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If Aridification Choked the Southwest for Thousands of Years, What Does The Future Hold?

/in , /by /Inside Climate Newsby Judy Fahys

The ancient people of Danger Cave lived well. They ate freshwater fish, ducks and other small game, according to detritus they left behind. They had a lush lakeside view, with cattails, bulrush and water-loving willows adorning the marshlands.

But then, the good life became history. As heat and drought set in, the freshwater dried up and forced the ancients to survive by plucking tiny seeds from desert shrubs called pickleweed. Archaeologists know this from a thick layer of dusty chaff buried in the cave’s floor.

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Opinion: We Can Find Common Ground to Solve Challenging Water Issues

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Cannon Michael and Ann Hayden

Despite a seemingly endless era of upheaval – a surging pandemic, contentious election cycle and racial strife – we still have the responsibility to address pressing issues that cannot wait for calmer times. The future of California’s water is one of those issues. While collaboration and relationship building have been made even more challenging due to distancing required by COVID-19, we believe that water is an issue where we can rise above party lines and entrenched perspectives.

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Farmland Consolidations Could Save Water, Promote Solar

/in , , /by /Bakersfield.comby John Cox

Hopes are rising in the southern Central Valley that the farmland expected to be fallowed in coming years because of drought and groundwater restrictions won’t sit idle but will instead be consolidated to make room for new land uses including solar power generation. Efforts are underway locally to create a system for piecing together parcels that would allow investment at a scale large enough to support substantial photovoltaic solar arrays — or ranching or creation of natural habitat, whatever makes sense financially for landowners.

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Weary but Determined, California’s Small, Family-Owned Farms Fight Through the Pandemic

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Lucas Kwan Peterson

Vince Bernard loves his trees. He’ll tell you as much. They are what have sustained him and his family for decades at Bernard Ranches. Bernard grows mostly citrus with his wife, Vicki, in Riverside, where a pair of navel orange trees planted in 1871 marked the beginning of the area’s storied citrus industry.

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Colorado River Users Expect Biden to Put Focus on Climate Change

/in , , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Tripp Baltz

The incoming Biden administration will lead efforts to craft a new water-management regime for the seven-state Colorado River Basin, and people involved in the process expect any changes to reflect the impact of climate change in the basin.

The Bureau of Reclamation, under the Interior Department, will lead negotiations to replace 13-year-old interim guidelines used to operate the basin’s two major reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead. The Interior secretary also manages the lower basin, containing all the water below Hoover Dam.

Revisions should reflect ecological values, water rights of American Indian tribes, and the need for more conservation measures by users in the seven states—Arizona, California and Nevada in the lower basin and Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming in the upper basin, those involved in the process said.

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Kern Farmers Tapped for $14 million to Study Delta Tunnel

/in , , /by /SJV Water (San Joaquin Valley)by Lois Henry

Kern County farmers on Wednesday agreed to chip in $14 million over the next two years to kick off another attempt to move water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta via tunnel.

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Will the West Figure Out How to Share Water?

/in , , /by /Deseret Newsby Sofia Jeremias

In Crowley County, Colorado, sugar beets and alfalfa used to line the fields. It’s cantaloupes were famous.

But that all changed about three decades ago when most of the farmers sold their water rights to rapidly growing cities on the Front Range.

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Vallecitos Water District Helps San Marcos Coffee Farmer Brew Success

/in , , /by /Water News Network Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

San Diego County agriculture is well-known for citrus and avocados. Kyle Rosa is counting on coffee joining this list. Rosa, owner of Bluetail Coffee Grove, started growing coffee on a 2.5-acre farm in San Marcos last year. After 15 years in the finance industry, Rosa and his wife moved from San Francisco to start their new venture. The new farmer quickly turned to the Vallecitos Water District for help establishing smart water use and efficient systems to irrigate his six different specific types of coffee.

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Feds Give Green Light to Friant-Kern Canal Repairs

/in , , /by /The San Joaquin Valley Sunby Daniel Gligich

The Friant-Kern Canal has received the approval from the federal government to fix a sag in the canal.

The Bureau of Reclamation gave its approval Tuesday – signing a Record of Decision giving environmental clearance for the project – following action from the Trump administration to invest about $5 million to study and begin pre-construction work on the canal.

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Coming Back Into Balance | Examining Agriculture’s Role in Combating Climate Change

/in , , /by /VC Reporterby Kimberly Rivers

Tension is growing between politicians claiming to be “climate leaders”; those who say that enacted policies are too little, too late; and industry sectors lobbying to maintain the status quo. Environmental activists are pushing hard against the fossil fuel industry and commercial agriculture — two sectors that helped build Ventura County but are now being put under the spotlight for activities that contribute to global warming.

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