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Oroville Dam Holds Up As Officials Christen New Spillway Two Years After Near Disaster

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Hannah Fry and Alejandra Reyes-Velarde

Bystanders were met with the rumble of rushing water as Oroville Dam’s gates released millions of gallons of water down a newly reconstructed concrete spillway on Tuesday for the first time since the structure failed two years ago. In February 2017, people who live downstream in Oroville watched in disbelief as millions of gallons of water eroded the main spillway of the nation’s tallest dam, sending a deluge of water cascading down a hillside and forcing thousands of residents to evacuate. That scenario was exactly what bystanders watching the first water flow from the newly rebuilt spillway hoped to avoid.

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Politicos Ask For $100.4 Million To Help Rebuild Whittier Narrows Dam Before A Breach Endangers 23 Cities

/in , /by /Pasadena Star-Newsby Steve Scauzillo

Frustrated by continual delays in refurbishing the Whittier Narrows Dam, U.S. Rep. Grace Napolitano summoned the commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to her office in Washington D.C. last week. Her tete-a-tete with Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite produced the same refrain the agency has been telling the 1 million people threatened by flooding if the eroding dam were to fail: The $500 million project will be completed in 2025 — at the soonest. Not satisfied, Napolitano, D-El Monte, who is 82, said she’s been working on getting the Army Corps to hasten the project for the last 12 years and wondered if she’d be alive by the time it gets finished.

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California’s Water Works An Engineering Wonder That Made The Golden State What It Is Today

/in , /by /Oakdale Leader (Oakdale, Calif.)by Dennis Wyatt

California — without a doubt — has the most intricate and massive water storage and transfer system man has ever created. It is the largest, most productive, and most controversial water system in the world that harnesses nature using man’s ingenuity. At its northernmost reaches it captures the snow run-off of the Modoc Plateau — volcanic highlands in northeast California and southeast Oregon — that is drained by the Pit River, Snow blanketing the hills of the Modoc Plateau today will melt in the coming weeks and start a long journey in the form of water. The journey’s end for water — that makes it that far — are faucets and water taps in San Diego less than a mile from the border of Mexico.

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The Fresh Water Crisis And Desalination Plants

/in , /by /Interesting Engineeringby Marcia Wendorf

Global warming is causing increased droughts throughout the world, and this has brought some areas to the brink of a water crisis. February 2, 2018, was supposed to be “Day Zero” for Cape Town, South Africa, the day on which the city was set to run out of water. That date was subsequently reset to July 15, 2018, after area fruit growers used up their allotment of water, and through conservation measures. For many areas, overdevelopment, population growth, and climate change have upset the balance between water usage and supply, and areas from North America to South America, and from Australia to Asia, are increasingly facing threats of drinking-water shortages.

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Avalanches, Snow Slides and Chain Controls: Storms Keep Pounding Northern California

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Michael MCgough

There’s no weekend reprieve in store for Northern California after a wet start to the week. In fact, it should only get wetter. National Weather Service says Friday and Saturday will see a “stronger, wetter” storm than the one passing through Monday and Tuesday, with as much as 1 to 2 feet of snow possible near summit passes this weekend. Rain and snowfall were expected to be light during this week’s first storm, but Caltrans and sheriff’s departments have reported a snow slide incident Monday afternoon and an avalanche Tuesday morning, both of which closed stretches of highways.

 

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Mild Week Ahead, With Light Rain Possible On The Weekend

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Robert Krier

Another powerful storm is expected to barrel into California later this week, but once again, San Diego should be on the southern fringe and get very little rain. In the meantime, mild weather is forecast for the workweek in San Diego County, with minor fluctuations in temperature and the reach of the low clouds. Up north, it’s a different story. An extremely wet storm, with seven times the amount of moisture usually seen this time of year, is expected to pound the Bay Area Thursday through Saturday with a couple inches of rain. National Weather Service forecaster Joe Dandrea said the Sierra could get 4 to 6 inches — a welcome, late-season addition to the state’s water supply after a subpar winter.

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Dam Spillway Faces 1st Use Since Imperiling California Towns

/in , /by /The Associated Press

Water will rush down the rebuilt spillway at the nation’s tallest dam for the first time since it crumbled two years ago and drove hundreds of thousands of California residents from their homes over fears of catastrophic flooding. The state Department of Water Resources said it anticipated releasing water down the spillway as early as Tuesday due to storms feeding the enormous reservoir behind Oroville Dam in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.

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California Wants To Aim Lasers At Snowpack To Better Predict Runoff

/in , /by /CBS Sacramento by Steve Large

Lawmakers are considering spending $150 million to fund new high-tech measurements of the snowpack using lasers. A pilot program with NASA has been in place for several years and results show lasers record snowpack measurements with near perfect accuracy. Up until now, California has measured the snowpack manually, with experts physically sinking a metal pole into the snow at various monitoring locations. Snow survey expert Frank Gehrke has been doing the manual measurements for thirty years and says the manual approach has resulted in measurements that are up to 60 percent incorrect.

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Colorado’s Epic Snowfall Helps Ease Drought Conditions, But State Not Out Of The Woods

/in , /by /The Denver Post by Jackson Barnett

With Colorado’s statewide snowpack totals nearing 150 percent of average, he and his crew of guides are eagerly awaiting the spring melt. Customers have noticed, too. Marquis already has seen a spike in summer bookings for his whitewater rafting trips. “As a business owner, I am very excited,” he said. Colorado has suffered from drought that has parched much of the state, hitting the Four Corners area especially hard, since late 2017.

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OPINION: Reject Latest Effort To Undermine Needed Local Water Projects

/in , /by /The Sun (San Bernardino, Calif.)by Steven Figueroa

Infrastructure projects that secure California’s future are being pursued every day in our great state. For better or worse, California is known to have the toughest environmental review laws in the nation with its CEQA framework that can impact these projects. CEQA has been roundly criticized over the years given the extent of its requirements and the legal challenges it allows — killing or delaying good projects that could create well-paying jobs and needed affordable resources for working families. In recent years, the Legislature, recognizing the impediment CEQA can be to needed infrastructure, has moved bills that try to reform CEQA or that grant exemptions from it.

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