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Dianne Feinstein Says Water Wars Tougher Than Assault-Weapons Ban

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby By Christopher Cadelago

Moments before release of a crucial snowpack survey Wednesday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein warned against loosening the mandatory water restrictions imposed last year by Gov. Jerry Brown. “I think it’s premature right now,” the California Democrat said Wednesday afternoon. “I think we need to see what happens in April … an important month for water.”

Feinstein met with The Sacramento Bee Editorial Board to build support for her latest big piece of water legislation. Feinstein, who wants to spend up to $1.3 billion for desalination, recycling, storage and grants, said in long run the objective is to be prepared as the state population grows and the climate changes.

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Sierra Snowpack Shows El Niño Not as Beastly as Billed

/in /by /SFGateby By Peter Fimrite

The blame for California’s below-average snowpack was placed Wednesday at the feet of a largely impotent El Niño, which failed to deliver the powerful storms forecasters expected.

Snow surveyors for the California Department of Water Resources found that the water content of the Sierra snow is only 87 percent of the historical average for this time of year. That’s a bug drop from January when the “frozen water supply,” as it is called by hydrologists, was well above normal.

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Critical Sierra Survey Finds Healthy Snowpack – But No ‘Drought Buster’

/in /by /The Sacramento Bee by By Phillip Reese and Dale Kasler

After years of drought and months of speculation about how much precipitation a strong El Niño weather pattern would bring, the results are in:

We’ve had a roughly average year. On about this date last year, Gov. Jerry Brown stood in a dry field near Lake Tahoe and announced that he would require California’s urban water districts to cut use by 25 percent. Snowpack on that day was roughly 5 percent of normal.

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Improved California Spring Snowpack Won’t End Drought

/in /by /Associated Press (As Published by ABC News)

State drought surveyors will trudge through deep snow Wednesday to manually measure what could be close to a normal Sierra Nevada snowpack for this time of year.

A year ago, Gov. Jerry Brown stood on the same spot — then a dusty patch of ground with no snow — to announce that the dire drought required residents to cut back water use by 25 percent.

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The depth of the snowpack was declared to be just below average, a huge improvement from last year, but still far from enough to declare the drought over.

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby By Matt Stevens

In a symbolic moment in California’s slow but steady drought recovery, a state surveyor on Wednesday found several feet of snow in the same Sierra Nevada meadow that was bare and brown just a year ago.

The depth of the snowpack was declared to be just below average, a huge improvement from last year, but still far from enough to declare the drought over.

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Saudi Land Purchases in Drought-Stricken California Fuel Debate Over U.S. Water Rights

/in /by /Associated Press (As Published by The Orange County Register)by By Elliot Spagat and Aya Batrawy

Saudi Arabia’s largest dairy company will soon be unable to farm alfalfa in its own parched country to feed its 170,000 cows. So it’s turning to an unlikely place to grow the water-chugging crop — the drought-stricken American Southwest.

Almarai Co. bought land in January that roughly doubled its holdings in California’s Palo Verde Valley, an area that enjoys first dibs on water from the Colorado River. The company also acquired a large tract near Vicksburg, Arizona, becoming a powerful economic force in a region that has fewer well-pumping restrictions than other parts of the state.

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California Drought Rules Likely to be Relaxed

/in /by /San Jose Mercury Newsby By Paul Rogers

With the wettest winter in five years having taken the hard edges off the historic drought and a key Sierra snowpack reading Wednesday expected to show big gains, Californians can look forward to substantial relief from mandatory statewide water restrictions.

“We are likely to ease the rules or lift the rules,” said Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the State Water Resources Control Board. “We are in better shape.”

 

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Short Film Highlights Decay, Beauty at the Salton Sea

/in /by /KESQ (Palm Springs)by Jeff Stahl

Independent filmmaker, Franck Tabouring is trying to save the Salton Sea in his own way. Tabouring has created a short film filled with thought provoking images called, “The Useless Sea.”

“You’ll be surprised but I’ve talked to many people who’ve growed up in California have lived there their entire lives, and when I mention, ‘Have you heard of the Salton Sea?” They’ve never heard of it,” said Tabouring. Tabouring personally discovered the Salton Sea while scouting desert locations for another film project.

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$90 Million Doheny Beach Desalination Plant Still in Works

/in /by /The Orange County Registerby By Erika I. Ritchie

A desalination plant proposed near San Juan Creek could produce as much as 15 million gallons of drinking water daily and create a reliable source for South County-area reserves in the wake of an earthquake or drought, officials said.

South Coast Water District officials said plans for the $90 million plant – studied for more than a decade – are moving forward despite the fact the district would be the sole agency building it. The plant – with a 2019 opening date – would likely provide 75 percent of the district’s water needs, district general manager Andrew Brunhart said.

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California Drought Rules Likely to be Relaxed

/in /by /San Jose Mercury Newsby By Paul Rogers

With the wettest winter in five years having taken the hard edges off the historic drought and a key Sierra snowpack reading Wednesday expected to show big gains, Californians can look forward to substantial relief from mandatory statewide water restrictions.

“We are likely to ease the rules or lift the rules,” said Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the State Water Resources Control Board. “We are in better shape.”

 

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