You are now in California and the U.S. Home Headline Media Coverage category.

What 76 Inches of Sierra Snowfall Looks Like From Space

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Jessica Flores

The recent storm that brought wet weather to the Bay Area last week dumped an “impressive” amount of snow on the Sierra Nevada for the month of April, said the National Weather Service.

The storm dumped 31.1 inches of snow, increasing April’s snowfall total to 76 inches — “almost double what we received January through March,” the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab tweeted Friday.

Snowfall totals also slightly increased California’s snowpack in the last week to 35% of average as of Friday — up from 28% of average on April 15, according to the California Department of Water Resources.

Full Story

Bill to Aid Farmworkers Jilted by Drought Effects Advances in Calif. Legislature

/in , , /by /The Sun

A new bill aimed at bringing relief to farmworkers affected by the drought is now one step closer to becoming law.

The bill, introduced by Sen. Melissa Hurtado (D–Sanger), aims to provide financial assistance to farmworkers struggling to afford basic necessities. Wednesday it passed in a state senate committee, four to one.

Full Story

Long Beach Commission May Further Limit Watering Yards Amid Drought

/in , , /by /Long Beach Postby Jason Ruiz

The Long Beach Water Commission may upgrade the city’s water shortage level next week, which would bring with it new restrictions on when residents can water landscaping.

Updating the city’s water shortage stage comes as California heads toward its third straight year of drought. The proposal to go to Stage 2, which would limit landscape irrigation to two days per week year-round, would take the city back to water conservation rules not seen since June 2016.

Full Story

Folsom Lake Levels Improve, Drought Conditions Still an Issue

/in , , /by /FOX 40 (Sacramento)by Julian Tack and Gurajpal Sangha

The latest Spring snowstorms helped increase California’s water supply and lake levels, but the Golden State continues to face drought conditions.

April’s wet weather in northern California have increased water levels at lakes like Folsom Lake.

“The particular storm of this week increased the rain and snow over northern California by about 5-10 percent,” said Meteorologist and forecaster Jim Mathews with the National Weather Service.

Full Story

Owens Valley Tribes Honor a Legacy of ‘Beauty and Suffering’ With Historic Site Nomination

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

Spirits live here. That’s what Paiute and Shoshone tribal members say about the Owens Lake playa, an arid, eerily flat expanse along the eastern Sierra Nevada range that is prone to choking dust storms.

It is best known as the focal point of a historic feud that began in the early 1900s, when Los Angeles city agents quietly bought up ranch lands and water rights for an aqueduct to quench the thirst of the growing metropolis 200 miles to the south.

L.A. diverted so much water via the aqueduct system that the 110-square-mile lake dried up and it was nearly impossible for local farmers and ranchers to make a living — a scandal dramatized in the classic 1974 film “Chinatown.”

Full Story

Why Rural Communities Struggle to Bring in Much-Needed Federal Grants

/in , , /by /High Country Newsby Kylie Mohr and Theo Whitcomb

Bounded by the Bitterroot Mountains to the west and the Sapphire Mountains to the east, Montana’s Bitterroot Valley is home to renowned fly fishing streams and soaring vistas. Its forests, however, are facing the greatest wildfire risk in the entire state, with towns like Florence, Victor and Darby all in the nation’s 98th-plus percentile for risk. Yet houses continue to be built at a rapid clip, many of them in hazardous areas.

Theoretically, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a $1.2 trillion bill that funds improvements in transportation, water, energy, broadband and climate resilience projects, should be able to help.

Full Story

Working Together on Water Affordability

/in , , /by /Water News Networkby Gary Croucher Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

After weeks of work, I’m pleased to report that thanks to the improved relationship between the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) and the San Diego County Water Authority, along with increased collaboration with other water agencies across Southern California, we helped reduce proposed rate increases to our wholesale water supplies by 7 percentage points over the next two years. This is good news for water ratepayers!

The bottom line is this: Instead of raising wholesale water costs by 17% over the next two years, MWD unanimously adopted consecutive 5% increases. This will allow MWD to cover increasing costs facing every sector of our economy, including our water industry, while limiting the impact on residents and businesses.

Full Story

California Senate OKs Lower Standard for Indoor Water Use

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Adam Beam

Mired in an extreme drought, California lawmakers on Thursday took the first step toward lowering the standard for how much water people use in their homes — a move that won’t be enforced on individual customers but could lead to higher rates even as consumption declines.

California’s current standard for residential indoor water use is 55 gallons (208 liters) per person per day. The rule doesn’t apply to customers, meaning regulators don’t write tickets to people for using more water than they are allowed.

Full Story

Here’s How Pine Needles From Torrey Pines State Reserve Could Solve the Water Crisis

/in , , /by /CBS8by Tim Blodgett

Emily Tianshi has loved coming to Torrey Pines State Preserve since she was young.

The beach and preserve is one of the very few places where its namesake grows. As a curious middle schooler with an interest in biology, she became fascinated with the rarely studied tree.

“Because the pine is so rare, nobody had studied its mechanisms before,” she says. “I would observe that the Torrey Pine needles are able to condense water from the marine layer that comes through the State Park and use that to water itself in the midst of drought.”

Full Story

Vallecitos Board Declares Level 2 Drought Alert

/in , , /by /The Coast News Groupby Jean Gillette

To comply with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order N-7-22, the Vallecitos Water District Board of Directors voted to move to a Level 2 Drought Alert April 21. The new drought level will prompt mandatory water-use restrictions for all Vallecitos customers starting April 21 and into the foreseeable future.

Full Story