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OPINION: ‘Moving The Rain,’ Creating California

/in , /by /CALmatters (Sacramento)by Mark Arax

I explained how that invention necessitated the invention of the grandest water-moving system in the history of man. It was a system magnificently built, and it allowed us to erect two if not three world-class cities and the most intensive farming region in the world. But the system was now cracking, and it surely would not see us into a future of more houses, and more nuts, and the havocs of climate change teaming up with the havocs of our own nature: drought and flood, wildfire and mudslides.

 

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Marin Water Officials Heartened By Regional Supply Deal

/in , /by /Marin Independent Journal by Will Houston

Marin County water district officials expressed encouragement after an early agreement was reached that seeks to end longstanding conflicts of a major regional water supply 100 miles to the north. The agreement centers around the relicensing of the Potter Valley Project hydropower plant in Mendocino County, which holds a supply of water that affects fish, farmers and communities stretching from Marin to Humboldt counties. Sonoma Water, one of the main suppliers to Marin’s two water districts, draws water supplied by the power plant’s reservoirs.

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California Snowpack 202% Of Average For This Time Of Year

/in , , /by /AP News

The amount of snow blanketing the Sierra Nevada is even larger than the 2017 snowpack that pulled the state out of a five-year drought, California water officials said. As of Thursday, the snowpack measured 202% of average after a barrage of storms throughout winter and spring, according to the Department of Water Resources. The wet weather has slowed but not stopped, with thunderstorms prompting flash flood warnings Sunday in the central and southern parts of the state. At this time last year, the snowpack measured 6% of average — making this year 33 times bigger than 2018, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

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Bill To Help Eagle Mountain Hydroelectric Storage Project Outside Joshua Tree Derailed

/in , /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Evan Wyloge

Despite the efforts of a handful of Riverside County lawmakers, a controversial bill that would pave the way for a massive hydroelectric energy storage project on the edge of Joshua Tree National Park has been shelved for now, leaving the Eagle Mountain project still without a clear path forward.  The project would use abandoned iron mining pits to store billions of gallons of groundwater, pumped from the Chuckwalla Valley aquifer. Once operational, the facility would use abundant daytime solar power to pump water from a lower retention area to a higher elevation.

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Feds Dodge Claims Of Violating California Water Law

/in , , /by /Courthouse News Service (Pasadena, Calif.)by Nicholas Iovino

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Friday successfully dodged claims its management of a California dam violates state law and threatens the survival of endangered steelhead trout, but the legal battle is far from over. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen rejected a move by conservationists to add the United States as a “necessary party” to a state court action involving disputed rights to water from the Twitchell Dam and Reservoir in San Luis Obispo County.

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1 million Californians Use Tainted Water. Will State Pass A Clean-Water Tax?

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Alexei Koseff

José Hernández has two plastic barrels in his front yard, filled to the brim with water collected during the recent rains. Half a dozen buckets, a trash can and a cooking pot sit close by, nearly overflowing. It should be enough for Hernández to tend to his garden for the next few weeks  and slight relief for a water bill that sets him back $130 to $170 each month. A retired farmworker, Hernández, 64, supports his wife and two daughters primarily on a $950 monthly Social Security check.

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Coming Together For The Potter Valley Project

/in , /by /Cloverdale Reveille by Zoë Strickland,

Last week three local entities California Trout, Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission (IWPC) and Sonoma Water  announced that they will be signing a project planning agreement with the hopes of looking at pathways to relicense the Potter Valley Project. The Potter Valley Project is a hydropower project that sits in the middle of the Eel River and Russian River watershed basins and is integral in providing water to both Mendocino County and northern Sonoma County.

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California Cold: Record-Breaking Chilly And Wet Weather Settles In, Along With A Hefty Snowpack

/in , /by /The Mercury Newsby Mike Branom

Any Californian who has simply had it with May’s gray, soggy chill had to hate the Memorial Day weekend. Rending asunder holiday plans of grilling at the park, or maybe some beach time, the final days of the month continued a statewide stretch of unseasonably cold, wet weather. On Sunday and Monday, precipitation fell and temperatures dropped, establishing daily records across the southern two-thirds of the state, from Modesto to Death Valley (0.04 inches of rain Monday).

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OPINION: Changes In Climate Continue To Make Surveying Watersheds Tricky. ‘But We Can Change That’

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Frank Gehrke

In April 2015, I escorted then-Gov. Jerry Brown to Echo Summit, where we ceremoniously plunged a metal pole onto the dry, bare earth that typically would have been covered by snow but wasn’t that year. That spring, we were in the depths of a record-setting drought. If you’re among the many Californians who remember the photo of that survey, you’ll probably recognize me. I’m the one wearing a ball cap with “DWR” plastered on the front. Until my retirement last December, I’d been measuring snow in California for nearly 40 years.

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Thirsty Silicon Valley Water Agency Might Buy A Central Valley Farm. Why Agriculture Is Worried

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler

Once again, a big thirsty metropolis is looking at buying Central Valley farmland with an eye toward boosting its water supplies. And once again, neighboring farmers are nervous about it. Silicon Valley’s main water agency, the Santa Clara Valley Water District, confirmed Wednesday that it’s considering buying a 5,200-acre Merced County ranch. The district would build a groundwater storage bank beneath the ranch as a buffer during drought conditions.

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