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CA’s Depleting Groundwater in Key Agricultural Region Could Be a Warning Sign for AZ

/in , , /by /KJZZby Greg Hahne

A recent report showed that there is not enough groundwater in a sub-basin surrounding Buckeye to provide the area with a 100-year supply.

That could be a trend seen across the West as a study from ASU found that California’s megadrought has excellent groundwater depletion.

California’s Central Valley covers 20,000 square miles and is a vast agricultural region with a value of approximately $17 billion per year in crops.

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Despite Recent Parade of Storms, California Unveils Drought Resiliency Task Force

/in , , /by /CBS Bay Area

Though the recent barrage of winter storms has certainly improved California’s drought conditions, state water leaders are making moves to prepare for the inevitable dry season soon to come.

On Friday, the California Department of Water Resources kickstarted a partnership between state agencies, local governments, scientists and community members in a new task force, called the Drought Resilience Interagency and Partners Collaborative.

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January Storms Leave L.A. County Flood-Control Dams at Risk of Overflowing

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Louis Sahagun

Now that the shock of a series of January storms has worn off, Los Angeles County officials face a herculean chore: Five reservoirs along south-facing San Gabriel Mountain slopes are filled with so much debris and soupy mud that they pose a flood risk to the communities below.

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Flowers, Flooding and Drought: What Recent Drenching Means for San Diego Region

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Joshua Emerson Smith Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Flowers are blooming in the desert. Flooding and sewage spills have largely receded. Dams continue to collect runoff. But the drought is still far from over.

San Diego recently weathered a monthlong series of storms that also blanketed much of the West with badly needed snow. Still, the possibility of state-mandated water restrictions looms over the region this year, especially if dry conditions return to the Sierra Nevada.

Residents and local officials in San Diego are now taking stock of the situation as the deluges appear to be giving way to sunnier skies. While urban areas are still riddled with potholes and beach closures, rains have revived parched natural landscapes.

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Water Authority Provides Emergency Supplies to Tijuana After Aqueduct Problem

/in , , /by /Times of San Diegoby Chris Jennewein Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

Quick action by the San Diego County Water Authority and its partner agencies is helping maintain water service in Tijuana after problems with the Mexican border city’s aqueduct began in December.

Emergency water delivery from a cross-border pipeline in Otay Mesa began the first week of January and is scheduled to continue until the end of February.

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Is the Drought Over? Reflections on California’s Recent Flood-Drought Combo

/in , , /by /California WaterBlogby Andrew L. Rypel, Jay Lund, and Carson Jeffres

Early January was an unusually wild ride of atmospheric rivers. Nine sizable systems produced a train of storms beginning about New Years and lasting for several weeks across almost all of California. After three years of drought, the storms reminded us that California has flood problems similar in magnitude to its drought problems, and that floods and droughts can occur in synchrony.

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How Arizona, California and Other States Are Trying to Generate a Whole New Water Supply

/in , , /by /The Hillby Gianna Melillo

Underground storage may be a key for Western states navigating water shortages and extreme weather.

Aquifers under the ground have served as a reliable source of water for years. During rainy years, the aquifers would fill up naturally, helping areas get by in the dry years.

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How Sierra Nevada Record Snowpack Will Impact California Drought

/in , , /by /Newsweekby Jess Thomson

The snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains, which has continued to increase throughout January as a result of storms battering much of the state since the New Year, might help California combat its ongoing drought.

As of January 20, the Sierra snowpack state-wide was at 240 percent of the average for this time of year. The South Sierra stations, located between the San Joaquin and Mono counties through to Kern county, reported snowpacks at 283 percent of the January 20 average.

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As the State’s Budget Work Gets Underway, Recent Weather Puts Spotlight on Water Infrastructure

/in , , /by /The Orange County Registerby Hanna Kang
As work gets underway on the state budget, the recent weather events in California — which left more than a dozen people dead and caused tens of thousands to evacuate their homes — have put a spotlight on the state of water infrastructure.

In the new budget proposal he recently announced, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed $202 million to go toward flood protection. The investments will be divided between urban flood risk reduction, delta levees and Central Valley flood protection, according to the plan.

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Tijuana is Again Buying Emergency Water from California After Aqueduct Outage

/in , , /by /Voice of San Diego Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

There’s a problem with Tijuana’s lifeline to its single water source – the Colorado River– which forced it make more, costly emergency water purchases from California.

The San Diego County Water Authority recently learned that problems emerged with Tijuana’s aqueduct in December, according to a press release this week. Tijuana requested emergency water from San Diego on Jan. 2, which the Water Authority expedited through a typical months-long approval process involving water agencies that also have to sign-off on emergency orders from Mexico.

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