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California Is Preparing For Extreme Weather. It’s Time To Plant Some Trees.

/in , /by /The New York Timesby Henry Fountain

For years, there has been a movement in California to restore floodplains, by moving levees back from rivers and planting trees, shrubs and grasses in the low-lying land between. The goal has been to go back in time, to bring back some of the habitat for birds, animals and fish that existed before the state was developed. But in addition to recreating the past, floodplain restoration is increasingly seen as a way of coping with the future — one of human-induced climate change.

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OPINION: A Way Out Of California’s Water Crisis

/in , /by /Ventura County Starby Kerry Jackson

California’s chronic water problems were once again national news when Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation establishing a code of water-use restrictions that would be more fitting for an undeveloped nation. As usual, policymakers chose the austerity of coercive public policy over the voluntary, cooperative agreements that markets use to efficiently and fairly allocate goods and services. Aside from a few small enterprises, there are no comprehensive water markets in the state. More than 90 percent of the water that flows through California is under the control of a centralized government entity.

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OPINION: Water The West: Changes To Our Water Usage

/in , /by /Ramona Home Journalby Beth Prinz Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Gov. Brown declared the five-year drought ended in 2017. However, water conservation never stopped being important. Hotter weather for longer periods and less precipitation have created conditions calling for unprecedented lifestyle changes. Water levels are dropping above-ground and underground, and rain and snow pack are diminishing in frequency and depth. As temperatures increase, the elevations of snow pack increase. Mountains get smaller at the pinnacle, so there is less surface area for snow pack. Higher temperatures mean less snow and, theoretically, more rain, but has received little of either in recent years.

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The Valley Floor Is Sinking, And It’s Crippling California’s Ability To Deliver Water

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler and Phillip Reese

Completed during Harry Truman’s presidency, the Friant-Kern Canal has been a workhorse in California’s elaborate man-made water-delivery network. It’s a low-tech concrete marvel that operates purely on gravity, capable of efficiently piping billions of gallons of water to cities and farms on a 152-mile journey along the east side of the fertile San Joaquin Valley. Until now. The Friant-Kern has been crippled by a phenomenon known as subsidence. The canal is sinking as the Valley floor beneath it slowly caves in, brought down by years of groundwater extraction by the region’s farmers.

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How Communities Are Turning Stormwater From A Liability To An Asset

/in , /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Tara Lohan

 Stormwater used to be viewed as a liability – it was shuttled into storm drains as fast as possible to prevent flooding – and then dumped into the ocean, rivers or streams. But increasingly, stormwater is now being viewed as an asset – a way to help augment water supplies and adapt to a changing climate. A new report on stormwater capture issued by the Pacific Institute – the Oakland, California-based water think tank – looks at regulatory and funding challenges as well as creative solutions and collaborations.

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Water Agencies Increase Incentives To Replace Turf

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

Residents in San Diego County now can receive $2.75 per square foot for replacing turf with sustainable landscaping features as part of a new Landscape Transformation Program launched this week across Southern California. The new program includes a partnership by the San Diego County Water Authority and the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to boost the per-square-foot incentive amount available in the water authority’s service area and streamline the application process.

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OPINION: Why Understanding Oceans Is Vital To Economy, Security

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Margaret Leinen

Meteorologists and oceanographers still love to talk about the 2015-16 El Niño that wasn’t. It was the weather event that was meant to deliver California from the horrible drought that had afflicted the state for four years. Emergency officials braced for widespread flooding usually associated with El Niño as Eastern Pacific Ocean temperatures jumped nearly 4 degrees Fahrenheit in the months leading up to that winter, just as they had during the great El Niños of the past. It was supposed to be, as one researcher predicted, the “Godzilla” El Niño.

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Water Authority Offers Homeowners $2.75 A Foot To Replace Grass Lawns

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Chris Jennewein Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

San Diego County homeowners can receive $2.75 per square foot to replace their water-wasting turf lawns with sustainable landscaping under a new program in Southern California. The new Landscape Transformation Program was announced this week by both the San Diego County Water Authority and the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District. “Over the past few years, the water authority has helped foster sustainable landscaping through financial incentives, a demonstration garden, hands-on classes and publication of a detailed guidebook,” said Mark Muir, chair of the water authority’s board.

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OPINION: ‘So What?’ Attitude At Root Of Water Wars

/in , /by /Chico Enterprise-Record

A sequence of events over that last week may explain why California is endlessly locked in water wars. Last Friday, the State Water Resources Control Board released a final plan for the San Joaquin River and the framework for an upcoming plan on the Sacramento River, which will require less water be diverted from those waterways and their tributaries. Four days later, the Metropolitan Water District in Southern California voted to spend $11 billion — the bulk of the $17 billion cost — to put two tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

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Where Would Extra Water In River Come From?

/in , /by /Chico Enterprise-Recordby Steve Schoonover

The framework of a plan for the Sacramento River watershed released Friday by the state Water Resources Control Board calls for an increase in the amount of water running into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and out to sea, but it leaves the question of where that water would come from largely unanswered. It’s a good chunk of water. According to the framework, the target of letting 55 percent of “unimpeded flow” run downstream amounts to a reduction of 17 percent of the current average surface water supply available in the Sacramento River and its tributaries, plus the three rivers that run directly into the delta from the east.

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