Tag Archive for: Climate Change

Opinion: Water Markets in California Can Reduce the Costs of Drought

/in , /by /CalMattersby Ellen Hanak

California’s increasingly volatile warming climate is making droughts more intense, and complicating water management. A just-launched commodity futures market for the state’s water provides a new tool for farmers, municipalities and other interested parties to ensure against water price shocks arising from drought-fueled shortages.

Taking a Wall Street approach to an essential natural resource has prompted both fear and hype. Will California experience a new Gold Rush in water? Will speculation boost the cost of water? Perhaps both the fear and the hype are unwarranted.

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Climate Change Ravaged the West With Heat and Drought Last Year; Many Fear 2021 Will Be Worse

/in , /by /Inside Climate Newsby Judy Fahys

If there were any doubts that the climate is changing in the Colorado River Basin, 2020 went a long way toward dispelling them, thanks to yet another year of extreme weather.

Unprecedented wildfires, deadly heat waves, withering drought—the many indicators of the climate mayhem that scientists have been warning about for years—ravaged the landscape, claiming dozens of lives and causing billions of dollars in damage.

Colorado endured an unprecedented wildfire season. And so did California, in some cases burning where the wounds were still fresh from the epic fires of 2018. Utah experienced its driest year ever, and persistent high temperatures killed more people in Arizona than ever before. Monsoon rains that typically bring relief throughout the region were a no-show for the second summer in a row and now are being called the “non-soon.”

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Tensions Rise Over Company’s Plan to Sell Colorado River Water in Arizona

/in , /by /Arizona Republicby Ian James

Mayors and county supervisors in towns along the Colorado River were already upset five months ago when the state water agency endorsed an investment company’s plan to take water from farmland near the river and sell it to a growing Phoenix suburb.

Now, they’re incensed that the agency, which initially suggested holding back a large portion of the water, changed its stance and will let the company sell most of the water to the town of Queen Creek.

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Citing Climate Change, LADWP Ends Free Water Deal for Long Valley Ranchers and Sparks Anger Among Conservationists

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Louis Sahagun

Since the early 1920s, the Long Valley plains east of Yosemite have inspired comparison to a rustic Western paradise — an idyllic frontier where sparkling creeks meander through lush pastures, waters teem with feisty trout and sage grouse make ostentatious displays of romance.

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State Water Agency Seeks Input from Local Groups on Infrastructure Projects

/in , , /by /The Independentby Tony Kukulich

There is an adage in California that goes, “Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over.”

But instead of fighting, the California Water Commission is looking for opportunities to hear from local agencies on water infrastructure projects.

The CWC recently wrapped up a series of public workshops intended to determine the opportunity for a state role in financing water conveyance projects that meet the challenges of a changing climate.

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Go With the Flow: Battery System in Bonita to be Tested for Use in Microgrids

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Rob Nikolewski

A battery storage demonstration project already providing a carbon-free source of electricity to California’s grid is about to be tested to see how well it can work on microgrids.

Located on a bluff at a San Diego Gas & Electric substation in Bonita, the energy storage project uses vanadium redox flow battery technology that stores electricity when the grid has excess supply and then discharges the energy when the power system needs it.

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Record Low Lake Powell and Bad 2021 Drought Forecast Sets Stage For Water Cuts

/in , , /by /The Colorado Sunby Jason Blevins

The dry 2020 and the lack of snow this season has water managers in seven states preparing for the first time for cutbacks outlined in drought contingency plans drafted two years ago. A sobering forecast released this week by the Bureau of Reclamation shows the federally owned Lake Mead and Lake Powell — the nation’s two largest reservoirs and critical storage for Colorado River water and its 40 million users — dipping near-record-low levels.

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Environmental Turnaround — 8 Issues That Will Pivot in California’s Favor Under Biden

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

As wildfires, heat waves, water scarcity and threats to wildlife intensify in the West, California’s effort to confront these environmental crises now has support in Washington, a stark change from the past four years.

Even as former President Donald Trump spent his final days in office on the sidelines, lamenting his election loss, his administration continued to roll back environmental conservation and gut climate regulations.

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Opinion: Water Partnerships Between Cities and Farms Would Help Prepare for a Changing Climate

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Alvar Escriva-Bou

San Joaquin Valley farms and Southern California cities are facing different but equally daunting water challenges. For Valley farmers, the requirement to achieve groundwater sustainability in coming years has heightened interest in expanding water supplies to reduce the need to fallow irrigated farmland. For Southern California, falling demands since the early 2000s have reduced water stress during normal and wet years, but a warming climate makes future droughts a major concern.

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Gov. Newsom’s Draft Budget Funds Sustainable Ag

/in , /by /Capital Pressby Sierra Dawn McClain

Gov. Gavin Newsom has released his proposed state budget, which includes provisions for sustainable agriculture programs in California.

The proposed budget directs money to the state’s Climate Smart Agriculture programs, including the Healthy Soils Program and SWEEP, the State Water Efficiency Program.

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