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Harmful Algae Found In Lake Oroville, Advisory Warns

/in , /by /Chico Enterprise-Record

The California Water Board released a Caution Advisory for harmful algae blooms Monday in Lake Oroville. The blooms of algae were discovered in the Middle Fork of the lake, according to an advisory released on the board’s Twitter Monday. In another message on Twitter, the board said that water samples collected were found negative for microcystin. However, lab samples are currently pending for potential toxin testing. Signs have been posted near the Middle Fork of Lake Oroville to advise those near or in the lake to take caution. Swimming is still permitted. On June 4, a caution advisory for harmful algal blooms was also issued for the Thermalito Afterbay.

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Utah Joins Water officials From 7 States To Urge California To Preserve Colorado River

/in , /by /KUTV (Salt Lake City)

Utah is now working with representatives from seven states to urge California to sign off on a plan to preserve the Colorado River. According to the Associated Press, most of the seven states that get water from the Colorado River have signed off on plans to keep the waterway from crashing since it serves 40 million people. However, California missed the deadline from the federal government to get on board with the other states. California has two powerful water agencies fighting over how to get the drought contingency plan approved before U.S. officials possibly impose their own rules for water going to California, Arizona and Nevada, the AP reported.

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The World Will Get Half Its Power From Wind, Solar By 2050

/in , /by /Bloomberg by Millicent Dent and Chris Martin

Nearly half the world’s electricity will come from renewable energy by 2050 as costs of wind, solar and battery storage continue to plummet. That titanic shift over the next three decades will come as electricity demand increases 62% and investors pump $13.3 trillion into new projects, according to a report released Tuesday by BloombergNEF. The move away from fossil fuel has sweeping implications for energy markets and the fight to stave off climate change. Wind, solar and batteries are poised to enable the power sector to meet its share of emission cuts required under the Paris climate agreement, at least until 2030, according to BNEF.

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California’s Sierra Nevada Snowpack Remains Significantly Above Average, And That’s Mostly Good News

/in , , /by /The Weather Channel

The southern portion of the Sierra has the heaviest snowpack at 135% of its mid-June average. Since 2001, only 2011 had a heavier snowpack in the southern Sierra this late in the season. The central Sierra is 120% of its mid-June average. Since 2001, only 2017, 2011 and 2005 have had snowpacks on par with or heavier as of mid-June in this portion of the Sierra. Snowpack in the northern Sierra is slightly above average for mid-June, but only five other years since 2001 had snowpack near or above what we are seeing right now in that part of the mountain chain.

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Price Of Water 2019: Even Without Federal Infrastructure Deal, Cities Continue To Invest

/in , , /by /Circle Of Blue by Brett Walton

In the third year of the Trump administration, Congress and the White House have repeatedly discussed a multi-trillion dollar investment in the country’s roads, dams, levees, telecommunication networks, power grids, drinking water pipes, and sewage treatment plants.

Neither side has agreed on such a plan, and a deal seems out of reach at the moment. For drinking water infrastructure, Congress has preferred instead to fortify existing loan funds and grant programs. The country’s metropolitan centers, by and large, are taking advantage of those incremental measures. They are also forging ahead on their own, not waiting on Beltway politics to be resolved before making investments to prepare their water systems for the decades ahead.

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Groundwater Sustainability Plan To Be Released In July

/in , , /by /Times Publishing Groupby Michael Oppenheimer

California has over 500 groundwater basins and only 21 are classified as “high-priority basins in critical overdraft.” The Santa Cruz Mid-County Groundwater Basin is one of these 21 basins. In the Santa Cruz Mid-County, critical overdraft means our freshwater supply is threatened by active seawater contamination at the coast and a locally developed Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) must be in place by January 31, 2020 that addresses how to achieve a sustainable basin by 2040. The Santa Cruz Mid-County Groundwater Basin provides water for a population of approximately 95,000 people from Live Oak to La Selva Beach and the Santa Cruz Mountains to the Coast.

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Cal Poly Graduate Invents Sensor To Monitor Water Usage On Your Phone

/in , , /by /KSBY (Santa Barbara)by Dustin Klemann

California beat its drought this year, but from that seven-year drought came a new device, engineered by a Cal Poly graduate. The sensor, called Flume, could be the next step in water conservation from your couch. Each American uses about 88 gallons of water at home each day, according to the EPA. That same report shows on average, a family spends $1,000 on water every year. “You literally just take [the device], put it on the side of the meter, run some water, and just like that you’re calibrated,” said Eric Adler, co-founder and CEO of Flume, Inc., while demonstrating the device.

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NASA Is Tracking One Of Earth’s Most Valuable Resources — Water

/in , , /by /Space.com (New York)by Elizabeth Howell

Water is a complex problem on Earth: Some places get far too little of it and some get far too much. That’s why NASA and its international partners are tracking the flow of freshwater across the world in hopes of improving access to it for the billions of us who depend on it. Satellites study how water moves through its cycle. Sometimes it evaporates from warm oceans in the tropics, condenses into clouds and then falls back into the ground as snow or rain. The water might stay in a river or lake — or freeze, locked within ice or snow. It can either evaporate into the atmosphere or soak into the ground, moistening the soil or filling an aquifer.

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Why Fighting For Clean Water With Climate Change Money Worries Some California Lawmakers

/in , , /by /CALmatters (Sacramento)by Rachel Becker

Combat climate change, or clean up California’s water? Those alarmed by the Legislature’s decision to dip into a greenhouse gas fund to pay for clean drinking water may need to get used to it: constitutional restrictions on spending that money are set to expire in 2021. At issue is the decision to address one environmental crisis—the lack of clean water for one million Californians—with money set aside for fighting another: climate change. It’s a move that pits those committed to curbing greenhouse gases against environmental allies over $1.4 billion dollars of polluters’ money, even as the state boasts a $20.6 billion surplus.

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Wet California Winter Is A Boon For Skiers And Water Supply. But It Brings A Threat: Wildfires.

/in , , /by /The Washington Postby Scott Wilson

This early June morning is Boyd Shepler’s birthday, No. 66, and he is spending it in a classic California way: a few hours of skiing in a snowflake-filled morning, then a round of golf in the dry afternoon sun. The snow here in the Sierra Nevada is epic, packed into a base that is more than double the historic average for early summer. Here on Mammoth Mountain, the ski lifts will be running into August. At lower altitudes, a spring of atmospheric rivers and hard rain has filled the state’s once-languishing reservoirs.

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