The City of Folsom announced Monday it will require residents to reduce water use by 20%. The water-use restriction will go into effect Aug. 30.
This comes as the water supply across the state continues to dwindle amid a crippling drought. Folsom itself draws water from the American River at Folsom Lake, which has lower levels than it did during the 2014-15 drought. This is the second driest year on record since 1977.
An Exceptional Drought has been declared in the Western United States. Extreme summer heat and a lack of Rocky Mountain runoff is affecting agriculture, livestock, and critical drinking water supplies for millions of people. In part three of a three-part series, reporter Jeff Zevely visits Page, Arizona, a town that depends on water and tourism to survive.
The small town has a population of 8,250. In 2019, an estimated four million people visited Page. The town was founded in 1957 to build a dam and supply the Southwest with water and electricity. Lake Powell is the town’s lifeline.
A new player has entered the legal fray over the Kern River — the public. Actually, it’s a consortium of Bakersfield and other nonprofit, public interest groups that hope to sway the state Water Resources Control Board to, ultimately, re-water the mostly dry Kern River through town. The Flowing Kern Coalition made its debut Tuesday when it filed a notice of intent to appear at an upcoming proceeding on the Kern River. The Water Board’s Administrative Hearing Office announced in July it would begin the process of deciding whether the river has available water and, if so, how much on Aug. 17. This all stems from a 2007 court ruling that the Kern Delta Water District had forfeited some of its rights to the river.
In response to worsening drought conditions, the board of Southern California’s regional water wholesaler will consider declaring a Water Supply Alert tomorrow that calls upon residents to voluntarily conserve the precious resource.
According to officials with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD), Southern California’s water supply has been severely impacted by extreme drought in both the Northern Sierra and the Colorado River, saying crucial storage reservoirs have never been lower.
U.S. officials on Monday declared the first-ever water shortage from a river that serves 40 million people in the West, triggering cuts to some Arizona farmers next year amid a gripping drought.
Water levels at the largest reservoir on the Colorado River — Lake Mead — have fallen to record lows. Along its perimeter, a white “bathtub ring” of minerals outlines where the high water line once stood, underscoring the acute water challenges for a region facing a growing population and a drought that is being worsened by hotter, drier weather brought on by climate change.
Five young artists from Chula Vista area schools are the winners of Otay Water District’s 2021 “Water is Life” Student Poster Contest for illustrating the value of using water wisely.
Otay’s educational program invites students to create artwork depicting the importance of water conservation and stewardship. The students are encouraged to illustrate the theme “Water is Life,” with the message focused on using water efficiently at home, school, business, and the community, and for environmental, agricultural, and recreational purposes.
Federal officials on Monday issued the first-ever “Level 1” shortage declaration for the massive reservoir of Lake Mead on the Colorado River, triggering major water cuts for Arizona, Nevada and Mexico.
The cuts for water users downstream from Hoover Dam will begin in October, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said in a statement.
“Today’s announcement of a Level 1 Shortage Condition at Lake Mead underscores the value of the collaborative agreements we have in place with the seven basin states, tribes, water users and Mexico in the management of water in the Colorado River Basin,” said Reclamation Deputy Commissioner Camille Touton.
The Biden administration today will declare a water shortage on the Colorado River for the first time ever, triggering cutbacks in the Southwest due to a decadeslong drought that experts say is a sign of what’s to come.
Bureau of Reclamation officials will announce that water levels in the river’s main reservoirs have dropped so low they have triggered mandatory delivery reductions in Arizona and Nevada.
The announcement comes as heat waves and wildfires are scorching the West, presenting the Biden administration with another crisis. A 20-year “megadrought” in the seven-state Colorado River Basin has caused Lake Mead and Lake Powell to drop to levels not seen since they were originally filled a half-century ago.
“This drought has come on faster and harder than last time,” said Ellen Hanak, the director of the water policy center at the Public Policy Institute of California, referring to the last Golden State drought that ended in 2016. “We are in year two, but we’re in as bad a shape as year three of what was a record drought last time.”
California Senators Alex Padilla and Dianne Feinstein introduced a bill on Friday to expand federal authority over the ecologically threatened Salton Sea east of San Diego County.
The Salton Sea Projects Improvements Act would significantly expand the ability of the Bureau of Reclamation to partner with state, local, and tribal governments to address the public health and environmental crisis at the Salton Sea.
The bill also increases the amount the Bureau of Reclamation is authorized to spend towards these efforts from $10 million to $250 million.
Included in the sweeping $1 trillion infrastructure bill approved by the Senate is funding for Western water projects that farmers, water providers and environmentalists say are badly needed across the parched region.
The Senate voted this week in favor of the legislation that seeks to rebuild U.S. roads and highways, improve broadband internet access and modernize water pipes and public works systems. The bill’s future in the House is uncertain.
The federal funding would come as the West bakes under a decadeslong drought that is straining water supplies.
