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Opinion: The Drought is Decimating My Farm and Many Others. What California Should Do to Help Us

As I drive across my family’s farm in the San Joaquin Valley, it feels as if I’m traveling on a chessboard. I cross one square with crops and then another without crops — our fields that must lay fallow. Our farm’s crops have been decimated by the drought.

Last year, reduced water deliveries in the state led to 395,000 acres of cropland being idled, according to UC Merced researchers, and about 8,750 agricultural workers lost their jobs.

Agencies Looking to “Plan B” as More Valley Towns on Brink of Going Dry and Emergency Water Suppliers are Tapped Out

Groundwater levels are dropping and domestic wells throughout the San Joaquin Valley are going dry as California’s third year of drought grinds on.

That includes entire towns, such as East Orosi and Tooleville in Tulare County, which both went dry last week.

It’s bad. But it may get worse.

As Wells Run Dry, Sonoma Valley Reckons With New Water Regulations

One morning in the summer of 2018, Kelly Stober woke up and started to get ready for work. But when she turned on the faucet in her shower, no water came out.

Stober lives in a rural neighborhood a few miles east of downtown Sonoma. Like her neighbors, she relies on a well for drinking water, household uses, and irrigation. And her well, sunk 800 feet into the ground, had run dry.

Climate Change Means Some Coastal Groundwater May Soon Be Too Salty to Drink. What Can Cities Do?

Cape May, New Jersey has a long history as a resort town with seafood, ballrooms, and Victorian-era mansions, dating back to the 18th century. The idyllic, seaside town is surrounded by ocean on three sides.

But in the 1950s, the city started to have a problem with its water supply, which comes from groundwater. Saltwater was seeping into wells, making the water undrinkable. The city had to abandon its old wells and drill new ones, over and over again.

Gray Water’s Untapped Potential is Clouded by Complexity

The past three decades have brought mounting evidence of climate change, a tenacious drought in Arizona and appliances offering unheard-of water efficiency.

“The residential water use per capita has been declining for the last 30 years or so. And indoor water use has especially been going down,” said Sarah Porter, director of Arizona State University’s Kyl Center for Water Policy.

Desalination: Should California Use the Ocean to Quench Its Thirst?

As the state’s water supplies continue to dwindle during this drought, it’s always worth weighing the pros and cons of desalinization to meet the state’s water needs

Groundwater keeps shrinking, reservoirs keep drying. Is it time for California to use desalinization to increase its depleted water supplies?

Here we are again: California is enduring another punishing drought, this one only a few years after the last one ended, which was the most severe drought in the state’s nearly 500 years of recorded history.

Ducey Signs $1.2B Water Plan as Arizona Faces Cutbacks

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed legislation Wednesday that will provide $1.2 billion over three years to boost long-term water supplies for the desert state and implement conservation efforts that will see more immediate effects.

The legislation that was hammered out over months during the just-completed legislative session is viewed as the most significant since the state implemented a groundwater protection plan in 1980.

Chandler Approves Construction for Water Facility Supporting Drought Prevention

The Chandler City Council approved construction last month for a reclaimed water facility supporting drought prevention.

Through agreements made between the city and Intel, construction of a Reclaimed Water Interconnect Facility was approved on June 23 to begin immediately at the RWIF located near Queen Creek and McQueen roads which is set to be completed in 2024, the city said in a press release.

Pipelines? Desalination? Turf Removal? Arizona Commits $1B to Augment, Conserve Water Supplies

The Colorado River’s precipitous decline pushed Arizona lawmakers to deliver Gov. Doug Ducey’s $1 billion water augmentation fund — and then some — late Friday, their final night in session.

Before the votes, the growing urgency for addressing the state’s oncoming water shortage and the long timeline for approving and building new water projects nearly sank the legislation.

U.S. Megadrought is Worst for Over 1,000 Years: How Long Could It Last?

Droughts are periods characterized by abnormally dry conditions. But what are megadroughts, and how bad is the one currently affecting parts of the United States?

While there are no clear definitions of what a megadrought is, in general these events are defined as droughts that last for multiple decades, i.e. two or more, according to Ashok Mishra, a professor in the Glenn Department of Civil Engineering at Clemson University.