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.”
California’s Central Valley constitutes 1 percent of the agricultural land in the United States yet it harvests nearly a quarter of the nation’s farmed products.
The 50-mile wide, 450-mile-long breadbasket is irrigated by an intricate series of river impoundments and canals that are regulated by federal and state agencies.
Some San Diegans are receiving multiple water bills all at once, and one woman told Team 10 she received 11 bills in the mail with no explanation.
Carol Sveilich said she got the bills in two overstuffed envelopes in early February. “They were filled with bills out of order, all different amounts, but generated on the same day,” Sveilich said. “I was so confused. I thought I owed each amount of each bill.”
Ramona Municipal Water District directors took several steps Tuesday night that will transform the way parks and recreation issues are decided and could improve offerings for residents in the future.
They unanimously agreed to hire a full-time Park and Facilities Coordinator to oversee the operation of Wellfield Park and related facilities. They also authorized the creation of a seven-member Parks and Recreation Community Advisory Committee that will advise the water district on parks and recreation activities.
