With the phrase “heat dome” entering our vocabulary and more than 2,300 heat records smashed so far this summer, extreme temperatures are endangering our lives. And for farmers, the scorching hot, dry weather also threatens their livelihoods.
The state is sending millions to farmers throughout the San Joaquin Valley to keep water in the ground.
The money, paid through the LandFlex program, goes to groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) and then directly to farmers, paying them for every acre foot they don’t pump.
The water temperature around the tip of Florida has hit triple digits — hot tub levels — two days in a row. Meteorologists say it could be the hottest seawater ever measured, although some questions about the reading remain.
In partnership with the San Diego County Water Authority, the Vallecitos Water District offers a series of five WaterSmart landscape design workshops in August and September to help its customers redesign and install new water-saving, sustainable landscapes at a convenient North County location.
Although the West is still enjoying the effects of an exceptionally wet winter, climate experts say that extreme heat waves will continue chipping away at the benefits. Just 9.5% of California and Nevada remained in drought on July 20, compared to 99% at the beginning of the water year in October 2022. Drought conditions persist in areas that did not receive this past winter’s deluge, including parts of southeastern California and southern Nevada.
Google just published its 2023 environmental report, and one thing is for certain: The company’s water use is soaring. The internet giant said it consumed 5.6 billion gallons of water in 2022, the equivalent of 37 golf courses. Most of that — 5.2 billion gallons — was used for the company’s data centers, a 20% increase on the amount Google reported the year prior.
The Colorado River Basin – the area drained by the Colorado River and its tributaries – covers approximately 647,500 square kilometers (250,000 square miles) in seven states across western United States, supplying water to about 40 million people while supporting agriculture and natural ecosystems. According to a new study conducted by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), from 2000 to 2021, climate change caused the loss of over 40 trillion liters (10 trillion gallons) of water in this basin.
Gov. Newsom has signed a bill extending the sunset date for research on landslides and coastal erosion in San Diego County hot spots such as Del Mar and Encinitas. The extension will cover delays that prevented the timely installation of key sensors, including a subsurface meter used to detect small-scale ground movement of the bluff at Beacons Beach in Encinitas.
They’re back! Arising out of their dusty/muddy/sandy graves, the zombie lakes of California are reclaiming their own. For geologic ages, they have lain there, undead — well, often drought-dry, and not their original saturated selves. But now the monumental rains of this winter and spring filled them and then some, reminding us of California’s paleo-hydrology, our ancient lakes and waterways.
The award-winning Hauck Mesa Storage Reservoir enhances drinking water supply reliability and operational efficiency for the region. Construction was completed June 23 on the San Diego County Water Authority project in North San Diego County.
