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Farmers and Water Districts Hope Storm Runoff Can Help Replenish Underground Supplies

/in /by /The Fresno Beeby Robert Rodriguez

While some farmers lament the release of thousands of acre-feet of water from Friant Dam, others are putting it to good use: recharging groundwater supplies. Last week, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation began releasing water from Millerton Lake to make room for a deluge of storm runoff. The move frustrated some farmers, who say spilling water into the river and eventually the ocean is a prime example of why the state needs to build a dam at Temperance Flat. Farming advocates are pushing for state and federal funding to build the $2.8 billion project.

 

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What Is The State Doing To Help With Flooding Along Cosumnes River?

/in /by /ABC 10 Newsby Ananda Rochita

What is the state doing to help with flooding along Cosumnes River? California Department of Water Resources says many of the levees are privately owned and the state doesn’t manage them. An official told us there hasn’t been any project improvements along the Cosumnes River in recent years because the land is privately owned not state owned. Department of Water Resources says it does provide assistance to fund projects for levee improvements as well as engineering help. An official said what the state has done is have a program available to help rather than go on private property.

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Bay Area Storm: More Rain and Snow Leave Drought Farther Behind

/in /by /The Mercury News (San Jose)by Aaron Kinney

Northern California continued to roar out of its prolonged drought Tuesday as yet another powerful storm blew in from the Pacific Ocean, drenching an already saturated Bay Area, filling some local reservoirs beyond capacity and creating dangerous white-out conditions in the northwestern Sierra Nevada. Shortly after noon, water began coursing down the Lexington Reservoir spillway for the first time since March 2011.

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California Floods Its Fields to Keep Its Cities From Flooding

/in /by /Wired (Boone, IA)by Nick Stockton

To see how close California is to being drowned by its recent winter storms, just look to the small crowd of spectators and TV newscasters gathered yesterday on the northwest side of the state capital hoping to watch state water managers open the gates of the Sacramento Weir. The weir, something between a dam and a levee, lets dangerously high water spill over its top into a long, narrow, floodplain filled with rice paddies, grain fields, and other row crops.

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California Gets Rains, But Drought Still Means Fewer Lawns In Future

/in /by /The Christian Science Monitor (Boston, Mass.)by Henry Gass

Deborah Butler spent three years apologizing for her lawn. After buying a corner property in Studio City with her husband over three years ago, they inherited a ragged front lawn they didn’t particularly want or need – not with a park across the street, and especially not amidst a five-going-on-six year drought. Now the former eyesore is curved and contoured around two water-absorbing dips called “bioswales,” and covered in green and silvery plants and trees that sprout from a thick layer of mulch. Ms. Butler doesn’t anticipate the drought-tolerant yard transforming again any time soon.

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Jerry Brown Braces For Budget Changes Under Trump: ‘It’s Going To Be A Rough Ride’

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

California Gov. Jerry Brown, warning about the double-barreled fiscal risk posed by Republican-controlled Washington and an impending economic downturn, presented a $177.1 billion proposed budget Tuesday that assumes the state will take in billions of dollars less than lawmakers previously estimated. But the Democratic governor refrained from laying out how the state might react if it loses federal funding, saying it’s premature to predict how the Trump administration will act on climate change, illegal immigration and health care.

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California’s Budget Deficit Is Back, Gov. Jerry Brown Says

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby John Myers

Less than four years after declaring California’s budget balanced for the foreseeable future, Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday said the state is projected to run a $1.6-billion deficit by next summer — a noticeable shift in the state’s fiscal stability that could worsen under federal spending cuts championed by President-elect Donald Trump. “The trajectory of revenue growth is declining,” Brown said in unveiling his $179.5-billion plan for the fiscal year that begins in July.

 

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San Diego Gauges Interest In 500 MW Pumped Storage Project

/in /by /Utility Dive (Washington, DC)by Robert Walton Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority and the City of San Diego are testing the waters on a pumped storage project that could help provide the region with up to 500 MW of clean energy, Windpower Engineering reports.The San Diego County Water Authority and the City of San Diego are testing the waters on a pumped storage project that could help provide the region with up to 500 MW of clean energy, Windpower Engineering reports.The agency last week released a joint request for letters from electric utilities, developers, investors and energy consumers, to try and gauge interest in the project.

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Poway City Council Votes To Increase Water Rates

/in /by /CBS 8 (San Diego)by Abbie Alford Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

On Tuesday night, the Poway City Council unanimously voted to increase water rates. The rate increase puts Poway water rates as the third most expensive in the county. The City Council acknowledged changes need to be made, but still hiked rates despite customer’s outcry. The City Council proposed to increase water rates by almost $10.92 bi-monthly for the average customer, plus $16.50 for the drought surcharge that has been suspended for the past year.

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San Diego Gauges Interest In 500 MW Pumped Storage Project

/in /by /Utility Dive (Washington, DC)by Robert Walton Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority and the City of San Diego are testing the waters on a pumped storage project that could help provide the region with up to 500 MW of clean energy, Windpower Engineering reports. The agency last week released a joint request for letters from electric utilities, developers, investors and energy consumers, to try and gauge interest in the project. Central to the proposal is an interconnection and pumping system between the existing San Vicente Reservoir and a new, smaller reservoir located uphill

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