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Climate Change is Intensifying the Global Water Cycle

/in , , /by /Discoverby Theo Nicitopoulos

Human-induced climate change is warming the planet and, in turn, enabling our atmosphere to hold more moisture. The magnitude and extent of this shift are challenging to see on a global scale, but its effects on local weather are much more noticeable: Greater evaporation in some regions and increased precipitation in others has already driven more frequent and intense droughts and rainfall — with the risk of more extreme weather events looming in the near future.

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Legal Aspects of Groundwater Recharge: Do We Need a Groundwater Recharge Ethic?

/in , /by /Maven's Notebook

Groundwater is one of the world’s most important natural resources, but groundwater management has traditionally been governed by lax and uneven legal regimes which tend to focus on the extraction of groundwater or groundwater quality, rather than groundwater recharge.

In a January 2022 webinar from Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment, Dave Owen, professor at UC Hastings School of Law in San Francisco, discusses the many human activities that can affect groundwater recharge, the existing legal doctrines that affect groundwater recharge, occasionally by design but usually inadvertently; and how more intentional and effective systems of groundwater-recharge law can be constructed.

 

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Feds Block Massive Hydroelectric Project Near Lake Elsinore Again

/in , /by /Patchby Toni McAllister

A massive hydroelectric project proposed to span through the Cleveland National Forest — west of Lake Elsinore, Wildomar, Murrieta and Temecula — has once again been blocked by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

On Thursday, the federal agency issued a decision saying it would not rehear arguments from Vista-based Nevada Hydro LLC about its project application and the company’s request for a stay was denied.

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Otay Water District Selects Instagram Photo Contest Winners

/in , , /by /Water News Network

The Otay Water District selected four winners in its New Year-themed Instagram photo contest as part of its campaign to encourage water-saving efforts during the statewide drought. One is an Otay Water District customer, and three others live within San Diego County.

The four talented photographers put their skills to use, helping to make their community’s residents and businesses more aware of the need to save water.

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S.F. Residents, Like Many in California, Face Water-Rate Hike — but There’s One Way to Avoid a Bigger Bill

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

San Francisco residents are about to see another downside of drought: higher water rates.

Like a growing number of water agencies in California, the city’s water department has been losing millions of dollars as households and businesses, doing their part in a third dry year, conserve more and fork over less money to the utility.

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Shifts in El Niño May Be Driving Climates Extremes in Both Hemispheres

/in , , /by /Inside Climate Newsby Bob Berwyn

The record-breaking heat wave last week in East Antarctica, the coldest region on Earth, saw temperatures surge as much as 85 degrees Fahrenheit above average, bringing readings near freezing and unexpected surface melting instead of the usual sub-zero conditions.

The heat wave adds to a quickly growing list of previously “unthinkable” climate events, and puts an exclamation point on an Austral summer that included brutal heat waves and record-high intensity wildfires in Argentina and Chile and flooding caused by record-setting rains in eastern Australia that killed more than 20 people and left thousands homeless.

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As Drought Worsens, Water Officials Urge Property Owners to Replace Grass With Drought-Friendly Native Plants

/in , , /by /Kake.com

World Water Day is on Tuesday, so water officials are calling on Californians again to conserve more water in the face of a worsening drought.

One of the best ways to conserve water is to reduce outdoor watering, so Metropolitan Water District held a news conference at the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wildflowers & Native Plants to encourage Angelenos to use native plants that are more acclimated to Southern California’s dry weather and require much less water than grass.

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Santa Barbara to Get Only 5% of State Water

/in , , /by /Santa Barbara Independentby Nick Welsh

Ray Stokes has never been one for hair-on-fire histrionics. After serving 26 years as the resident Wizard of Oz running the Central Coast Water Authority — which conveys roughly 25,000 acre-feet of water a year from the rivers of Northern California to the spigots of Santa Barbara County — Stokes knows a thing or two about droughts. The one California now finds itself caught in might be the worst. “It’s very drastic,” stated the usually understated Stokes.

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San Diego Farmers Must Pay Water District Thousands to Switch Their Service 一 or Lose It

/in , , /by /KPBSby Camille von Kaenel

Farmers in the Highland Valley between Ramona and Escondido are fighting their water district over a plan to force them to pay thousands of dollars to switch the type of water they use to irrigate their crops — or else go without the water.

The plan is now mired in a delay of almost two years as the Ramona Municipal Water District considers the risk it will get sued and the impacts on its fire hydrant system.

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Carson and Gardena Water Recycling Projects Get $3.8 Million Funding Boost

/in , , /by /Daily Breezeby Kristy Hutchings

Two projects — intent on increasing the recycled water supply in disadvantaged communities — have received $3.79 million in federal funding.

The first, called the North Gardena Water Lateral, will install 3,700 feet of new pipeline — and deliver nearly 6 million gallons of recycled water annually — to Peary Middle School and Mas Fukai Park.

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