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The effort to increase water storage along the San Joaquin River took a step forward Friday.

Local and state representatives signed an agreement allowing them to coordinate and complete feasibility studies for the proposed Temperance Flat Dam and Reservoir project, which would significantly increase water storage capacity in the Valley. Temperance Flat would have an initial double effect, said Tulare County Supervisor Steve Worthley, president of the San Joaquin Valley Water Infrastructure Authority.

As if California’s water supplies weren’t already sufficiently imperiled, a bill that would have taken a small step toward groundwater regulation unfortunately has now stalled.

Sen. Lois Wolk’s Senate Bill 1317 would have slowed the speed at which new wells are drilled, and denied permits for wells in critically overdrafted basins until groundwater regulations begin to take effect in 2022. But it ran into opposition from agricultural interests and local government agencies.

As the nation’s driest big city, Las Vegas knows a thing or two about water. With a metro population of more than 2 million people and just 4 inches of rain a year, the city has learned how to be very, very frugal. Now it’s taking that water consciousness — and all the years of experimentation it’s driven — and using it to transform itself into a hub for new and innovative water technologies. Long a leader in water conservation, Las Vegas has kept its water use down through a combination of fines, enforcement, incentives, education and innovation.

The California drought is now in its fifth year. But what if we told you it could take four more years to get out of it?

That’s the alarming result of a study published June 21 in Geophysical Research Letters. The study analyzed California’s mountain snowpack to assess the severity of the current drought and compare it to past water shortages. The study found that the current drought is, without question, the worst ever recorded in the state as measured by the “deficit” in the snowpack and the crucial freshwater it provides to the state.