California’s Santa Monica is home to more than three miles of beaches and fresh breeze from the Pacific, and is one of National Geographic’s top 10 beach cities in the world. Santa Monica Beachboasts more than 300 days of sunshine a year, but it has a striking shortage of a critical resource: drinking water. Now in its […]
Drive through rural Tulare County and you’ll hear it soon enough, a roar from one of the hundreds of agricultural pumps pulling water from beneath the soil to keep the nut and fruit orchards and vast fields of corn and alfalfa lush and green under the scorching San Joaquin Valley sun. Well water is keeping […]
In bone-dry California we are counting the days until October when the rainy season should begin. When wells run dry in the Central Valley, fires rage in Big Sur and pine forests in the Sierra Nevada die off, you can’t help but wonder where all the water has gone. But what if we asked a […]
Sacramentans continued to conserve water last month, although their total consumption grew compared with a year earlier.The Sacramento Regional Water Authority said Thursday that water consumption fell by 18 percent in August compared with August 2013, the baseline used by state drought regulators. The conservation rate was below the 22 percent savings achieved in August […]
California’s goal of ensuring universal access to safe drinking water, as mandated in the 2012 Human Right to Water Bill, will come a step closer to being met if Gov. Jerry Brown signs a new measure into law that halts the creation of new small, unsustainable – and in many cases dangerous – water districts […]
Not many simple statements can be made about the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, except these: It’s hard to overstate the importance of the region’s resources to California – or the complexity of sharing those resources. Two out of three Californians depend upon water from the Delta, but nearly every discussion of Delta water centers on fish. That […]
Can Solar-Powered Art Save Calif. From Drought?
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /OilPrice.com (as published by USA Today)by Tsvetana ParaskovaCalifornia’s Santa Monica is home to more than three miles of beaches and fresh breeze from the Pacific, and is one of National Geographic’s top 10 beach cities in the world. Santa Monica Beachboasts more than 300 days of sunshine a year, but it has a striking shortage of a critical resource: drinking water. Now in its […]
Farmers say, ‘No Apologies,’ as Well Drilling Hits Record Levels in San Joaquin Valley
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Sacramento Beeby Ryan Sabalow, Dale Kasler and Phillip ReeseDrive through rural Tulare County and you’ll hear it soon enough, a roar from one of the hundreds of agricultural pumps pulling water from beneath the soil to keep the nut and fruit orchards and vast fields of corn and alfalfa lush and green under the scorching San Joaquin Valley sun. Well water is keeping […]
An Overlooked Water Resource
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Christian Science Monitor (Boston)by Diana DonlonIn bone-dry California we are counting the days until October when the rainy season should begin. When wells run dry in the Central Valley, fires rage in Big Sur and pine forests in the Sierra Nevada die off, you can’t help but wonder where all the water has gone. But what if we asked a […]
Sacramentans Still Conserving, But Water Use Grew In August
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Sacramento Beeby Dale KaslerSacramentans continued to conserve water last month, although their total consumption grew compared with a year earlier.The Sacramento Regional Water Authority said Thursday that water consumption fell by 18 percent in August compared with August 2013, the baseline used by state drought regulators. The conservation rate was below the 22 percent savings achieved in August […]
Why California May Ban New Small Water Agencies
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Water Deeply (New York)by Michael LevitinCalifornia’s goal of ensuring universal access to safe drinking water, as mandated in the 2012 Human Right to Water Bill, will come a step closer to being met if Gov. Jerry Brown signs a new measure into law that halts the creation of new small, unsustainable – and in many cases dangerous – water districts […]
California WaterFix Protects Ecosystems and Improves Infrastructure
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Water Deeply (New York)by Gerald H. MeralNot many simple statements can be made about the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, except these: It’s hard to overstate the importance of the region’s resources to California – or the complexity of sharing those resources. Two out of three Californians depend upon water from the Delta, but nearly every discussion of Delta water centers on fish. That […]