While many environmentalists oppose the construction and expansion of dams, the Biden Administration believes in the value of above-ground water storage.
The Department of Interior on Monday announced $210 million in funding for water storage and conveyance projects in the western United States.
It’s looking a lot more like winter in California’s parched mountains today.
Snow fell across the Sierra and in the mountains of Southern California on Sunday.
And, while the immediate forecast calls for a return of dry skies, the National Weather Service in Hanford says there is a possibility of rain on the Valley floor and snow in the mountains on Saturday.
The early March turnabout followed two months that set records for dryness in parts of the state.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein waded into California’s water wars as a peacemaker Thursday morning.
In a letter, the six-term Democrat urged Gov. Gavin Newsom and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt to work together to develop consistent standards for water projects in California.
Fresno County farmers and ranchers shattered the yearly record for the value of what they produced by nearly a billion dollars in 2018.
Despite below-average surface water supplies, their crops and livestock totaled $7.888 billion last year, according to the Fresno County Department of Agriculture’s annual report released Tuesday.
That marked a 12.23% increase from 2017 and was substantially higher than the previous record year of 2014 when total production hit $7.069 billion.
Rep. Josh Harder of Turlock put on waders and traipsed through the water in search of swamp rats recently.
The goal: Publicizing a bill that he and three other California Democrats have introduced targeting nutria, an invasive species from South America creating havoc with irrigation canals and levees.
“It sounds ridiculous, but these swamp rats are actually a major problem for our water infrastructure,” Harder said in a news release. “My bill would revive a program that helped successfully get rid of the pests in Maryland and bring millions of dollars in federal help to the Central Valley.”
Three years ago, presidential candidate Donald Trump got right to the heart of Central Valley agriculture’s fight over its most precious resource. “We’re going to solve your water problem. You have a water problem that is so insane,” Trump told a campaign audience at Selland Arena in May 2016. “It is so ridiculous where they’re taking the water and shoving it out to sea.”
Trump said the seemingly endless grind among agricultural, urban, and environmental interests over water resources would be simple to fix.
Growers of grapes, tree nuts, and cranberries got good news from Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Thursday morning. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will provide up to $16 billion in aid to farmers impacted by the tariff battle with Chinainitiated by President Donald Trump. A statement from the USDA said that Trump authorized the aid, which is a $4 billion bump from last year. “The plan we are announcing today ensures farmers do not bear the brunt of unfair retaliatory tariffs imposed by China and other trading partners,” Perdue said.
Last year, the Camp Fire tore across California, devouring forests and incinerating entire neighborhoods. Residents fled the flames, returning to find empty streets where their neighborhoods had been. It came only a year after the Tubbs Fire set records as it destroyed thousands of homes outside Santa Rosa. Now that these cities are starting to rebuild, they are discovering that the damage goes even deeper than that. Soaring temperatures from the wildfires melted the PVC water pipes buried underground, causing the plastic to leech chemicals into the water and leaving the cities facing a complicated and expensive repair.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
