Just as federal officials were laying out alternative scenarios last week for steep water supply cuts from the Colorado River due to the drying Southwest, California officials were warning that this year’s historic Sierra snowpack could flood much of the state later this year.
The powerful Imperial Irrigation District and others with historic first dibs to Colorado River water are once again facing possible threats to their jealously guarded supply. At a press conference at the Hoover Dam on Tuesday, federal officials announced possible unprecedented, across-the-board cuts to all water contractors in three states if levels in its massive reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, fall so low that they might no longer function.
A new water pipeline project recently finished construction in Encinitas. On Tuesday local and congressional leaders held a ribbon cutting to mark the opening of the pipeline.
The Manchester Avenue Recycled Water Pipeline Project involved the construction of approximately 1.4 miles of six-inch diameter recycled water pipeline. According to a press release, customers connecting to this new pipeline will now irrigate with recycled water, reducing the demand for imported drinking water by more than 27 million gallons per year.
Tom Barcellos has farmed the reclaimed soil of the Tulare Lake Basin for nearly five decades, and he’s rarely witnessed a winter like 2023.
A slew of drenching storms, funneled across the Pacific Ocean as atmospheric rivers, have prompted prolonged flooding in large swaths of the San Joaquin Valley.
The very real threat of losing water from the Colorado River is the potential cuts to California’s agriculture.
The Imperial Valley alone has 500 thousand acres of farmland at the lower basin of the Colorado River.
Farms like Bear Valley Organic Farm in Valley Center run on water.
After two decades of drier conditions in the west, the concern for the Federal Government is how to keep the Colorado River flowing in the long term.
Kimberly Hunt is live in Oceanside at the Pure Water Facility.
The facility opened last year and is a first of its kind water treatment plant that turns waste water into drinking water.
The city of Phoenix announced its plans Wednesday to recycle wastewater for drinking purposes in the near future as Arizona is on the heels of even more cuts due to the shrinking Colorado River.
The plan is set to be implemented within the Valley by 2030.
The federal government laid out a pair of options Tuesday to drastically cut water use along the Colorado River and keep Lake Mead and Lake Powell from crashing any further in the coming years.
One of the proposals would impose hefty cuts following a strict priority system, which would protect the California agricultural sector’s water rights while placing the heaviest burden on cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix, while the other proposal would share those reductions more proportionally across Nevada, Arizona and California.
Move aside La Niña – it’s almost time for El Niño to take over.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center issued an “El Niño watch” Thursday morning, saying the climate pattern is expected to form sooner than previously anticipated.
California was experiencing a series of major rain and snow storms in January when Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed a 2023-24 state budget.
Tucked into one of the budget’s hundreds of pages of detail was this paragraph:
“San Joaquin Valley Flood Plain Restoration – A reduction of $40 million General Fund in 2023-24, which eliminates funding for this purpose.”
