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Agencies Partner to Boost Water Supplies for Southern California

/in , , /by /Water News Network Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California have reached an agreement that will provide water to parts of Southern California facing extraordinary supply constraints due to cutbacks on the State Water Project.

Under a deal approved today by Metropolitan’s Board of Directors and previously authorized by the San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors, Metropolitan will secure additional groundwater in 2022 from the Semitropic Water Bank in Kern County.

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Opinion: Feds Should Focus on Natural Solutions in Flood Preparation

/in , /by /Marin Indepedent Journalby Natalie Snider and David Lewis

Our country faces a flood crisis. More people and places are at risk, with climate-induced flooding threatening widespread social, environmental and economic impacts.

We need a holistic approach to reduce flood risk now. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has focused on building levees, spillways and hardened infrastructure to address episodic storm events. But, by focusing solely on storm surge, they leave millions exposed to chronic flooding from sea level rise, tides and extreme rainfall.

Our country faces a flood crisis. More people and places are at risk, with climate-induced flooding threatening widespread social, environmental and economic impacts.

We need a holistic approach to reduce flood risk now. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has focused on building levees, spillways and hardened infrastructure to address episodic storm events. But, by focusing solely on storm surge, they leave millions exposed to chronic flooding from sea level rise, tides and extreme rainfall.

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Southern California Spared Major Fires as Storms End an Unprecedented Season

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Alex Wigglesworth

The storms pounding California this week are expected to bring an end to a wildfire season that shocked fire crews with its unprecedented, climate-change-driven behavior.

For the first time ever, wildfires burned from one side of the Sierra Nevada to the other, destroying multiple towns including the Gold Rush-era community of Greenville and the mountain hamlet of Grizzly Flats.

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Record-Shattering Rain Pummels Bay Area, Lingering Showers Continue Into Tuesday

/in , , /by /The Mercury Newsby Summer Lin

A robust atmospheric river storm started to taper off Tuesday morning in the Bay Area after shuttering highways due to flooding and prompting evacuation warnings in areas left scarred by wildfires and susceptible to mudslides and debris flows.

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EPA Announces $630 Million Plan to Stem Cross-Border Sewage Flows

/in , , /by /High Country Newsby Jessica Kutz

In March of 2018, the California cities of Imperial Beach, Chula Vista and the Port of San Diego sued the U.S. arm of the International Boundary and Water Commission over its failure to mitigate the flow of sewage-tainted water from the Tijuana River in Mexico. The lawsuit was in response to a February 2017 crisis, when more than 200 million gallons of sewage contaminated the California coast after a winter storm damaged sewer infrastructure in Mexico (“Two countries, one border and their shared pollution,” 12/06/18).

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Environmentalists Say Upper Colorado River Basin States Are Overusing Water

/in , , /by /KUERby Lexi Peery

Environmental groups claim Utah and two other upper basin states — Colorado and New Mexico — are overusing their share of water from the Colorado River.

The Utah Rivers Council released a report Monday saying the Colorado River’s flows have dropped about 20% since 2000. The report outlines that the hydrology of the river hasn’t stopped the three states from pursuing large water projects.

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CW3E Releases Update to California Watershed Precipitation Forecasts

/in , , /by /Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (Scripps Institution of Oceanography)

The Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at the UCSD/Scripps Institution of Oceanography has updated its popular watershed precipitation forecasts as part of its interactive “Decision Support Tools” page. These forecasts focus on quantifying and illustrating the 10-day precipitation forecasts averaged for the 126 Hydrologic Unit Code 8 (HUC-8) watersheds in California from four numerical weather prediction models. These models include the deterministic and ensemble models of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction Global Forecast System and the European Centre for Medium-Ranged Weather Forecasts model.

Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes-watershed precipitation forecast

The Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at the UCSD/Scripps Institution of Oceanography has updated its watershed precipitation forecasts. (Graphic: Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes)

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Construction to Begin on Pure Water Soquel Purification Plant

/in , /by /Santa Cruz Sentinelby Hannah Hagemann

Officials on Friday marked the beginning of construction on the Chanticleer Water Purification plant — the “heart” of the Pure Water Soquel project — where treated wastewater will undergo further purification before it is injected back underground.

The recycling process will provide a buffer against seawater contamination, bolster drinking water supplies and raise groundwater levels that are depleted after decades of overuse.

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Salton Sea Habitat Restoration Project Touted

/in , , /by /Holtville Tribuneby Julio Morales

An ongoing species conservation habitat project at the Salton Sea’s southwestern shore is serving as a reminder that the sea’s restoration remains a key priority for Gov. Gavin Newsom.

So, too, is a tour that dozens of state, federal and local stakeholders took of the project site where the New River enters the Salton Sea several miles west of Westmorland on Friday, Dec. 10.

Among those present was California Natural Resources Agency Secretary Wade Crowfoot, who said the tour was an acknowledgement of the ambitious Salton Sea Management Program’s progress and the overall work that remains to be done.

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Utah May Be Overusing Its Colorado River Allotment. That Could Lead to Unprecedented Cuts in Water Use

/in , , /by /Desert Newsby Kyle Dunphey

Over the last 20 years, the water flow in the Colorado River has declined by roughly 20%. But some states in the river’s basin, including Utah, haven’t adjusted to the dwindling supply.

And if it doesn’t make adjustments, Mexico and other states in the Lower Colorado River Basin could demand the Beehive State scale back its water use.

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