Despite recent water levels exceeding expectations, Lake Mead is forecast to drop back down to a record low level by the end of the month.
As of Monday, Lake Mead’s water level was at 1,045.91 feet above sea level, almost 3 feet above the level of 1,043.06 feet predicted in the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s “Most Probable 24-Month Study,” released at the start of March.
Over the course of two days, the Biden administration announced it would give the state more than $690 million for water projects this year.
On Tuesday, the United States Environmental Protection Agency said it would send California more than $391 million to improve its drinking water infrastructure this year.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said it would allocate $300 million to 24 projects for water delivery, storage and electricity in California.
Water levels fell so low in key reservoirs during the depth of California’s drought that boat docks sat on dry, cracked land and cars drove into the center of what should have been Folsom Lake.
Those scenes are no more after a series of powerful storms dumped record amounts of rain and snow across California, replenishing reservoirs and bringing an end — mostly — to the state’s three-year drought.
As Coachella Valley officials eye the billions on the table to address dire infrastructure needs like local mobile home parks without clean drinking water, White House senior advisor and infrastructure coordinator Mitch Landrieu visited Thermal on Tuesday to tout funding opportunities available under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Landrieu joined U.S. Rep. Raul Ruiz, a Democrat who represents the 25th Congressional District, for a tour of Oasis Mobile Home Park where the infrastructure needs are particularly dire.
Pismo Beach joined a local desalination feasibility study, completing the San Luis Obispo County-wide bandwagon to identify long-term water supply sources.
The last to participate, the Pismo Beach City Council agreed on April 4 to support county efforts in the face of exiting two historic droughts and an uncharacteristically wet winter season, the flood control and water conservation district naming water resiliency as a high priority, and the Central Coast Blue project nearing realization.
Fixed pipes. Better pumps, turbines and motors. New bypass channels. Repaired fish ladders. Refurbished valves.
To improve California’s water infrastructure, more than $307 million of needed upgrades like those are included in staggeringly long to-do list of new public works projects throughout the West that will receive federal funding, Biden Administration officials announced on Wednesday.
The decision comes after Gov. Gavin Newsom lifted the statewide 15% water savings mandate.
Although several water restrictions have been lifted, officials said they still don’t want to see water wasters in the city.
They urge people not to water more than three times a week, regardless of the conditions.
An $8.2 million award for the Colorado River Basin’s Imperial Dam was announced on Wednesday.
Congressman Raul Ruiz joined Senator Alex Padilla and Deputy Secretary of the Interior Tommy Beaudreau.
Including Senior Advisor to the President and White House Infrastructure Implementation Coordinator Mitch Landrieu and Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton to announce the award.
For most of California’s history, a record snowpack in the Sierra has been like money in the bank — filling reservoirs and keeping rivers healthy and flowing year-round. But in this era of climate change, there’s a real concern that some of that precious water could slip through our fingers.
“If we get a very warm rain, or a series of warm rains — if we get an extended period of warm weather, that’s going to trigger the snowmelt and the flooding potential for the river,” said Central Valley rancher Don Cameron.
Californians gave their irrigation systems the winter off in much of 2023 thanks to above-average precipitation. As the weather warms, the U.S. EPA encourages everyone to perform a maintenance check in April as part of its “Sprinkler Spruce Up” effort.
