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

As construction bids came in to fix the damaged spillway at Oroville Dam, a new round of storms sent water out through the partly collapsed concrete chute over the weekend. State officials expect water to pour through the spillway for up to two weeks, depending on rainfall levels.State officials have reopened the damaged spillway at Oroville Dam as another set of rainstorms began moving across Northern California. Water resumed gushing through the partly collapsed concrete chute Friday morning.

Carrizo Plain National Monument is a place of extremes. The grassland, the largest of its kind in California, stretches across over 250,000 acres of unforgiving wilderness. Caliente Mountain and the Temblor range border the plain, while the San Andreas Fault cuts it down the middle. Surface fractures are visible across the dry landscape. The species that call home to the Carrizo Plain don’t just survive, but thrive in its acute conditions.

Knee-high tufts of grass dot the streets of Hardwick, a rural neighborhood with a few dozen homes hemmed in by vineyards and walnut and almond orchards in California’s agriculture-rich San Joaquin Valley. Nearby, the Kings River — swollen with rainwater and Sierra Nevada snowmelt — meanders through fields. Water is abundant in the river but it may not last. Despite winter storms that have turned much of California’s parched landscape to vibrant green, the drought has yet to loosen its grip on thousands of residents in the valley. Many people must still use water stored in large tanks in their yard to wash dishes and bathe.

A new nationwide study has unearthed the huge hidden potential of tapping into salty aquifers as a way to relieve the growing pressure on freshwater supplies across the United States. Digging into data from the country’s 60 major aquifers, the U.S. Geological Survey reports that the amount of brackish — or slightly salty — groundwater is more than 35 times the amount of fresh groundwater used in the United States each year.

Dramatic improvements are needed in ensuring access to clean water and sanitation worldwide, the World Health Organization said Thursday, warning that nearly two billion people currently use faecal-contaminated water. Hundreds of thousands of people die each year because they are forced to drink contaminated water, the WHO said, urging large investments to help provide universal access to safe drinking water.