You are now in California and the U.S. Home Headline Media Coverage category.

Mired Again in Drought, Experts Say California Is Better Prepared to Survive

/in , , /by /Courthouse News Serviceby Nick Cahill

Toxic algae blooms. Exposed, barren shorelines. Racing to prevent salmon die-offs. Sinking farmland. Dry wells. Unseasonable wildfires.

Drought has returned to California and the American West.

Following the fourth-driest winter on record and just a few years after declaring victory over the last drought, California is once again prepping for a summer of water insecurity. Conditions already mirror the last drought, but experts and water managers contend the state is better equipped this time around.

Full Story

The Sun May Offer Key to Predicting El Niño, Groundbreaking Study Finds

/in , , /by /The Washington Postby Matthew Cappucci

When it comes to long-term hurricane forecasts, tornado predictions in the Plains or prospects for winter rain in California, you’ll often hear meteorologists refer to El Niño or La Niña. They’re phases in a cycle that starts in the tropics, spreading an influence across the globe and shaping weather both close to home and on different continents.

Now there’s emerging research to suggest that cosmic rays, or positively charged, high-energy particles from space, might be the mechanism that flips the switch between phases. Cosmic rays come from outside our solar system, but the number and intensity that reach Earth hinge on the magnetic field of the sun.

Full Story

Hosing Down the Driveway? Why California Has No Statewide Water Wasting Rules as it Heads Into a New Drought

/in , /by /The Mercury Newsby Paul Rogers

Anyone who lived through California’s last big drought from 2012 to 2016 remembers the rules.

You couldn’t water your yard so much that the water ran off into the street or sidewalk. Or hose down a driveway. Hotels had to put up signs telling customers they could choose not to have sheets and towels washed every day. Ornamental fountains were prohibited unless they recycled water. Watering landscaping within 48 hours of rain was forbidden. Cities couldn’t water grass on street medians. And if you washed a car with a hose, it had to have a nozzle.

Full Story

Opinion: Abatti and Friends Knock On The U.S. Supreme Court Door

/in , /by /Imperial Valley Pressby Brian McNeece

The dispute between Imperial Valley farmer Mike Abatti and the Imperial Irrigation District over water rights entered a new chapter last month. Mr. Abatti filed a petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the court to review last year’s California appellate court’s ruling in the IID’s favor.

Our local Imperial County Farm Bureau and the California Farm Bureau, along with some individual valley farmers, then filed amicus briefs at the U.S. Supreme Court supporting Mr. Abatti’s petition for review.

Full Story

How ‘Sustainable’ is California’s Groundwater Sustainability Act?

/in , /by /High Country Newsby Nick Bowlin

Beneath the almond and citrus fields of the San Joaquin Valley lies an enormous system of aquifers that feeds some of the world’s most productive farmland. Hundreds of miles north and east, along the Nevada border, is the Surprise Valley, a remote, high-desert region undergirded by cone-shaped hollows of sediment that hold deposits of water. Both of these water systems, along with every other groundwater basin in California — a whopping 515 entities — must create individually tailored plans to manage their water use more sustainably. In scale and ambition, California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) has few parallels. And the work becomes increasingly urgent as the climate crisis makes water shortages increasingly severe.

Full Story

Marin County is First in Region to Limit Outdoor Watering with Mandatory Rules

/in , , /by /SF Gateby Amy Graff

The Marin Municipal Water District is imposing more mandatory water restrictions on residents, with the goal of reducing overall water use in the district by 40%.

The water district’s board voted Tuesday night to limit spray irrigation to two days per week and drip irrigation to three days per week. All swimming pools and spas must be covered to limit evaporation.

Full Story

Opinion: No, California Isn’t ‘Flushing Water to the Ocean,’ Despite What Fresno Politicians Say

/in , , /by /The Fresno Beeby Marek Warszawski

It’s that time of drought again. During one of the driest years on record, once again curtailing water deliveries to local farms, Fresno-area lawmakers wasted little time trotting out one of their favorite falsehoods. That every year, including the parched ones like 2021, California “wastes” millions of gallons of water by “flushing it to the ocean.”

Full Story

As Surface Water Supplies Dry Up, California Rice Growers Worry About Ripple Effect

/in , , /by /CBS Sacramentoby Rachel Wulff

California’s drought is impacting more than how you water your lawn, but also the way your food is grown on hundreds of thousands of acres in the Sacramento Valley.

Growing rice is a multi-billion dollar industry that supports 25,00 jobs.

Full Story

Here’s how Arizona is Preparing for 1st Cuts to Colorado River Allocation

/in , , /by /AZ Big Mediaby Ted Cooke

Arizona is gearing up for the first-ever “Tier 1” shortage on the Colorado River in 2022, which will trigger significant cuts to the state’s annual allocation from its most important water resource. As daunting as it sounds, the vast majority of citizens and businesses will not be affected, state water leaders said during a Colorado River Preparedness briefing last week.

Full Story

San Diego County Releases Proposed $7 Billion Budget

/in , , /by /Fox 5 San Diegoby City News Service

San Diego County’s Chief Administrative Officer Helen Robbins-Meyer recommended spending $7.03 billion in fiscal year 2021-22 for the running of the county government Thursday, a 7.3% increase from this year.

Full Story