With California now on track to have the rainiest year in its history—on the heels of its worst drought in 500 years—the state has become a daily reminder that extreme weather events are on the rise. And the recent near-collapse of the spillway at California’s massive Oroville Dam put an exclamation point on the potentially […]
Researchers from Stanford and the University of Calgary have transformed pulses of electrical current sent 1,000 feet underground into a picture of where seawater has infiltrated freshwater aquifers along the Monterey Bay coastline. The findings, which will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Hydrology but are available online now, help explain […]
It is a simple question really: How much is the massive repair project below Lake Oroville costing each day. Simple or not, it has been appallingly difficult to get it answered. Representatives of our newspaper group have been asking how much the crisis at the dam is costing and, oh yes, who’s picking up the tab? The reporters have asked […]
Long before a fractured spillway plunged Oroville Dam into the gravest crisis in its 48-year history, officials at a handful of downstream government agencies devised a plan they believed would make the dam safer: Store less water there. Sutter County, Yuba City and a regional levee-maintenance agency brought their recommendation to the Federal Energy Regulatory […]
Conditions have improved in a small swath of Southern California that was one of the last areas of severe drought still standing during a wet winter for the record books. Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Los Angeles counties are no longer under severe drought, according to this week’s U.S. Drought Monitor report. Recent rainfall improved the […]
Last summer it was a jarring symbol of California’s historic five-year drought. San Luis Reservoir — the vast lake along Highway 152 between Gilroy and Los Banos, the state’s fifth-largest reservoir and a key link in the water supply for millions of people and thousands of acres of Central Valley farmland — was just 10 […]
Climate Change Complicates The Whole Dam Debate
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Scientific American (Armonk, NY)by Richard ConniffWith California now on track to have the rainiest year in its history—on the heels of its worst drought in 500 years—the state has become a daily reminder that extreme weather events are on the rise. And the recent near-collapse of the spillway at California’s massive Oroville Dam put an exclamation point on the potentially […]
Scientists Map Seawater Threat To California Central Coast Aquifers
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Phys.org (Douglas, Isle Of Man, U.K.)Researchers from Stanford and the University of Calgary have transformed pulses of electrical current sent 1,000 feet underground into a picture of where seawater has infiltrated freshwater aquifers along the Monterey Bay coastline. The findings, which will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Hydrology but are available online now, help explain […]
OPINION: Taxpayers Deserve Transparency On Oroville Expenses
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /East Bay TimesIt is a simple question really: How much is the massive repair project below Lake Oroville costing each day. Simple or not, it has been appallingly difficult to get it answered. Representatives of our newspaper group have been asking how much the crisis at the dam is costing and, oh yes, who’s picking up the tab? The reporters have asked […]
Is There Too Much Water Behind Oroville Dam? Critics Say Army Corps Standards Unsafe
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler, Ryan Sabalow, and Phillip ReeseLong before a fractured spillway plunged Oroville Dam into the gravest crisis in its 48-year history, officials at a handful of downstream government agencies devised a plan they believed would make the dam safer: Store less water there. Sutter County, Yuba City and a regional levee-maintenance agency brought their recommendation to the Federal Energy Regulatory […]
Finally, Severe Drought Gets the Boot From All of LA, Ventura, Santa Barbara Counties
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /NBC Bay Areaby Jonathan LloydConditions have improved in a small swath of Southern California that was one of the last areas of severe drought still standing during a wet winter for the record books. Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Los Angeles counties are no longer under severe drought, according to this week’s U.S. Drought Monitor report. Recent rainfall improved the […]
San Luis Reservoir Full For First Time In Six Years
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Santa Cruz Sentinelby Paul RogersLast summer it was a jarring symbol of California’s historic five-year drought. San Luis Reservoir — the vast lake along Highway 152 between Gilroy and Los Banos, the state’s fifth-largest reservoir and a key link in the water supply for millions of people and thousands of acres of Central Valley farmland — was just 10 […]