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Dismal Western Snowpack Is A Climate “Warning Sign”

/in , /by /Scientific Americanby Chelsea Harvey

It’s only May, and it’s already shaping up to be a stressful summer for many western states. Low mountain snowpack is a big part of the problem. Both the mighty Rio Grande and the Colorado River are experiencing low flow in places, prompting concerns about everything from water shortages to the plight of suffocating fish. U.S. officials have already launched rescue missions for an endangered minnow in New Mexico, where parts of the Rio Grande have already started to run dry—an unusual event so early in the season.

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Can A Truce Hold Off Another Water Rebellion?

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Ryan Sabalow and Dale Kasler

The last time water was this scarce in the Klamath Basin, a rugged agricultural area straddling the California-Oregon border, farmers clashed with U.S. marshals and opened locked canal gates with blowtorches so they could irrigate. Nearly 10,000 agriculture activists from around the U.S. later converged on the region to hold symbolic “bucket brigade” protests. Months of unrest ended after then-Vice President Dick Cheney personally intervened and worked behind the scenes to have water delivered to the growers – a decision that tribal fishing communities downstream blamed for killing 68,000 salmon in the fall of 2002.

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Shrinking Glaciers, Bigger Fires And Hotter Nights: How Climate Change Is Altering California

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Tony Barboza and Joe Fox

California may be a leader in the fight against climate change, but the state is increasingly hard hit by symptoms of the unrelenting rise of greenhouse gases, a new state assessment finds. As global warming accelerates, California is getting hotter and drier. Trees and animals are moving to higher ground. Air conditioning is an increasing necessity. More winter precipitation is falling as rain and there’s less spring snowmelt to satisfy the water demands of farms and cities.

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November Water Bond Promises $8.7 Billion Towards Securing California’s Future

/in , /by /The Planning Report (Los Angeles) Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

California voters are being presented with two upcoming water bond propositions in the June and November elections. In June, Prop 68 will present voters with a $4 billion Parks and Water Bond, and in November the Water Supply and Water Quality bond will present voters with an $8.7 billion bond. Recently, TPR sat down with Jerry Meral, official proponent of the November Water Bond and director of the California Water Program at the Natural Heritage Institute.

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What If People Were Paid To Use Less Water?

/in , /by /City Lab (Washington, DC)by Zachary Burt

From Sao Paulo and Cape Town to Beijing and San Diego, water demand in cities around the world is outstripping supply. Urbanization, developing economies, and shifting precipitation patterns are some of the causes, all with the same result: diminishing water availability in cities all over the world. We need a global rethink, one that starts with turning markets upside down.

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Gov. Jerry Brown Warns That Delta Tunnels Project Could Be Jeopardized If Momentum Is Not Maintained

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Patrick McGreevy

Gov. Jerry Brown warned local water agency officials throughout California on Thursday that unless the delta tunnels project gets needed state and federal permits soon and continues advancing, the major infrastructure project may not happen in their lifetime. Brown issued the warning Thursday in a speech to more than 1,000 water experts and officials whom he urged to support the project at a conference of the Assn. of California Water Agencies.

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Gov. Brown Pitches Nearly $100 Million In Spending To Prevent Wildfires

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Liam Dillon

Gov. Jerry Brown plans to add $96 million to next year’s spending plan to address threats of wildfires and climate change. Brown made the announcement in an executive order issued Thursday. Among other changes, the state will double the land currently managed for vegetation thinning, controlled burns and reforestation from 250,000 acres to 500,000 acres, boost education programs for landowners on forest fires and expand grants to improve watersheds.

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OPINION: Proposition 68 Will Leave California With More Unnecessary Debt. Vote No.

/in , /by /The Orange County Register

The California Legislature is about as spendthrift a legislature as one can find anywhere in the country. State revenues and expenditures continue to hit record levels, with Governor Brown’s budget proposal for the coming fiscal year calling for over $131 billion in General Fund spending, compared to $91 billion in General Fund spending for 2012-13. Yet for all this growth in revenues and even a projected surplus, the Legislature never gets around to prioritizing the basics. The addiction to doling out money left and right never seems to apply to things like the water, flood protection or parks.

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‘Raw Water’: Californians Paying Big Bucks For Oregon Tap Water

/in , /by /KOIN 6 (Portland, Ore.)by Gabrielle Karol

Unpurified, untreated water is available for sale – for $16 a jug. The so-called “raw water” trend, as initially reported in The New York Times, made it even easier to call Californians crazy. The newspaper reported that the untreated spring water, bottled in glass, was so popular at San Francisco’s Rainbow Grocery that it was often out of stock. The company behind the product – Live Spring Water – says on its website that its “spring water is collected from Opal Spring in Central Oregon.” The website promises that the unfiltered water “goes directly into triple washed and rinsed 2.5 gallon lead free glass jugs.”

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California Grid Operator Sees Tight Power Supplies For Summer

/in , /by /Reuters

California’s electric grid operator has forecast power supplies will be tight this summer due to below average hydropower production and reduced generation, according to an assessment released on Wednesday. The California Independent System Operator (ISO), the grid operator, said the system’s capacity to serve consumers will be tight in high-load periods in the summer months, especially during the evenings of hot days when solar power dissipates.

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