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California Retains Drought Measures, Despite Wet Weather

/in /by /CBS8 News Quoted: Dana Friehauf

Water regulators in California on Wednesday extended what are now largely symbolic conservation measures lingering from the drought after the state has seen one of the wettest winters in years. Regulators decided to retain the measures at least until spring as a precaution against the possible return of dry weather — even as another major storm bears down on the state. “I don’t think there’s just one way to go,” Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the State Water Resources Control Board, said after several local water districts urged members to lift the regulations.

 

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Despite Epic Rain and Snow, California Keeps Emergency Drought Restrictions In Place

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Joseph Serna and Bettina Boxall

California’s snowpack is at 184% of average for this time of year. Cities from San Francisco to Los Angeles have recorded their highest rain levels in years. Rockslides and flooding hit Northern California. And the spillway of the state’s massive dam at Lake Oroville, once a symbol of the state’s brutal drought when it sat near empty, is actually eroding due to so much runoff from fall and winter rains.

 

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Deal Reached to Move Some Stored Reservoir Water Supplies for Santa Barbara County Agencies

/in /by /Noozhawk (Santa Barbara)by Giana Magnoli

Faced with the threat of losing carryover and purchased water stored in San Luis Reservoir, Santa Barbara County agencies have signed onto a deal with the Metropolitan Water District to move some of that supply. If the Merced County reservoir spills, a scenario predicted to happen this winter, any carryover water in San Luis Reservoir will be wiped from the records and labeled part of the state aqueduct supply for 2017. Local agencies have millions of gallons stored in San Luis Reservoir, and have been scrambling to find a way to save as much of that water as possible.

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OPINION: All Wet: Extending California Drought Rules A Bad Idea

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune

With storm after storm filling reservoirs and swelling the Sierra Nevada snowpack to 171 percent of its historic average, Californians might be surprised that officials with the State Water Resources Control Board want to extend emergency statewide drought rules for 270 days instead of letting them expire Feb. 28. They argue that the snowpack can be rapidly depleted and say there are still dry conditions and unfilled reservoirs in parts of the state.

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How Treated Sewage Water Could Help Combat Sea-Level Rise

/in /by /AccuWeather (as published by Fox News)

For decades, millions of gallons of treated sewage water has been pumped into the ground to fight sea-level rise. While this process sounds harmful, it’s actually quite the opposite, according to experts. It is crucial in keeping salt water out of aquifers and keeping groundwater replenished. To date, nearly 490 billion gallons of recycled water have been recharged into the Central and West Coast Basin aquifers. That is one of many water recharge projects occurring all over the world.

 

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OPINION: State Should Let Emergency Drought Regulations Expire

/in /by /Sacramento Beeby Susan Rohan

At a recent workshop to discuss whether the state’s emergency drought regulations should be extended beyond February, two government agencies scheduled to report on drought conditions were noticeably absent because they were busy responding to flooding issues. Apart from this ironic twist, one cannot brush aside this winter’s record rainfall, snowpack and reservoir conditions. A week after this workshop, Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for 50 counties from flooding, erosion and mud flows. So one wonders why an editorial in The Sacramento Bee encouraged the Brown administration to keep its emergency drought regulations in place through April.

 

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Coalition Calls for End to California Drought Emergency

/in /by /KCRA (Sacramento)

Water regulators in Sacramento on Wednesday will decide on a recommendation to extend the drought rules, uncertain if rain and snow will continue through spring. Republican State Sen. Jim Nielsen of Gerber, who leads a swelling coalition of law makers and local water districts statewide, says it’s time for Gov. Jerry Brown to end the drought emergency, or lose the public’s trust. Californians heeded the call during the historic drought, taking shorter showers and ripping out their lawns during the five-year drought, but the weather has dramatically changed, which everybody can see, Nielsen says in a letter to the governor.

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Spillway Crumbles as California Reservoirs Max Out Capacity

/in /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

California’s recovery from drought has been so remarkably quick that reservoirs on the verge of record lows just a year ago are now too full to handle more rain, prompting dam operators across the state to unleash surpluses of water not seen in years. The northern Sierra’s Feather River swelled with so much mountain runoff Tuesday that state officials considered shutting the road beneath Lake Oroville, California’s second largest reservoir, to allow dangerously swift waters to pour out the foot of the dam.

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Sierra Storm Packs Triple Threat – Avalanches, Floods, Wind

/in /by /Associated Press (as published by the San Luis Obispo Tribune)

A major storm packing a triple threat Tuesday dumped more than a foot of new snow in the Sierra Nevada, unleashed heavy rain that triggered flooding and mudslides in the valleys around Reno and Carson City, and pushed potentially damaging winds across much of western Nevada.

The National Weather Service issued avalanche, flooding and high wind warnings up and down the eastern front of the mountains.

Classes were delayed two hours at some schools around Lake Tahoe, where more than a foot of snow was reported at ski resorts.

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Orange County Water Agency Says Drought Is No Longer An Emergency

/in /by /LAistby Tim Loc Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The rain has been unrelenting, to say the least. So much so that several water agencies across Southern California are saying that, yup, that nasty, historic drought is officially over. In late January, the San Diego County Water Authority made that bold declaration, adding that San Diego County had amassed enough water to last residents for the next three years. On Monday, Orange County joined the celebration as the board of directors at the Municipal Water District of Orange County (MWDOC) voted unanimously to declare that the community is mostly out of the red, reports the O.C. Register.

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