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

New Report Looks Into Water Insecurity in Tribal Lands Across Colorado River Basin

/in , , /by /Arizona Public Mediaby Emma Gibson

A recent report looked into why Indigenous communities within the Colorado River Basin are struggling to get clean, reliable running water.

A household in tribal lands is 19 times more likely than a white household to not have indoor plumbing, and during the pandemic this had catastrophic effects on some Indigenous communities. According a 2019 report outlining the action plan for closing the water access gap throughout the United States, “race is the strongest predictor of water and sanitation access,” and it’s Indigenous people who face this problem most.

Full Story

South Bay Water Officials Draw on Distant Reserves, Weigh Options as Drought Deepens

/in , , /by /KPIXby Len Ramirez

While drought conditions are upon the Bay Area, water officials in Santa Clara County plan to draw from distant reserves for now and seek to increase storage and expand water recycling in the future.

Half of the water in Santa Clara County comes from somewhere else, sometimes hundreds of miles away.

Full Story

Sierra Snow Survey Canceled Due to Impacts of Dry Weather, Water Supply Also at Risk

/in , , /by /KCRA (Sacramento)by Emily Maher

There is dry dirt where water should be at Folsom Lake. A lack of wet weather is taking a toll on the state’s water supply.

Chris Orrock is a spokesperson for the California Department of Water Resources. He said while drought-like conditions are very common for the state, this year is worse than normal, especially considering back-to-back dry winters with little snow and rain.

“In fact, this year is a critically dry year,” Orrock said.

It is so dry, in fact, that DWR canceled Thursday’s snow survey at Phillips Station because there was not enough snow on the ground. Orrock said much of the lower elevation snow is already gone and some of the higher elevation snow is beginning to melt as well.

Full Story

Value of Water Photo Contest Celebrates Water Awareness Month

/in , , /by /Water News Network Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

During May, share what the value of water means to you on Instagram for the chance to win great prizes from our partners around San Diego County, including Balboa Park attractions, San Diego Botanic Garden, and the Water Conservation Garden. The San Diego County Water Authority and its 24 member agencies are hosting their annual photo contest to celebrate Water Awareness Month in May.

Full Story

Stunning Drone Photos over Lake Oroville Show Drought Emergency in Northern California

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby By Robert St. John (L.A. Times) and Justin Sullivan (Getty Images)

Stunning drone photographs of Lake Oroville help illustrate the drought emergency declared by Gov. Gavin Newsom in two Northern California counties. Water levels at Lake Oroville have dropped to 42% of its 3,537,577 acre foot capacity.

Conditions are particularly acute in Mendocino and Sonoma counties because the local water supply depends on rainfall in the Russian River watershed.

Full Story

Arizona Positioned to Take on Cuts in Colorado River Supply

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Felicia Fonseca

Water officials in Arizona say they are prepared to lose about one-fifth of the water the state gets from the Colorado River in what could be the first federally declared shortage in the river that supplies millions of people in the U.S. West and Mexico.

Arizona stands to lose more than any other state in the Colorado River basin that also takes in parts of Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Nevada and California. That’s because Arizona agreed long ago to be the first in line for cuts in exchange for federal funding for a canal system to deliver the water to Arizona’s major metropolitan areas.

Full Story

Drought-Depleted Rivers Force Salmon Hatcheries to Truck Fish to the Pacific

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

Millions of young salmon raised at fish hatcheries in the Central Valley will be trucked to San Francisco Bay and other coastal sites for release, because the rivers they’d normally travel to get to the ocean are drying up, state and federal officials said Wednesday.

Full Story

3 More Bay Area Water Districts Take Drastic Steps With Drought Looming

/in , , /by /SF Gateby Amy Graff

Three more big Bay Area water agencies are calling on residents to conserve water as drought looms in California following two consecutive extraordinarily dry winters.

Board members with both the East Bay Municipal Utility District and Sonoma Water approved proclamations Tuesday to declare drought emergencies.

Full Story

From Dust Bowl to California Drought: A Climate Scientist on the Lessons We Still Haven’t Learned

/in , , /by /The Guardianby Maanvi Singh

California is once again in a drought, just four years after the last dry spell decimated ecosystems, fueled megafires and left many rural communities without well water.

Droughts are a natural part of the landscape in the American west, and the region has in many ways been shaped by its history of drought. But the climate scientist Peter Gleick argues that the droughts California is facing now are different than the ones that have historically cycled through the Golden State.

Full Story

Biden Races Courts for Chance to Torpedo Trump Water Rule

/in , , /by /E&E Newsby Jeremy P. Jacobs and Pamela King

President Biden has gone full throttle in his first 100 days seeking to reverse Trump-era environmental rollbacks. But on one controversial rule, the president’s team may not be able to outpace the judicial system.

Key lawsuits that could define the reach of the Clean Water Act are working their way through federal courts — despite Biden administration attempts to stop them so it can craft its own regulations.

Full Story