It’s been decades since a major water storage reservoir has been built in California. Now the August deadline for the Sites Reservoir Project is closing in. As feet of snow melt under intense heat, supporters of the Sites Reservoir are pushing for a way to save more water. “We feel prepared to submit an application and all the documentation that goes along with it,” said Thad Bettner of the Glenn Colusa Irrigation District.
Arizona risks losing water rights because of a lingering, nearly two-decade long drought in the Colorado River that could restrict water use ranging from farmers’ crops to how many households receive water, state water experts say. Calcium rings around Lake Mead tell the story of declining water levels, with cream markings permanently decorating the canyon walls that shows high levels that haven’t been seen since 1983. Current surface elevation is at 1,081 feet. If it drops another six feet, water to Arizona will likely be cut, according to an Arizona budget document.
The heat wave is melting snow in the Sierra, which is bringing freezing cold water into the valley’s lakes, streams and rivers. The effects of the snowmelt can also be deadly and proved so on Tuesday. “With this fast moving water it does not take long for someone to get in trouble,” said State Parks Ranger Scott Liske. Liske says a group of friends from Sacramento was swimming in the main channel of the North Fork when one of them drowned.
Every year for almost half a century, California snow surveyor Pat Armstrong has trekked the rugged Sierra Nevada with three simple tools: a snow core tube, a scale and a notebook. For as long as he can remember, state water officials have relied on the accuracy of those tools to deliver crucial data on the size of the Sierra snowpack and its ability to sustain a growing population. “It hasn’t changed in a hundred years,” Armstrong said of the survey.
After years of drought, the state of California is bracing for water. Lots of it. Maybe even a rerun of the havoc caused by the failure of the Oroville Dam this winter. As the record snows in the Sierra Nevada mountains begin to melt, there’s concern this spring and summer that the state will have more water than it can handle. Earlier this year, heavy winter rains forced evacuations near the Oroville Dam, where repairs are now underway on the damaged flood-control spillway.
In Death Valley, the heat brought even the roadrunners to a stop. They stood arched to the sky with their beaks wide open, as if in a stupor, or indignant at what the sun was up to. The landscape blurred and undulated. People moved as if they were walking through glue. When a light breeze came in the afternoon, it stung their faces so badly they had to turn away from it. Water mains burst in the baking dirt, while the “cold” tap water came out of faucets the temperature of a Jacuzzi.
A $42 million project that doubled the capacity of an innovative groundwater desalination plant in Chula Vista is now complete, another big step for a region in dire need of diversification of its water supply. The expansion doubles the facility’s production of drinking water from 5 million gallons a day to 10 million by adding five new wells. The drought-resistant water source — brackish, or saline, groundwater that’s been cleaned using reverse-osmosis technology — will be shared evenly between the Sweetwater Authority and the city of San Diego, which split the costs of the project not covered by $31 million in state and federal grants.
The final version of Gov. Jerry Brown’s twin tunnels plan is better than earlier drafts but still contains “key flaws,” independent scientists say, including an environmental impact report that is so chock full of facts that it doesn’t tell a clear story. The latest draft critique marks the Independent Science Board’s fifth review of various iterations of the tunnels plan. Their criticism isn’t really about the tunnels themselves, but rather the documents that are being used to justify their construction.
On May 16, 2017, the U.S. Department of State granted a presidential permit to allow the Otay Water District to build a nearly four-mile potable water pipeline that begins at the U.S.-Mexico border. This permit authorizes the District to “construct, connect, operate, and maintain cross-border water pipeline facilities for the importation of desalinated seawater at the International Boundary between the United States and Mexico in San Diego County, California.” Purchasing and transporting water Aguas de Rosarito’s $421 million desalination plant in Rosarito, Baja California, Mexico, is a component of the District’s water supply diversification efforts.
