California’s Central Valley constitutes 1 percent of the agricultural land in the United States yet it harvests nearly a quarter of the nation’s farmed products.
The 50-mile wide, 450-mile-long breadbasket is irrigated by an intricate series of river impoundments and canals that are regulated by federal and state agencies.
In what is expected to be one of the biggest snowmelt events in its history, California could see some 277 billion gallons of water flowing from the Sierra during the month of May alone.
Experts said Tuesday that the state’s biggest snow year since 1950 could result in a dangerous spring, as warming temperatures push high volumes of snowmelt downstream.
California water officials reported on Monday that preliminary data showed the water contained in the state’s April snowpack is near historic levels.
Officials previewed the results after a morning measurement south of Lake Tahoe, where the snowpack exceeded 10.5 feet deep at one of California’s 260 snow measurement locations.
Last fall, when the state Legislature authorized $40 million for floodplain restoration, Julie Rentner knew just what she would do with it. Her group, River Partners, would spend more than a quarter of the funds buying a 500-acre dairy farm abutting the San Joaquin River in Stanislaus County.
Then millions more would be spent on removing debris, sheds, manure heaps and levees. They would plant native vegetation, and eventually restore the parcel to its natural state as a woodland and floodplain.
Gov. Gavin Newsom came close but couldn’t quite bring himself to say it: The drought’s over.
It’s disappointing when a governor won’t acknowledge what ordinary citizens already know because they can see things for themselves.
Another drought will emerge soon enough. It always does. That’s the California pattern — climate change or not.
At an appearance at a groundwater recharge project in Yolo County, Newsom announced the end of state regulations he put in place last March that required cities and water agencies to impose water restrictions such as limits on the number of days a week residents could water lawns and landscaping. The decision now will be up to each local area in the coming weeks and months about whether to drop those restrictions.
Only weeks after a series of atmospheric rivers deluged California, the state is once again bracing for powerful winter weather that could deliver heaps of rain and snow, including fresh powder at elevations as low as 1,500 feet.
But as worsening climate extremes and water supply challenges continue to bedevil the state, officials cautioned residents Tuesday not to assume that the recent moisture signaled an end to the drought.
There’s one word for what six of the seven southwestern states that draw water from the Colorado River are trying to do to California: bullying.
The good news for Californians is that Gov. Gavin Newsom isn’t standing for it.
Weeks after powerful storms dumped 32 trillion gallons of rain and snow on California, state officials and environmental groups in the drought-ravaged state are grappling with what to do with all of that water.
State rules say when it rains and snows a lot in California, much of that water must stay in the rivers to act as a conveyer belt to carry tens of thousands of endangered baby salmon into the Pacific Ocean.
California is under new orders as of Monday to aggressively work to protect all water supplies from weather extremes brought on by climate change.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order to expand statewide storm runoff capture capacity, noting how years of prolonged drought finally paused after three weeks of atmospheric river storms slammed the Golden State at the beginning of the year.
