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New satellite helps scientists track El Nino

/in /by /ABC 7 Los Angelesby Rob Hayes

NASA scientists have a new eye-in-the-sky to help them measure El Nino.

The Jason-3 satellite has been up and running for a few weeks now and already it is snapping important images of the wet weather pattern’s effects around the globe.

From 800 miles away, the equipment has the ability to measure the height of the oceans within an accuracy of one inch.

For Southern Californians who thirst for more rain in the drought-stricken region, scientists caution not to call El Nino a flop just by what they’ve seen in their own backyards.

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Metropolitan Water District will participate in water saving program

/in /by /MyNewsLAby By Hillary Jackson

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and two other western water agencies will take part in a federal program that solicits ideas for water-saving devices and technologies and awards grants to develop them, officials announced Wednesday.

Also taking part in the innovative Conservation Program — a project of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation — are the Central Arizona Project and Southern Nevada Water Authority. Southern California Gas Co. also participates in the program.

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Water outlook: From ‘doom and gloom’ to ‘pretty positive’

/in /by /The Appeal-Democrat (Marysville)by Andrew Creasey

On Wednesday morning, while facing the Yolo Bypass brimming with water, a group of water district managers, farmers and fish biologists stood atop Wallace Weir and delivered what seemed almost unthinkable at the end of February — good news about the California water supply.

A string of storms in March has inundated the North State’s major reservoirs and sent storm water surging through rivers and bypasses, transforming the tenor of talks about water supply for agriculture and cold water storage for endangered salmon from doom and gloom scenarios to cautious optimism, said Lewis Bair, general manager of Reclamation District 108.

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DWP board OK’s plan to start fining major water users up to $40k

/in /by /89.3 KPCC (Pasadena)by Katherine Davis-Young

The board for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power passed an ordinance Wednesday setting up a mechanism to fine major water users who don’t cut back their consumption. The mechanism would provide for monthly fines of $1,000 to $40,000 for “unreasonable usage.”

The board also added additional penalties for minor water violators that increase on a sliding scale depending on the severity of drought conditions.

 

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Recent Rainfall Just A Drop In The Bucket To Alleviating California’s Drought

/in /by /CBS (Los Angeles)

Although Southern California has experienced several recent storms, including one just last week, such is simply a drop in the bucket when it comes to the state’s ongoing drought, experts say.

In Northern California, the snowpack is 110 percent of what it usually is this time of year. Everywhere else, it is 75 percent.

With those numbers, though, some are wondering whether it’s time to start easing up on the state’s water conservation measures.

Not so fast, says CBS2 Chief Meteorologist Josh Rubenstein.

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Photographing California at Its Most Diminished

/in /by /CityLab (Washington, D.C.)by Laura Bliss

Reduziert is the German word for “reduced.” You could use to it to refer to any kind of reduction: of light, mass, calories. But if you’ve ever walked through a German mall after Christmas, you’ll also have seen the word splashed across signs and windows of stores desperately offloading their merchandise. It’s the German equivalent of “sale.”

That dualism is what the German-born, California-based photographer Thomas Heinser is playing at with the title of his current show at San Francisco’s Gallery 16. “Reduziert” is a collection of aerial photographs taken in 2015. They capture California at its most diminished—from drought, from wildfire, and from human profit.

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Pueblo board approves plan to leave some of its water on Western Slope as part of study

/in /by /The Pueblo Chieftain (Pueblo, Colo.)by BY CHRIS WOODKA

A contract for a pilot program that would leave some of Pueblo’s water on the Western Slope was approved Tuesday by the Pueblo Board of Water Works.

Pueblo Water will leave 200 acre-feet (65 million gallons) of water from the Ewing Ditch for a fee of about $134,000 as part of an $11 million pilot project to test tools to manage drought in the Colorado River basin.

The program is paid for by the Upper Colorado River Commission, Bureau of Reclamation, Southern Nevada Water Authority, Denver Water, Central Arizona Water Conservation District and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
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Rain Fills Reservoirs, But California Still Suffers Drought’s Effects

/in /by /SFGateby By Kurtis Alexander

The drought isn’t over, but the recent storms that many hope are part of a “March miracle” have put California a lot further down the road to recovery.

By Monday, seasonal rainfall jumped above the historic average across much of the state — uncommon territory over the past four years — with San Francisco notching 21 inches of rain since July 1, more than the city has seen in an entire year going back to 2011. California’s reservoirs, meanwhile, got a much-needed boost.

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California Water Cutbacks Draw Flood of Complaints as Reservoirs Rise

/in /by /Reuters (As Published by Yahoo News)by By Sharon Bernstein

Rick Williams stood on his dead front lawn near Sacramento, California, wondering why he still pays a drought surcharge on his water bill and cannot run his sprinklers as often as he needs when a nearby reservoir is so full it could overflow come spring.

After four years of catastrophic drought and nearly a year of mandatory water conservation measures, Williams is joining a growing chorus of consumers in the wetter parts of the state to call for an end to restrictions they see as overbearing.

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OPINION: Saving for When California’s March Miracle Goes Away

/in /by /The Sacramento Bee

The snowpack is back and the water is rising. Between last weekend’s storms and this weekend’s forecast, drought-weary California appears to have gotten the March miracle we were all hoping for. That’s the good news. The bad news is that, between this state’s natural climate and global warming, drought is now perpetually around the corner, and, as usual, people are already beginning to forget that.

So as much as we hate to sound like a broken record – or a dripping faucet – it bears repeating: No, California, you can’t stop conserving water just because we have wet weather.

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