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California’s Largest Reservoir Filling too Fast Thanks to El Niño, Must Release More Water

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby By Matt Stevens

The El Niño-fueled storms that have swept through Northern California in recent weeks have swelled some of the state’s largest reservoirs to encouraging levels even as the state’s drought persists.

One of the biggest beneficiaries has been Lake Shasta, a keystone reservoir of the Central Valley project, which serves California growers. To make room in Shasta for water from last weekend’s storms, the Federal Bureau of Reclamation ramped up releases from 5,000 cubic feet per second to 20,000 cubic feet per second on March 18.

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The Lessons From El Nino

/in /by /Townhall.com (Arlington, Va.)by By Patrick Michaels

As noted in a March 18 Reuters article by Karen Braun, the very strong El Niño event is showing signs that it is rapidly unwinding, and when it does, there could be some major changes in global temperature.

El Niño is a periodic weakening—or even a reversal, as is the case with this one—of the easterly trade winds across the tropical Pacific.

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South Coast Desalination Project is in the Works

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby By Bryce Alderton

The South Coast Water District is forging ahead as the lone agency intent on making a desalination facility in Dana Point a reality after more than 10 years of discussion.

The district, which serves customers in South Laguna, Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente, wants to build a treatment plant on 30 acres of property it owns near San Juan Creek in hopes of eventually producing 15 million gallons of potable water a day.

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Expanding Use of Recycled Water Would Benefit the Environment and Human Health

/in /by /Imperial Valley News by By Enrique Rivero

Expanding the use of recycled water would reduce water and energy use, cut greenhouse gas emissions and benefit public health in California – which is in the midst of a severe drought – and around the world.

A new study by the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, published online March 17 in the American Journal of Public Health, found that recycled water has great potential for more efficient use in urban settings and to improve the overall resiliency of the water supply.

 

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Bipartisan Push on California Drought Relief

/in /by /Roll Call (Washington, D.C.)by By Jeremy Dillon

California lawmakers from both sides of the aisle called on President Barack Obama to direct federal agencies to pump more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, which has been replenished by rainfall, to bring drought relief to the agriculturally intense San Joaquin Valley.

A letter by a coalition of 11 California Republican House members, led by Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy , R-Calif., and another from Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein urged the Obama administration to allow water exports after high water levels resulting from El Niño rain.

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Oroville Dam Spillway Gates Open for First Time in Years

/in /by /Chico Enterprise-Recordby By Ryan Olson

Dozens of people made their way toward Oroville Dam to see water surge down the dam’s controlled spillway Thursday.

It’s the first time the spillway has been in opened in five years to maintain storage space in Lake Oroville for flood control. Over the past 10 years, the spillway has been open for flood control just twice. Many people parked their vehicles just off of Oro Dam Boulevard East and got out to see the turbulent water cascade down the long concrete chute away from the earthen dam.

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Feinstein, GOP press Obama administration on delta water

/in /by /SFGate by By Carolyn Lochhead

As lingering El Niño rains swell the state’s rivers, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein joined California House Republicans on Thursday to demand that President Obama order more water to be pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to farms in the San Joaquin Valley.

Feinstein and the Republicans sent separate, similar letters to Obama timed to apply maximum political pressure on his administration.

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Study: Farms, Hydropower at Risk in West’s Changing Climate

/in /by /The Associated Press (As Published by The Orange County Register)by By Dan Elliot

Climate change could upset the complex interplay of rain, snow and temperature in the West, hurting food production, the environment and electrical generation at dams, the federal government warned Tuesday.

Some areas could get more rain and less snow, reducing the snowmelt flowing into reservoirs in the summer when farmers need it to irrigate, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation report said. Higher temperatures would mean more evaporation from reservoirs, particularly in California’s Sacramento and San Joaquin river basins.

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Water Rate Subsidies Coming to San Diego

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby By David Garrick

Relief from spiking water rates for low-income residents in San Diego could be available as soon as summer 2017.

In the wake of 40 percent rate increases over four years that the City Council approved last November, the city is creating a special assistance fund for the poorest among its roughly 280,000 ratepayers. The fund, which the council approved unanimously last week, will come from tax-deductible donations and possible matching funds from corporations or the city’s general fund.

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Santa Barbara Rejects Subsurface Water Intake For Desalination Plant

/in /by /Noozhawk (Santa Barbara)by By Joshua Molina

The city of Santa Barbara won’t pursue a subsurface ocean intake for its desalination plant after a study revealed that the process would either be infeasible or fail to meet the city’s needs.

Like most desalination plants, the city’s plant has an open water intake pipe in the ocean, but environmentalists say that process kills microorganisms and other sea life. In response to the concerns, the city commissioned a study to evaluate six different ways to extract water through a subsurface — from the seabed — process.

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