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Lake Tahoe Water Level Hits Four-Year Low as Drought Pummels Tourist Spot

/in , /by /The Guardianby Dani Anguiano

Lake Tahoe’s water level dropped to a four-year low on Tuesday as gusty winds and the impacts of California’s devastating drought hit the popular tourist destination.

After days of high winds increased evaporation rates, water levels fell to the basin’s natural rim for the first time since 2017, the end of the state’s last drought. The lake normally sits above the rim, which allows for water to flow into the Truckee River. Levels will probably continue to drop, receding below the rim this week, sooner than expected.

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Water Authority Wins National 2021 EPA WaterSense Excellence Award

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

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recognized the San Diego County Water Authority with a 2021 WaterSense Excellence Award for advancing water efficiency through its Qualified Water Efficient Landscaper, or QWEL, program. The Water Authority received one of 34 WaterSense awards last week at the national WaterSmart Innovations Conference in Las Vegas.

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How to Beat the Drought? Inland Empire Water Agency Wants to Make it Rain

/in , , /by /The Press-Enterpriseby Steve Scauzillo

Programs from the drought-busting handbook practiced by Southern California water agencies include recycling water, building storm-water capture basins and offering cash rebates for replacing thirsty lawns with xeriscape landscaping.

With the grip from a second year of drought tightening, a regional water-planning agency in the Inland Empire is moving ahead for the first time in its history with a more controversial program: cloud seeding.

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Are Two More Dry Years Ahead For California?

/in , , /by /The Manteca Bullitenby Dennis Wyatt

Water use in Manteca increased 3 percent overall or 13.6 million gallons last month compared to the depth of the last drought in September of 2017. That’s good news given the city has added more than 8,000 residents since Jan. 1, 2017 for a 10 percent population gain. The bad news it might not be enough. Despite a light dusting of snow Thursday along the high Sierra crest at the upper reaches of the Stanislaus River watershed critical to urban and agricultural users in South San Joaquin County, hydrologists are indicating a number of weather models don’t look promising.

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How Much Is Water Worth? Why A Billionaire-Owned Stake In A California Water Bank Could Be Worth More Than $1 Billion

/in , , /by /Forbesby Michela Tindera and Chloe Sorvino

How much is access to water worth? In this episode, we aim to answer that question by looking at the Kern Water Bank, one of California’s largest underground water storage facilities. From above, it looks a lot like a giant puddle. But underneath it has the capacity to hold the equivalent of roughly 500 of New York City’s Central Park Reservoirs. And, as one expert says, it’s the “absolute jewel” of California water banking.

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‘Extreme Year’: Past 12 Months Among the Driest Ever in California History

/in , , /by /The Union Democratby Guy McCarthy

The current ongoing two-year dry period in California, punctuated by the third-driest water year on record for the Central Sierra, is part of California’s overall arid fate so far in the 21st century, according to the state Department of Water Resources.

The Golden State’s hydrology now increasingly resembles conditions in the Colorado River Basin this century, where multiple, consecutive, drier-than-average years are mixed with an occasional wet year. California’s last wet water year was 2016-2017, the second-wettest on record.

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Lake Tahoe Falls to Alarmingly Low Level – Environmental Impacts Could Result

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Gregory Thomas

This week, a historically dry period in California will come to bear at Lake Tahoe, where the water level is expected to sink below the basin’s natural rim. That’s the point at which the lake pours into its only outflow, the Truckee River.

It’s not a crisis, researchers and conservationists say, but it marks another extreme swing for Tahoe amid historic drought, wildfires and erratic weather, all intertwined with climate change and becoming more prominent aspects of the alpine environment.

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Why Southern California Fears Too Much Water Conservation

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Joshua Emerson Smith and Lauryn Schroeder Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

As Gov. Gavin Newsom weighs new mandatory drought restrictions, Southern California leaders fear cuts in urban water use could force already sky-high water bills ever higher.

Unlike much of Northern and Central California, the region isn’t hurting for water, yet. Top water officials insist they have enough supplies for at least one more hot summer, perhaps two.

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Precautions in Place to Protect County’s Drinking Water from Oil Spill

/in , , /by /10 News (KGTV)by Nia Watson Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

CARLSBAD, Calif. (KGTV) — One of San Diego County’s largest sources of locally produced drinking water is closely monitoring the impact the oil spill off the coast of Orange County could have in the area.

The Carlsbad Desalination Plant provides 10% of San Diego County’s drinking water and produces 50 million gallons of desalinated seawater a day.

The facility was developed and is managed by Poseidon Water in partnership with the San Diego County Water Authority.

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As Drought Worsens, California Farmers Are Being Paid Not to Grow Crops

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

Green fields of alfalfa and cotton rolled past as Brad Robinson drove through the desert valley where his family has farmed with water from the Colorado River for three generations. Stopping the truck, he stepped onto a dry, brown field where shriveled remnants of alfalfa crunched under his boots.

The water has been temporarily shut off on a portion of Robinson’s land. In exchange, he’s receiving $909 this year for each acre of farmland left dry and unplanted. The water is instead staying in Lake Mead, near Las Vegas, to help slow the unrelenting decline of the largest reservoir in the country.

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