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A Bee Mogul Confronts The Crisis In His Field

/in /by /The New York Timesby Stephanie Strom

A soft light was just beginning to outline the Tejon Hills as Bret Adee counted rows of wizened almond trees under his breath. He placed a small white flag at the end of every 16th row to show his employees where they should place his beehives. Every so often, he fingered the buds on the trees. “It won’t be long,” he said. Mr. Adee (pronounced Ay-Dee) is America’s largest beekeeper, and this is his busy season. Some 92,000 hives had to be deployed before those buds burst into blossom so that his bees could get to the crucial work of pollination.

 

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Rain Runoff May Have Undermined Oroville Dam’s Concrete Spillway, Report Says

/in /by /Los Angeles Times

Rainwater erosion alongside the Oroville Dam’s main spillway appears to have contributed to the heavy damage that prompted a crisis, forcing more than 100,000 to be evacuated from their homes, a report reviewed by The Times showed. A summary of the incident, prepared by state water officials four days after the crater in the concrete chute appeared, said water from heavy rains hit the hillsides where the massive concrete spillway runs. Flowing water during heavy rains was “diverted … effectively eroding and undermining the spillway, causing a section to collapse,” said the incident summary.

 

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‘It’s Going To Be A Mess’: Southern California Braces For Worst Storm In Years

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Hailey Branson-Potts

The strongest storm to hit Southwest California in several years is expected to bring torrential rain, flash flooding and powerful winds on Friday, forecasters say. The storm is expected to dump up to 6 inches of rain on Los Angeles County beaches and valleys and 5 to 10 inches on south-facing foothills and coastal mountain slopes, according to the National Weather Service.  A flash flood watch has been issued for Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties from Friday morning through Saturday morning.

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Butte County Supervisor Has Fought With DWR For Years Over Dam Compensation, Maintenance Concerns

/in /by /OrovilleMRby Risa Johnson

Butte County Supervisor Bill Connelly has been openly opposed to the Department of Water Resources’ actions for over a decade and is hoping the national spotlight will now push forward things the county has sought for years. Butte County filed a petition Wednesday with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the agency which allows the DWR to operate the dam. The county asked FERC to order the DWR to hire its own public safety personnel or reimburse the county for its losses because of Oroville Dam’s damaged spillway.

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OPINION: The Oroville Dam Isn’t The Only Trouble Spot

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Benjamin Oreskes and Shelby Grad

Good morning. It’s Thursday, Feb. 16, and here’s what’s happening across California: TOP STORIES Will Oroville hold? Tons of rain will be dumped on Northern California this week, but state officials are confident that this inclement weather won’t break the Oroville Dam or its damaged spillways. “It’s holding up really well,” said Bill Croyle, acting director of the state Department of Water Resources.

 

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San Diego Clear Enough on Water Rates? City Eyes Consultant

/in /by /Times of San Diegoby Ken Stone Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

A proposal to hire a consultant to study future rates for San Diego municipal water customers, and increase transparency in developing the prices, received initial backing Thursday from the City Council’s Environment Committee. The suggestion by the Utility Consumers Action Network stemmed from the council’s approval in November 2015 of rate increases that will total around 40 percent over five years. “We understand that the costs to service the provision of water to San Diego customers required a large increase,” Don Kelly of UCAN told committee members.

 

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All Eyes On Lake Berryessa’s ‘Glory Hole’ As Reservoir Approaches Capacity

/in /by /Napa Valley Registerby Barry Eberling

For the first time in 11 years, water splashed down the funnel drain at Lake Berryessa last weekend, as people watched from Monticello Dam and a drone flew overhead to capture this historic moment. But was the spill legitimate? Was the federal reservoir fully at capacity after years of drought? As it turned out, the spillage had speed boat assistance. Water craft created waves pushing water the final few inches over the top of the giant, 72 feet in diameter concrete funnel nicknamed the “glory hole.”

 

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Tree Mortality Epidemic In California Forests Keeps Spreading

/in /by /Capital Press (Salem, Ore.)by Tim Hearden

Drought, pests and overcrowded forests are contributing to a tree mortality epidemic in the Sierra Nevada that’s rapidly spreading, the leader of a state task force says. Aerial surveys by the U.S. Forest Service last year found 36 million more dead trees, bringing the number of trees that have died in California forests since 2010 to more than 102 million, according to the state Tree Mortality Task Force. The mortality epidemic has spread from the Fresno area to Placer County and is continuing to move north, said Gabe Schultz, the task force’s Redding-based chairman.

 

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Riverside County Water Supplier Ditches Most Restrictions

/in /by /The Press-Enterprise (Riverside)by Suzanne Hurt

Eastern Municipal Water District dropped most water restrictions Wednesday – moving from measures taken to meet the state’s mandatory conservation orders to encouraging voluntary savings among customers. While state bans on wasteful water use remain, the district board voted unanimously to end its own restrictions and return the water rate structure to pre-drought emergency order levels after supplies increased following heavy rain and snowfall, especially in Northern California. Western Riverside County remains in a moderate drought.

 

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Oroville Dam’s Flood-Control Manual Hasn’t Been Updated For Half A Century

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Ryan Sabalow and Andy Furillo

The critical document that determines how much space should be left in Lake Oroville for flood control during the rainy season hasn’t been updated since 1970, and it uses climatological data and runoff projections so old they don’t account for two of the biggest floods ever to strike the region. Independent experts familiar with the flood-control manual at Oroville Dam said Wednesday there’s no indication the 47-year-old document contributed to the ongoing crisis involving the dam’s ailing spillways. The current troubles stem from structural failures, not how the lake’s flood-storage space was being managed.

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