Drought is a regular event in California. In recent decades, California has experienced five prolonged drought periods (1976-77, 1987-1992, 2007-09, 2011-16, 2020-22). Urban water agencies have responded with investments in supply and demand management measures, which have made California’s cities more resilient to drought effects. What motivated these investments?
On the heels of a record-setting wet and warm August, forecasters on Thursday announced that El Niño is gaining strength and will almost certainly persist into 2024.
El Niño, the warm phase of the El Niño-La Niña Southern Oscillation pattern, is a major driver of weather worldwide and is often associated with hotter global temperatures and wetter conditions in California.
A moisture-rich atmospheric river that’s being called the first storm of the season is forecast to deliver rain to Northern California as early as Sunday night with the chance for showers continuing into Monday and Tuesday. Eureka and areas to the north are expected to see the heaviest rainfall with totals of 1 to 3 inches, while the Bay Area is likely to receive only light showers, according to the National Weather Service.
It’s been 20 years since the largest water agencies in Southern California agreed on a historic deal: San Diego would buy water from Imperial Valley farmers. More importantly, though, the deal outlined exactly how much water these agencies could claim from the Colorado River and reduced the amount of water California took from the river.
We are living in the Anthropocene, an era being defined by global mass extinctions caused by humanity. While on-going and impending extinctions of birds and other terrestrial vertebrates gain the most attention, the situation with freshwater fishes (and other freshwater organisms) is as bad or worse, partly because many freshwater extinctions are nearly invisible events, hidden by murky waters (Moyle and Leidy 2023).
Would a proposed Salton Sea Conservancy help efforts in the troubled region? Elected officials and local organizations are split, with some saying it will just add another layer of bureaucracy to already mired efforts.
California Senate Bill 583, authored by state Sen. Steve Padilla, D-San Diego, and coauthored by Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia, D-Coachella, would create the Salton Sea Conservancy, “tasking it with coordinating management of all conservation projects in the region to restore the shrinking sea and reducing the negative health impact the Sea imposes,” according to Padilla’s office. There are currently 10 similar state conservancies under the California Natural Resources Agency, including the local Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy.
It wasn’t too bad of a summer season here in Northern California and really, when it comes to temperature, the entire state of California had a pretty mild summer.
Perhaps Kaitlyn Trudeau, a meteorologist with Climate Central, summed it up best: “Well, it wasn’t as hot as it’s been in recent years.”
A petition that has garnered more than 1,800 signatures on change.org is challenging the accuracy of the data that the City of Pleasanton has presented about proposed water rate increases.
The Pleasanton City Council meets next Tuesday to consider raising water rates starting in November. The city says residents would be charged an average of $33 more every two months to start, but rates could go up as much as $75 for that same time period by 2026.
In the heart of San Carlos, at the corner property of Lake Adlon and Boulder Lake Ave., a vibrant community of gardeners have found comfort, camaraderie and purpose.
The San Carlos Community Garden (SCCG) has become more than just a patch of land in the heart of San Carlos; it has become a haven for those seeking to nurture both plants and relationships.
Two projects led by researchers from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography have been awarded nearly $2.5 million by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to probe the potential of climate change solutions aimed at fighting ocean acidification and removing planet-warming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
