California and the U.S.

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

Report: Oroville Dam Has Unsatisfactory Rating For 2nd Year In A Row

A new report on the safety of more than 1,200 California dams reveals only one dam is listed as unsatisfactory — and that dam is Oroville. In this Butte County town of some 19,000 people, some are getting wary. “Businesses are concerned with getting on with business,” said Eric Smith, CEO of the Oroville Chamber of […]

US Southwest Set For Water Crisis As Levels Continue To Drop At Lake Mead And Lake Powell

Two major lakes in the Colorado River Basin that operate as one huge reservoir to supply millions of people with water are drying up, scientists have warned. Water levels at Lake Mead and Lake Powell have been steadily declining over the course of a two-decade drought affecting the region. In addition to the extended dry […]

Global Warming, El Nino Could Cause Wetter Winters, Drier Conditions In Other Months

So here’s the good news: Despite fears to the contrary, California isn’t facing a year-round drought in our warming new world. However, UC Riverside Earth Sciences Professor Robert Allen’s research indicates that what precipitation the state does get will be pretty much limited to the winter months—think deluge-type rainfall rather than snow—and non-winter months will be even […]

Water From The Mojave Desert – One Company’s Plan

They say you can’t get water from a stone, but one man says he can solve California’s water crisis with water from the desert. Scott Slater is the CEO of Cadiz, a California company that owns 45,000 acres in the Mojave, one of the driest places on earth. He says that a few hundred feet […]

OPINION: Next California Governor Must Focus On Climate Adaptation

California’s efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions have made the state an icon in the fight against climate change, a status validated by Gov. Jerry Brown hosting the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco next month. Yet despite its success, California is only slowly beginning to take action to help communities adapt to the […]

El Niño Fears Grow As Starving Baby Birds Wash Up On California Beaches

Scores of starving baby seabirds have been washing up on Northern California beaches this summer, raising fears among scientists that a climatic cycle like the one that wreaked havoc on sea creatures a few years ago may be moving in. More than 100 undernourished common murre babies have been plucked from beaches from Monterey to Marin County by biologists […]