A drone soared over a blazing hot cornfield in northeastern Colorado on a recent morning, snapping images with an infrared camera to help researchers decide how much water they would give the crops the next day.
After a brief, snaking flight above the field, the drone landed and the researchers removed a handful of memory cards. Back at their computers, they analyzed the images for signs the corn was stressed from a lack of water.
Dozens of hikers set out for the summit of Piestewa Peak on a July evening, their flashlights dancing in the dark. “You feeling O.K.?” Trevor Plautz, a park ranger, asked two women, one of whom had stumbled and was breathing hard. “You have enough water?” Both soon turned back, moving slowly down unlit rocky switchbacks. An owl chittered. “You definitely feel the heat, but the nights are better,” Mr. Plautz said. “A lot of people hike right now instead of during the day because it is a lot cooler.” Phoenix, which had 128 days at or above 100 degrees Fahrenheit last year, is one of the hottest and fastest-warming cities in the United States.
The implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) has presented some challenges, however it appears the overall process is progressing smoothly overall. Supervising Engineering Geologist with the Department of Water Resources (Department), Steven Springhorn noted that the stakeholders have been diligent in adhering to the timeline established by the regulation. “In general, the status of SGMA is going well,” said Springhorn. “That was really shown by the first major milestone, the GSA formation deadline. Roughly 99 percent of the area that had to be covered, was covered. So that just built a lot of momentum.”
Prominent Sonoma County wine executive Hugh Reimers, who last month abruptly left as president of Foley Family Wines, faces allegations that his grape growing company has violated regional, state and federal water quality laws for improperly clearing land near Cloverdale to build a vineyard. The North Coast Regional Water Quality Board accused his Santa Rosa vineyard management company, Krasilsa Pacific Farms, of violations of the water board’s local water rules, the California Water Code and the federal Clean Water Act for clearing and grading 140 acres. The water quality board concluded the work on a section of Krasilsa Pacific’s more than 2,000-acre property was done without applying or obtaining the necessary permits required by the county to operate a vineyard.
A six-man crew from East County will be making a trek to help the Paradise Irrigation District in northern California. Four field employees from Helix Water District and two from Padre Dam Municipal Water District will leave Aug. 18 and spend five days in the Butte County town of Paradise, which was gutted last November when the Camp Fire scorched more than 150,000 acres and burned down nearly every building in town, about 19,000 structures. At least 85 people died with dozens more injured in the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history. As it recovers and rebuilds, safe drinking water is one of Paradise’s major challenges.
A hot spell will bring warm temperatures Tuesday throughout San Diego County, with even hotter temperatures expected in the deserts in the next few days. A high pressure system moving in from Texas will bring a rise in temperatures through Wednesday in coastal and inland valley areas and through Thursday in the county mountains and deserts, according to the National Weather Service. The weather service issued an excessive heat warning that will last from 11 a.m. Wednesday through 9 p.m. Thursday for desert areas. A heat advisory will also be in effect during that same time period for the inland valleys, including El Cajon, Santee and Escondido.
After more than a year of meetings with government officials from communities around the region, the city of San Diego has invited seven cities and unincorporated areas of the county to join forces and create a community choice energy program that would offer an alternative to San Diego Gas & Electric. The city made the offer earlier this month in a memo to city governments in Chula Vista, La Mesa, Santee, Encinitas, Carlsbad, Del Mar and Solana Beach as well as the County of San Diego. The memo included an attachment that contained a detailed look at how the area’s first foray into what is called Community Choice Aggregation, or CCA, would be established and how it would run.
Feds want to raise dam, expand reservoir to improve water reliability State officials, environmental groups say plan violates California law A plan to raise and expand California’s largest reservoir is on hold as federal officials look for partners to share in the $1.4 billion cost. The federal Bureau of Reclamation also must grapple with opponents who have sued, saying the Shasta Dam project violates state law. The bureau has long-pushed to raise its 602-foot Shasta Dam by 18.5 feet and enlarge the reservoir by 630,000 acre-feet, saying it would increase water supply reliability and reduce flood risks. An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons of water.
At his inaugural Speaker Series on July 15, California Secretary for Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot led a discussion on restoring local wildlife species and habitats by reactivating floodplains. The Secretary’s Speaker Series provides a public discussion on emerging ideas and priorities in the natural resources arena. It is an opportunity for Secretary Crowfoot and a diverse panel of experts to inform the public on plans to improve the environment through science and policy. “So much in water policy in the state can be characterized as conflict; fish versus farm, urban versus rural, north versus south. One important priority of Governor Newsom is to try to break through that old paradigm to find ways that work across different stakeholder groups,” Crowfoot said…
The Colorado River has experienced decades of over-allocation of its waters, making it harder to address the added challenges that climate change is bringing. The recently adopted Drought Contingency Plan (DCP) was an important step toward addressing the basin’s chronic water shortages, but more work is needed to prepare for a hotter, drier future. We talked to Doug Kenney—director of the Western Water Policy Program at the University of Colorado and a member of the PPIC Water Policy Center research network―about managing the basin for long-term water sustainability. Kenney organized a conference in June that covered these issues in depth.
