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Officials Plan To Release Water On Damaged Oroville Dam Spillway Ahead Of More Wet Weather

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Melissa Etehad

As Northern California braces for more wet weather, state officials plan to resume releasing water down a damaged spillway at Oroville Dam. The California Department of Water Resources said Thursday that dam operators will reopen the damaged spillway for up to 14 days beginning Friday as state officials finish repair plans. But as Northern California continues to be hit by more storms and in anticipation of runoff from the snowmelt, DWR Director Bill Croyle said that repairs probably won’t start until May or early June.

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Why Celebrate The Latest Rainstorm? Because Northern California Has Set A New Record

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler

While you sidestep the puddles and wrestle with your umbrella, be comforted by this: Northern California is going through the wettest rainy season on record. The region broke the 34-year-old record for precipitation in one year, the Department of Water Resources reported early Thursday. The eight-station index for the northern Sierra Nevada, a series of rain gauges positioned from Pacific House to the city of Mount Shasta, showed that 89.7 inches of inches have fallen since the “water year” began last fall.

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After 63 Feet Of Snow, Northern California Mountains Break Record For Wettest Water Year

/in /by /The Washington Postby Jason Samenow

A mind-boggling 751 inches of snow have pummeled the Sugar Bowl ski area near Lake Tahoe this winter. It’s emblematic of a record season for precipitation in California’s northern Sierra Nevada mountain range, and the abrupt end to a historic drought. As of Thursday morning, the northern Sierra had achieved its wettest water year in recorded history, the National Weather Service office in Sacramento announced.

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California’s Water Chief Says He May Release Oroville Dam Documents After Trying To Keep Them Secret

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler and Ryan Sabalow

California’s top water official said Thursday he’s considering releasing redacted copies of safety and progress reports at the troubled Oroville Dam after his office had tried to keep them secret because of terrorism concerns. Bill Croyle, the acting director of the Department of Water Resources, told reporters that his staff met for several hours Thursday with Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea to discuss which parts of the documents should be kept secret and which to release.

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The Schools More Likely to Be at Risk of Lead Exposure, Mapped

/in /by /Voice of San Diegoby Mario Koran

After water tested at one San Diego Unified campus revealed the presence of lead at twice the allowable levels, testing is under way at schools across the district. So far, the results have been published from only one San Diego Unified site – Emerson-Bandini, in Mountain View, which shares a campus with San Diego Cooperative Charter School. Officials took 10 water samples from fountains and sinks on campus. Those tests revealed water from three different sources contained more than the allowable limit of lead. The water at one sink contained more than twice the allowable limit.

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San Diego Cooperative Charter Offers Parents Free Lead Blood Tests for Students

/in /by /NBC 7 San Diegoby Wendy Fry

A southeast San Diego elementary charter school that discovered high levels of lead and vinyl chloride in its water plans to bring in a free mobile clinic to test kids for any possible lead exposure. The contamination was discovered after a therapy dog named “Star” would not drink the water. Charter school leaders say the 2-year-old black lab went to great lengths to alert them to the potential danger in the water.

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Conservation Isn’t the Solution to California’s Water Problems

/in /by /National Reviewby Austin Yack

In January, California’s Jerry Brown became the first governor in the state’s history to declare a state of emergency for a drought and a flood simultaneously. On Friday, Brown lifted the drought emergency in all but four counties (Fresno, Kings, Tulare, and Tuolumne counties). But, rather than lift the burdensome water regulations implemented to cope with the drought, he announced that many of those regulations would remain intact, even though the flood emergency remains.

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San Diego’s $3 Billion Water Recycling Plan Takes Another Step Forward

/in /by /Times of San Diegoby Hoa Quach

The city’s $3 billion plan to recycle wastewater into drinking water took another step forward Wednesday when the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board approved a modified permit for the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant. City officials contend their “Pure Water” program will provide a sustainable source of potable water for a growing city with a dry climate. Backers estimate that recycling — purifying wastewater and mixing it in reservoirs with water from traditional sources — will account for one-third of the area’s supply by 2035.

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Two Days Or Three? How Often Could Fresno Water Customers Get To Sprinkle Their Lawns?

/in /by /The Fresno Beeby Tim Sheehan

Fresno’s stringent one-day-a-week watering schedule will come to an end later this month. What replaces it – and whether Fresno residents will get to start watering their lawns two days a week or three – could be decided Thursday. Thomas Esqueda, the city’s public utilities director, will present a workshop for Fresno City Council members Thursday afternoon outlining Fresno’s success in meeting state water conservation goals and offering three possible options for outdoor irrigation starting May 1.

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Report: Trump Budget Proposal Could Affect Arizona’s Water Demands

/in /by /KTAR News (Phoenix, Ariz.)

American Rivers has labeled the lower Colorado River as America’s most endangered this year, a river which Arizona depends on. According to their study released on Tuesday, President Donald Trump’s proposed budget cuts will affect a river that provides drinking water for 30 million Americans. The lower Colorado river also irrigates fields that grow 90 percent of the nation’s winter vegetables, according to the study. The Trump Administration’s Fiscal Year 2018 Budget proposal means there could be cuts to many environmental departments.

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