Recent Sierra storms have helped to build up California’s snowpack after a very slow start this winter. According to data published on the Department of Water Resources’ California Data Exchange Center, the statewide snowpack is now at 42% of the average for the date. On Jan. 1, the water content in the snow was just 28% of the average.
Lake Shasta, California’s largest reservoir, stands at 113% of the historical average and only 52 feet from being full, thanks to the gift of rain the state is receiving so far this winter.
Former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s multi-billion dollar plan for a desalination plant or other hugely expensive project to add to the desert state’s imperiled water supply is still alive and has the support of his successor despite a budget crunch that will crimp funding needed to get a project built.
It was just 18 months ago when the commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation warned that the Colorado Water River system was in danger of collapse unless wholesale water use reductions were enacted — cutbacks much bigger than the system has ever seen.
Using meteorology and chemistry to help prod Mother Nature, water officials have begun seeding storm clouds throughout the Santa Ana Watershed to boost regional water supplies by enhancing the rain and snowfall produced during storms.
Mexico has broken ground on a long-awaited replacement for a crumbling wastewater treatment plant in Baja California that officials said will dramatically reduce the discharge of sewage that has fouled San Diego and Tijuana shorelines.
Mexico broke ground Thursday on the long-awaited replacement for a crumbling wastewater treatment plant in Baja California that officials said will dramatically reduce the discharge of sewage that has fouled San Diego and Tijuana shorelines.
Unlike early 2023, when nonstop atmospheric river storms built a deep Sierra Nevada snowpack, replenished depleted reservoirs and flooded parts of California, snowfall and rain is sharply diminished so far this year. But state water officials say there is plenty of winter left to accumulate more snow and precipitation.
Investments geared toward combating climate change and transitioning away from fossil fuels are among the items on the chopping block as California Gov. Gavin Newsom seeks to close a $37.9-billion budget deficit.
River basins around the world that were once regularly snowbound are increasingly seeing their snowpack shrink and climate change is to blame, a new study found. “Many of the world’s most populous basins are hovering on the precipice of rapid snow declines,” concluded the study of snow amounts since 1981 in Wednesday’s journal Nature.
