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OPINION: California Can’t Save Fish By Diverting More Water From Rivers

/in , /by /CALmatters (Sacramento)by John McManus

Recent decades have brought the slow collapse of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and its salmon runs. A half dozen species face extinction. Lacking natural flushing, the Delta now suffers outbreaks of toxic algae. The salmon fishing industry suffered a shutdown in 2008 and 2009 which cost thousands of jobs. Science points to a clear cause: inadequate flows caused by excessive diversions. In some years, 90 percent of the Tuolumne River is diverted, leaving only 10 percent for salmon and the Bay-Delta. Every Central Valley salmon river also suffers from over diversion in many years. Recent proposals from water users fall far short of what is needed by salmon and required by the law.

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Bills In Congress Would Implement Drought Plan In West

/in , , /by /Associated Press

Two members of Arizona’s congressional delegation introduced legislation Tuesday on a plan to address a shrinking supply of water from a river that serves 40 million people in the U.S. West. Republican Sen. Martha McSally and Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva vowed to move identical bills quickly through the chambers. Bipartisan lawmakers from Colorado River basin states signed on as co-sponsors. Arizona, California and Nevada in the lower basin and Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming in the river’s upper basin spent years crafting drought contingency plans. They aim to keep two key Colorado River reservoirs from falling so low that they cannot deliver water or produce hydropower.

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‘A California Water Supply Dream’: Record Snowpack Measured In Sierra Nevada, Lake Tahoe Region

/in , , /by /Capital Public Radio (Sacramento)by Ezra David Romero

California received some good news on Tuesday for the state’s water supply: The Sierra Nevada snowpack is well above normal, at 162 percent of average. This amount of snow is thanks to the more than 30 “atmospheric rivers” that brought storms this winter and spring. Chris Orrock, with the California Department of Water Resources, says the cold storms have helped preserve the snow. “The snowpack is nice and cold. It’s a little different than 2017, where it was warmer winter … and [the snowpack] melted quicker,” Orrock said while reporting measurements at Phillips Station near Lake Tahoe. His crew found 106.5 inches of snow at the spot. As it melts and ends up in reservoirs, the snowpack provides about 30 percent of the state’s water supply, and water managers use the snowpack-measurement data to plan releases from the state’s reservoirs.

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California Turns To Dam’s Spillway For 1st Time Since Crisis

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Rich Pedroncelli and Olga R. Rodriguez

An epic winter of rain and snow has refilled California’s reservoirs and pressed into service a spillway at the nation’s tallest dam Tuesday, a $1 billion structure that drained excess water for the first time since it crumbled two years ago and drove hundreds of thousands to flee the threat of catastrophic flooding. Water flowed down the spillway and into the Feather River as storms this week and melting snowpack are expected to swell the lake behind Oroville Dam in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, said Molly White, principal engineer with the California Department of Water Resources.

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One More ‘Atmospheric River’ As Rainy Season Continues

/in , , /by /The Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.)by Mark Gomez

A series of storms this week in the Bay Area, including a weak ‘atmospheric river’ system Friday expected to bring widespread rain to the region, should allow San Francisco and San Jose to reach their annual rainfall totals. Since the start of the water year Oct. 1, San Francisco has received 23.27 inches of rain, just shy of its annual average of 23.65 inches. San Jose has received 14.82 inches (annual average is 14.90) and Oakland 18.57 inches (20.81 average).

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Oroville Dam Holds Up As Officials Christen New Spillway Two Years After Near Disaster

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Hannah Fry and Alejandra Reyes-Velarde

Bystanders were met with the rumble of rushing water as Oroville Dam’s gates released millions of gallons of water down a newly reconstructed concrete spillway on Tuesday for the first time since the structure failed two years ago. In February 2017, people who live downstream in Oroville watched in disbelief as millions of gallons of water eroded the main spillway of the nation’s tallest dam, sending a deluge of water cascading down a hillside and forcing thousands of residents to evacuate. That scenario was exactly what bystanders watching the first water flow from the newly rebuilt spillway hoped to avoid.

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California’s Water Works An Engineering Wonder That Made The Golden State What It Is Today

/in , /by /Oakdale Leader (Oakdale, Calif.)by Dennis Wyatt

California — without a doubt — has the most intricate and massive water storage and transfer system man has ever created. It is the largest, most productive, and most controversial water system in the world that harnesses nature using man’s ingenuity. At its northernmost reaches it captures the snow run-off of the Modoc Plateau — volcanic highlands in northeast California and southeast Oregon — that is drained by the Pit River, Snow blanketing the hills of the Modoc Plateau today will melt in the coming weeks and start a long journey in the form of water. The journey’s end for water — that makes it that far — are faucets and water taps in San Diego less than a mile from the border of Mexico.

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The Fresh Water Crisis And Desalination Plants

/in , /by /Interesting Engineeringby Marcia Wendorf

Global warming is causing increased droughts throughout the world, and this has brought some areas to the brink of a water crisis. February 2, 2018, was supposed to be “Day Zero” for Cape Town, South Africa, the day on which the city was set to run out of water. That date was subsequently reset to July 15, 2018, after area fruit growers used up their allotment of water, and through conservation measures. For many areas, overdevelopment, population growth, and climate change have upset the balance between water usage and supply, and areas from North America to South America, and from Australia to Asia, are increasingly facing threats of drinking-water shortages.

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Avalanches, Snow Slides and Chain Controls: Storms Keep Pounding Northern California

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Michael MCgough

There’s no weekend reprieve in store for Northern California after a wet start to the week. In fact, it should only get wetter. National Weather Service says Friday and Saturday will see a “stronger, wetter” storm than the one passing through Monday and Tuesday, with as much as 1 to 2 feet of snow possible near summit passes this weekend. Rain and snowfall were expected to be light during this week’s first storm, but Caltrans and sheriff’s departments have reported a snow slide incident Monday afternoon and an avalanche Tuesday morning, both of which closed stretches of highways.

 

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Dam Spillway Faces 1st Use Since Imperiling California Towns

/in , /by /The Associated Press

Water will rush down the rebuilt spillway at the nation’s tallest dam for the first time since it crumbled two years ago and drove hundreds of thousands of California residents from their homes over fears of catastrophic flooding. The state Department of Water Resources said it anticipated releasing water down the spillway as early as Tuesday due to storms feeding the enormous reservoir behind Oroville Dam in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.

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