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Opinion: Community Voices: The Central Valley Needs Real Solutions for Its Water Shortage

/in , , /by /Bakersfield.comby Monike Reynozo

In the San Joaquin Valley, water is becoming a commodity equal to life and death.

California is a powerhouse of food production, growing some 40 percent of the country’s fruit, vegetables and nuts. However, the agriculture industry depends on a water supply that’s increasingly fragile and unreliable as the climate warms. As a means to increase access to livable drinking water, community and elected leaders alike are rallying behind “Building More Dams.” But this is simply not a viable solution.

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As Water Officials Repair Damage From Subsidence, They Demand Prevention From Groundwater Agencies

/in , , /by /KVPRby Kerry Klein

State water officials have asked local groundwater agencies to better prevent land subsidence. Simultaneously, the state is also working to fix the damage caused by sinking land.

Subsidence is caused by the over-pumping of groundwater. It occurs in many parts of California but is especially pronounced in the San Joaquin Valley during drought years.

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California Likely to Crack Down on Water Waste With Daily $500 Fines

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

After two years of drought, Gov. Gavin Newsom remains reluctant to put limits on statewide water use. His administration, however, is looking to take a first step.

Next month, the State Water Resources Control Board is expected to adopt temporary prohibitions on outdoor water practices, including hosing down driveways, filling up decorative fountains and watering lawns within 48 hours of rain.

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Atmospheric River is a Win for California: Snowpack Goes From 19% to 83% of Average

/in , , /by /SF Gateby Amy Graff

The drought is far from over in California, but this week’s atmospheric river may have begun to put a small dent in the state’s worrisome water deficit. While a prior October atmospheric event earlier in the year brought historic rainfall totals to Northern California, this most recent storm delivered drenching rains to both the north and the south and blasted the Sierra Nevada with snow.

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State, Federal Agencies Announce $200M Investment in Lake Mead

/in , , /by /The Hillby Sharon Udasin

State water agencies in Arizona, California and Nevada announced a $200 million investment in Colorado River conservation projects on Wednesday, in a last-ditch effort to keep the basin’s biggest reservoir from dwindling to dangerously low levels.

The cross-border collaboration, which also includes the Department of the Interior, will aim to add 500,000 acre-feet of additional water to Lake Mead — the Colorado River’s largest reservoir — in 2022 and 2023, by facilitating initiatives that promote water conservation in the Lower Colorado River Basin, according to the partners.

That additional water, which is enough to provide for 1.5 million households each year, would boost the reservoir’s level by 16 feet, a news release from the agencies said.

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California’s Major Reservoirs Are Still Far Drier Than Average

/in , , /by /KTVUby Tom Vacar

The just-passed atmospheric river gave California a lot of precious, badly needed water. But how well did our all-important reservoir systems do? For California, water storage, above and underground are the key to California’s economic fate.

As of midnight Monday, California’s major reservoirs keep getting more water from the weekend’s storm as the runoff finds its way into them.

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EPA Announces $630 Million Plan to Stem Cross-Border Sewage Flows

/in , , /by /High Country Newsby Jessica Kutz

In March of 2018, the California cities of Imperial Beach, Chula Vista and the Port of San Diego sued the U.S. arm of the International Boundary and Water Commission over its failure to mitigate the flow of sewage-tainted water from the Tijuana River in Mexico. The lawsuit was in response to a February 2017 crisis, when more than 200 million gallons of sewage contaminated the California coast after a winter storm damaged sewer infrastructure in Mexico (“Two countries, one border and their shared pollution,” 12/06/18).

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State Tells San Joaquin Valley Agencies That Groundwater Plans Are Flawed

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

California water officials have alerted local groundwater agencies in farming areas across the San Joaquin Valley that their plans for bringing aquifers into balance don’t adequately address how continuing declines in water levels could cause many more wells to run dry. The state Department of Water Resources notified agencies in six areas of the San Joaquin Valley this week that their groundwater sustainability plans are incomplete and have deficiencies that need to be corrected.

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A Category ‘AR 3’ Atmospheric River Is About to Hit California. Here’s What That Means

/in , , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Ryan Sabalow

The winter storm that could dump several feet of snow in the Sierra and soak the Sacramento Valley with rain is listed as a “strong” category “AR 3” system by the scientists who study the powerful storms that supply California with most of its water. In 2019, the scientists who study the storms known as “atmospheric rivers” agreed to a ranking scale similar to the “Cat” system used to describe a hurricane.

 

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Opinion: Governor’s Drought Solutions: Too Little, Too Late

/in , /by /The Mercury News

Four words sum up Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest effort to ease the impact of the drought: too little, too late.

California needs to take far more aggressive action to ensure a reliable source of water for 2022 and beyond. Newsom’s administration is targeting unreasonable waste by urban users, who consume 20% of the state’s water. It’s time for him also to get aggressive with Big Ag, which sucks up the other 80%.

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