The 2016-2017 winter season dropped plenty of snow in the Rockies. For years, the decade and a half drought across southern Nevada and the lower Colorado River Basin has impacted water levels at Lake Mead, creating what locals have long dubbed “the bathtub ring.” Nevada is still considered to be in a drought, but the accumulation in snowpacks has experts hopeful about the health of Lake Mead. However, the state’s not out of the clear.
The plan to remove four hydroelectric dams to improve fish passage and water quality on the Klamath River is proceeding on schedule for a 2020 demolition time, according to plan proponents. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will ultimately have to approve or deny the plan, and the change in administration in Washington, D.C., has led to three of the five seats on the commission being vacated. President Donald Trump will be responsible for appointing the three new members, but plan proponents such as the dams’ owning company PacifiCorp, do not believe this will affect the project’s timeline.
From the 188,000 Oroville residents who were evacuated two weeks ago, to the 14,000 in San Jose who had to be rescued from contaminated water, no Californian has been unaffected by the historic storms beating down on our state. Sometimes it feels like it will never end, reminding us of past floods and the challenges that result from so much water coming in such a short period.
Recent rains have not washed away the growing threat of water scarcity in the San Joaquin Valley, California’s largest agricultural region. Over time it could bring disruptive changes not only to the region’s farmers but also to rural communities, the local economy, and the state as a whole. Resolving this problem will take creativity and cooperation.
After 1,892 days, the drought is over in San Joaquin County. That’s the conclusion of the federal government, which Thursday morning issued new maps showing the entire county — and indeed, 79 percent of the state — free from any kind of drought designation. For San Joaquin, it is the first time since Dec. 27, 2011. Portions of San Joaquin had still been considered “abnormally dry” heading into this week, but the U.S. Drought Monitor lifted that finding Thursday, citing an improvement in groundwater levels across the San Joaquin Valley.
In a development that would ease pressure on Oroville Dam’s badly damaged concrete spillway, state officials say the dam’s power plant may be operational by midday Friday. The Hyatt Power Plant stopped functioning as a massive mound of concrete, earth and debris formed in the channel below the 3,000-foot concrete spillway, which fractured Feb. 7.
What does water that once came from a toilet taste like? Pretty bland, actually. “Our water goes through five different treatment steps, so it essentially purifies it,” says Brent Eidson, deputy director of external affairs at San Diego’s Public Utilities Department. “It almost strips the water of everything, so there’s not a whole lot of taste or anything left in it.”
Even as dam spillways are put to the test and parts of Northern California flood, there’s a silver lining to all the rain, beyond ending the drought. It gives California more hydroelectric power. “In the thick of the drought last year and previous years, the dam levels all over the Northwest actually were low. And so we didn’t have as much hydropower available, dispatchable, as we normally would want or expect,” said California Energy Commissioner Andrew McAllister.
Bakersfield received ten inches of rainfall for the water year already. With all the added water, it could lead to a whole lot more bugs and mosquitoes. I find out what this means for the West Nile Virus and how to protect yourself this spring. We had ten inches of rain in only a few months. This created a greener Kern County already with lush plants and vegetation, but this also created more standing water than normal which attracts an annoying pest called mosquitoes.
As you are probably aware, on Sunday, Feb. 12, the Oroville Dam’s emergency spillway almost eroded away. This caused more than 180,000 people to evacuate the area immediately. If the wall above the emergency spillway failed, it would have been catastrophic and could have caused many to lose their lives. Fortunately, this did not happen.
