Despite the wet start to this year’s rain season, Shasta Dam remains at only 25% capacity.
“So three-quarters of the lake is empty; we need some really significant winter storms back-to-back-to-back to help fill this lake,” said Don Bader, the area manager at Shasta Dam.
Bader says they would like to have the dam typically around 60% full during this time of year. He says the dam depends mostly on rainfall.
Californians may face new restrictions, including fines for improperly washing their cars, as the state prepares to virtually eliminate the water it supplies to local communities as it grapples with an unrelenting drought.
Arizona’s water authorities are close to entering into a new pact with officials from Nevada and California they hope will restore water levels at Lake Mead and stave off future rationing requirements.
A Tier 1 Colorado River water shortage begins in 2022, triggering a mandatory 512,000 acre-foot reduction to Arizona. The emergency stems from the Lake Mead reservoir reaching water levels not seen since its construction. The designation doesn’t affect Arizona residents, rather the state’s agriculture industry that represents the majority of water usage.
To visualize the hellishness of the climate crisis in 2021, look no further than General Sherman, the world’s largest tree, wrapped in fire-resistant foil to protect the legendary giant sequoia from flames burning a path of destruction through the Sierra Nevada.
California’s so-called Ancient Ones evolved with fire. It’s crucial to their reproductive cycle. But they aren’t prepared for blazes like those of the last year, which are burning hotter and more intensely as Earth warms, mostly because of the combustion of fossil fuels. Last year, flames killed roughly 10% of the world’s giant sequoias.
With just hours left to go in this month — and no precipitation in the forecast for Tuesday — downtown Los Angeles is set to experience its first rainless November in almost 30 years, according to the National Weather Service.
The 11th month of the year is typically not a wet one for the area, with downtown’s average just a hair above three-quarters of an inch on average, NWS said.
However, it’s still unusual for there to be no precipitation at all. In fact, that hasn’t happened since 1992, weather service data showed.
On Monday, the State Department of Water Resources allocated $39.2 million to the repairs of the Friant-Kern Canal.
The $39.2 million is part of $100 million that was included in this year’s state budget for the repairs of four of the state’s major water resources: the California Aqueduct, the San Luis Canal, the Delta-Mendota Canal and the Friant-Kern Canal. A total of $37 million was allocated to both the California Aqueduct and San Luis Canal and $23.8 million was allocated to the Delta-Mendota Canal.
Camarillo’s long-awaited desalter plant will soon begin treating previously unusable groundwater to convert into drinkable water for residents and businesses.
The city unveiled the $66.3 million North Pleasant Valley Groundwater Desalter, located at 2727 Somis Road, at a ribbon cutting before a crowd of about 100 people on Tuesday.
Camarillo’s long-awaited desalter plant will soon begin treating previously unusable groundwater to convert into drinkable water for residents and businesses.
The city unveiled the $66.3 million North Pleasant Valley Groundwater Desalter, located at 2727 Somis Road, at a ribbon cutting before a crowd of about 100 people on Tuesday.
When Lucas Zucker talks about sea level rise in California, his first thoughts aren’t about waves crashing onto fancy homes in Orange County, nor the state’s most iconic beaches shrinking year after year.
What worries him most are the three power plants looming over the Oxnard coast, and the toxic waste site that has languished there for decades. There are also two naval bases, unknown military dumps and a smog-spewing port. Just one flood could unleash a flow of industrial chemicals and overwhelm his working-class, mostly Latino community.
As the climate continues to warm, more and more of the snow falling on California’s mountains will be replaced by rain. Already in recent decades, the snow season has shrunk by a month, according to one estimate, while snow levels have moved upward by 1,200 feet, according to another.
Scientists and water managers say that at some point California’s snowpack could simply disappear. This would leave the state without the crucial spring and summer melt-off that fills rivers and streams, nourishes plants and animals, and provides a huge chunk of the water supply. It would also be devastating for the ski industry.
Community leader and Vista Irrigation District board member Marty Miller has been seated as one of four delegates representing the San Diego County Water Authority on the board of directors of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
Miller took his seat during a special board meeting last Tuesday (Nov. 23). He replaced outgoing director Michael Hogan, who served on Metropolitan’s 38-member board since 2013. Elected to the VID board in 2008, Miller represents Vista, a community in northeast San Diego County. He has twice served as VID’s board president, as well as chair of its fiscal policy, public affairs, water sustainability and Warner Ranch committees.
