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La Nina is on the Way — Don’t Expect CA Drought to Lessen

/in /by /CNBC (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.)by Robert Ferris

Talk of El Nino has barely faded from the internet, and already attention has turned to what El Nino’s other half will bring to North America, especially drought-stricken regions in the West.

La Nina is El Nino’s counterpart in the cycle known as the El Nino Southern Oscillation, and with El Nino, it makes up one of the three phases of the oscillation. The third phase is a neutral one in between the two other. La Nina is essentially EL Nino’s opposite. As El Nino represents a warming of ocean temperatures in parts of the Pacific Ocean, La Nina is a time of cooling, usually of about 3-5 degrees Celsius, in the same region.

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Researchers See More Overhead Irrigation use in California’s Future

/in /by /The Porterville Reporter

Overhead irrigation systems have revolutionized agriculture across the United States and in other parts of the world, using less water than furrow irrigation and requiring significantly less labor and maintenance than drip systems. But in California, the No. 1 agriculture state in the nation, it hasn’t gotten off the ground.

That is beginning to change.

 

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Conservation Sticks as Californians Cut Water Use 26%

/in /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Peter Fimrite

Californians fought the urge to take long showers and generally slosh water around after all the rainfall this year, cutting water use instead by 26.1 percent in April, state officials said Monday.

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California Water Savings Increased Despite Eased Mandates

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Joshua Emerson Smith Quoted: Bob Yamada

Residents and businesses in San Diego County and around the state continued to save large amount of waters in April, even as regulators have eased a mandate for cutting back on urban water use — and are poised to eliminate such targets altogether for many water districts in coming weeks.

State officials reported Monday that water use in California dropped by an average of 26.1 percent in April compared with the same month in 2013, the benchmark year set by Gov. Jerry Brown’s emergency water conservation order. That program began in June, got eased in March and is being downscaled again.

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Californians Cut Water Use by 26 Percent in April

/in /by /The Sacramento Bee by Phillip Reese and Ryan Sabalow

Californians continued to save water in April despite the easing of the drought, reducing use by about 26 percent compared to 2013, the State Water Resources Control Board said Monday.

The reductions came before the recent roll back of harsh mandatory conservation targets. They also came during a relatively dry April. Sacramento received about 1.5 inches of rain during that month. Los Angeles saw about 0.3 inches. Water savings ranged from 23 percent along the south coast to about 33 percent in the San Joaquin valley, state data show. Water districts in the Sacramento River watershed cut use by 31 percent.

 

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Farmers, Businesses May Be Eligible for Drought Assistance

/in /by /Valley Center Happenings

San Diego County farmers, ranchers and businesses may seek some relief from the drought through two loan programs.
Eligible farmers and ranchers of “family-sized” farming operations may apply for a U.S. Department of Agriculture disaster loan for physical damage and crop production loss that has occurred since Jan. 1, 2016. The maximum disaster loan amount is $500,000.

The deadline to apply for the disaster loan is Nov. 2.
To apply, famers need to contact the Farm Service Agency by phone at (661) 336-0967, ext. 2 or by mail at 5000 California Ave., Suite 100, Bakersfield, CA 93309.

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Hillary Clinton steers clear of water controversy in Fresno

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby David Siders

Touching down in Fresno one week ago, Donald Trump offered a standard Republican critique of California’s water shortage – that it is, as legions of roadside banners here proclaim, the “man-made” result of environmental policies restricting water flows.

Then he barreled further, declaring “there is no drought.”

But if exaggeration is Trump’s style, Hillary Clinton’s would appear to be avoidance.

The Democratic presidential frontrunner, campaigning in Fresno on Saturday, localized her longstanding criticism of Trump’s plan to deport undocumented immigrants living in the United States, pledging to make sure “that 1.2 million farmworkers in California will not be rounded up and deported.”

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Wolk Bill to Protect State’s Aquifers Moves Forward

/in /by /The Davis Enterprise

The California Senate approved two water measures by Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis, last week, including legislation to protect California’s aquifers and groundwater resources from permanent damage due to overdraft. Both bills will head to the Assembly next.

The Senate voted 21-17 to support Senate Bill 1317, which addresses a sharp increase in groundwater extraction through new and deeper drilling across the state during the drought, including water basins currently in critical overdraft.

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BLOG: Documentary highlights San Diego region’s water history

/in /by /WaterWorld (Tulsa, Okla.) Quoted: Mark Weston

The San Diego County Water Authority has released a succinct yet engaging new documentary series that highlights the major events in the San Diego region’s ongoing quest for safe and reliable water supplies. Available at www.sdcwa.org/quench-thirst-documentary-series-highlights-regions-water-history and based on the book “To Quench a Thirst: A Brief History of Water in the San Diego Region,” the three-part video series provides a 13-minute overview that traces the search for water from the region’s indigenous people through generations of area leaders who developed the region’s diversified water supply portfolio and robust infrastructure that today sustains 3.2 million people and a $218 billion economy.

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State’s “Delta Plan’ may have a restart

/in /by /Central Valley Business Times (Stockton)

The vaunted “Delta Plan,” which took the Delta Stewardship Council about four years to write, has been largely trashed in court in a decision by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny.

Four lawsuits filed by local water agencies, Delta farmers, environmental groups, property owners in the Discovery Bay area and others succeeded in their arguments that the plan falls short of what is required by state law.

 

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