on Delta hydrology and ecosystems.

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Facing Cutbacks On The Colorado River, Arizona Farmers Look To Groundwater To Stay In Business

/in , /by /The Arizona Republic (Phoenix)by Ian James

In satellite images, the farm fields in central Arizona stand out like an emerald green quilt draped across the desert landscape. Seeing it from the ground level, the fields of alfalfa, corn and wheat are interspersed with the furrows of freshly plowed fields. After the cotton harvest, stray fluffy bolls lie scattered on the ground like patches of snow. A large share of the water that flows to these fields comes from the Colorado River, and the supply of water is about to decrease dramatically.

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California Rail Project Not Dead Yet After Newsom Sows Confusion

/in , /by /The Bond Buyer (New York)by Keeley Webster

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s effort to distance himself from his predecessor’s priorities sowed confusion about the fate of the state’s bond-funded high-speed passenger train project. In his first State of the State speech Tuesday, Newsom took aim at high-speed rail and water tunnel projects championed by former Gov. Jerry Brown. He created confusion about high-speed rail when he said he wanted to prioritize construction on the already underway Bakersfield to Merced segment in the state’s Central Valley. The initial impression was that Newsom planned to scrap the San Francisco and Los Angeles ends of the project to leave the shortened Bakersfield-Merced line.

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Pineapple Express’s Biggest Punch Set To Hit Water-Logged California

/in , /by /U.S. News & World Report (Washington D.C.)

The worst of the rain, snow, and winds carried by the so-called Pineapple Express, a river of warm air loaded with moisture, will hit California on Thursday and stick around at least through Friday, forecasters said. The weather system, headed east from near Hawaii, is the wettest storm on the U.S. West Coast this season. It has swamped cars, flooded vineyards and forced hundreds of Californians to evacuate their homes Wednesday to escape the threat of mudslides. Three Delta Air Lines passengers suffered minor injuries when severe turbulence shook a flight headed from southern California to Seattle on Wednesday, according to authorities.

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Newsom Signs Bill To Provide $131.3 Million In Emergency Relief, Including Safe Water

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Rory Appleton

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed his first bill, which will provide $131.3 million in immediate relief from the state’s general fund for emergencies such as a lack of clean drinking water, while surrounded by children at a Parlier elementary school – all of whom must drink from water bottles due to unsafe drinking fountains. His signature on AB 72, which passed the Legislature unanimously, was briefly in jeopardy. Prior to signing, he polled the students at Riverview Elementary School on whether he should put pen to paper. One young man dissented.

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Another Looming Climate Disaster: Dam Collapses

/in , /by /BuzzFeed (New York)by Dan Vergano

Major dams in California are five times more likely to flood this century than the last one due to global warming, a new study finds, possibly leading to overtopping and catastrophic failures that threaten costly repairs and evacuations. That means Californians can expect more disasters like the Oroville Dam, whose overflow channel failed in 2017 after days of flooding had filled state reservoirs to 85% of their capacity, leading to the evacuation of more than 180,000 people and losses of around $300 million.

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom Downsizes Delta Water Project: One Tunnel, Not Two

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler and Ryan Sabalow

Gov. Gavin Newsom, diving into one of California’s most contentious water issues, said Tuesday he wants to downsize the Delta tunnels project. The Democratic governor also set out to overhaul state water policy by naming a new chair of the state’s water board. Newsom said he wants the twin-tunnel project — designed to re-engineer the troubled estuary that serves as the hub of California’s elaborate water-delivery system — reduced to a single tunnel.

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With CVWD Okay, Imperial Irrigation District Now Holds Key To Seven State Drought Deal

/in , /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Janet Wilson

It’s all up to the Imperial Irrigation District. The fate of a seven-state plan to address dwindling Colorado River water supply now appears to rest squarely with the sprawling southeastern California water district. Its neighbor to the north, the Coachella Valley Water District, voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve interstate agreements that would conserve water for use by 40 million people and vast swaths of agricultural lands. IID has tied its approvals to a binding promise to receive $200 million in federal matching funds to restore the fast-dwindling Salton Sea, which lost critical Colorado River water imports a year ago.

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