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Sierra Snowpack is Already “Wiped Out” This Year, Adding to California Drought and Fire Worries

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicle by Kellie Hwang

The Sierra Nevada snowpack, a crucial water source for California’s cities and farms, has already dwindled to next to nothing this year, adding to the state’s worsening drought situation.

The latest data from the state Department of Water Resources on Tuesday showed California’s snowpack was just 6% of normal for May 11, and 4% of the normal average for April 1. That date is typically when California’s snowpack is the deepest and has the highest snow water equivalent — the depth of water that would result if the snow melted upon falling.

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County Officials Applaud New Salton Sea Funding

/in , , /by /Imperial Valley Pressby Michael Maresh

Newly announced state funding for the Salton Sea is expected to maximize habitat outcomes and provide immediate economic relief to the community.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $5.1 billion water infrastructure, drought response and climate resilience proposal, which he announced Monday as part of his $100 billion “California Comeback Plan,” includes $220 million for the Salton Sea.

At Tuesday’s Imperial County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, District 1 Supervisor Jesus Eduardo Escobar wanted to know what is meant by providing immediate economic relief to the community and how this would occur. He also asked if the $220 million was part of the master plan and whether the funds would be used for restoration purposes.

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Drought Concerns: New Website Shows Well Water Users Whether They Face a Water Shortage

/in , , /by /ABC10by Carley Gomez

A drought emergency has been declared in California and even expanded upon as of Monday, May 10, 2021 to cover a total of 41 of California’s 58 counties.

Water is on the forefront of state leaders’ minds.

It’s no surprise water supply would be impacted in a drought situation, especially as California is now in its second year of drought. Plus, drought concerns have not just spanned the last two years. California also experienced a long stretch of drought from 2012 to 2016.

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Humanity’s Challenge of the Century: Conserving Earth’s Freshwater Systems

/in , /by /Mongabay Newsby Saul Elbein

On April 11, 2020, a band of fighters stormed and seized a water control station in the Libyan Sahara. Taking employees prisoner, they occupied a key nexus that helps move 1.2 million cubic meters (317 million gallons) of water per day — 480 Olympic-sized swimming pools — from freshwater aquifers beneath the desert down to the coast. The raiders flipped a switch and at a stroke, 400 kilometers (250 miles) away, in the capital Tripoli, 2 million people’s taps went dry. One of many such attacks, this battle in the intensifying global water wars has dire portent for Libya and the world. The country’s water system had once been a crown jewel of 20th century hydraulic engineering, part of a global constellation of megaprojects that allowed cities in water-starved regions to grow into the millions.

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Klamath Basin Water Crisis: A Microcosm for Climate Change in the West

/in , , /by /KGW8by Ashley Koch

A conflict over access to water in the Klamath Basin is signaling the way climate change could play out across the western United States. After a drier-than-normal spring, farmers and indigenous tribes in the Klamath Basin are at odds over water in Upper Klamath Lake.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, the Klamath Basin is experiencing “extreme drought,” while the rest of Oregon is experiencing some level of drought or abnormal dryness.

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Critical Infrastructure Flaws Surface After Years of Underinvestment in Energy, Other Sectors, Analysts Say

/in , , /by /Utility Diveby David Jones

The risk to critical infrastructure is a long festering concern in the cybersecurity industry. Researchers, corporate security officers and government experts feared that energy producers, utilities and water systems lacked the manpower and investment in security.

The risk increased with the exposure of industrial control systems to the open internet and connected to IT systems through automation.

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Farmers Grapple with Implications of Water Cuts

/in , /by /AgAlertby Christine Souza

In water-stressed farming areas of California, farmers removed productive trees and idled other land to divert what little water they have to other crops, as the reality of the 2021 drought became ever more apparent.

“We’re removing 15-year-old, prime-production almond trees,” said Daniel Hartwig of Woolf Farming in Fresno County. “We’re pulling out almost 400 acres, simply because there’s not enough water in the system to irrigate them, and long term, we have no confidence that there would be water in the future.”

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Running Dry: Explaining Reservoirs’ Importance in California

/in , /by /KCRA3by Dirk Verdoorn

California’s water supply can vary greatly from year to year to the need to manage what we get is a high priority in the Golden State. The Central Valley Project was devised in 1933 as a way to manage water and transport it areas considered more water-rich to the more water-scarce areas in the Central Valley by a series of canals, aqueducts and pump plants. Reservoirs play an important role in the project, feeding the canals that transport water from the far southern end of the valley.

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California Drought: Recycled Water Investment Paying Off For North Marin Water District

/in , /by /KPIX 5by John Ramos

This is shaping up to be a long, dry summer and water managers across the state are looking for new sources to meet their demand.  But one small district in Marin County placed a bet on a drought-proof supply of water that may pay off big this year.

The town of Novato relies on Lake Stafford for its summer water supply and like most reservoirs this year, it is dangerously low. However, the local water district actually has more water than it can even use – but there’s a catch: most of it is recycled.

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San Diego County Has ‘Sufficient’ Water Supplies as Drought Grips State

/in , /by /Patch.comby City News Service Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

Despite a drought emergency declaration in northern and central California, the San Diego County Water Authority said Tuesday the region was well positioned to outlast drought conditions until 2045. On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom expanded a drought emergency declaration from Sonoma and Mendocino counties to 41 counties.