You are now in California and the U.S. category.

Arizona risks losing water rights because of a lingering, nearly two-decade long drought in the Colorado River that could restrict water use ranging from farmers’ crops to how many households receive water, state water experts say. Calcium rings around Lake Mead tell the story of declining water levels, with cream markings permanently decorating the canyon walls that shows high levels that haven’t been seen since 1983. Current surface elevation is at 1,081 feet. If it drops another six feet, water to Arizona will likely be cut, according to an Arizona budget document.

When it comes to water scarcity, California offers researchers a perfect laboratory. The historic drought it endured over the past few years began impacting groundwater levels, leaving farms few options but to drill deeper and deeper for lower-quality water. Enter Helen Dahlke, Assistant Professor in Physical Hydrology at University of California, Davis. She headed up a study on how to tap into storm water and winter melt runoff in a way that would not run afoul of California’s strict water rights or environmental laws.

Re “California Legislature votes to keep dam-safety plans secret” (sacbee.com, June 15): There was nothing secret about the new dam safety legislation. Far from slipping the bill into the public domain as suggested, the language was posted on March 8, shared with Republican and Democratic staff in the Senate and the Assembly on March 10, and raised in budget subcommittee hearings on March 16 and 22. The Bee misinterpreted the intent of the legislation. It improves public safety by requiring all dam owners to create emergency action plans. It clarifies which information in those plans should not be disclosed, such as home phone numbers.

This is the second installment of a three-part Ag Alert^® series about large-scale water storage projects applying to the California Water Commission for funding from the Proposition 1 water bond. Hit hard by chronic water shortages that deepened during the drought, agencies in the San Joaquin Valley have banded together, seeking to build a more sustainable water future. Backers of the proposed Temperance Flat Dam and Reservoir say the $2.8 billion project would capture and store additional water in the San Joaquin River watershed, creating greater flexibility, relaxing pressure on groundwater and providing other benefits to the region.