California and the U.S.

The latest news and analysis covering water issues in Caliornia and the rest of the United States.

California Governor Pushes For Fee To Clean Up Tainted Water

Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to charge California water customers up to $10 per month to help clean up contaminated water in low-income and rural areas, but he will face resistance from some legislative Democrats hesitant to impose new taxes. The Democratic governor says up to 1 million California residents have some type of contaminated or […]

FEMA Details Why It Rejected State’s Request For Oroville Spillway Funds

Federal emergency relief officials have provided new details on their decision to reject California’s request to reimburse the state for work to rebuild and reinforce the badly damaged spillways at Oroville Dam. The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced earlier this month that it would not reimburse the state for $306 million in construction on the […]

2019 State Water Project Allocation Increased To 70 Percent

The California Department of Water Resources announced today that public water agencies are now projected to receive 70 percent of contracted water supplies from the State Water Project this year. According to the Department, the 35 percent increase from the past month was due to a nearly constant wet hydrology over the winter, and DWR […]

SB 559 Would Unblock Valley’s Major Water Artery

A collection of legislators are taking another shot at getting state money to repair the canal carrying water to thousands of farms and several cities along the Valley’s eastside. Earlier this month, Senator Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger), representing the 14th Senate District encompassing part of Tulare County, along with principal co-authors Senator Andreas Borgeas (R-Fresno), Assemblymember […]

California’s Drought May Be Over, But Its Trees Are Still Dying

Every year, the United States Department of Agriculture surveys California’s forests. Government and private forestry staff take to the skies in various aircraft to sketch out maps of the state’s dying, defoliating and damaged trees. And every year, the data they compile from these observations show that more of California’s forests are dying. This year […]

Wet Winter Helps Replenish Groundwater Supplies

With our streams and rivers running fast and high and all the snow piling up in the High Sierra, it certainly looks like California is well out of the drought, but what about beneath the surface? “Right now our basin, fortunately, is at 98 percent full,” said Carol Mahoney, Manager of Integrated Water Services for […]