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How Much Rain Did SoCal Receive This Winter? Not Much at all

/in /by /KPCC (Pasadena)by Aaron Mendelson

It’s the last day of March, which means it’s the end of the six-month period during which Southern California receives most of its rain. So, during this El Niño winter, how much rain did the region get?

Not much at all. A number close to 100 would mean it had been a typical year for precipitation—and this year the L.A. area is still about 40 percentage points below that. With just a few hours left in March, it will be impossible to make that up.

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Study Reveals Hidden Value of Baja California Mangroves in Climate Change Fight

/in /by /Los Angeles Times by By Joshua Emerson Smith

As climate change has heightened concerns about the global decline of mangroves, a study released this week found that such ecosystems along the desert coast of Baja California may be more important than previously thought for keeping heat-trapping carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

Researchers at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography discovered that despite their short and stunted appearance, mangroves in these desert locations had surprisingly high rates of sequestering carbon underground. In some cases, the ability was several times greater than that of lush mangroves in tropical locations.

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Underwhelming LA Rain Totals From the El Niño Winter Are In

/in /by /Curbed Los Angeles by By Bianca Barragan

While the northern part of California has seen encouraging levels of water in many of their reservoirs, Southern California is still mired in drought, so desperate for rain that we’ve even seeded the clouds with iodide in an attempt to coerce more precipitation out of them when El Niño alone wasn’t getting the job done. Now, as we approach the first day of April, the typical rainy season draws to a close and it looks like Southern California has had a solidly below average year, says KPCC.

 

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Valley Center Water Chief Says Predictions of Drought Restrictions Being Lifted are “Hype”

/in /by /Valley Roadrunner (Valley Center)

Thursday morning Valley Center Municipal Water District Gen. Manager Gary Arant issued a statement about the “hype” surrounding current speculations that the state may drop or cut back its drought requirements due to the higher than normal rainfall this year.

Arant’s statement:

“As is typically the case, there is a lot of premature hype and  information about the SWRCB (State Water Resources Control Board) further and relaxing or even dropping the Emergency Drought Regulations which may generate questions from the media or public.

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Snowpack Totals are Good News, and California May Relax Water-Savings Rules

/in /by /The Orange County Register by By Lily Leung

An atypical El Niño storm system brought Northern California’s snowpack close to normal, disappointing news for state water surveyors but an improvement some officials say may justify an easing of conservation requirements.

On Wednesday, the state Department of Water Resources measured the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, east of Sacramento, and found it was 97 percent of historical averages. Statewide, the snowpack is 87 percent of average.

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State Snowpack has Changed a lot in the Last Year — as have Californians’ Attitude Toward Water

/in /by /Los Angeles Times by By Matt Stevens

One year ago Friday, Frank Gehrke hiked out to Phillips Station and stuck a tube onto a tuft of brownish-green grass. There was no snow, but Gehrke had quite an audience.

A gaggle of reporters and even Gov. Jerry Brown had assembled at the outpost 90 miles from Sacramento to watch Gehrke work and bear witness to the severity of California’s drought.What followed was a historic executive order from Brown that required a statewide 25% cut in urban water use and set in motion a fundamental rethinking about how Californians use the precious resource.

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The depth of the snowpack was declared to be just below average, a huge improvement from last year, but still far from enough to declare the drought over.

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby By Matt Stevens

In a symbolic moment in California’s slow but steady drought recovery, a state surveyor on Wednesday found several feet of snow in the same Sierra Nevada meadow that was bare and brown just a year ago.

The depth of the snowpack was declared to be just below average, a huge improvement from last year, but still far from enough to declare the drought over.

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Saudi Land Purchases in Drought-Stricken California Fuel Debate Over U.S. Water Rights

/in /by /Associated Press (As Published by The Orange County Register)by By Elliot Spagat and Aya Batrawy

Saudi Arabia’s largest dairy company will soon be unable to farm alfalfa in its own parched country to feed its 170,000 cows. So it’s turning to an unlikely place to grow the water-chugging crop — the drought-stricken American Southwest.

Almarai Co. bought land in January that roughly doubled its holdings in California’s Palo Verde Valley, an area that enjoys first dibs on water from the Colorado River. The company also acquired a large tract near Vicksburg, Arizona, becoming a powerful economic force in a region that has fewer well-pumping restrictions than other parts of the state.

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Short Film Highlights Decay, Beauty at the Salton Sea

/in /by /KESQ (Palm Springs)by Jeff Stahl

Independent filmmaker, Franck Tabouring is trying to save the Salton Sea in his own way. Tabouring has created a short film filled with thought provoking images called, “The Useless Sea.”

“You’ll be surprised but I’ve talked to many people who’ve growed up in California have lived there their entire lives, and when I mention, ‘Have you heard of the Salton Sea?” They’ve never heard of it,” said Tabouring. Tabouring personally discovered the Salton Sea while scouting desert locations for another film project.

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$90 Million Doheny Beach Desalination Plant Still in Works

/in /by /The Orange County Registerby By Erika I. Ritchie

A desalination plant proposed near San Juan Creek could produce as much as 15 million gallons of drinking water daily and create a reliable source for South County-area reserves in the wake of an earthquake or drought, officials said.

South Coast Water District officials said plans for the $90 million plant – studied for more than a decade – are moving forward despite the fact the district would be the sole agency building it. The plant – with a 2019 opening date – would likely provide 75 percent of the district’s water needs, district general manager Andrew Brunhart said.

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