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Notoriously Strict Agoura Hills Water District Scales Back Response

/in , , /by /Patchby Emily Rahhal

Known for its strict drought restrictions, the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District walked back regulations after recent storms provided much needed water to California reserves.

The State Water Project announced additional water allocations to a number of Southern California water districts, including Las Virgenes, delivering 30 percent of requested water supplies. Las Virgenes was previously expecting only 5 percent of its requested water.

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A Suburb in Arizona Lost Its Source of Water. Residents Warn: We’re Only the Beginning

/in , , /by /CBCby Alexander Panetta

A man in Arizona sees a glimpse of a potentially frightening future. A future where the planet is hotter, the soil is drier, and our most precious resource is evaporating.

His job is delivering water. And his job is getting harder.

John Hornewer is now having to drive hours farther each day to fill his truck, which, in turn, fills the subterranean tanks at homes in an area outside Phoenix.

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Future of the Salton Sea is Tied to Fate of Imperiled Colorado River

/in , , /by /WBURby Peter O'Dowd

A shortage on the Colorado River has put tremendous pressure on the water supply that serves more than 40-million people in the Western United States.

But a punishing drought and the over allocation of the river have also created an urgent problem for California’s Salton Sea.

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Letting Go of Our Love of Lawns

/in , , /by /LAistby Erin Stone

Lynetta McElroy stands outside her home on a tree-lined street in the south L.A. neighborhood of Leimert Park, where she’s lived since the 1980s.

“Leimert Park was known for its beautiful lawns,” McElroy said. “No fences, and you could go to one corner and you could see just about to the next corner. It gave a community feeling. I’ve always loved this area. And it took a while to get a home in this area, needless to say.”

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Seven New Members Join SDCWA Board

/in , , /by /San Diego Business Journalby Karen Pearlman Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

Seven new members of the San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors have been seated.

The newly appointed members are expanding the agency’s leadership and policy making skills during a critical period for water in the west region, said San Diego County Water Authority board chairman Mel Katz.

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Will California’s Excess Snow Become Usable Water This Year?

/in , , /by /The Wall Street Journalby Josh Ulick, Andrew Mollica and Taylor Umlauf

After three of the driest years in California history, this winter’s storms brought some of the wettest and snowiest weeks on record to parts of the state. Snowpack accumulated during winter is vital to the state’s water system because the natural form of water storage melts during the spring and fills reservoirs that can then distribute water downstream where needed.

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Bay Area Likely to See Snow on the Hills This Week From Unusual Winter Storm, Forecasters Say

/in , , /by /The Mercury Newsby Martha Ross

When Bay Area residents wake up later this week and get a look outside, they might wonder if they’ve been transported many degrees north, with snow from an unusually cold and windy winter storm possibly carpeting the region’s major peaks and even reaching hills as low as 1,000 feet.

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Did Winter Storms Replenish California’s Depleted Groundwater Supplies? Here’s What Data Shows.

/in , , /by /Napa Valley Registerby Jack Lee

Winter storms have filled California’s reservoirs and built up a colossal Sierra snowpack that’s nearly twice its normal size for this time of year. But years of dry conditions have created problems far beneath the Earth’s surface that aren’t as easily addressed.

Groundwater — found in underground layers containing sand, soil and rock — is crucial for drinking water and sustaining farms.

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L.A. Promised to Stop Wasting So Much Stormwater. But Progress Has Been Painfully Slow

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Hayley Smith

Only weeks ago, Angelenos watched as trillions of gallons of precious stormwater poured into the region’s concrete waterways, slid down slick pavement and washed out to sea. After so many months of drought-related water restrictions, it seemed to many like a missed opportunity.

While officials say they’re making progress when it comes to capturing more of the county’s stormwater, a new report from watchdog group Los Angeles Waterkeeper has focused on the plan’s sluggish progress so far, and calls for improved metrics and a more proactive approach, among other recommendations.

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L.A.’s New Water War: Keeping Supply From Mono Lake Flowing as Critics Want It Cut Off

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Louis Sahagún

With its haunting rock spires and salt-crusted shores, Mono Lake is a Hollywood vision of the apocalypse. To the city of Los Angeles, however, this Eastern Sierra basin represents the very source of L.A.’s prosperity — the right to free water.

For decades, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has relied on long-standing water rights to divert from the streams that feed this ancient lake as part of the city’s far-flung water empire. But in the face of global warming, drought and lawsuits from environmentalists, the DWP is now facing the previously unthinkable prospect of ending its diversions there.

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