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Drought Back On The Map For Northern California

/in , /by /SF Gateby Amy Graff

Drought has crept back into Northern California. Despite a flurry of late storms in spring, precipitation for the winter season was below normal and the region is facing moderate drought and abnormally dry conditions once again, according to the federal government’s U.S. Drought Monitor. What’s more, temperatures were above normal throughout winter. The Drought Monitor’s weekly map, released Thursday, shows a large swath extending north of San Francisco through the Sacramento Valley to the Oregon border in moderate drought. The Bay Area and the North Coast went from normal to abnormally dry; parts of the northern Sierra remain normal.

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If We Don’t Want To Run Out Of Water, We Should Look To The Sun

/in , /by /Popular Scienceby Jeremy Deaton

A winter of exceptionally meager snowfall has revived California’s water woes. Snowpack typically supplies the state with much of its water during the spring and summer, but this year, snow is in short supply, spurring Gov. Jerry Brown to instate permanent conservation measures. Thanks to climate change, the problem is only going to get worse, leaving officials worried about the future of water in the Golden State. Huntington Beach, a seaside Southern California city, is taking the long view, investing in a new desalination plant that will turn seawater into clean, drinkable H20.

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Reclamation Commissioner To Arizona: Get A Water Deal Done This Year

/in , /by /Cronkite News Arizona PBSby Bret Jaspers

After a detailed – and dire – technical presentation from one of her experts, the commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Thursday told an audience of water stakeholders that officials weren’t trying to scare people, only make plain the risks of historically low levels on Lake Mead. Commissioner Brenda Burman and other federal officials urged, cajoled and pushed Arizona to finalize a so-called Lower Basin Drought Contingency Plan. The plan identifies earlier, steeper cuts to water users than those mandated by a 2007 agreement to decrease the risk of a rapid decline in lake level.

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Arizona Commits To Drought Plan For Colorado River

/in , /by /The Associated Press by Felicia Fonseca

Arizona water officials committed Thursday to reach a multi-state plan by the end of the year to stave off Colorado River water shortages, or at least lessen the impact. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has been prodding Western states to wrap up drought contingency plans, one each in the lower and upper basins. Little snowpack, rising temperatures and ongoing drought have led to steady declines in the river that serves 40 million people in seven U.S. states.

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Deeply Talks: New Water Storage In California

/in , /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Ian Evans

In this episode of Deeply Talks, Tara Lohan, managing editor of Water Deeply, talks with Jay Lund, a professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California, Davis, and Rachel Zwillinger, water policy adviser for Defenders of Wildlife, about how water storage projects in California are being funded, which projects are receiving state money and what kinds of water projects the state really needs.

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Why California’s Limit On Residential Water Use Doesn’t Really Exist

/in , /by /Pacific Standard Magazine (Santa Barbara)by Matt Weiser Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

California has always been America’s leader on environmental policy, and water is no exception. So it was hardly surprising when the state made headlines across the nation in early June with a new policy on residential water use: Californians will be limited to 55 gallons per person per day for their indoor water needs. The rule is apparently the first of its kind in the nation. But lost in the excitement is the fact that water agencies have no way to measure how much water their customers use indoors.

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Oroville Dam: Senate Passes Bill To Require Independent Risk Analysis

/in , /by /Chico Enterprise-Recordby Risa Johnson

The U.S. Senate passed on Monday the 2019 Energy and Water Development appropriations bill, which requires an independent risk analysis of Oroville Dam. Additionally, the bill would order the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to report the findings of an independent panel reviewing the state Department of Water Resources’ dam safety practices to the Senate committee. Next, the proposed piece of legislation will head to the House of Representatives for reconciliation and a final vote. It passed through the Senate energy and water development appropriations subcommittee on May 24.

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OPINION: Sites Reservoir Is Too Smart An Investment For California To Pass Up

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Jeff Harris

When California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 1, they specifically called for new storage to help the environment. The Sites project, a proposed off-stream reservoir north of the Delta meets this need, providing as much as 200,000 acre-feet a year of new flows for fish. Sites is a smart and long overdue investment that the California Water Commission must seize by giving its final approval on Wednesday to as much as $1 billion in Prop. 1 money.

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OPINION: California Water Board Should Adopt Holistic Approach To Management

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Mike Wade

Clean, reliable water supplies are vital to everyone who calls California home. The efforts by California citizens to conserve water during the drought helped stretch limited water supplies during a desperate time. Urban landscapes were parched. Many farms did without any water at all. Another drought could occur at any time and yet the State Water Resources Control Board is about to make a decision that could take billions of gallons of water from our farms and urban communities based only on an outdated premise.

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Santa Clara Valley Water District To Buy Site For Huge New Reservoir, Largest In 20 Years In Bay Area

/in , /by /The Mercury News (San Jose)by Paul Rogers

Saying it needs an insurance policy against future droughts, the Santa Clara Valley Water District is moving forward with plans to purchase a key property to build the largest reservoir constructed in the Bay Area in the past 20 years. The water district’s board is scheduled to vote Tuesday afternoon on an agreement to purchase 274 acres near Pacheco Pass for the project.

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