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Dusty Agency Gets Sharp Elbows Under Trump

/in , /by /E&E News (DC)by Jeremy P. Jacobs

The Bureau of Reclamation, the Interior Department’s Western water bureaucracy that saw its dam-building heyday in the 1960s, has risen in stature once again in the Trump administration. Reclamation has flexed its muscles on Colorado River drought management plans, setting a deadline for today for states to act and threatening to step in if they don’t. And it has been the administration’s key player in trying to fulfill President Trump’s campaign promise to deliver more water to California farmers, squeezing the state and forging ahead on a dam project California says it doesn’t want and is illegal. To key water players, the bureau is more active now than it has been in decades.

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New Measurements Show Sierra Snow Levels At Long-Term Average. And That’s A Big Deal

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Peter Fimrite

New snow measurements to be taken Thursday are expected to confirm that snow levels in the Sierra Nevada are on par with the long-term average, thanks to a series of storms that thrashed California in January. Those results may sound pretty ho hum, but getting to average is a pretty big thing in today’s topsy turvy world of snow analysis, where the absence of pending disaster due to too little snow is something to celebrate.

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Why We Can’t Stop Talking About California’s Sierra Snowpack

/in , /by /KQED (San Francisco)by Peter Arcuni

It’s not just skiers who have been whipsawed this season between fear of another dry winter and delight over the epic January snowfall in the Sierra Nevada. Also paying close attention: water wonks. Why? Because melting Sierra snow provides somewhere between one-third and one-half of California’s water supply. What determines just how much water is derived from that snow is called the “snowpack.”

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State Water Project Allocations Increased To 15 Percent

/in , , /by /The Independent (Livermore)

The Department of Water Resources (DWR) today announced a statewide increase in State Water Project allocations for 2019. The majority of SWP contractors now stand to receive 15 percent of their requests for the 2019 calendar year, up from the initial 10 percent announced in December. Allocations are based on conservative assumptions and may change depending on rain and snow received this winter. “The adjustment in allocations is the result of increased precipitation in December and January, which is good news,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth. “However, we must continue to account for climate change and the variability of California’s weather and balance the need for flood capacity during the winter while maintaining reserves in anticipation of future dry periods.”

 

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Munis Strong As Fed Keeps Rates Steady

/in , /by /The Bond Buyer (New York)by Chip Barnett Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Municipal bond buyers spent most of Wednesday in a defensive stance as the Federal Reserve met to decide the course of monetary policy. The Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 2.25% to 2.5%. The Fed “will be patient as it determines what future adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate may be appropriate to support” a strong labor market and inflation near 2%,” the FOMC said in a statement.

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Environmental Coalition Supports Arizona Drought Plan, Counters Sierra Club Concerns

/in , /by /Arizona Daily Star (Tuscon)by Tony Davis

Earlier this week, the Star interviewed longtime Arizona Sierra Club leader Sandy Bahr on her view that the proposed Colorado River drought contingency plan legislation for Arizona is a pathway to unsustainable growth, not a bridge to a sustainable Colorado River future. Today, Kevin Moran, leader of an Arizona environmental coalition backing the drought plan, responds to Bahr, and answers questions about the coalition’s support.

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Sierra Club Lobbyist: Drought Plan Supports Unsustainable Growth, Farming Practices

/in , /by /Arizona Daily Star (Tuscon)by Tony Davis

For years, advocates for a drought-contingency plan for the Colorado River have said it’s all that stands between us and catastrophe for Lake Mead. They say the plan, by limiting our take from the lake for the Central Arizona Project for the next seven years, will prevent or at least delay the time that the lake drops so low it will be impossible to get virtually any water out of it.

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Colorado River Drought Plan Takes Another Step at Arizona Legislature; Final Vote Thursday

/in , /by /The Arizona Republic (Phoenix)by Andrew Nicla and Dustin Gardiner

Arizona lawmakers appear on track to pass a Colorado River drought plan, with less than 30 hours to go before a critical federal deadline. A state Senate committee voted 6-1 Wednesday evening to pass a pair of measures that outline how the state would share looming cutbacks on the river’s water and work with other states to take less. The bills now head to the full Senate and House. Both chambers are expected to pass the bills Thursday, an effort that could stretch into the night as they rush to meet a federal deadline.

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Colorado River Water Crisis Is Days Away. Can States Make A Deal?

/in , /by /KQED (San Francisco)by Lauren Sommer

Avoiding a long-expected crisis on the Colorado River, a water source for 40 million people, is coming down to a final few days of frenzied negotiations. A 19-year drought and decades of overuse have put a water shortfall on the horizon. If California and six other states, all with deeply entrenched interests, can’t agree on a plan to cut their water consumption by Jan. 31, the federal government says it will step in and decide the river’s future.

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Weekend California Storm May Become Wintry Mess Next Week In The Plains, Midwest And Northeast

/in , /by /The Weather Channel by Jonathan Erdman

A Pacific storm swinging into California this weekend may then spread a mess of snow and ice into parts of the Midwest and Northeast, kicking off the first full week of February early next week. After one of the coldest Midwest outbreaks in a generation, the jet stream pattern will undergo a fundamental change. Instead of taking a nosedive out of Canada into the Great Lakes and Northeast, the jet stream will take a southward plunge in the western U.S. by the weekend. This will push a potent storm to the West Coast this weekend that will work its way into the Plains, Midwest and Northeast early next week.

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