California and the U.S.
The latest news and analysis covering water issues in Caliornia and the rest of the United States.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
Atmospheric River Brings Rain to the Bay Area, Snow to the Sierra Nevada
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Mercury News (San Jose)As expected, an “atmospheric river” delivered moderate to heavy rain to the Bay Area on Thursday. The North Bay and Santa Cruz mountains received a majority of the rainfall, with a handful of locations recording more than 4½ inches, including Ben Lomond, according to the National Weather Service in Monterey. Some locations in the Santa […]
Trump’s Environmental Rollbacks Hit California Hard, Despite Sacramento’s Resistance
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Los Angeles TimesWhen 50,000 acre-feet of water went gushing out of the Sacramento River last month, it fast became a test of California’s ability to protect its environmental policies from an increasingly hostile Trump administration. The episode proved humbling. Heeding the calls of big agriculture interests and area congressional Republicans, the administration pumped federally controlled water to […]
BLOG: State Taking Steps To Manage Subsidence-Related Impacts To California Aqueduct
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Water Education Foundation (Sacramento)by Gary PitzerFor as long as agriculture has existed in the Central Valley, farmers have pumped water from the ground to sustain their livelihood and grow food consumed by much of the nation. This has caused the ground in certain places to sink, sometimes dramatically, eliminating valuable aquifer storage space that can never be restored. The damage […]
New Research Could Predict La Nina Drought Years In Advance
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Phys.orgTwo new studies from The University of Texas at Austin have significantly improved scientists’ ability to predict the strength and duration of droughts caused by La Niña – a recurrent cooling pattern in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Their findings, which predict that the current La Niña is likely to stretch into a second year, could […]
OPINION: Hydropower Is Not The Answer for Climate Resilience
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Devex.comThe global dam industry claims hydropower can build climate resilience, and harmlessly wean us from fossil fuels. But as events in the past 12 months have shown, nothing could be further from the truth. A press release, issued on October 31, read: “Itaipu is a UN Climate Change Partner at the COP23 Climate Conference.” For […]
$4 Billion California Bond Will Help With Droughts and Floods
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Water Deeply (New York)Droughts and floods are both a part of life in California as 2017 has so clearly demonstrated: It took one of the wettest winters on record to pull the state from the depths of a five-year drought. The state has invested funds in bulking up drought and flood protection in the past, but recent events highlighted […]