Tag Archive for: Climate Change

Opinion: The Colorado River Is Sending Us a Message

/in , , /by /The Pagosa Springs Sunby Gary Wockner

It feels like an apocalypse in the southwest — wildfires, floods, drought, heat, smoke. This was not the norm when I moved to Colorado 35 years ago. Climate scientists may have predicted the arrival of these extreme events, but many admit their predictions have come true faster than they expected.

One outcome they pinpointed was the impact of heat and drought on water flows in the Colorado River. For the last 20 years, this new climate, combined with booming human population growth, has parched landscapes, drained reservoirs and incited talk of water wars across the region. Lake Powell on the Colorado River and Glen Canyon Dam, which creates the reservoir, have become casualties of this strained environment.

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Climate Change to Be Treated as Public-Health Issue

/in , , /by /The Wall Street Journalby Stephanie Armour

The Department of Health and Human Services has launched an office that will treat climate change as a public-health issue, designed to address what the White House says are health risks, including those that disproportionately affect poor and minority communities.

Many details of the new Office of Climate Change and Health Equity, which will report to a White House climate task force, were outlined in a January executive order on climate, part of President Biden’s efforts to use the power of the federal government to address the environmental effects of changing weather.

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Long-Term Drought Persists, But Wet Monsoon Improved Arizona’s Conditions

/in , /by /KJZZby Katherine Davis-Young

Arizona’s wet monsoon season improved the state’s drought conditions, but the West’s water woes are far from over.

At the start of this year, nearly three-quarters of Arizona was in an exceptional drought, the U.S. Drought Monitor’s most severe category. Now, less than 1% of the state is at that level.

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“This is a Lose-Lose”: Drought, Wildfires Complicate Biden’s California Water Plans

/in , , /by /Politicoby Debra Kahn and Annie Snider

As climate-driven drought and wildfires rage in California, the Biden administration is struggling to navigate the hard politics that come with deciding who gets access to the state’s precious — and dwindling — water supplies.

Responding to the hot and parched conditions that have contributed to the wildfires and worsened the water shortages this summer has strained both federal and state capacity. Now the Biden administration is delaying action on the fundamental question at the heart of California’s long-running water wars: How much water should be reserved for species protections, at the expense of the state’s powerful agricultural industry?

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Opinion: Can California Make Do With the Water It Has?

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Michael Smolens Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

With the city’s sewage water recycling system moving forward and the desalination plant in Carlsbad already pumping out drinkable water, the San Diego region has some of the most ambitious water projects in the state.

Those are part of a long-term strategy that San Diego water managers say will provide the region sufficient supplies through 2045.

Nevertheless, the San Diego County Water Authority earlier this month urged customers to voluntarily reduce water use by 15 percent following a similar statewide request by Gov. Gavin Newsom. It was more an act of solidarity than one of actual need.

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Scientists Launch Effort to Collect Water Data in US West

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Felicia Fonseca

The U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday announced a new kind of climate observatory near the headwaters of the Colorado River that will help scientists better predict rain and snowfall in the U.S. West and determine how much of it will flow through the region.

The multimillion-dollar effort led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory launches next week. The team has set up radar systems, balloons, cameras and other equipment in an area of Colorado where much of the water in the river originates as snow. More than 40 million people depend on the Colorado River.

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Drought, Water Supply and Climate Change in the San Diego Region

/in , , /by /Water News Network Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

An update on San Diego’s water supply during the current drought, and how climate change affects regional weather, was the main focus of a recent event sponsored by several organizations.

The Citizens Water Academy, Leaders 20/20 and San Diego Green Drinks hosted a lunch and learn session August 17 that also provided details on how weather and climate impacts water supplies, and how prepared the San Diego region is for drought impacts.

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As the West Bakes, Utah Forges Ahead with Water Pipeline

/in , , /by /E&E News by Jeremy P. Jacobs

As drought and climate change strangle the Colorado River, a small county in Utah nevertheless continues forging ahead with a billion-dollar pipeline to suck more water from it to sustain its growing population.

The proposed Lake Powell Pipeline, a 140-mile straw from one of the country’s largest reservoirs to Washington County in southwestern Utah, has sparked backlash from other states in the Colorado River basin and environmentalists, and now has the Biden administration in a difficult position.

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Concerns Rise Over Monterey County’s Reservoir Water Levels

/in , , /by /Salinas Valley Tribuneby Sean Roney

State and county leaders recently took a tour of Nacimiento and San Antonio dams to get a first-hand look of the impacts of drought and facility conditions.

Both reservoirs have reached near record lows, with Nacimiento at 14% capacity and San Antonio at 7%. Water releases from the reservoirs have ceased as of July 28, with the visible effects in the north county being a drying of the Salinas River.

Though the 7% at San Antonio amounts to 50,000 acre-feet of water, it can’t be released.

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Signs of Drought From Space

/in , , /by /PHYS.ORGby Sofie Bates, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

As Tracy Schohr goes about her day, water is always on her mind. She’s thinking of it as she rides an all-terrain vehicle around the pasture, looks up hay prices and weather forecasts, and collects data on grazing and invasive weeds for a scientific study.

Schohr is a rancher and farmer in Gridley, California, where her family has raised beef cattle and grown rice for six generations. She also aids in scientific research to study drought and other agricultural issues with the University of California Cooperative Extension.

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