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The Dried-Up Heart of California’s Water Dilemma

California’s Tulare Lake was once the largest body of freshwater west of the Mississippi. It was shallow, and it varied in size from year to year and season to season. But it was home to lots of salmon, turtles, otters and even, in the latter half of the 19th century, a few schooners and steamboats. It was also at the heart of a 400,000-acre network of lakes and wetlands (“the river of the lakes,” the painter and naturalist John W. Audubon — John J.’s son — called it in 1849) that in wet years overflowed into the San Joaquin River to the north, making it possible to travel by boat from Bakersfield to San Francisco.

A ‘Quick Yes’ On Delta Tunnels? Advocates Concerned Over New Language

Proposed changes to a plan that is supposed to guide the Delta through the 21st century have advocates on red alert, as they worry that the new language locks in Gov. Jerry Brown’s $15 billion twin tunnels. The revised plan does not explicitly endorse the California Water Fix, as the tunnels proposal is formally known. It does, however, promote building one or more new intakes to pump water from the Delta, with a new underground conveyance system that would be operated in tandem with existing Delta channels. The twin tunnels proposal satisfies all of those criteria.

State of California’s Last 2017 Snow Survey Set for May 1

The Department of Water Resources (DWR) conducts five manual snow surveys at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada from around the first of January through May each calendar year. The snowpack’s water content usually peaks around April 1, after which the sun’s higher position in the sky contributes to rapid melting and a diminished snowpack. DWR’s May 1 survey will be the last one of 2017. Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program, will conduct the survey beginning at 11 a.m. just off Highway 50 near Sierra-at-Tahoe Road, about 90 miles east of Sacramento.

Power Industry Consultant Proposes Dual Design Oroville Dam Spillway

A power industry consulting firm has proposed a design for the Oroville Dam spillways which involves not repairing the current one, but building a new, wider spillway. The designer says the structure’s capacity would handle flows of 300,000 cubic-feet per second. Kenneth Viney, manager of CoastalGen Inc., based in Napa, filed suggestions Monday with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC. He said he first shared his ideas with engineers with the state Department of Water Resources about a month ago and was encouraged by FERC and DWR spokespeople to submit his plans through a FERC filing.

Napa County Says Groundwater Picture Continues To Be Good

Napa Valley’s annual groundwater checkup yielded the verdict that the water table in the world-famous grapegrowing region is “generally very shallow” and that the basin is “full.” There are problem spots, such as the Petra Drive area northeast of the city of Napa that the county is studying. The Coombsville area still faces groundwater challenges, though the county sees the situation as having stabilized. But overall, the county’s 2016 groundwater report by consultating engineers Luhdorff & Scalmanini to the Napa County Board of Supervisors last week emphasized the positive, especially when it came to the valley floor.

Will California’s Twin-Tunnels Delta Water Project Become Reality?

Gov. Jerry Brown’s $17.1 billion plan to build two massive tunnels through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta relies on key changes to the water rights permit held by the Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which are seeking to add new water diversion points. Brown’s administration has said construction of the twin Delta tunnels could begin as soon as 2018, clearing the way for a massive alteration in the way water is diverted from the Delta to the Central Valley and Southern California.

Fixing Oroville Dam Will Cost Hundreds Of Millions. Who Should Pay The Bill?

The damage has been done and the repair contract awarded. Yet more than two months after damaged spillways at the Oroville Dam prompted authorities to order the evacuation of 188,000 people, the question of who will ultimately pay the bill remains murky. How much will be the responsibility of homeowners, businesses, farmers and other customers of the more than two dozen local and regional agencies that contract with the State Water Project?

Heavy Rain Won’t Lessen Calif. Wildfires – It Will Fuel Them

California emerged from its five-year drought after heavy winter rains filled reservoirs and turned our golden hills green. But don’t be fooled by the emerald hues. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) expects wildfires to burn just as fiercely as they did during drought years – if not more so.

Atmospheric Rivers Hit California

California needs an average of three atmospheric rivers annually to reach its average yearly rainfall. So far this year, the state has seen an incredible 46 atmospheric rivers. This intense rainfall has pushed much of California out of longstanding drought conditions. California Ag Today spoke with Steve Johnson, a private meteorologist for farmers in California. We discussed atmospheric rivers (AR) and the abundance of rain California has seen in late winter and early spring.

Bay Area May Be All But Done With Rain Until Fall

The time to put away the umbrella may have arrived. After a seven-month stretch that set rainfall records in some parts of Northern California, what could be the last rainfall of the season will brush the Bay Area on Wednesday. It will probably be limited to the North Bay, and even there, it doesn’t look to be heavy, said Bob Benjamin, a forecaster with the National Weather Service. “It’s going to be extremely light — maybe a tenth of an inch in northern Sonoma County,” Benjamin said. After that, chances are it’s warmer and dry until October or so.