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OPINION: We Can Plan For A ‘Leaner’ Colorado River As We Save The Salton Sea

/in , /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Ted Kowalski

Over the past five years, the seven Colorado River Basin states have been working to develop a series of drought contingency plans (DCPs) to safeguard water levels at Lake Mead. Responding to a 19-year drought, leaders throughout the basin are at last close to finalizing the agreements necessary to bolster conservation and safeguard water levels on the river. The DCPs will ensure that the Colorado River basin can balance water supplies and demands in a way that supports a healthy river and environment. The future of the Colorado River depends on the conservation and flexibility within the DCP agreements.

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Major Improvements For Colorado’s Drought Picture As Strong Snowpack Continues

/in , /by /Kiowa County Press (Eads, Colo.)by Chris Sorensen

Thanks to a series of recent snow storms, drought conditions in Colorado have shown substantial improvements over the past month, including the past week, with extreme drought nearly disappearing from the state. A remaining sliver of exceptional drought – the worst category – in southwest Archuleta County disappeared in the latest report from the National Drought Mitigation Center.

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Voluntary Agreements Shared With State Water Board. Will They Replace Disputed Flow Plan?

/in , /by /The Modesto Beeby Ken Carlson

The top state agencies that manage water and wildlife resources in California submitted a package of voluntary agreements with water districts to the State Water Resources Control Board on Friday, as an alternative to controversial flow requirements approved in December for the Tuolumne, Stanislaus and Merced rivers. The agreements, hammered out in the waning hours of Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration and favored by Gov. Gavin Newsom, combine increased river flows with a larger set of tools for restoring salmon in rivers that feed into the San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta.

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California’s Largest Reservoir Shot Up 39 Feet In Elevation In February

/in , /by /SF Gateby Amy Graff

The storms hitting California in February have left their mark on California’s largest and most important water reserve. Shasta Lake jumped 39 feet in elevation since February 1 and as of Tuesday it was at 85 percent of capacity and only 25 feet from its crest. Amid a wet winter, dramatic lake level rises have been common this year. Folsom Lake east of Sacramento rose 30 feet in January, while Lake Oroville shot up 75 feet in February.

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‘Rivers In The Sky’ Are Why California Is Flooding

/in , /by /National Geographicby Alejandra Borunda

Powerful rainstorms have battered Northern California this week. The culprit? Atmospheric rivers. The rains were born far away, deep in the tropical Pacific, where water evaporated from the warm ocean surface and fizzed into the atmosphere. The drenched air parcel flow then moved sinuously along, an “atmospheric river” winding its way toward land. When that wet air hit a coast—in this case the West Coast of the U.S.—it dumped that water out as the rain and snow that has overwhelmed Northern California this week.

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The Drought Plan And Water Conservation

/in , /by /Arizona Public Media (Tucson)by Ariana Brocious

Monday is the new deadline for all parties to sign the drought contingency plan — the deal between seven states to share less water on the Colorado River. Arizona state lawmakers approved the deal ahead of a late January deadline but the federal government said it didn’t meet the mark. Meanwhile, some say the plan doesn’t go far enough to ensure Arizona has enough water for the future.

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‘An Excellent Water Year’: Snow Depth Doubles In State’s Latest Sierra Survey

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Michael Mcgough

It’s no surprise, but feet upon feet of Sierra snow across multiple storms in February translated to healthy snow water content for California. How healthy? Department of Water Resources officials observed more than double what they measured last month at Phillips Station near Echo Summit, recording 113 inches of snow depth with a snow water equivalent of 43.5 inches Thursday, according to a news release. A month ago at the February survey (Jan. 31), snow-water equivalent had reached 100 percent of the statewide average (17.3 inches) at the February survey.

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Drought Monitor Only Tells Part Of The Story

/in , /by /ABC 10 (Sacramento)by Monica Woods

The U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) is released weekly to indicate what areas throughout the United States are experiencing some level of the five-category drought. The USDM levels range from the lower end of Abnormally Dry to the highest level of drought, Exceptional Drought. During the recent five-year drought, which ended with the record-setting winter of 2016-17, Californians were faced with water shortages and much of the state ranked in the Extreme and Exceptional categories.

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Winter Storms Wash Drought Almost Completely Off California Map

/in , /by /SFGate (San Francisco)by Amy Graff

Back-to-back storms hammering California this winter have nearly washed drought off the California map. After the recent atmospheric river, only a lingering sliver of “moderate drought” conditions remains near the Oregon border. The federal Drought Monitor Map, one way to measure drought that’s mainly used in agriculture, shows two percent of the state with “moderate drought” conditions and 13 percent abnormally dry in its Feb. 28 report.

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Oroville Dam Staying Low To Provide Room For Wet Weather, Possible Use Of Reconstructed Spillway

/in , /by /Chico Enterprise-Recordby Robin Epley

Oroville Dam is currently the only reservoir in the state that’s below average elevation — but that’s on purpose, said the state’s Department of Water Resources. “If the lake begins to rise very quickly in the coming weeks due to large storms and increased inflows, then DWR may consider using outflow mechanisms,” the department said in a press release. That could include using the main spillway for the first time since it was rebuilt. The reservoir is currently at 55 percent of total capacity, said DWR’s assistant director of public communications, Erin Mellon. That’s about 80 percent of average.

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