Water, the lifeblood of California, will be where the state experiences the most severe impacts of climate change. Unfortunately, most water agencies have yet to adjust to this “new normal” and are operating on outmoded assumptions and practices that place the state at risk of water shortages and worse. And while the recent rains may convince some that no action is needed, the science tells a different story.
California’s rainy winter is already bearing fruit (er, flowers). The Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve has passed the minimum rain threshold of seven inches needed to trigger a massive poppy bloom. “We have reached the minimum amount of rain the poppies need, but there are many other factors that can still affect them such as late freezes or early heat waves,” the reserve posted to its website. “If all goes well, we expect the bloom to start in early to mid-March and last until mid-April or later.”
The bucolic orchards of Sutter County north of Sacramento had never seen anything like it: a visiting governor and a media swarm — all to christen the first major natural gas power plant in California in more than a decade. At its 2001 launch, the Sutter Energy Center was hailed as the nation’s cleanest power plant. It generated electricity while using less water and natural gas than older designs. A year ago, however, the $300-million plant closed indefinitely, just 15 years into an expected 30- to 40-year lifespan.
At first glance, it looks like a storage refrigerator you might see in somebody’s garage — and it runs just as quietly. But the GenCell G5rx is a hydrogen fuel cell generator that is part of a compact system using the latest technology to help companies like San Diego Gas & Electric reduce disruptions during power outages. “When the grid is off, this is on,” said Gil Shavit, chairman of GenCell, the company that has contracted to deliver more than two dozen G5rx systems to SDG&E.
Eastern Municipal Water District’s (EMWD) Board of Directors on Wednesday urged Governor Jerry Brown and the State Water Resources Control Board (State Board) to declare an end the ongoing Drought State of Emergency and corresponding regulations. EMWD’s Board of Directors approved by a 4-0 vote a resolution requesting an end to the statewide drought emergency status due to the response of customers and drastically improved statewide water supply and snowpack conditions.
The San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors (SDCWA) declared on Jan. 26 an end to drought conditions in the region, citing heavy local rainfall and snow in western mountain areas. According to the Water Authority, precipitation at San Diego’s official reporting station at Lindbergh Field is 172 percent of average at this time. Statewide snow-water content is 193 percent of average, while the snowpack in the Colorado River Basin – where San Diego obtains some of its water – is also well above normal, the SDCWA reported.
Snowfall from a series of blizzard-like storms that blanketed the Sierra Nevada last month deposited the equivalent of more than 5.7 trillion gallons of water along the rugged mountain range — enough water to fill California’s largest reservoir more than four times, according to recent analysis. In a study by the University of Colorado Boulder and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in La Cañada Flintridge, scientists concluded this month that recent snowfall had replenished more than a third of the state’s lingering “snow-water deficit.”
Snow levels in the Sierra Nevada — a source of about 30 percent of the drinking water for Southern California — have more than quadrupled in one month, according to a manual survey conducted Thursday by state hydrologists. Water content contained within the 90.3 inches of snow measured at Phillips Station in the central Sierra Nevada contain a water equivalent of 28.1 inches, up from only 6 inches on Jan. 3, the state Department of Water Resources reported.
A five-year water rate increase was approved by the City Council Wednesday to fund Capital Improvement Projects and operational costs. According to a report from Director of Utilities Chris McKinney, the new water and wastewater rates will increase Water Fund revenue by 5.5 percent per year over the next five years. The adjusted rates will become effective March 1 and each year thereafter through 2021. The increases, according to the cost of service study, will cover the estimated $141.5 million in capital expenditures and $75 million in proposed bonds.
Documentarian Marina Zenovich, whose most prominent films to date — Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired and Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out — have both revolved around the director of Chinatown, seemingly takes inspiration from Jake Gittes’ noir investigation in this left-turn from celeb-oriented docs to enviro-political ones. In Water & Power: A California Heist, Zenovich tackles a subject of enormous importance.
