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Will the Climate Crisis Tap Out the Colorado River?

/in , , /by /High Country Newsby Nick Bowlin

Southern California farmers spend their winters watching the snowpack in the Colorado Rockies, and what they see is the climate crisis hitting hard. When it melts, the snow that falls on these peaks will, eventually, make its way into the Colorado River, which connects the Southwest like a great tendon, tying the Continental Divide in Colorado to Southern California’s hayfields, where the Imperial Irrigation District is one of the country’s largest, and pouring from the faucets of urban users in Los Angeles and San Diego.

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Sierra Snowpack Has Major Drop Over the Past Decade

/in , , /by /NBC Bay Areaby Jeff Ranieri

Sierra snowpack is so vital to California as it provides one third of the state’s water supply and it seems more and more lately we are seeing this dwindle. You can see from 2002 to 2011 60% of the time the Sierra snowpack was 100% or better, a pretty good trend.

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State Ocean Protection Council Awards $1.3 Million to Elkhorn Slough Restoration

/in , /by /Monterey Heraldby Hannah Hagemann

The state’s Ocean Protection Council has awarded $1.3 million to preserving and safeguarding estuary habitat at Elkhorn Slough, which boasts the second-largest tidal salt marsh in California. The wetland, once degraded by farming activities such as diking, is at risk of impacts from climate change — particularly rising sea levels.

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‘Mega-Miracle’ Will Be Needed to Overcome Dry February in Los Angeles

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Paul Duginski

February is normally the wettest month of the year in downtown Los Angeles, when 3.8 inches of rain would usually fall. This year, next to nothing has fallen. L.A.’s rainfall to date has been 4.39 inches, less than half of normal for this point, which is 9.71 inches.

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San Diegans, How Much Would You Tax Yourself to Prevent Floods, Boost Water Quality?

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby David Garrick

San Diego officials plan to spend the next five months analyzing what size tax increase city voters would likely support in November 2022 to pay for projects that boost flood prevention and water quality.

The ballot measure would be the first opportunity for San Diegans to vote to raise taxes on themselves to tackle an estimated $6 billion infrastructure backlog that city officials began calling San Diego’s No. 1 challenge eight years ago.

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Colorado River Study Means It’s Time to Cut Water Use Now, Outside Experts Say

/in , , /by /Tucson.comby Tony Davis

Less water for the Central Arizona Project — but not zero water. Even more competition between farms and cities for dwindling Colorado River supplies than there is now.

More urgency to cut water use rather than wait for seven river basin states to approve new guidelines in 2025 for operating the river’s reservoirs.

That’s where Arizona and the Southwest are heading with water, say experts and environmental advocates following publication of a dire new academic study on the Colorado River’s future. The study warned that the river’s Upper and Lower basin states must sustain severe cuts in river water use to keep its reservoir system from collapsing due to lack of water.

That’s due to continued warming weather and other symptoms of human-caused climate change, the study said.
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Drought-Stricken West Holds Out For More Than Just Dry Snow

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Susan Montoya Bryan

It’s a picture-perfect scene — the snow-dusted Sandia Mountains providing a backdrop to the dormant willow and cottonwood trees lining the Rio Grande.

While the recent snow has provided a psychological salve to the pains of a persistent drought, it won’t go far in easing the exceptional conditions that have taken hold of New Mexico over the past year.

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Residents’ Climate Anecdotes to Inform San Diego Resilience Plan

/in , , /by /Utility Diveby Maria Rachal

The City of San Diego Planning Department is seeking public feedback as it develops a climate resilience plan focused on preparing for sea level rise, flooding and drought, extreme heat and wildfires — risks backed up by a climate change vulnerability assessment completed early last year. The Climate Resilient SD plan would build on the city’s Climate Action Plan released in 2015.

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Opinion: California’s Climate Change Future is Being Written – in its Waterways

/in , /by /The Sun (Central Valley)by Wayne Western

Much like COVID-19 is changing our election practices and day-to-day business operations, climate change could change your water rights, according to the State Water Resources Control Board.

In the past, I have eluded to the shift from historical facts used for analysis and forecasting to a fear-based guessing game that allows an unelected bureaucracy backed by a one-party-rule elected body to usurp your property rights.

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Opinion: California Needs a More Flexible Approach for Planning for Sea Level Rise Across the State

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Robert Lempert, David Behar

The state of California has changed its sea level rise guidance for state agencies and coastal communities, now advising in new “Principles for Aligned State Action” that Californians employ a single sea level rise target — plan for 3.5 feet by 2050 — as opposed to the more flexible approach the state used in the past. But this single sea level rise number does not represent the best available science and could make California less resilient to climate change.

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