Tag Archive for: Drought

What Is Happening With The Colorado River Drought Plans?

/in , /by /KUNC (Greeley, Colo.)by Luke Runyon & Bret Jaspers

States that rely on the Colorado River for their water supplies are currently unable to finish a series of agreements that would keep its biggest reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, from dropping to levels not seen since they were filled decades ago. Five states — Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Wyoming and Nevada — are done. The country of Mexico has also completed its portion. But California and Arizona failed to meet a Jan. 31 federal government deadline to wrap up negotiations and sign a final agreement.

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Are We Safe From A Drought This Year? Here’s What We Know So Far

/in , /by /SFGate (San Francisco)by Amy Graff

The rain and even a bit of snow keep on coming. Except for a 10-day dry spell at the end of January, the San Francisco Bay Area has seen a series of drenching winter storms that have watered gardens, fueled waterfalls, recharged reservoirs, and diminished the possibility of the ever-dreaded drought. In fact, all of California has been slammed with an onslaught of unsettled weather unleashing heavy snow and rain. There are some areas in Southern California such as Ventura and Kern counties where more rain has fallen in the past week than in all of last year.

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All This Rain Has Made a Big Dent in the Drought

/in , /by /SF Weeklyby Peter Lawrence Kane

How stormy has California been? Stormy enough that parts of Orange County got two inches of rain, enough to force Disneyland to close early,something the park hardly ever does. (This was unrelated to the guy jumping off Space Mountain last Thursday, temporarily shutting down that ride.) Here in San Francisco, we got 1.13 inches between Saturday and Sunday, with more this morning. If you were even slightly late to work today, your cuffs probably got soaked, since it was pouring hard downtown right around 9 a.m. But all this rain has led to another positive consequence for our abnormally-dry-is-the-new-normal state: The low-level drought has abated significantly.

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Dusty Agency Gets Sharp Elbows Under Trump

/in , /by /E&E News (DC)by Jeremy P. Jacobs

The Bureau of Reclamation, the Interior Department’s Western water bureaucracy that saw its dam-building heyday in the 1960s, has risen in stature once again in the Trump administration. Reclamation has flexed its muscles on Colorado River drought management plans, setting a deadline for today for states to act and threatening to step in if they don’t. And it has been the administration’s key player in trying to fulfill President Trump’s campaign promise to deliver more water to California farmers, squeezing the state and forging ahead on a dam project California says it doesn’t want and is illegal. To key water players, the bureau is more active now than it has been in decades.

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Sierra Club Lobbyist: Drought Plan Supports Unsustainable Growth, Farming Practices

/in , /by /Arizona Daily Star (Tuscon)by Tony Davis

For years, advocates for a drought-contingency plan for the Colorado River have said it’s all that stands between us and catastrophe for Lake Mead. They say the plan, by limiting our take from the lake for the Central Arizona Project for the next seven years, will prevent or at least delay the time that the lake drops so low it will be impossible to get virtually any water out of it.

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Western States Near Deadline For Colorado River Drought Plan

/in , /by /Associated Pressby Felicia Fonseca

Western states are watching with interest as Arizona comes up against a deadline to approve a plan to ensure a key reservoir doesn’t become unusable for the farmers, cities, tribes and developers that depend on it.

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Arizona Water Leaders Lean On Developers To Support Drought Plan

/in , /by /Phoenix New Timesby Elizabeth Whitman

As the Colorado River teeters on the brink of shortage, water leaders in Arizona are begging developers to pressure legislators to sign off on a drought plan, while also aiming to reassure those developers that despite a drier future, it’s safe to come to Arizona and build. “We need all of you to go to your favorite legislator and express your support for the Drought Contingency Plan,” Tom Buschatzke, the director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, told a group of 250 development industry representatives and others during a breakfast meeting Friday. “I implore you.”

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Arizona Drought-Plan Issues Remain As Federal Jan. 31 Deadline Nears

/in , /by /Arizona Daily Star (Tucson)by Tony Davis

Four key issues remain unsettled as negotiators for a Colorado River drought-adaptation plan wrap up discussions and prepare to send a complex package of water-saving proposals to the Arizona Legislature. Farmers, developers and officials of the $4 billion Central Arizona Project said Tuesday they still aren’t satisfied with various provisions in a proposed drought contingency plan aimed at propping up imperiled Lake Mead. Because of that, negotiations over details will probably have to continue even when the Legislature starts debating the plan next week.

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Our Current Drought Is Worse Than Most Megadroughts, New Study Says

/in , , /by /Arizona Daily Star (Tuscon)by Tony Davis

Tucson’s drinking water supply — carries nearly 20 percent less water than in 2000. Bark beetles are chomping away at our forests and killing off ponderosa pines. Wildfires are rapidly growing in intensity. These problems have been linked to a drought that has stretched 19 years with no respite. Now, a team of researchers concludes that the ongoing drought across the western U.S. rivals most past “megadroughts” dating as far back as 800 A.D. — and that this region is currently in a megadrought.

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OPINION: A Long-Term Solution To California’s Water Woes

/in , /by /Whittier Daily Newsby Marc Joffe

After years of drought and the recent devastating wildfires, Californians have been frequently reminded of water’s key role in everything from subduing the tragic blazes to its continuous uses for key agriculture, residential and commercial needs across the state. In the past, California has battled shortages and water challenges by rationing. But Israel has shown there may be a better long-term solution. Like California, Israel has an arid climate. Unlike the Golden State, Israel has solved its water shortage by commissioning a series of privately built and operated seawater desalination plants.

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