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Carlsbad Releases Sea-Level Rise Assessment

/in /by /The San Diego Union Tribuneby Phil Diehl

Beaches will shrink and coastal bluffs will crumble, but most Carlsbad residents and their homes will be safe from the rising sea in the decades ahead, according to a new report by city planners.

The draft Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Assessment looks at potential hazards over two time frames — through 2050 and 2100 — and describes possible strategies to prevent flooding, erosion and property damage. The California Coastal Commission requires the assessment for all cities with a Local Coastal Program.

 

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Why California is Lagging Behind the Rest of the Country When it Comes to Offshore Wind Farms

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Rob Nikolewski

As offshore wind farms gain momentum in the U.S., the industry predicts a clean-energy bonanza from the West Coast’s steady and powerful breezes that may go a long way to help the state meet its ambitious clean energy mandates.

But reaping the wind off California’s coast must first overcome not only economic and political challenges but also requires technology that is still being developed.

 

 

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Pine Fire Continues to Burn in Wilderness Area North of Ojai

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Alice Walton

Hundreds of firefighters continued to battle a wildfire in the Sespe Wilderness north of Ojai on Sunday with no containment in sight.

The Pine fire started Thursday morning about 11 miles north of Ojai. As of Sunday morning, the fire had consumed 1,590 acres and was threatening 50 structures, said Helen Tarbet with the Los Padres National Forest. The area’s “very remote and steep and rugged terrain” has made it difficult for the more than 350 fire personnel to get a handle on the blaze, Tarbet said. The fire could be partially contained by Sunday night.

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Sailing Forward With Water Storage

/in /by /Visalia Times-Deltaby Luis Hernandez

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.

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Is it Time to Think About Removing Dams on the Colorado River?

/in /by /Public Radio Internationalby Adam Wernick

Abrahm Lustgarten, a reporter for ProPublica, has written a new story about one of the largest dams in the US, Glen Canyon, and a recent push to open up its gates. It’s a remarkable development, he says, given how important the Colorado River dams — Glen Canyon, with its reservoir, Lake Powell, and Hoover with Lake Meade — have been for the development of the West.

In the early 1900s, the US government started building dams up and down the Colorado River to harness its water and distribute it far outside the river’s natural course — hundreds of miles into Arizona and California.

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OPINION: California Needs Action Now on Groundwater Protection

/in /by /The Fresno Bee

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.

 

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OPINION: Water Conservation Needs to be a Way of Life

/in /by /San Jose Mercury Newsby Barbara Keegan

Our community has done an outstanding job of reducing water use, and we thank you for embodying all of our water savings slogans: Brown became the new green. Rain or shine, you kept saving water. You fought the drought, inside and out.

 We know that you’re tired of the drought. But, it’s not over. In fact, we may face more frequent droughts in the future as our climate changes. Now is not the time to let our guard down. We need to be ready in case the next few years are as dry as the last few.

 

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OPINION: Water Agencies Shortsighted with Zero Conservation Goal

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

Coachella Valley water agencies are sending the wrong message to customers who’ve spent the last year struggling to conserve this most precious resource.

All six of the area’s water suppliers have told state officials they’re officially shooting for a zero percent conservation rate compared to 2013, the benchmark year the state has been using to rate progress on that front.Though this is disappointing, no one should be surprised.

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Sale of Delta Islands on Hold – Again

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Ryan Sabalow

Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s $175 million purchase of five islands in the heart of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is on hold again.

The 3rd District Court of Appeal on Friday reinstated a temporary stay order it lifted on Thursday because the parties challenging the sale are going to appeal to the California Supreme Court.

A coalition of environmental groups and local water districts, along with San Joaquin and Contra Costa counties, had requested the stay as part of a broader lawsuit challenging the sale.

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How Sin City Might Get Watered Down

/in /by /GovTech (Folsom)by Elizabeth Daigneau

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.

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