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Where a Saudi Company Pumps Desert Groundwater, Arizona Considers Imposing Limits

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

Lush green fields of alfalfa spread across thousands of acres in a desert valley in western Arizona, where a dairy company from Saudi Arabia grows the thirsty crop by pulling up groundwater from dozens of wells.

The company, Fondomonte, is the largest water user in the Ranegras Plain groundwater basin, shipping hay overseas to feed its cows in the Middle East. Like other landowners in the area, it has been allowed to pump unlimited amounts from the aquifer, even as water levels have declined.

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SoCal’s Wettest Christmas Holiday Ever, and the Intensifying Drought-To-Deluge Cycle Behind It

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Rong-Gong Lin II

A year ago, officials were sounding alarms about a bone-dry winter that days later would combine with hurricane-strength winds to bring about the worst fires in Los Angeles history. Now, Southern California just experienced its wettest Christmas in modern history.

This Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were the rainiest in the modern record for Southern California, according to the National Weather Service office in Oxnard. And more rain is on the way. A flood watch was forecast to remain in effect for much of the state through at least Friday afternoon, with rain expected throughout the day. Skies should clear up by the weekend.

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Climate Promises Are First Thing to Go When San Diego’s Pressed for Cash

/in , /by /Voice of San Diegoby MacKenzie Elmer

When budgets are tight, political promises that fight climate change or pollution tend to take a backseat. That’s true nationally, as the climate news publication Heatmap explained last month, pointing out various Democrats in Congress who backed off policies to combat global warming out of concern for the high costs they could impose on voters. San Diego is no different.

What’s not being calculated in government financial departments run by elected decisionmakers is the future cost of climate change on its residents – the more frequent flooding, heat waves and depleted natural resources. But, as Heatmap aptly put it, voters don’t go to the polls for lower costs in 2075. Voters want lower bills now.

 

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Could This Idea Help Solve Some of the Colorado River Water Fights?

/in , /by /Fox 13 Salt Lake Cityby Ben Winslow

The president of the Utah State Senate has an idea he thinks could help states along the Colorado River. “What we do in Utah is we solve problems and that’s what we’re in the middle of,” Senate President J. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said in a recent interview with FOX 13 News.

His idea is to pay California to build more desalination plants along the Pacific Ocean for their water needs. In exchange, they’d give up some shares of water along the Colorado River for Utah and other upstream states to use.

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OPINION: A Water District Using Its Own Water Shouldn’t Be Controversial

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Manny Delgado and Steve Castaneda Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

A water district drawing down water from its own reservoir should not be controversial. It should be expected. That is, quite literally, what reservoirs are built for: to store water in wet times and use it wisely when conditions allow.

Yet in recent weeks, after one of the wettest Novembers in recent memory, Sweetwater Authority’s transfer of water from Loveland Reservoir to Sweetwater Reservoir has generated debate. That debate misses the larger point.

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Christmas Eve Storm Could Hit San Diego County With 4 Inches of Rain and 40 Mph Winds

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Gary Robbins

The souped-up Pacific storm that will hit San Diego County on Christmas Eve could drop 3 to 4 inches of rain over a short period, making travel dicey and raising the risk of flooding, the National Weather Service said.

San Diego averages less than 2 inches of rain in December and hasn’t had a drop this month.

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No Buyers for San Diego Water … Yet

/in , /by /Voice of San Diegoby MacKenzie Elmer Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority, Dan Denham

San Diego arrived in Las Vegas this week ready to sell off some of its excess water at negotiations over the dwindling Colorado River between the states, tribes and farmers who use it.

They left without a deal in place.

 

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California, the Biggest Water User in the Basin, Pitches Colorado River Framework

/in , /by /Nevada Current by Jeniffer Solis

California’s biggest water districts presented their own framework Tuesday for how to share the Colorado River’s dwindling water supply, including a commitment to conserve 440,000 acre-feet of water per year – enough to meet the needs of 1.5 million households annually.

Last month, the seven western states that rely on the Colorado River missed a federally-imposed deadline to submit a preliminary agreement for a plan to replace the river’s operating guidelines set to expire at the end of 2026.

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San Diego State University Breaks Ground on New Mission Valley Water Lab

/in , /by /NBC San Diego

Researchers at San Diego State University want to better understand how water is affected by drought, winter storms, contaminated rivers and oceans. NBC 7’s Brooke Martell is at the ground breaking of a new laboratory in Mission Valley.

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Water Levels Across the Great Lakes Are Falling – Just as U.S. Data Centers Move In

/in , /by /The Guardianby Stephen Starr

The sign outside Tom Hermes’s farmyard in Perkins Township in Ohio, a short drive south of the shores of Lake Erie, proudly claims that his family have farmed the land here since 1900. Today, he raises 130 head of cattle and grows corn, wheat, grass and soybeans on 1,200 acres of land.

For his family, his animals and wider business, water is life.

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