You are now in California and the U.S. category.

Calif. State Water Board Expected To Require Lead Sampling In Schools’ Water Systems

/in /by /WaterWorld Magazine (Tulsa, Okla.)

The Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) reports that the State Water Resources Control Board is expected to notify public water systems in the coming days regarding a new initiative to provide lead sampling to schools. Specifically, the State Water Board is expected to contact water systems this week with information about a statewide program that will require water systems to provide lead sampling services to K-12 schools upon request. The State Water Board also is expected to announce details about a webinar that will provide water systems with details about the initiative.

Full Story

First Hearing For River Flows Plan; Stockton Gets Next Session

/in /by /Record Net (Stockton)by Alex Breitler

Asking the public to listen carefully to their controversial plan, state water officials began a series of hearings Tuesday on permanently shifting a share of water away from farms and cities and reallocating it to wildlife on streams feeding the San Joaquin River. Tuesday’s meeting was in Sacramento, but the board will next head to Stockton on Dec. 16 for a session at the Stockton Memorial Civic Auditorium. San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Merced counties have expressed strong opposition.

 

Full Story

State Tallies Snow, Rain From Storms

/in /by /Daily Democrat (Woodland)by Denis Cuff

California’s rain and snow season is getting off to a fast start as Thanksgiving week brought more storms, launched the ski season early and raised cautious hope for a wet year after five years of drought. Two damp months in a row have boosted seasonal rainfall totals in Woodland to 3.25 inches. That compares with 2.57 for the same time in 2015. The 10-year seasonal average for Woodland, according to the UC Cooperative Extension Service, is 2.90 inches.

 

Full Story

Satellites Confirm Some Bay Area Spots Sinking or Moving

/in /by /Inland News Today (Riverside)

New satellite data released by the European Space Agency confirms that San Francisco’s 58-story Millennium Tower is sinking. “The Sentinel-1 satellites have shown that the Millennium Tower skyscraper in the center of San Francisco is sinking by a few centimeters a year,” a study by ESA says. “Studying the city is helping scientists to improve the monitoring of urban ground movements, particularly for subsidence hot spots in Europe.”

Full Story

Can Joshua Trees Survive Global Warming? Scientists Have Differing Thoughts

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Jim Steinberg

It started with a 2011 study that indicated by the turn of the century there would be no more Joshua trees in the national park named after the iconic desert plant. And likely none in California. “I was shocked when the study came out. I wanted to look at the details and change the scale,” said Cameron Barrows, a research ecologist for the UC Riverside Center for Conservation Biology in Palm Desert.

 

Full Story

BLOG: When Drought Becomes A Weapon Of Mass Destruction

/in /by /Western Farm Press (Fresno)by Todd Fitchette

The first couple months of the new water year has yielded better-than-average rain and snow for parts of California. Water years begin Oct. 1 and run through the end of the following September. For California, the new water year got off to a rather wet start. While it’s being called the wettest start in 30 years, some almost seem to be egging on the drought by reminding us that we could end up in our fifth year of it on short notice.

Full Story

OPINION: Here’s A New, Better Way To Deal With Dead Trees In Sierra Nevada

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Amy Horne and Jim Branham

Some 102 million trees have died in California since 2010, and that number will likely grow. Dead trees in a forest are natural, but the extraordinary numbers we see in parts of the Sierra Nevada threaten many benefits of our forests. Some places that had 20 trees per acre a century ago now have 260 trees. Too many trees, dead or alive, produce too much fuel. Once a fire gets started, a continuous expanse of fuel makes it more likely the fire will become extreme. California’s wildfires affect the whole nation.

Full Story

Northern Sierra Nevada Sees Wettest Fall In 30 Years

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Joseph Serna

California’s northern Sierra Nevada mountain range, home to some of the state’s largest reservoirs, had the wettest first two months of the water year since 1984, the National Weather Service said Tuesday. Between October and November, the eight measuring stations along the northern range received an average of 18 inches of precipitation, or about 200% above average for the first two months of the state’s water year, said meteorologist Eric Kurth of the National Weather Service in Sacramento.

 

Full Story

Concerns Raised Over California’s Plan To Provide More Water For Fish

/in /by /Capital Public Radio (Sacramento)by Amy Quinton

Farmers and rural residents told California regulators they’re concerned about a proposal to increase water flows in the San Joaquin River and its tributaries to protect threatened fish. Native fish populations in the system have been declining for decades.The river system is part of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which provides water to Central Valley farms and millions of Californians. Regulators say currently up to 70 percent of the water is diverted. J.D. Richey, a Delta fishing guide, says his industry is collapsing.

Full Story

BLOG: California Case Could Set National Precedent on Indian Water Rights

/in /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Matt Weiser

In Palm Springs, one of the hottest regions in California, precious groundwater has been depleted for decades to build lush golf courses, swimming pools and tract homes. Now the local American Indian tribe is pressing for a right to help manage that water.The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, which owns two casinos in the popular desert tourism region, has been buying water for decades from the two government water agencies that manage local groundwater, the Desert Water Agency and the Coachella Valley Water District.

Full Story