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Super-Soaking Storms Cut Severe Drought to 4 Percent of California

/in /by /NBC 7 San Diegoby Jonathan Lloyd

More than 80 percent of California is no longer in drought after a series of winter storms, including last week’s hourslong soaker in Southern California. About 17 percent of the state remains in drought, according to this week’s U.S. Drought Monitor report, the first since last Friday’s powerful storm. That’s a dramatic turnaround from one year ago when 94 percent of the state was in drought during an historic five-year dry spell.

 

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Will California’s Giant Sequoias Survive The Next Drought?

/in /by /Forbes

Although California’s five-year drought has come to an end, how has it affected the state’s giant sequoia trees? In this video, we meet a scientist who is seeking to understand these seemingly indestructible giants. Although though the skies have finally opened and the rains have started to fall on California, more than 100 million trees died during the state’s historic five-year drought. Such a monumental loss of trees — trees are amongst the best, most consistent “living sponges” that sequester CO2 from the Earth’s atmosphere — accelerates global warming.

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OPINION: Jerry Brown Shouldn’t Squander The Oroville Dam Crisis

/in /by /The Sacramento Bee

Good politicians like Jerry Brown know not to waste a good crisis. And so last week he urged that lawmakers spend $437 million for flood control. It is a modest request, though not nearly enough, as he readily acknowledged by displaying charts showing that upgrading California’s water infrastructure, including 1,500 dams and thousands of miles of levees, would cost $50 billion. If we Californians are to live and prosper in our re-engineered state, we will need to pay for it, or, as Brown said, “belly up to the bar.”

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The True Legacy Of Gov. Jerry Brown

/in /by /The Orange County Registerby Joel Kotkin

The cracks in the 50-year-old Oroville Dam, and the massive spillage and massive evacuations that followed, shed light on the true legacy of Jerry Brown. The governor, most recently in Newsweek, has cast himself as both the Subcomandante Zero of the anti-Trump resistance and savior of the planet. But when Brown finally departs Sacramento next year, he will be leaving behind a state that is in danger of falling apart both physically and socially.

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Can Oroville Dam’s Badly Damaged Spillway Hold Up Through The Rainy Season?

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Ryan Sabalow, Dale Kasler and Peter Hecht

For three weeks, Oroville Dam’s fractured main spillway and the surrounding hillsides have taken a nearly nonstop pounding. The stunning waterfall crashing down what’s left of the 3,000-foot concrete span has split the spillway in two and carved massive canyons on either side. The Department of Water Resources, which operates the dam, has had little choice.

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Rincon Moves To Protect Reservation Water

/in /by /Valley Roadrunner (Valley Center)

The Rincon tribe has taken a major step to protect water quality on the reservation and downstream, earning approval by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to administer surface water standards on the reservation. According to Chairman Bo Mazzetti, in recognition of tribal sovereignty, the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) encourages tribes to establish water quality standards. Rincon was able to document and prove to the EPA that the band has the desire and ability to protect its water.

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Lake Levels Rise Across Region

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby J. Harry Jones Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Winter storms that have dented the drought across much of California have also boosted reservoir levels in several San Diego County lakes — especially those fed by storm runoff. At Lake Hodges south of Escondido, sparkling blue water is now visible from the Interstate 15 bridge, which for years has only spanned a sad-looking forest. Lake Henshaw near Warner Springs, Loveland Reservoir near Alpine and El Capitan Reservoir near Lakeside have also seen big gains in their water levels over the past few months.

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Storm-lashed California Roads, Dams Could Cost One Billion to Fix

/in /by /The Associated Press (as published by Fortune)

The bill to repair California’s crumbling roads, dams and other critical infrastructure hammered by an onslaught of storms this winter could top $1 billion, including nearly $600 million alone for damaged roadways that more than doubles what the state budgeted for road repair emergencies, officials said Friday. Adding to the problems, many communities have drained their emergency budgets and are looking to the state and federal government for help.

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Repairing The Oroville Dam Spillways Could Cost Southern California Plenty

/in /by /Orange County Breezeby Shelley Henderson

According to the Municipal Water District of Orange County (MWDOC), together the State Water Project (SWP) and the Colorado River Aqueduct (CRA) supply about half of the water needed for Orange County. According to scpr.org, Oroville Lake, created by Oroville Dam, is the largest reservoir in the SWP. It stores water collected over the rainy season, then releases it gradually over the dry season. Over the course of more than four hundred miles, that water irrigates farms and provides drinking water before entering Lake Perris. MWDOC draws from Lake Perris to supply the needs of the County.

 

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Jerry Brown Wants To Spend Nearly $450 Million On Flood Control Following Dam Emergency

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Christopher Cadelago and Jim Miller

After successfully appealing to the Trump administration for help with the Oroville Dam emergency, Gov. Jerry Brown announced Friday that he wants to accelerate state spending to reduce flood risks as he asked Washington to expedite federal environmental reviews on several projects, including repairs to the dam’s spillway. The Democratic governor’s flood protection plan combines $50 million in existing general fund money with $387 million from the $7.5 billion water bond approved by voters in 2014.

 

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