You are now in California and the U.S. Home Headline Media Coverage category.

‘It’s a Marathon, Not a Race’ — What Utah’s Recent Snowstorms Mean for the Colorado River

/in , , /by /The Salt Lake Tribuneby Leia Larsen

The snow keeps falling across Utah, which will likely benefit beleaguered waters like the Great Salt Lake and Lake Powell. But it’s too soon to say how much of a difference it will make.

Snowpack is well above average in watersheds across the state, according to the latest data from the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Snow Survey. The Southeastern Utah basin is an astounding 190% above normal for this time of year, and other drainages that feed the Colorado River are close behind. All that snow has done little to lift Lake Powell’s elevation to date, which currently sits at about a quarter of its capacity and around 30 feet above the point where it will no longer be able to generate hydropower.

Still, there are reasons to be optimistic.

Full Story

What Lake Mead Needs to Get Water Levels Back Up at Drought-Hit Reservoir

/in , , /by /Newsweekby Robyn White

Lake Mead will need more than just rainfall to replenish itself, an expert has told Newsweek.

Spread between Nevada and Arizona—Lake Mead, the largest man-made reservoir in the U.S.—is best known for its rapidly declining water levels due to the ongoing megadrought gripping the western states. The lake is integral to surrounding communities, as it is also formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River—which generates electricity for thousands of people. If the water levels continue to decline, the consequences could be catastrophic.

Full Story

IID Director Appointed to California Farm Water Coalition

/in , /by /KYMAby Dillon Fuhrman

The Imperial Irrigation District (IID) announced that the company’s director, Gina Dockstader, will join the California Farm Water Coalition (CFWC). In a news release, Dockstader’s fellow IID board members selected her to serve as a liaison.

Full Story

San Diego Leaders Call for Critical Investment into Water Infrastructure

/in , /by /KUSI-TV

For years, water infrastructure in California has awaited critical repair. In the midst of perpetual drought and water unavailability, the state has been unable to repair the storage facilities that store water when it does finally rain.

Full Story

‘The Worst of it Still in Front of Us’ as New Storms Set to Pound a Rain-Weary California

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Rong-Gong Lin II, Jessica Garrison, City Carcamo, and Anita Chabria

California is bracing for another week of destructive storms that will probably bring flooding and hazardous winds Monday to an already battered state.

A series of atmospheric rivers that pummeled coastal communities last week and left more than 400,000 without power in California on Sunday will be followed by particularly brutal weather as rivers reach flood levels and powerful winds wreak havoc, forecasters fear.

Full Story

California Reservoir Water Levels Before and After Rain

/in , , /by /Newsweekby Pandora Dewan

California’s major reservoirs have seen significant gains in water level in recent days after two weeks of exceptionally heavy rain across the state. It comes after months of severe drought in the region, leaving water levels in the state’s most important reservoirs well below their historical average.

Full Story

Heavy Snowpack and Recent Storms May Not Translate to More Farm Water

/in , , /by /KERO 23ABCby Veronica Morley

The California snowpack is starting off strong, raising hopes for water resources throughout the drought-stricken state. But for farmers, these high numbers may not translate into more water for their crops.

The amount of snow high up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains has a direct impact on the fields of crops below. Jason Giannelli, a fourth generation farmer in Kern County who grew up in the farm life, understands this.

Full Story

Opinion: We Need Binational Cooperation to Treat Drinking Water and Wastewater in San Diego-Tijuana

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Bernardo Saldaña

Hungarian writer and poet Sándor Márai published a description of the San Diego-Tijuana region in 1964. His chronicle provides details of the conditions that surround the U.S.-Mexico border. He compares the streets of California packed with automobiles and Tijuana’s dusty, cluttered, noisy avenues. The Tijuana pedestrians were everywhere and the difference caught his attention because seeing a person walking in California was “suspicious.” That’s how the poet makes an urban cross-border description, according to a fragment translated into Spanish by Rafael Muñoz.

Full Story

Colorado River in Crisis

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Times

The Colorado River can no longer withstand the thirst of the arid West. Water drawn from the river flows to more than 40 million people in cities from Denver to Los Angeles and irrigates more than 5 million acres of farmland.

For decades, the river has been entirely used up, leaving dusty stretches of desert where it once flowed to the sea in Mexico. Now, chronic overuse and the effects of climate change are pushing the river system toward potential collapse as reservoirs drop to dangerously low levels. A water reckoning is about to transform the landscape of the Southwest.

Colorado River in Crisis is a series of stories, videos and podcasts in which Los Angeles Times journalists travel throughout the river’s watershed, from the headwaters in the Rocky Mountains to the river’s dry delta in Mexico. These stories reveal the stark toll of the river’s decline, responses that have yet to match the scale of the crisis, and voices that are urging a fundamental rethinking of how water is managed and used to adapt to the reality of a river that is over-tapped and dwindling.

The Times podcast: Colorado River in Crisis, Part 1: A Dying River

 

Full Story

Marina, 3 Water Agencies Sue Coastal Commission

/in , , /by /Monterey Heraldby Dennis L. Taylor

Elected officials in Marina have joined forces with three water agencies in a lawsuit against the California Coastal Commission over its tentative permitting in November of California American Water Co.’s desalination project.

Full Story