Tag Archive for: Drought

‘We’re Rolling’: Irrigation Season Begins For Klamath Project

/in , /by /Herald and News (Klamath Falls, Ore.)by Holly Dillemuth

Water rushed forth into the A Canal in Klamath Falls Tuesday afternoon as Fritz Frisendahl and Scott Cheyne of the Klamath Irrigation District opened the headgates via the control panel. Between 20- and 40-cubic feet per second of water is now traveling through the canal, about as much water to fill about 20 bathtubs per second, according to Gene Souza, manager of the Klamath Irrigation District. Frisendahl, who helped turn on the headgates, has been through some tough water years in the Klamath Basin, including the 2018 drought.

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Bills In Congress Would Implement Drought Plan In West

/in , , /by /Associated Press

Two members of Arizona’s congressional delegation introduced legislation Tuesday on a plan to address a shrinking supply of water from a river that serves 40 million people in the U.S. West. Republican Sen. Martha McSally and Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva vowed to move identical bills quickly through the chambers. Bipartisan lawmakers from Colorado River basin states signed on as co-sponsors. Arizona, California and Nevada in the lower basin and Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming in the river’s upper basin spent years crafting drought contingency plans. They aim to keep two key Colorado River reservoirs from falling so low that they cannot deliver water or produce hydropower.

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Legislators Cut Funds For Colorado Water, Drought Plans

/in , /by /The Gazette (Colorado Springs)by Jerd Smith

Colorado lawmakers, citing lower revenue forecasts and competing needs, have dramatically reduced proposed funding for the Colorado Water Plan and Colorado River drought work, providing roughly one-third of what Gov. Jared Polis had requested in his budget for this year.

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California ‘Browning’ More In The South During Droughts

/in , /by /PHYS.orgby David Colgan

Like a climate chameleon, California turned brown during the 2012–16 drought, as vegetation dried or died off. But the change wasn’t uniform. According to research from UCLA and Columbia University, large areas of the northern part of the state were not severely affected, while Southern California became much browner than usual. “Southern California is more prone than the northern part of the state to getting severe droughts,” said UCLA climate scientist Glen MacDonald, one of the paper’s authors. “But that difference seems to be increasing.”

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California Drought Over, Conservation Continues

/in , /by /The Press (Brentwood, Calif.)by Tony Kukulich

Last week, as snowpack in the Sierra Nevada measured more than 150 percent of its average, California was declared free of drought for the first time in more than seven years.
As reported by United States Drought Monitor on March 19, “California emerged from drought conditions for the first week since Dec. 11, 2011, breaking its 376-week streak.”
But California weather is nothing if not fickle, and boom-or-bust weather cycles appear to be the new norm for the state. During a speech at the American Water Works Association conference in Sacramento on Tuesday, March 26, California Secretary for Natural Resources, Wade Crowfoot, said that he expects wet winters will be wetter, and dry winters will be drier. Water managers across East County echoed that sentiment and stressed the importance of continued conservation.

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Bipartisan Drought Contingency Plan Legislation Coming To Congress ‘Very Soon’

/in , /by /KJZZ (Phoenix)by Bret Jaspers

A bipartisan agreement on Drought Contingency Plan (DCP) legislation has been reached and lawmakers plan to introduce it “very soon,” according to U.S. Sen. Martha McSally. State officials from the Colorado River watershed are in Washington D.C. this week. Along with Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman, they appeared on Wednesday before the Senate Subcommittee on Water and Power, which McSally chairs. The Drought Contingency Plan needs congressional approval before it can become law of the river. The plan includes incentives for users to keep water in Lakes Mead and Powell in times of “shortage.” In the lower basin, keeping Lake Mead above certain levels reduces the risk of it falling so low that no water can escape from it.

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Long Beach Water Expands Lawn To Garden Rebate Program

/in , /by /The Grunion (Long Beach)

Thanks to an infusion of cash from the Metropolitan Water District, Long Beach residents can now get more money and replace more turf with drought-tolerant landscaping. The Long Beach Water Department announced changes to the water conservation program Tuesday. In addition to reopening applications to receive rebates, there were a number of changes to the residential program. Starting Monday, April 1, the front yard conversion incentive goes to $3 per square foot of turf removed (from $2). The maximum square footage allowed for rebate has increased from 1,500 square feet to 5,000 square feet.

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California’s Drought May Be Over, But Its Trees Are Still Dying

/in , /by /ABC10 (Sacramento)

Every year, the United States Department of Agriculture surveys California’s forests. Government and private forestry staff take to the skies in various aircraft to sketch out maps of the state’s dying, defoliating and damaged trees. And every year, the data they compile from these observations show that more of California’s forests are dying. This year no different. The numbers from the 2018 USDA Forest Health Aerial Survey released in February show that 2018’s below average rainfall slowed the forests’ recovery from drought and diseases.

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US Official Declares Drought Plan Done For Colorado River

/in , , /by /The Associated Press by Felicia Fonseca

Seven states that rely on a major waterway in the U.S. West have finished a yearslong effort to create a plan to protect the Colorado River amid a prolonged drought, the federal government declared Tuesday. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman commended Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming for reaching a consensus on the Colorado River drought contingency plan. Now the states are seeking approval from Congress to implement it.

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Amid 19-Year Drought, States Sign Deal To Conserve Colorado River Water

/in , /by /The New York Timesby John Schwartz

The water is saved, for now. Seven Western states have agreed on a plan to manage the Colorado River amid a 19-year drought, voluntarily cutting their water use to prevent the federal government from imposing a mandatory squeeze on the supply. State water officials signed the deal on Tuesday after years of negotiations, forestalling what would have been the first federally enforced restrictions on the river’s lower basin. But any victory may be short-lived. Climate change promises to make the American West increasingly hot and dry, putting further pressure on the Colorado and the 40 million people who depend on its water.

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