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Environmental Disaster or a Key to Clean Energy Future? A New Twist on Hydropower

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Sammy Roth Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Steve Lowe gazed into a gaping pit in the heart of the California desert, careful not to let the blistering wind send him toppling over the edge.

The pit was a bustling iron mine once, churning out ore that was shipped by rail to a nearby Kaiser Steel plant. When steel manufacturing declined, Los Angeles County tried to turn the abandoned mine into a massive landfill. Conservationists hope the area will someday become part of Joshua Tree National Park, which surrounds it on three sides.

Lowe has a radically different vision.

With backing from NextEra Energy — the world’s largest operator of solar and wind farms — he’s working to fill two mining pits with billions of gallons of water, creating a gigantic “pumped storage” plant that he says would help California get more of its power from renewable sources, and less from fossil fuels.

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Utah House Reaffirms Intent to Develop Colorado River Water

/in , , /by /Deseret Newsby Amy Joi O'Donoghue

Utah’s booming population growth and rapid economic development means the need for more water, a higher level of conservation and wise development of water supplies, which are not infinite.

With that in the backdrop, the Utah House of Representatives on Tuesday passed HCR22, which makes clear to neighboring states and policymakers that Utah will someday develop its unused portion of the Colorado River.

The Colorado River, termed the hardest working river in the West, serves 40 million people in the Southwest, including a large population in Utah through a diversion system.

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California May Need a ‘Miracle March’ to Prevent an Early and Dangerous Wildfire Season

/in , , /by /AccuWeatherby John Roach

A brush fire that grew to 175 acres in Norco, California, on Tuesday was perhaps a preview of what could be an early and dangerous wildfire season in a state that just had its driest February on record. It was the eighth fire incident in 2020, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE). That already equals the number of fire incidents before April 1 in the last four years combined.

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San Diego Would Suffer Catastrophic Damage if Rose Canyon Fault Produces 6.9 Earthquake

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Gary Robbins

A magnitude 6.9 earthquake on San Diego’s Rose Canyon Fault could damage 100,000 residences, cause widespread road and bridge failures, and make parts of Mission Bay sink about a foot, according to the most detailed disaster scenario ever done on the region.

Such a temblor could also cut gas and water service between La Jolla and the Silver Strand for months, collapse key municipal buildings, and close the San Diego-Coronado Bridge, says a report by the San Diego chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute. Parts of the fault would rupture the Earth’s surface and shift the landscape 6 to 7 feet, damaging streets so badly it would make it hard for police, firefighters and paramedics to get around.

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Opinion: Poseidon Desalination Would Worsen Environmental Injustice in Orange County

/in , /by /Voice of OCby Adriana Maestas

What would California be without the beach? I grew up in Irvine with an awareness of how fortunate we are to live near the ocean. As a child, my parents and babysitters took me and my brother to Corona Del Mar and Newport Beach frequently during the summer. I have many happy memories of enjoying the waves at “our beaches” while bodysurfing, building sandcastles, and seeing fish, anemones, sandcrabs, dolphins and jellyfish! We also took school field trips to Crystal Cove to learn about the ecosystem. These experiences taught me to respect the ocean and to understand that it is alive, a home for sea life and people.

That’s why it’s upsetting that our regional water board is moving closer to issuing permits for a project near my hometown that will harm our ocean, make us more vulnerable to climate change, and make our drinking water more expensive. The project is a massive ocean water desalination plant being proposed by a global corporation called Poseidon that has its sights on Huntington Beach.

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San Diego’s Sutherland Reservoir in Ramona Reopening to Public on Friday

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Chris Jennewen

The city of San Diego’s Sutherland Reservoir will reopen for boating, fishing, hiking and picnicking three days each week beginning on Friday.

The reservoir, located 45 miles northeast of San Diego, will be open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from sunrise to sunset, and on the Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day holidays. It’s closed the third Friday of each month.

The recreation area has barbecues, picnic tables and restrooms. Dogs are allowed on leashes. Water activities including boating, canoeing, kayaking, sailboarding and float tubing are allowed on Saturdays and Sundays.

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California Blackouts Boost Power-Storage Demand, Engie Says

/in , /by /Bloomberg Environmentby Francois De Beaupuy

Power cuts during California’s devastating wildfire season have boosted demand for combined solar panels and battery storage solutions as businesses look to mitigate economic damage from future blackouts.

Billions of dollars in economic activity were lost from mass power shutoffs during wildfires in California last year. The blackouts, which were aimed at preventing live wires from sparking more fires during high winds, caused widespread disruption for Californians at the end of last year and forced schools and business to shut.

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Thirsty Crops and Vulnerable Families Vie for California’s Precious Water

/in , /by /High Country Newsby Susie Cagle

When Carolina Garcia’s well began pumping sand and air instead of water in 2016, she didn’t know where to turn.

The Garcias had been living in Tombstone Territory, a quiet four-street community in California’s San Joaquin Valley, for 10 years. In the middle of the state’s historic drought, many of the farms surrounding Tombstone Territory had installed new wells and deepened existing ones. Despite being just two miles from the Kings river, Tombstone was drying up.

Garcia, her husband and four children spent four days without water that first time. They resolved to lower their water pump. It worked for a few months – but then, again, sand and air. When they repaired it again, they were told the new fix would only buy them a couple more years.

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Why Does the Weather Stall? New Theories Explain Enigmatic ‘Blocks’ in the Jet Stream

/in , , /by /Science Magazineby Paul Voosen

It was the summer of 2003 in Europe, and, for a while, it seemed as if Earth’s weather system had broken down. For weeks a huge mass of air stalled over the continent, slowly subsiding and suppressing cloud formation, leaving day after day of brilliantly clear skies. The mercury rose, and a record-breaking heat wave gripped countries including France and Germany, causing 70,000 deaths. Then, as abruptly as it set in, the persistent atmospheric block eased, and high winds brought relief.

Few weather phenomena are as widely experienced—but poorly understood—as an atmospheric block. When a block arises, typically at the western edge of a continent, the jet stream splits, trapping a blob of seemingly static air thousands of kilometers across. Such blocks can last for weeks, and drive heat waves, drought, and winter cold snaps.

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San Francisco Could See Its First Rainfall Since January as a Potentially Wetter California Weather Pattern Takes Shape

/in , , /by /The Weather Channelby Linda Lam

Much needed rain will finally return to California and will likely end a month-plus dry streak in San Francisco and Sacramento. Dry conditions have prevailed across most of California since late January due to the upper-level pattern.  A strong area of high pressure aloft near California has pushed the jet stream and storm track northward into the Pacific Northwest.

The persistence of this pattern has resulted in drought conditions during the wet season. Nearly 70% of the Golden State is abnormally dry, and about a third of the state is in moderate drought, according to the latest report from the U.S. Drought Monitor.

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