Tag Archive for: California

OPINION: California’s Water Supply and Conservation

/in , /by /Escondido Times-Advocate by Ed Gallo

Continuing my comments from last week regarding California’s water supply and conservation, I am reminded of a trip to Chico  some 35 years ago. Our family was living through our second drought since moving here in 1973. You may recall a couple of years ago I wrote how this state is subject to recurring droughts roughly every 7 to 10 years. Dry years are nothing new.

We were in Chico in August and it was hot. In San Diego County we had already been warned about water usage and how to conserve. So when I drove around Chico I was shocked to see how many yards were being watered around noon-time. I was a bit unnerved seeing so much water running down curbsides when we down south had to curtail our consumption.

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Californians’ Water Usage is Down 9% and Other Takeaways From the Times’ Updated Water Tracker

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Sean Greene

California residents are using about 8 fewer gallons of water per day than they did during the last drought emergency, according to newly released state data. Between April 2023 and last April, urban water users consumed an average of 77 gallons per person per day. That comes out to a 9% decrease since the drought emergency ended in March 2023.

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After Years of Discussions, California will Start Water Cuts in 2027

/in , /by /KJZZby Mark Brodie

New water restrictions are coming to California. Earlier this month, the state Water Resources Control Board adopted new rules that will phase in cutbacks to water suppliers across the state; the enforcement of those conservation targets is expected to start in 2027.

These new rules have been under consideration for several years, and have gone through different iterations over that time.

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California’s Heatwave Evaporates Billions of Gallons of Water from Reservoirs

/in , /by /Desert Sunby Damon Arthur and James Ward

California’s current record-breaking heat wave in July has caused hundreds of millions of gallons of water in Lake Shasta and other major reservoirs in Northern California to disappear into thin air.

During the first nine days of July, 3,392 cubic feet per second of water — or about 2.2 billion gallons — turned into vapor and floated away into the atmosphere off the man-made Lake Shasta. During just one day — July 3 — 288.8 million gallons of water alone evaporated.

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In an Era of Dam Removal, California is Building More

/in , /by /High Country Newsby Theo Whitcomb

When the largest dam removal in U.S. history began on the Klamath River this year, it seemed as if the era of dam building was over in the West. Just a month later, however, the federal government finalized $216 million dollars in funding for a controversial dam project south of the Klamath, adding to the $1 billion in direct grants already pledged to the project known as Sites Reservoir. Rights for the water are being distributed this summer.

This would be California’s first major new reservoir in half a century. The project will require building two main dams on a pair of streams that typically only run during big winter rains. Most of the water would come from much farther away, however: Filling the reservoir means piping water from the Sacramento River uphill, away from the Central Valley. If it’s built, the reservoir will inundate Antelope Valley, 14,000 acres of hilly grassland in the California Coast Range, northwest of Sacramento.

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California Adopts Sweeping Statewide Water Conservation Framework

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Hayley Smith

After years of deliberation, California water officials have adopted landmark rules that will guide future water use and conservation in the state.

According to officials, the Making Conservation a California Way of Life framework will help save 500,000 acre-feet of water annually by 2040 — enough to supply more than 1.4 million households for a year — and apply to the state’s largest water utilities, not individuals or households.

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Over $100 Million is Going Toward Projects to Combat Drought and Climate Change — here’s What’s Being Done

/in , /by /The Cool Downby Sarah Winfrey

Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, $179 million will be invested in water reuse projects across the American West. According to CleanTechnica, these projects will be centered in California and Utah, areas that often struggle with drought.

Projects receiving funding include water recycling in Los Angeles and Ventura, California, groundwater replenishment in Los Angeles, and water reuse initiatives in Washington County, Utah. These projects will help the areas have more options when it comes to their water supply and make that supply more resistant to drought.

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How One of California’s Largest Reservoirs Permanently Lost Room for 36 Billion Gallons of Water

/in , /by /SFGATEby Stephen Council

California got a particularly rainy winter, but state officials have uncovered another reason why Lake Oroville overflowed with water this spring. The massive reservoir, the state’s second largest behind Lake Shasta, has slowly but surely shrunk.

New research from the California Department of Water Resources shows that the lake, used for millions of Californians’ drinking water and irrigating hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland, isn’t quite the size it once was. The agency released its findings June 26, writing that in the 56 years since Lake Oroville was filled, rock and silt settling on the reservoir floor have cut its capacity by almost 113,000 acre-feet, or more than 36 billion gallons.

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California Burns as Heat Wave Spreads Across Western U.S.

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Grace Toohey, Jireh Deng and James Rainey

As California braces for a dangerous, prolonged heat wave that’s expected to last through next week, firefighters across the state are battling several new wildfires, some serious enough to force evacuations.

The most dangerous fire was burning in Oroville, where crews on Wednesday were fighting the Thompson fire under an excessive-heat warning, with temperatures forecast to reach up to 109 degrees and wind gusts up to 30 mph.

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‘Exceptionally Dangerous’ Heat Wave Could Broil California for Several Days

/in , /by /Fox Weatherby Scott Sistek

An intense and potentially record-setting ridge of high pressure is building across California and the West, threatening days and perhaps more than a week of a dangerous, life-threatening heat wave.

The worst of the heat will be centered in California’s Central Valley, where as many as 10 days or more of 110-degree heat looms. But just about all of California, stretching into western Oregon and western Nevada, will swelter for an extended period.

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