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Drought-Busting Winter Storms Have Another Upside: Cleaner Air

/in /by /89.3 KPCC (Pasadena)by Emily Guerin

The epic rainfall that has pummeled Southern California this winter has lifted the area out of extreme drought – and it’s also been great for air quality. Strong winds blow smoke, soot and particulates out of the L.A. basin, while rain rinses the air clean. This winter is the 7th wettest in Southern California since 1946, according to data through February 24. Air pollution has exceeded federal standards for particulate matter on just 7 days since November 2016. Compare that to 35 days in the same period in 2014-2015, the worst winter of the drought.

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In California, A Move To Ease The Pressures On Aging Dams

/in /by /The New York Timesby Henry Fountain

Until a few weeks ago, the McCormack-Williamson Tract in the California Delta was an island of low-lying farmland, more than two square miles protected from the surrounding rivers and sloughs by earthen levees. Today the tract is an immense lake, up to 15 feet deep, with fish prowling the water and ducks skimming the surface. The adjacent Mokelumne River, swollen by the intense storms that have drenched the state this winter, caused a levee to break, allowing the water to rush in.

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OPINION: There’s No Risk to San Diego From the Oroville Dam Disaster

/in /by /Voice of San Diego Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The emergency that unfolded recently at Oroville Dam in Northern California poses no immediate or projected impact to water supplies in San Diego County. Voice of San Diego’s story on the crisis, though, states that “we could lose a significant chunk of our water supply, perhaps even 20-25 percent.” Low winter water demand, significant water reserves in Southern California and local investments in water supply reliability will allow the San Diego County Water Authority to provide uninterrupted water service here even if deliveries from Oroville are impacted.

 

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In California, A Move To Ease The Pressures On Aging Dams

/in /by /The New York Timesby Henry Fountain

Until a few weeks ago, the McCormack-Williamson Tract in the California Delta was an island of low-lying farmland, more than two square miles protected from the surrounding rivers and sloughs by earthen levees. Today the tract is an immense lake, up to 15 feet deep, with fish prowling the water and ducks skimming the surface. The adjacent Mokelumne River, swollen by the intense storms that have drenched the state this winter, caused a levee to break, allowing the water to rush in.

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City Says Sewage Is Hard To Find, Pushes Water Recycling Plan That Has Neighbors Nervous

/in /by /Voice of San Diegoby Ry Rivard

Cities and water districts in East County, North County and the South Bay have lined up to oppose the city of San Diego’s ambitious plans to turn sewage into drinkable water. For years, San Diego has aimed to make recycled water drinkable and widespread. The idea used to face opposition from the public, who thought it was yucky. Two years ago, the drought and changes in public opinion seemed to remove any obstacles, so the city decided it could double the size of the three-part project’s first phrase.

 

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OPINION: Public Should Demand Salton Sea Action At State Level

/in /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Timothy Bradley and Kerry Morrison

The State of California is not living up to its responsibility to protect the health and well-being of the residents of the Coachella and Imperial valleys. Due to a water transfer referred to as the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA), significant inflows of water currently flowing into the Salton Sea will be diverted, beginning January 2018, to urban water districts. As a result, the Salton Sea will shrink rapidly, revealing vast acres of dried beaches (termed playas) that are the source of toxic dust.

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Yes, California’s Drought Is All But Over, And The Dramatically Revived Cachuma Lake Proves It

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Louis Sahagun

Heading into February, things were looking grim here in the rugged hills north of Santa Barbara. While much of California was emerging from five years of drought, this giant reservoir had dwindled to a weedy channel at just 7% of capacity and was perilously close to being written off as a regional water supply. And then the rains came in unrelenting horizontal sheets. It was one of the largest storms in memory over the Santa Ynez Valley on Feb. 17, swamping historical records and causing the lake to rise a whopping 31 feet in depth in just a few days.

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Sinking Land Crushes California Groundwater Storage Capacity

/in /by /Circle Of Blue (Traverse City, Mich.)by Brett Walton

Unbridled pumping of aquifers in California’s San Joaquin Valley is severely reducing the land’s capacity to hold water, according to a Stanford University study. The loss of storage is due to subsidence, which is the compaction of soils as a result of removing too much water. The study, which provides the first estimate of the permanent loss of groundwater storage space that occurred during a drought from 2007 to 2010, also shows that California lost natural water storage capacity equal to a medium-sized reservoir.

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The Orange County Water District’s Groundwater Replenishment System Prevented Beach Closures During Recent Heavy Rains

/in /by /Orange County Breeze

The Groundwater Replenishment System (GWRS), the world’s largest advanced water purification facility of its kind, has been online since January 2008. The project is a joint partnership between the Orange County Water District (OCWD; the District) and the Orange County Sanitation District (OCSD). On January 22-23, 2017, OCSD saw influent flows that had not been seen since 1995. OCSD experienced peak flows of up to 586 million gallons per day (mgd) coming into both of their wastewater treatment plants.

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Recent California Floods Could Trigger Earthquakes, New Report Says

/in /by /San Francisco Business Timesby Riley McDermid

As if we don’t have enough trouble from flooding, extreme amounts of rain caused by back-to-back storms systems in the state could create enough pressure in the groundwater system to trigger earthquakes along California’s faults, a new report says. California has received record amounts of rain this winter, causing everything from dam failures to widespread flooding and mudslides.

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