In Southern California in the fall of 2015, a giant natural gas leak not only caused one of the worst environmental disasters in the nation’s history, it also knocked out a critical fuel source for regional power plants. Energy regulators needed a quick fix. But rather than sticking with gas, they turned to a technology more closely associated with flashlights: batteries. They freed up the utilities to start installing batteries — and lots of them.
Torrents of meltwater coursed down the granite crevices below the moonscape of the Desolation Wilderness. Just miles from its source in the High Sierra, the South Fork of the American River was already roaring down toward the oaken foothills, bursting over the spillways of dams that humans had erected to control it. As it moved, it gathered streams and rivulets — pink and brown and orange from the minerals they leached. The heavy rain turned dusty creek beds into full-fledged tributaries. Running through narrowing clefts they burst forth as from hydraulic jets.
The San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) has requested an extension in the annexation process for the Campus Park West development. The SDCWA approved a request to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) for the extension at the Dec. 8 CWA board meeting. MWD’s conditional approval provided in December 2014 stipulated that all necessary documents for the annexation must be filed by Dec. 31, 2016, but the lack of state and federal permits led to the request to extend the completion prerequisites to Dec. 31, 2017. The Rainbow Municipal Water District had requested that the CWA seek the extension from MWD.
The California State Water Resources Board (SWRCB) was taken to the woodshed this week by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), when Mark Holderman, the principal engineer at DWR’s South Delta Branch offered expert testimony that the Bay-Delta water plan was written “without evidence, incomplete scientific information, ill-suited for real-time operations, and unverified assumptions.” On January 3, 2017, the SWRCB held its fourth and final public hearing on the Bay-Delta Plan’s Draft Substitute Environmental Document (SED), in Sacramento.
California’s current La Niña period, characterized by highly unpredictable rainfall patterns, might mean the end of the statewide drought, according to UC Berkeley environmental experts. If the rainfall continues further into the new year, most, if not all, of the state will likely see the end of the drought, according to assistant professor of water and climate Ted Grantham. Grantham said there are two definitions of a drought — the traditional meteorological drought is characterized by significantly below average rainfall. Another definition, however, also considers water supply in reservoirs.
With all the rain recently, San Diegans are wondering whether the severe drought in California is over and if they should continue to conserve. Another big question—will water bills decrease? San Diego County is primarily a water importer, so this year’s wet winter weather is helping our water supply. The snowpack from where the county gets its water from is 140 percent of the average amount, which will replenish the Colorado River Basin.
As Northern California skies begin to clear, California lawmakers are using the storm that pelted the region over the last week as a catalyst to talk about the state’s water management system. Assemblyman James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, is leading a troupe of lawmakers today on a tour of the Sites Reservoir, a $4.4 billion proposed water storage project four decades in the making.
A new rainstorm moved into Southern California on Thursday, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a flood advisory for much of Los Angeles County through 9:15 a.m. Forecasters said southern and eastern Los Angeles County would be hardest hit by the storm. It’s the latest of a series of storms to dump rain on the region, which has been hard hit by six years of drought. December saw a series of storms, and the weather service said downtown L.A. is now at 150% of rainfall for the season.
As three raging storms pummeled Northern California in early January, the lakes rose, the floodgates opened, the rivers swelled, and the waterfalls roared. The landscape that became dry and parched during five years of drought turned into a wet, soggy mess. Trickles of water became surging flows, and floodplains transformed into massive seas of water. The gallery below of before-and-after images shows the dramatic impact the heavy rains have had on water levels at lakes, reservoirs, dams and rivers across the top half of the state.
Federal monitors announced Thursday that 42 percent of California has emerged from a five-year drought after some of the heaviest rain and snow in decades. The finding marks a dramatic turnaround from this time last year when 97 percent of California was locked in drought. The U.S. Drought Monitor says half of the state, all in the central and southern regions, remains in severe drought or worse.
