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As El Nino was producing some powerful storms this winter, officials from a water district serving farms just outside of Sacramento got an idea.

They opened the gates of a swelling Cache Creek and let the flood waters flow into the Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District’s system of irrigation canals. The canals’ dirt lining is porous enough to allow the water to seep into the aquifers, recharging a groundwater supply that’s becoming more and more important to growers.

 

Local nonprofit water advocates AquAlliance filed a lawsuit on Friday (April 15) against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed multibillion-dollar water-tunnel system under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, now branded California WaterFix.

The lawsuit alleges that the Army Corps violated the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by withholding records requested by AquAlliance—first by failing to “conduct a reasonable search for records,” the document reads.

There was once a time when fire season in California started in May and went to September. The state’s long-standing drought has turned the season into a year-round issue. “This time, now, we see the vegetation is ready to burn,” said Paul Lee, Battalion Chief for CAL FIRE.

Fire crews battled blazes on Thursday in Los Osos and Gaviota. Vegetation off Los Osos Valley Road caught fire around 1 p.m., burning eight acres before crews contained it. “The fire was a result of an escaped control burn that spread quickly with the strong winds,” said Lee.

 

Officials in California are calling for an end to emergency drought restrictions requiring residents to make steep cuts in their water use after better-than-expected winter rains.

Local water suppliers said that ‘it doesn’t feel like an emergency anymore’ after rainfall arriving off the back of a record-breaking El Nino left many reservoirs at levels not seen since 2011. While regulators at the Association of California Water Districts admit some parts of the state are still badly in need of more rain, they say a sweeping state-wide order on water use is no longer needed.

A study underway in the Russian River watershed is looking at ways to ensure flood safety while improving water supply reliability for farmers, fisheries and communities. Using a method called “forecast informed reservoir operations,” or FIRO, the study is testing an evolving strategy that uses advances in technology and science to forecast weather and watershed conditions more accurately, in order to anticipate runoff into storage.

The study is being watched closely by managers of other reservoirs, to see if the technique could be applied more widely in California and the West.