Tag Archive for: Climate Change

More Than 400 Toxic Sites in California Are At Risk Of Flooding From Sea Level Rise

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Rosanna Xia

When Lucas Zucker talks about sea level rise in California, his first thoughts aren’t about waves crashing onto fancy homes in Orange County, nor the state’s most iconic beaches shrinking year after year.

What worries him most are the three power plants looming over the Oxnard coast, and the toxic waste site that has languished there for decades. There are also two naval bases, unknown military dumps and a smog-spewing port. Just one flood could unleash a flow of industrial chemicals and overwhelm his working-class, mostly Latino community.

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Snowpack in California’s Sierra Nevada Could Disappear in Just 25 Years

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

As the climate continues to warm, more and more of the snow falling on California’s mountains will be replaced by rain. Already in recent decades, the snow season has shrunk by a month, according to one estimate, while snow levels have moved upward by 1,200 feet, according to another.

Scientists and water managers say that at some point California’s snowpack could simply disappear. This would leave the state without the crucial spring and summer melt-off that fills rivers and streams, nourishes plants and animals, and provides a huge chunk of the water supply. It would also be devastating for the ski industry.

 

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Giant Ocean Simulator at Scripps Will Help Probe Effects of Climate Change

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Chris Jennewein

Scripps Institution of Oceanography dedicated a giant ocean simulator Monday that will help researchers understand the effects of climate change on the world’s oceans.

The 120-foot-long, 36,000-gallon “miniature ocean” housed at Scripps’ Hydraulics Laboratory will enable scientists to preview the oceans and atmospheres of the future in which climate is altered even further by human activities.

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Recycled Water Can Boost Sustainable Agriculture — if We Get Over the ‘Yuck’ Factor

/in , , /by /The Washington Postby Chesney McOmber and Christine Kirchhoff

Delegates and activists from nearly 200 countries returned from the COP26 global environmental forum in Glasgow, Scotland, with a long list of climate-related promises and targets to discuss and implement. While many countries made a renewed commitment to climate-resilient and sustainable agricultural systems, some groups accused leaders at COP26 of not doing enough to improve water security globally.

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How Drought and Climate Change Will Force Ventura County to Transform Its Water Infrastructure

/in , , /by /KCLUby Michelle Loxton

Augustine Godinez is standing on a walkway that extends over a large water storage basin. Below him, a huge metal arm swirls the water in order to separate the sludge out. What’s happening here is that wastewater is being recycled.

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Adjusting Past Hydrology for Changes in Climate

/in , , /by /California Water Blogby Jay Lund

Segal’s Law: “Someone with one watch knows what time it is. Someone with two watches is never sure.”  Time is certain, but its estimation and measurement are uncertain, yet we are not in total ignorance. Many water management and regulation decisions require an understanding of current and future hydrology.

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If the Colorado River Keeps Drying Up, a Century-old Agreement to Share the Water Could Be Threatened. No One Is Sure What Happens Next.

/in , /by /CPR Newsby Michael Elizabeth Sakas

The West could be facing a water shortage in the Colorado River that threatens a century-old agreement between states that share the dwindling resource.

That possibility once felt far off, but could come earlier than expected. One prominent water and climate scientist is sounding the alarm that the Colorado River system could reach that crossroads in the next five years, possibly triggering an unpredictable chain-reaction of legal wrangling that could lead to some water users being cut off from the river.

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California Spent Decades Trying to Keep Central Valley Floods at Bay. Now It Looks to Welcome Them Back

/in , , /by /Water Education Foundation / Western Water by Alastair Bland

Land and waterway managers labored hard over the course of a century to control California’s unruly rivers by building dams and levees to slow and contain their water. Now, farmers, environmentalists and agencies are undoing some of that work as part of an accelerating campaign to restore the state’s major floodplains.

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Calif. Releases Updated Groundwater Report

/in , , /by /WaterWorld

With a severe drought and an increased reliance on groundwater basins, Calif.’s Department of Water Resources released the final version of its California’s Groundwater – Update 2020 report. The report, also known as Bulletin 118, contains critical information about the condition and use of the state’s groundwater, which is especially important as California faces the real-time impacts of climate change and drought.

“Groundwater plays a central role in sustaining our state’s ecosystems, businesses, agriculture and people, with some Californians relying solely on groundwater for drinking water,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth. “The updated California’s Groundwater provides key information for the state and locals to better understand and manage groundwater as we adapt to variations in climate and navigate a historic drought.”

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California, Arizona and Nevada in Talks on New Plan to Save Colorado River Water

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

Two and a half years after signing a deal aimed at averting a damaging crisis along the Colorado River, water officials from California, Arizona and Nevada are discussing plans to take even less water from the shrinking river and leave it in Lake Mead in an effort to prevent the reservoir from falling to dangerously low levels.

Representatives of water agencies from the three states said they are firming up the details of a deal that would leave an additional 500,000 acre-feet of water in the reservoir next year, and the same amount again in 2023 — about double the quantity of water used annually by Las Vegas and the rest of southern Nevada.

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