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From Killer Heatwaves to Floods, Climate Change Worsened Weather Extremes in 2021

/in , , /by /Reutersby Lisa Shumaker and Andrea Januta

Extreme weather events in 2021 shattered records around the globe. Hundreds died in storms and heatwaves. Farmers struggled with drought, and in some cases with locust plagues. Wildfires set new records for carbon emissions, while swallowing forests, towns and homes.

Many of these events were exacerbated by climate change. Scientists say there are more to come – and worse – as the Earth’s atmosphere continues to warm through the next decade and beyond.

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A Colorado River Veteran Takes on the Top Water & Science Post at Interior Department

/in , /by /Water Education Foundationby Douglas E. Beeman

For more than 20 years, Tanya Trujillo has been immersed in the many challenges of the Colorado River, the drought-stressed lifeline for 40 million people from Denver to Los Angeles and the source of irrigation water for more than 5 million acres of winter lettuce, supermarket melons and other crops.

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California’s Drought Threatens Food Production in 2022 With Water Cuts

/in , , /by /Bloombergby Elizabeth Elkin and Alvaro Ledgard

California farmers who struggled to make it through record-breaking drought and heat in 2021 are bracing for another bad year, this time without any additional water from the state.

The state said it won’t give any water from the State Water Project to farmers unless drought conditions improve. That could mean even higher food prices at a time when consumers are struggling with an ongoing pandemic and inflation across the board.

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In the Midst of Drought, Experts Aim to Improve Central Valley Water Usage With Helicopter-born Technology ‘MRI’ Technology

/in , , /by /KGETby Robert Price

When physicians want to take a look at a patient’s vascular system to see things that aren’t visible to the naked eye, they often turn to MRI technology. That is what experts with the California Department of Water Resources are doing to analyze the state’s water system – specifically the underground aquifers that collect and store precipitation and other surface water.

 

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Opinion: This Proposed Ballot Measure Would Make You Pay for the Ag Industry’s Water Inefficiency

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Michael Hiltzik

Whoever coined the phrase “Whisky is for drinking, water is for fighting” didn’t have things quite right.

In California, water is for scamming. The newest example is a majestically cynical ploy being foisted on taxpayers by some of the state’s premier water hogs, in the guise of a proposed ballot measure titled the “Water Infrastructure Funding Act of 2022” — or, as its promoters call it, the More Water Now initiative.

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Arizona, California, Nevada Agree to New Colorado River Agreement to Conserve More Water

/in , , /by /The Center Squareby Cole Lauterbach

Arizona’s water authorities are close to entering into a new pact with officials from Nevada and California they hope will restore water levels at Lake Mead and stave off future rationing requirements.

A Tier 1 Colorado River water shortage begins in 2022, triggering a mandatory 512,000 acre-foot reduction to Arizona. The emergency stems from the Lake Mead reservoir reaching water levels not seen since its construction. The designation doesn’t affect Arizona residents, rather the state’s agriculture industry that represents the majority of water usage.

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Recycled Water Can Boost Sustainable Agriculture — if We Get Over the ‘Yuck’ Factor

/in , , /by /The Washington Postby Chesney McOmber and Christine Kirchhoff

Delegates and activists from nearly 200 countries returned from the COP26 global environmental forum in Glasgow, Scotland, with a long list of climate-related promises and targets to discuss and implement. While many countries made a renewed commitment to climate-resilient and sustainable agricultural systems, some groups accused leaders at COP26 of not doing enough to improve water security globally.

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Opinion: Arizona Farmers Must Use Less Water to Survive. Here Are 5 things to Do Differently

/in , , /by /Arizona Centralby Gary Nabhan

A profound reduction in the Colorado River water earmarked for Arizona’s crops has at last triggered the rationing that irrigation farmers have dreaded. The Tier 1 shortage will prompt a 512,000-acre-foot reduction in Arizona’s Colorado River deliveries.

That amounts to about 30% of Central Arizona Project’s normal supply. Extrapolating from University of Arizona studies, it will result in a decrease of about $100 million in farmgate sales, and much more if the indirect effects are fully factored in.

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Calif.’s Central Valley Groundwater May Not Recover From Droughts

/in , , /by /Water World

Groundwater in Calif.’s Central Valley is at risk of being depleted by pumping too much water during and after droughts, according to a new study in the American Geophysical Union journal Water Resources Research.

The study finds that groundwater storage recovery has been dismal after the state’s last two droughts, with less than a third of groundwater recovered from the drought that spanned 2012 to 2016.

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Four San Joaquin Valley Groundwater Plans Deemed Inadequate

/in , , /by /CalMatterby Rachel Becker

State officials warn some of the state’s most powerful and largest agricultural districts that their plans fail to address how over-pumping could harm local communities’ drinking water supplies.

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