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EPA Boosts Calif. State Revolving Fund by $609M

/in , , /by /WaterWorld

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced more than $609 million in capitalization grants, through State Revolving Funds (SRFs), to California for water infrastructure improvements. The grants will supplement the state’s annual base SRF of $144 million. The capitalization grants mark the first significant distribution of water infrastructure investments to California following passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The law allocates more than $50 billion toward water infrastructure.

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Rural Ranchers Face $4,000 Proposed Fine for Violating State Drought Order

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Rachel Becker

California’s water officials plan to impose a $4,000 fine on Siskiyou County ranchers for violating orders to cut back their water use during a weeklong standoff last summer. State officials and the ranchers agree: A $4,000 fine isn’t much of a deterrent to prevent illegal water diversions during California’s droughts. The proposed fine would amount to about $50 per rancher.

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L.A.’s Quest for Water Leaves Costly Bill: Higher Rates for Customers, Choking Air Pollution

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

Even as worsening drought and aridification force Los Angeles to end its overwhelming dependence on imported water, Angelenos may soon realize that weaning themselves off supplies from the rugged eastern Sierra Nevada doesn’t mean they will stop paying for the city’s long, complicated history there. That’s because, even if the city is able to make good on a pledge by Mayor Eric Garcetti to recycle 100% of its water by 2035 and increase its ability to capture storm water, Los Angeles will still have to pay millions of dollars to control the region’s hazardous dust pollution — an environmental consequence of L.A.’s draining of Owens Lake more than a century ago, as well as recent diversions that have lowered the level of Mono Lake farther north.

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How Can California Boost Its Water Supply?

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Rachel Becker

Over and over again, drought launches California into a familiar scramble to provide enough water. Cities and towns call for conservation and brace for shortages. Growers fallow fields and ranchers sell cows. And thousands of people discover that they can’t squeeze another drop from their wells.

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They Used to Call California Ocean Desalination a Disaster. But Water Crisis Brings New Look

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

For decades, environmentalists have decried ocean desalination as an ecological disaster, while cost-savvy water managers have thumbed their noses at desal’s lofty price tag. But as the American Southwest barrels into a new era of extreme heat, drought and aridification, officials and conservationists are giving new consideration to the process of converting saltwater into drinking water, and the role it may play in California’s future.

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Fallbrook, Rainbow Would Save on Water Bills by Leaving San Diego Wholesaler, Report Finds

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Joshua Emerson Smith Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

Farmers and other ratepayers in Fallbrook and Rainbow could see an average saving on their water bills of more than $20 a month by joining the Eastern Municipal Water District in Riverside County, according to a new report.

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Public Input Wanted in Drought-Resistant Water Supply

/in , , /by /Spectrum Newsby Sarah Pilla

California is entering this next year with a water deficit, that is unlikely to recover with an average year of precipitation. With reservoir levels and groundwater levels dropping, the Metropolitan Water District is innovating new ways to reduce our reliance on imported water. Metropolitan Water District plays an integral role in how we get our water in Southern California. They’re responsible for importing water from the Colorado River system and the State Water Project in Northern California, which is then distributed to water agencies around the southland.

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High Court to Hear Water Dispute Between Navajo, Government

/in , , /by /AP News

The Supreme Court says it will hear a water dispute involving the U.S. government and the Navajo Nation. The high court said Friday it would review a lower court ruling in favor of the Navajo Nation, which spans parts of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. The government signed treaties with the Navajo Nation in 1849 and 1868 that established the reservation. It was later expanded westward to the Colorado River, which forms the reservation’s western boundary.

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The Scary Big Picture of Having Less Water

/in , , /by /Water FMby Greg Baird

As a society we constantly hear the “drought warning.” Then we endure some water conservation efforts and a couple of years later everything seems to go back to normal. As a result, we have become numb to the word “drought.” Wildfires are brutal and get our immediate attention, but we expect they will also burn out.

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International Water Researcher Highlights Colorado Basin’s “Disappearing” Groundwater

/in , , /by /The Colorado Sunby Chris Outcalt

For the past 20 years, two small satellites orbiting 250 miles above Earth have tracked a stark reality about the nation’s groundwater supplies, including across the parched Colorado River Basin: The water underground is vanishing. The NASA satellites began gathering data in 2002. Since then, Colorado River Basin groundwater has depleted much faster than water storage in the nation’s two largest reservoirs, according to research that underscores concerns about the increasingly tight water supply in the drought-stricken West.

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