Kale or quinoa? Free range chicken or seasonal veggie medley? Pellegrino or … recycled water? Californians could soon start drinking purified wastewater. In response to a five-year drought, the state Water Resources Control Board recently informed legislators that regulating recycled, drinkable water is perfectly feasible. California would be the first state in the nation to implement such regulations.
UC Riverside’s Akif Eskalen pointed to a pattern of small holes in the bark of a majestic California sycamore tree growing in a Riverside park and lamented that it will be dead in about two years. The holes are the work of invaders from Southeast Asia, beetles smaller than a sesame seed that probably hitched a ride to the Golden State in packing wood. First discovered but misidentified in 2003 in Los Angeles County, the beetles have since infested at least 49 species of trees in seven Southern California counties, said Eskalen, a plant pathology professor.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., stayed off the Senate floor on Friday evening while her California Democratic colleague, Sen. Barbara Boxer, opposed a water resources bill. Boxer and senators from Washington and Oregon said the bill contains provisions to deal with the California drought that could damage the salmon industry and reduce the power of the Endangered Species Act. Boxer, who is retiring at the end of this Congress, also said that the drought provision was the work of a single House member, which was a veiled reference to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
Observers of California’s longtime water wars expect language inserted into a major water bill last week to exacerbate the ongoing competition between fish and farms for scarce supplies.
Are we going to decide to kill fish tonight? It was a question Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell brought to the Senate floor last Friday as she implored colleagues to vote no on a controversial water bill that would increase water flow to San Joaquin farmers and away from fish habitat in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. And if they start messing with water flows in northern California, what’s to stop them from doing it in Washington?
Thursday night’s forecast shows rain coming into San Diego County. Up to an inch of rain is expected in some coastal areas, and more is predicted to fall in the mountains. An update from the newly relaunched KPBS Drought Tracker shows the storm coming in the midst of a wet season that has so far brought California increased rain — but paltry snow — compared to previous drought years. Since the state’s wet season officially began on Oct. 1, California has seen a bit more rain than in many previous drought years.
Another rainstorm pounded much of the state Thursday, causing minor havoc in some areas but putting another dent in California’s five-year drought.The storm was expected to continue into Friday, bringing rain in low-lying areas and snow to the Sierra Nevada. Rain gauges and reservoirs were filling up as California continued to experience one of the strongest starts to the rain season in years. Fresh data showed California is making progress against the drought.
The drying out starts … now. The storm that swamped the Bay Area and prompted flash flood warnings, inundated roads and triggered rock and mud slides from Sonoma County into Monterey County has moved south. After a few showers late Thursday and early Friday, the region is in for what appears to be at least a week of non-rain.
The drought-plagued state was slammed with rainstorms Thursday night, with Northern California hit particularly hard. In Southern California, rains started moving in Thursday afternoon. The storm is expected to drop 1 to 3 inches of rain by Friday morning, National Weather Service meteorologist Joe Sirard said. The weather service issued a flash flood watch for the Santa Monica and San Gabriel mountains and foothill communities in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and San Gabriel valleys.
Droughts sparked deadly wildfires, killed tens of millions of trees and damaged crops and livestock in large regions of the U.S. in 2016. Major regional droughts hit the U.S. this year in the Southeast, California and New England—and all developed differently.
