Tag Archive for: California Department of Water Resources

TID Lands $20 Million Grant to See if Placing Solar Panels Atop Canals Makes Sense

/in , /by /The Modesto Beeby John Holland

The Turlock Irrigation District plans to use a $20 million state grant to demonstrate solar panels atop canals.

TID would be the first water agency in the nation to try such a thing if its board votes Tuesday to accept the money.

The panels would feed electricity into transmission lines already along the canals, helping TID boost the renewable sources for its 103,000 or so power customers. The devices also would shade the water, possibly reducing evaporation losses for farmers.

The pilot project grew out of a study last year at the Merced and Santa Cruz campuses of the University of California. Researchers said installing canal panels throughout the Central Valley could get the state halfway to its goal for climate-safe power.

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California Desperately Needs Rain. What Are the Chances of a ‘Miracle’ in March?

/in , , /by /SF GATEby Amy Graff

The start of the wet season was promising in California, with a record-breaking atmospheric river in October and an onslaught of storms in December, but the weather forecast has remained persistently dry since the start of the year — with no hope for rain in the immediate future.

The lack of rain during what is usually the wettest time of the year is problematic in a drought-plagued state that needs to replenish its water supply and dampen a wildfire-prone landscape. The last hope that remains for winter is a surge of precipitation in late February and in March. What are the chances of that even happening?

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California Is Heading Underground to Explore Its Biggest Water Storage Potential

/in , /by /ABC 10by Monica Woods

Hopes of a big drought busting year in California are starting to look grim after what felt like a great start to the rainy season.

January delivered little, if any, rain and snow and now February is off to an equally dry start. The winter whiplash continues to challenge water managers and with climate trends showing more of this boom or bust pattern, the state is rethinking its water supply system.

Now the state wants to head underground to explore what could be its biggest water storage potential.

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Snow Shuts Off in West as Drought Recovery Hopes Dim

/in , , /by /The Washington Postby Diana Leonard and Ian Livingston

Winter whiplash has hit California and the West. Doused in epic snow and rain in December, the region has just experienced one of the driest Januaries on record in many locations, and there are no storms in sight for at least the first half of February.

The weeks-long dry spell, in the midst of what should be the wettest two months of the year, is dashing hopes of meaningful drought recovery this winter. Water-year surpluses are sliding into deficits, and fire danger is on the rise in California. The reversal may soon emerge in drought maps.

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SWP Water Allocation Increased After December Storms

/in , , /by /AgNet Media

Last week the Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced it will be increasing allocations for the State Water Project. In a press release, DWR Director Karla Nemeth said that December storms have allowed the Department to convey and store water in the San Luis Reservoir. Those storms and additional water have enabled a modest increase in deliveries. The State Water Project (SWP) allocation has been increased to 15 percent of requested supplies for 2022.

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Record-Setting December Rains Spell Relief for San Diego Area Farmers

/in , /by /NBC San Diegoby Omari Fleming

San Diego County is in the midst of moderate drought conditions, even after experiencing its 28th-wettest December on record, according to the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS).

For farmers like Charley Wolk in Fallbrook, last month’s rain was money to their ears.

“That December rain was verging on miraculous,” Wolk said.

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Why This Viral Map Isn’t the Best Indicator of California Drought

/in , , /by /SF GATEby Amy Graff

With a parade of storms sweeping California in December, the federal government’s US Drought map has shown severe drought conditions fade across the state in recent weeks, and on the most recent map released Thursday, “exceptional drought” — the most extreme level of drought — completely disappeared from the map.

The map quickly went viral on Reddit, but Jeanine Jones, the drought manager for the California Department of Water Resources, cautioned that the map isn’t an accurate depiction of the overall picture in the state and said that the drought is far from over.

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Spaceship-sized Detection System Could Help Determine Future of Ca Water Supply, Where to Store It

/in , , /by /abc 7 Newsby Spencer Christian and Tim Didion

If it looks like something that could transport you into the future, in a sense it is. A spaceship-sized hoop suspended from a helicopter is actually part of an advanced water detection system. The information it’s gathering, could help determine the future of California’s water supply – and where we store it.

“I’ve seen similar studies that say, ‘Hey, let’s not even think of building more above ground reservoirs. Let’s use all the empty space below,'” says Rosemary Knight, Ph.D., a professor of Geophysics and senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University.

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Will the SF Bay Area Continue to See More Rain Than Usual? Here’s What Experts Say.

/in , , /by /SF GATEby Amy Graff

After an atmospheric river unleashed a torrent of rain over Northern California in October, the state saw another moisture-rich system in November and then a parade of storms across December.

With a wet start this season, the rivers are rushing, the waterfalls flowing and the reservoirs beginning to rise. The snowpack is signaling a remarkable turnaround after two dry seasons. The Hyatt Power Plant is back online at Lake Oroville after it was forced to shut down due to historic low reservoir levels in August.

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Here’s How Much December’s Rain Added to Northern California Reservoirs

/in , /by /San Francicso Chronicleby Danielle Echeverria, Yoohyun Jung

As a rainy December comes to close, nearly all Northern California reservoirs were still drier than historic averages for this time of year, according to data from the California Department of Water Resources.

But the precipitation still gave several reservoirs a boost from the beginning of the month.

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