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Reformist Farmers in California Are Rethinking Water

/in , , /by /NPRby Dan Charles

Reformist farmers in California have deposed the leader of the country’s biggest irrigation district, who was known for fighting water regulations. Farmers are accepting less water means less farming. A local election in rural California caught our attention last month. Farmers ousted the longtime leaders of the organization that supplies their irrigation water, which may sound small, but as Dan Charles reports, it’s a sign of something bigger – farmers reacting to a hotter climate.

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Recent Storms Give Drought-Weary California Cause for Hope, but Will They Continue?

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

Winter storms that doused California with much-needed rain and snow over the last week have managed to ease some dire drought conditions, but experts warned that the state still has a long way to go to truly reverse its historic dry streak. For many, the massive storm system that soaked swaths of the West Coast with inches of rain and feet of snow was a reminder of seasons past as it snarled traffic, triggered rock slides and sparked a blizzard of “winter wonderland” posts on social media.

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Colorado River Users Set to Meet, but Water Deal Seems a Ways Off

/in , , /by /Las Vegas Review-Journalby Colton Lochhead

As Western water managers get set to gather in Las Vegas this week, a long-sought deal to curtail water use along the cratering Colorado River still seems a ways off. Nearly six months have passed since Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Touton first asked the Western states to come up with a plan to cut back on water use from the river next year by as much as 30 percent, but a cohesive proposal from the seven states that pull from the Colorado that supplies water to some 40 million people has yet to emerge.

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Too Soon to Know How Sierra Nevada Snowfall Will Impact California’s Ongoing Drought

/in , , /by /CapRadioby Mike Hagerty

For the second weekend in a row, Sacramento and the Sierra Nevada mountains saw back-to-back storms bringing rain to the valley and snow to the hills. Despite the recent wet weather, including snow intense enough to snarl mountain travel in the Sierra this weekend, California is still grappling with a number of drier-than-usual winters and persistent drought. So how much did these storms help?

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Is California’s Drought Over? Water Providers Still Predict Shortages Next Year

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Alastair Bland

December has delivered a powerful punch of storms to California. But the wet weather comes with a dry dose of reality: The state’s largest reservoirs remain badly depleted, projected water deliveries are low, wells are drying up, and the Colorado River’s water, already diminished by a megadrought, is severely overallocated. Throughout California, urban water managers are bracing for a fourth consecutive drought year.

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Experts Split on Need to Retool Colorado River Compact

/in , , /by /Arizona Daily Starby Tony Davis

Management of the depleted Colorado River needs an overhaul, speakers at a University of Arizona-sponsored conference agreed. But at a conference called last week to observe the 100th anniversary of the interstate compact that divided river water rights among Western states, the speakers disagreed over whether the Colorado River Compact itself needs a major rework.

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Colorado River Water Users Convening Amid Crisis Concerns

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Ken Ritter

Living with less water in the U.S. Southwest is the focus this week for state and federal water administrators, tribal officials, farmers, academics and business representatives meeting about the drought-stricken and overpromised Colorado River. The Colorado River Water Users Association conference, normally a largely academic three-day affair, comes at a time of growing concern about the river’s future after more than two decades of record drought attributed to climate change.

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San Diego Mountains Become Winter Wonderland as Snow Falls in Julian, Mount Laguna, Palomar

/in , , /by /NBC 7 San Diegoby Christina Bravo and Renee Schmiedeberg

San Diego’s mountains have turned into a winter wonderland thanks to a storm system that dumped a layer of snow on the county’s peaks to start the week. The winter storm swept across San Diego County overnight Sunday and left snowfall on Julian, Mount Laguna and Palomar mountains. By 9 a.m. Monday, at least 4 inches fell at Mount Laguna and more than 4 inches on Birch Hill near Palomar Mountain, and 3 inches were recorded in Julian, the National Weather Service said.

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WaterSmart Makeover: Welcoming a Sense of Whimsy

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Caron Golden Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Cathy and Mike Godfrey’s most recent front yard landscape project was not their first rodeo. The couple, who bought their Carlsbad house in August 1997 and are empty nesters with two adult daughters, are avid gardeners and DIYers.

Twenty years ago, Cathy dug 40 holes to sink posts for the white picket fence that encircles their small front yard. They reduced the scale of the lawn (mostly to discourage neighborhood dogs being walked from pooping on their property) and, for a tropical look, added palms and decorative plants like red fountain grass, which Cathy said they regretted.

(Editor’s Note:This is the second in an occasional series on winners of the annual WaterSmart Landscape Contest, conducted in partnership with the San Diego County Water Authority. To learn about entering the next contest, visit landscapecontest.com.)

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Colorado River Compact: As Colorado River Flows Drop and Tensions Rise, Water Interests Struggle to Find Solutions That All Can Accept

/in , , /by /Water Education Foundation (Western Water)by Nick Cahill

When the Colorado River Compact was signed 100 years ago, the negotiators for seven Western states bet that the river they were dividing would have ample water to meet everyone’s needs – even those not seated around the table.

A century later, it’s clear the water they bet on is not there.

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