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After El Niño, What Weird Weather Could La Niña Bring?

/in /by /The Guardian (New York)by Kate Ravilious

This time last year the world’s weather was being dominated by one of the strongest El Niño events on record. As surface waters in the equatorial Eastern Pacific warmed by more than 2°C, a chain reaction of extreme weather events was set in motion. From torrential rains in Peru and huge storms pounding the coast of California, to drought and bushfire in Australia and Indonesia and catastrophic floods in south-east India (submerging parts of Chennai under eight metres of water), this El Niño really packed some punch.

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Regulators Propose Leaving More Water In California’s Rivers

/in /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Carolyn Lochhead

Water users in San Francisco and its suburbs face a day of reckoning as state regulators move to leave more water in California’s two biggest rivers in an effort to halt a collapse in the native ecosystem of the San Francisco Bay and its estuary, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Even as water allocations to California farmers have been severely reduced, San Francisco water authorities have freely tapped the Tuolumne River, which the city dammed early in the last century at its headwaters in Yosemite National Park.

 

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No Easy Answers Left For Water Shortage

/in /by /Ventura County Starby Cheri Carlson

After five years of drought, no easy answers are left. Wells have run dry, lake levels have dropped to historic lows and last winter’s predicted storms were no-shows.That is, at least in the southern half of the state, leaving areas dependent on local rainfall some of the hardest hit. Those importing water, however, got a bit of reprieve as storms boosted supplies in Northern California. Just a few years ago, the opposite was true. Back then, Lake Casitas in the Ojai Valley was still relatively full.

 

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LA Asks State For More Money To Fund Recycled Water Projects

/in /by /Curbed Los Angelesby Elijah Chiland

Los Angeles has a serious dependence on imported water, and local officials want the state to pitch in more to help the city get more of its water from local sources. In a letter sent Friday to the California Water Resources Control Board and Department of Water Resources, Mayor Eric Garcetti and City Controller Ron Galperin asked the state to lift a $15 million limit on grants for water recycling projects awarded through a water bond approved by voters in 2014.

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Even With Drought, A California River Will Begin Flowing Year-Round For The First Time In 60 Years

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Associated Press

A decade ago, environmentalists and the federal government agreed to revive a 150-mile stretch of California’s second-longest river, an ambitious effort aimed at allowing salmon again to swim up to the Sierra Nevada foothills to spawn. A major milestone is expected by the end of the month, when the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation says the stretch of the San Joaquin River will be flowing year-round for the first time in more than 60 years. But the goal of restoring native salmon remains far out of reach. The original plan was to complete the task in 2012.

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Smaller County Cities Could Muddy San Diego’s Plan For Pure Water

/in /by /Voice of San Diegoby Ry Rivard

San Diego’s recycled water project is facing roadblocks at a crucial time, partly thanks to an unusual problem: the city is running short on sewage. San Diego is aiming to make reused sewer water drinkable and widespread within a matter of years. The project is branded Pure Water. The city operates an outdated sewage treatment plant at Point Loma. For years, the city has avoided spending $2 billion to upgrade the plant by promising to build Pure Water.

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A Word From The Local Candidates As Election Day Nears

/in /by /The Fallbrook/Bonsall Village News Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

On Election Day, November 8, area voters will determine the following: Which candidates will take possession of the contested open seats (Division 1 and Division 4) on the Fallbrook Public Utilities District board. Which candidates will seize the contested open seats (Division 2 and Division 5) on the Rainbow Municipal Water District board. Which candidates will occupy the two open seats on the Fallbrook Union High School District board. Which candidates will commandeer the two open seats on the Bonsall Unified School District board.

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Negotiations Moving Forward On Plan To Avert Colorado River ‘Crash’

/in /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Ian James

The largest reservoir in the country now stands at just 37 percent full. Lake Mead reached its lowest point on record this year, and federal water officials estimate the odds of the reservoir slipping into shortage conditions in 2018 at nearly 50-50. The reservoir’s decline reflects a fundamental deficit in how the Colorado River has been divided up for decades. The old system of allotments that sustains farms and cities is doling out much more water than the river can provide, and the strains on the river are being compounded by 16 years of drought and rising temperatures.

 

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California Drought Worries Rise As La Niña Reemerges In Forecast

/in /by /SFGate (San Francisco)by Peter Fimrite

As the days darken, all eyes are on the Sierra Nevada, then the sky, with a glance back at the mountains, to the Internet for forecast information, over to the thermometer — all in a fidgety search for a sign, any sign, that this winter will be wet. It is an increasingly desperate and often futile exercise that farmers, skiers, water officials, meteorologists and residents tired of water rationing slog through each fall in an attempt to decrypt the capricious California climate.

 

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OPINION: Water Conservation Rebates Shouldn’t Be Taxed

/in /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Bob Baker and Art Levine Mentioned: Dan Denning, San Diego County Water Authority

Last week, along with more than 100 other elected and municipal water leaders, we asked the White House to support local efforts to promote water-use efficiency, reuse and green infrastructure solutions in our communities. As cities and towns across the West have risen to the challenge of conserving water in the face of historic drought, consumer rebate programs have grown significantly and have been imperative to our success. However, these rebates may be considered taxable income by the Internal Revenue Service, a clear financial disincentive and one that could seriously undermine conservation efforts.

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