KQED Archives

Massive Bird Die-Off At Salton Sea Raises Environmental Concerns

February 11, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /KQED (San Francisco)by Benjamin Purper

Thousands of birds were discovered dead at the Salton Sea last month, raising new concerns about the lake’s declining health. California Department of Fish and Wildlife workers cleaned up the carcasses at the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge after hunters initially reported the gruesome bird die-off. More than 400 species of birds use the Salton Sea’s wetlands as a stop along the Pacific flyway for migratory birds. The man-made Salton Sea is receiving less and less water from agricultural runoff and the Colorado River, causing it to shrink dramatically. Andrea Jones, director of bird conservation for Audubon California, said the birds fell victim to avian cholera, a contagious disease, due to overcrowding.

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Federal Government Steps In to Handle Colorado River Drought Crisis

Despite a last-minute frenzy of deal-making, the federal government announced that it will begin taking “protective actions” on the Colorado River, where a long-running drought has put the water supply for 40 million people at risk. The seven states that use the river had been trying to broker their own solution, a collective water-sharing deal, with a Jan. 31 deadline to get it done. While most states had agreed, California and Arizona couldn’t finalize the agreement in time.

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Why We Can’t Stop Talking About California’s Sierra Snowpack

January 31, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /KQED (San Francisco)by Peter Arcuni

It’s not just skiers who have been whipsawed this season between fear of another dry winter and delight over the epic January snowfall in the Sierra Nevada. Also paying close attention: water wonks. Why? Because melting Sierra snow provides somewhere between one-third and one-half of California’s water supply. What determines just how much water is derived from that snow is called the “snowpack.”

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Colorado River Water Crisis Is Days Away. Can States Make A Deal?

January 29, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /KQED (San Francisco)by Lauren Sommer

Avoiding a long-expected crisis on the Colorado River, a water source for 40 million people, is coming down to a final few days of frenzied negotiations. A 19-year drought and decades of overuse have put a water shortfall on the horizon. If California and six other states, all with deeply entrenched interests, can’t agree on a plan to cut their water consumption by Jan. 31, the federal government says it will step in and decide the river’s future.

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State’s Retiring Snow Guru Talks Snowpack Tech And California Water

January 7, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /KQED (San Francisco)by Craig Miller

Frank Gehrke says that back in Missouri, where he was raised, snow was “something to be plowed.” He would soon take a very different view. In December, Gehrke retired as chief snow surveyor for the California Department of Water Resources. He spent much of his 31 years with the department on skis and snowshoes, in remote corners of the Sierra Nevada, measuring the “frozen reservoir” that ultimately provides about a third of California’s water supply

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Rivers In The Sky: What You Need To Know About Atmospheric River Storms

January 6, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /KQED (San Francisco)

The rainy season is well underway in California: Roughly 90 percent of the Golden State’s precipitation typically falls during the months of October through April. While drought has bedeviled the state in recent years, there’s evidence that the wet season is actually getting wetter. If you live on the West Coast, you may hear the term “atmospheric river” thrown around. These massive, fast-moving storm systems can transport more than 25 times the moisture as flows through the mouth of the Mississippi River.

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California’s Plan To Store Water Underground Could Risk Contamination

September 19, 2018/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /KQED (San Francisco) by Amanda Heidt

As California begins handing out $2.5 billion in state funds for several new water management projects, a shift is taking place in the ways officials are considering storing water. To contend with the likelihood of future extreme droughts, some of these new strategies rely on underground aquifers — an approach far removed from traditional dam-based water storage.

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Outlook Grim But Not Hopeless As Climate Summit Convenes In San Francisco

September 10, 2018/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Andrea Mora /KQED (San Francisco)by Craig Miller

This week corporate and civic leaders from around the world will gather in San Francisco for the Global Climate Action Summit. The effort was spearheaded by Gov. Jerry Brown to move the fight against global warming beyond the national commitments made in Paris nearly three years ago. “Look, it’s up to you and it’s up to me and tens of millions of other people to get it together to roll back the forces of carbonization,” says Brown in a promotional video for the summit.

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Here Are The Bay Area Water Projects That Got $1 Billion In Funding Today

July 24, 2018/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Andrea Mora /KQED (San Francisco)by Lauren Sommer

California water officials have approved more than $2.5 billion for eight water projects across the state, marking one of the largest investments in water storage in decades. The proposed projects, including two in the Bay Area, will now begin seeking permits and looking for the remaining funding they need. Half of the eight projects approved on Tuesday by the California Water Commission are more traditional reservoirs and dams, while the other half focus on groundwater storage and recycled water.

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Monitoring Agricultural Water Use Remains Challenging Despite New Oversight Rules

July 23, 2018/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /KQED (San Francisco)by Matt Weiser

A new program in California aimed at tracking agricultural water consumption is off to a bumpy start, highlighting the challenges of monitoring an industry that has historically enjoyed limited oversight. Agriculture is the biggest consumer of water in the West, with many states using more than 70 percent of developed freshwater supplies for agriculture. So you would think state governments watch water consumption on farms carefully to look for conservation opportunities. In fact, some do not.

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