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Imperial Irrigation District Responds to Six-State Consensus on Colorado River

/in , , /by /Imperial Valley Press by Marcie Landeros

Responding to an Associated Press (AP) article titled “California lone holdout in consensus for Colorado River cuts,” Imperial Irrigation District Division 2 Director and Chairman of the Colorado River Board of Directors J.B. Hamby said the six-state consensus is inconsistent with the “Law of the River.”

The AP article appeared in the Tuesday, January 31 edition of the Imperial Valley Press, where the article accused California of not joining a plan created by the other six Colorado Basin States to see more than 2-million-acre feet of water cut from most the lower basin.

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California Fires Back at Other Western States With Its Own Colorado River Plan

/in , , /by /Desert Sunby Janet Wilson

Dueling plans for how to save the fast-drying Colorado River have been submitted by California and six other states to federal authorities, who have made clear they may impose draconian cuts if consensus is not reached regionally on deep reductions. That agreement could be hard to come by.

California swung hard at six other Western states late Tuesday, submitting its own proposal for more than 3 million acre feet in reductions — both from current and future agreements — if necessary from the river’s dwindling reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead.

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California Releases Its Own Plan for Colorado River Cuts

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Kathleen Ronayne and Suman Naishadham

California released a plan Tuesday detailing how Western states reliant on the Colorado River should save more water. It came a day after the six other states in the river basin made a competing proposal.

In a letter to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, California described how states could conserve between 1 million and nearly 2 million acre feet of water through new cuts based on the elevation of Lake Mead, a key reservoir.

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Sierra Nevada Snowpack Hits Biggest Level in Nearly 30 Years

/in , , /by /The Mercury Newsby Paul Rogers

The statewide Sierra Nevada snowpack — the source of nearly one-third of California’s water supply — is at its highest level since 1995, boosting hopes that an end to the drought is near, but also raising concerns that a few warm spring storms could melt it too early and trigger major flooding.

Not since Toy Story packed movie theaters, Steve Young led the 49ers to their fifth Super Bowl win, and gasoline cost $1.28 a gallon has there been so much snow in California’s most famous mountain range at the end of January.

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How Do You Track an Atmospheric River? Climb Aboard This Highflying Reconnaissance Jet

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

The interior of the plane looked like a cross between a private luxury jet and a space mission control room.

The Gulfstream IV cruised at 43,000 feet, high above a seemingly peaceful layer of thick clouds that stretched to the horizon.

Crew members in blue jumpsuits stared at computer screens that revealed their hidden target miles below: a powerful atmospheric river that was churning across the Pacific Ocean toward California, bearing torrential rains and fierce winds.

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States Miss Deadline to Address Colorado River Water Crisis, Pressure Builds on California

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

The seven states that depend on the Colorado River have missed a Jan. 31 federal deadline for reaching a regionwide consensus on how to sharply reduce water use, raising the likelihood of more friction as the West grapples with how to take less supplies from the shrinking river.

In a bid to sway the process after contentious negotiations reached an impasse, six of the seven states gave the federal government a last-minute proposal outlining possible water cuts to help prevent reservoirs from falling to dangerously low levels, presenting a unified front while leaving out California, which uses the single largest share of the river.

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Saving San Diego’s Rain for a Non-Rainy Day

/in , , /by /NBC 7 San Diegoby Joe Little Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

“I love the rain,” the Encinitas woman said as she walked through her backyard. “Anytime it rains I get excited about my plants.”

Robin Reid-Anderson has dedicated years to creating a backyard that’s sustainable in San Diego’s dry Mediterranean environment.

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New York Investors Snapping Up Colorado River Water Rights, Betting Big on an Increasingly Scarce Resource

/in , , /by /CBS Newsby Ben Tracy, Andy Bast, and Chris Spinder

With the federal government poised to force Western states to change how they manage the alarming shortfall in Colorado River water, there is one constituency with a growing interest in the river’s fate that’s little known to some: Wall Street investors.

Private investment firms are showing a growing interest in an increasingly scarce natural resource in the American West: water in the Colorado River, a joint investigation by CBS News and The Weather Channel has found. For some of the farmers and cities that depend on the river as a lifeline, that interest is concerning. 

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Water Authority Board Welcomes Seven New Directors

/in , , /by /The Vista Press Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors welcomed seven new members from across the region at its first regular Board meeting of the year on January 26, expanding the agency’s leadership and policy making skills during a critical period for water in the West.

Each of the Water Authority’s 24 retail member agencies are represented by at least one member of the 36-member Board of Directors, which sets the Water Authority’s strategic direction.

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The River’s End: Amid Colorado Water Cuts, Mexico Seeks to Restore Its Lost Oasis

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

When the Colorado River reaches the U.S.-Mexico border, it pushes up against Morelos Dam. Nearly all the remaining water is shunted aside into an immense canal and flows toward the farmlands and cities of Baja California.

South of the dam, the last of the river disappears in the desert.

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