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State Water Board Extends Public Comment Period For Flow Proposal

/in /by /Turlock Journalby Alysson Aredas

The community has two extra months to comment on a controversial State Water Resources Control Board document that proposes cutting water use after Board chair Felicia Marcus sent a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown last week, effectively extending the public comment period into March.This extension comes just two days after the State Water Board held its second-to-last public hearing on Dec. 20 in Modesto, which at its peak was standing-room only.

 

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California And National Drought Summary For December 27, 2016

/in /by /Sierra Sun Times (Mariposa)by Brad Rippey

Numerous storms brought changeable weather to many parts of the country, including significant precipitation in parts of the West, Northeast, and mid-South. Late in the drought-monitoring period, a particularly powerful winter storm produced heavy precipitation from California into the Southwest—and later resulted in a holiday blizzard across the north-central U.S. Meanwhile, the interior Southeast continued to experience varying degrees of drought relief, although streaks of significant rain notably bypassed core drought areas in northern and central Alabama and northern Georgia. In addition, Florida’s peninsula received little rain, exacerbating the effects of short-term dryness.

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Final EIR On Delta Fix Released

/in /by /The Independent (Livermore)by Ron McNicoll

Gov. Jerry Brown, whose administration proposed the Water Fix, said, “This project has been subjected to 10 years of detailed analysis and more environmental review than any other project in the history of the world. It is absolutely essential if California is to maintain a reliable water supply.” The Water Fix as proposed by Brown still includes the Twin Tunnels. Two 40-foot diameter pipes would run for 30 miles under the Delta to bypass the habitat that supports endangered animal and plant species.

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Water Agencies Seek Public Input Over Planned Sustainability Board

/in /by /The Signal (Santa Clarita)by Kevin Kenney

With water providers around California facing a state-mandated deadline of June 30, 2017 to form local Groundwater Sustainability Agencies, the Castaic Lake Water Agency on Thursday announced a January “Stakeholder Forum” at which public input will be sought. The meeting will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 24 at 6:30 p.m. in the Sycamore Rooms A/B of The Centre, located at 20880 Centre Pointe Parkway in Santa Clarita.

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Southern California To Get More Rain And Snow

/in /by /The Associated Press (As published by KTVN - Reno, Nev.)

Southern California’s trend of rainy weather is expected to resume this week after several dry and unusually warm days. The National Weather Service says a few disturbances will move through Friday and Saturday, bringing rain and mountain snow. The second system arriving Saturday will be very cold and snow levels may affect travel through mountain passes. Just as the recent strong El Nino ocean-warming phenomenon failed to bring rain to Southern California, the ocean-cooling known as La Nina hasn’t lived up to expectations of drier than normal weather.

 

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Rush Is On To Seal Colorado River Deal

/in /by /Havasu News (Lake Havasu City, Ariz.)by Sandra Dibble

With the prospect of reduced Colorado River deliveries as early as 2018, U.S. and Mexican negotiators have been in a race against the clock to forge an agreement that involves sharing any future shortages — and are hoping for a signing before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20. Water managers on both sides of the border say the accord will be crucial in spelling out how the U.S. and Mexico would take cuts when a shortage is declared on the river, a lifeline for some 40 million people in both countries.

 

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BLOG: Tunnel Construction In 2018?

/in /by /ESanJoaquin.comby Alex Breitler

A press release last week about the release of 97,000 pages of final environmental documents for the Delta tunnels says construction will begin “as soon as 2018.” We’ve heard projections like that before. In January 2009, the Schwarzenegger administration said construction on a peripheral canal — the predecessor to the tunnels — would start in 2011. Nearly eight years later, here we are still talking.

 

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First Days Of 2017 Will Be Cold, Possibly Rainy

/in /by /San Francisco Examinerby Nuala Sawyer

Bay Area residents will experience a drop in temperatures this weekend, as a flow of air from Canada moves south into Northern California. Temperatures are expected to dip into the 30s on New Years morning, but areas closer to the water—such as San Francisco—will stay slightly warmer. Meteorologists predict morning temperatures of 45 degrees on Jan. 1. Cold weather will continue into Monday and Tuesday in San Francisco, where daily highs may not reach 50 degrees.

 

 

 

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BLOG: The Seven Key Things That Happened In California Water In 2016

/in /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Tara Lohan

This year has been a big one for water. California is still mired in drought, although less of the state is suffering than in previous years and each winter rainstorm brings a fresh bit of optimism. A large reserve of groundwater was found deep under the drought-stricken Central Valley, recycled water continues to gain in popularity, flooding to help fish and farmers is panning out and 2016 will likely wrap up as the hottest year on record. Below are seven other significant milestones that impacted California water and will help shape the year ahead.

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California Drought: Sierra Nevada Snowpack Water Content Below Average, But Officials Say It’s Still Early

/in /by /International Business Times (New York)by Avaneesh Pandey

The Sierra Nevada snowpack — the source of roughly a third of California’s water supply — remains nearly 30 percent below average for this time of the year despite the state recently witnessing its heaviest rainfall in decades. In an update released Tuesday, California’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) said that the snowpack currently has a water content of 10.5 inches, just 72 percent of the Dec. 27 average. “It’s too soon to know whether this winter’s wet season will deliver enough rain and snow to move California closer to the end of the state’s five-year drought,” the DWR said.

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