Gov. Jerry Brown wants to restructure California’s water system by building two massive underground tunnels to divert water to farms and cities in the south. But his administration faces strong opposition for the $15.7 billion project.
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.
Between 6 p.m. Sunday and 7 a.m. Monday, nearly 2 inches of rain fell on downtown Modesto, according to Modesto Irrigation District monitoring equipment.
The “parade of storms,” as the National Weather Service put it, will impact Northern California through Tuesday and again Friday. The first entry caused a few scattered power failures, MID spokeswoman Melissa Williams said Monday. A crew was working Monday morning on K Street between 11th and 12th streets to restore power after a falling tree struck lines.
El Niño has brought flooding since it has arrived in California this winter, but now those heavy rains may finally be doing something to help us. The snowpack is higher than it has been in years, and reservoir levels in San Diego County are looking better than they have in the last four years of drought.
San Vicente in Lakeside, our largest local reservoir, is over 61% capacity, while Lake Murray is at more than 89% and Lower Otay is over 84%. But some other reservoirs remain low, such as El Capitan at just under 28%,
Water consumption in San Diego County jumped 5 percent last month compared to February 2013 because of record-setting warm temperatures, the San Diego County Water Authority reported Friday.
Even so, county residents have still cut back water use a total of 21 percent since the state implemented water saving rules last June, according to the Water Authority. The state-mandated goal for San Diego County is a 20 percent reduction from 2013 usage levels.“Weather plays a huge role in outdoor water consumption, and we saw that clearly last month, which was the hottest February on record,” said Dana Friehauf, SDCWA water resources manager.
Temperatures in some parts of the Southland reached higher than 80 degrees this week, and spring is officially here Sunday.
Federal forecasters have nary a drop of rain in their seven-day forecast for Los Angeles, and the two-week outlook by the federal Climate Prediction Center pegs Southern California for a 60 percent chance of above-normal temperatures through the end of the month and a 50 percent probability of lower-than-normal rainfall during that time.That could put us in April without more precipitation. This after February gave us the hottest month for high temperatures ever recorded.
Atop a dirt levee his great-grandfather built in the 1800s to hold back California’s mightiest river, Northern California farmer Russell van Loben Sels looks out over the site of a new water project, one that would be the state’s most ambitious in a half-century.
Promoted by Gov. Jerry Brown, the $15.7 billion project would run giant twin pipes, each four stories high, underground for 35 miles and eventually pull thousands of gallons of water a second from the stretch along the Sacramento River where van Loben Sels farms to cities and farms to the south.
Water consumption in San Diego County jumped 5 percent last month compared to February 2013 because of record-setting warm temperatures, the San Diego County Water Authority reported Friday.
Despite the hike, customers in the region have still cut back their use a total of 21 percent since the state implemented water saving rules last June, according to the Water Authority. “Weather plays a huge role in outdoor water consumption, and we saw that clearly last month, which was the hottest February on record,” said Dana Friehauf, SDCWA water resources manager.
“Thanks to many months of effort by residents and businesses, our region as a whole has saved enough water to meet the regional emergency conservation goal set by the State Water Resources Control Board,” said Mark Weston, chair of the Water Authority’s Board of Directors. “That’s a tremendous achievement, when you consider our region already had decreased per-capita water use by 39 percent compared to 1990, and the record-setting heat we recently experienced. However, conservation must remain a priority as we look toward summer and peak irrigation months; people still need to comply with water-use restrictions set by their local water agencies.”
State water managers announced this week that 29 State Water Contractors will receive 45 percent of their requested water amounts this year.
Forty-five percent sounds like a glass half full, but the news was cause for celebration for water districts that saw only 20 percent of their water request last year, and 5 percent in 2014. The State Water Project distributes water from Lake Oroville via the Feather River. The 29 agencies provide water to 26 million people in urban areas, as well as 750,000 acres of farmland, a press release from the Department of Water Resources states.
