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Last Month Was The Wettest April For The U.S. In 60 Years

“April showers bring May flowers” took on a whole new meaning this year: The United States just experienced its second-wettest April on record. Average precipitation across the Lower 48 was 3.43 inches. In other words, if you spread all of the rain and snow out across the continental United States, each location would have received nearly 3 ½ inches. That is a lot of water. This record is second only to April 1957 and nearly a full inch more than the average April rainfall in the 20th century.

Mayors: California Not Operating Damaged Dam Safely

California is putting communities downstream in danger of flooding with the way it runs the now-crippled Oroville Dam, mayors and county leaders wrote this week in a strongly worded letter to Gov. Jerry Brown. The letter — signed by mayors of the city of Oroville and six other communities downstream, county leaders, state lawmakers and others — comes in the wake of a February spillway emergency at the dam that forced the evacuation of 188,000 people.

Snowmelt Triggers a Flood Warning in Yosemite and a River Closure in the Central Valley

The melting of this year’s record snowpack is continuing to create problems, with authorities warning of more flooding in Yosemite National Park and fast-moving, high water at a popular Central Valley river. The National Weather Service issued a flood warning Tuesday as Yosemite’s Pohono Bridge was expected to be swamped overnight. By 4 a.m. Wednesday, the Merced River probably will reach its flood stage of 10 feet, said Christine Riley, a weather service meteorologist in Hanford, Calif.

Oh, Well. California Water Info Can Remain Secret, Court Rules

Crucial details about the location and depth of certain California water wells can be kept secret, and out of the hands of an environmental group, a top federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. Although targeting a specific request for California information, the ruling by what’s sometimes called the nation’s second-highest court could shape at least a few of the other Freedom of Information Act requests nationwide. More than 700,000 FOIA requests were filed in Fiscal 2014, and the question of what can be denied recurs often.

Sacramento State Is Fixing 43 Drinking Fountains And Water Sources With High Lead

Sacramento State consultants have identified 43 water fountains, bottle filling stations and sinks that must be repaired or replaced due to high lead levels, according to new reports released Monday. The university initially shut down 85 sinks and fountains with lead levels above 5 parts per billion on Jan. 13. That came after students and professors found high lead levels when they tested 449 sinks and fountains over three days in January as part of a research project.

California Asks Federal Taxpayers To Fund Repairs At Dam

California is asking the federal government to pay 75 percent of the hundreds of millions of dollars in repairs to the badly damaged spillways at the nation’s tallest dam, a state water agency spokeswoman said Monday. The question of whether taxpayers or the water contractors that get water via the Oroville Dam would foot the biggest share of the bill has been one of many contentious ones in the aftermath of this winter’s damage at the dam, which is an anchor of the state’s water supply system.

Bringing The Avocado To California’s Central Valley

Americans ate 2 billion pounds of avocados last year. The majority of the green fruit comes from Mexico, and about 10 percent is grown in California. But researchers in California’s Central Valley are breeding avocado trees they hope will grow well in the state’s main agricultural region.

Oroville Dam: With Bills Rolling In, State Borrows Heavily

California is borrowing up to $500 million to pay for the crisis at Oroville Dam, although it expects to be reimbursed for its costs. The Department of Water Resources obtained a $500 million line of credit last week to cover expenses connected to the spillway fracture at Oroville, including the permanent repairs. DWR obtained a separate $300 million credit line last week to cover other capital improvements for the State Water Project beyond Oroville. Federal money is expected to pay for much of the repairs.

‘These Fish Are In A Bad Way.’ How Many More Will Die Because Of The Delta Tunnels?

California’s ambitious plan to tunnel under the West’s largest estuary has always had two primary goals: to restore imperiled native fish and to improve water deliveries to farms and cities. An early analysis by federal wildlife agencies, however, indicates the project might make life worse for fish. The so-called WaterFix project calls for building two giant tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a tidal estuary that nurtures the largest salmon run on the West Coast.

The Drought Is Over. So Why Is California’s Wildfire Risk Growing?

The drought is over, but that doesn’t mean the end of calamity for Northern California. The abundance of rain and snow could produce more wildfires and drownings, officials say. Fires already have burned nearly 10 times as much territory statewide as they did during the same period of 2016. And while forecasters say the record winter rainfall could delay the outbreak of major fires until July or August, it has also fed large swaths of grass, shrubs and other fire fuels that will soon begin drying out in the warmer weather.