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Map Shows Epic Amounts of Water Gushing Through California’s Rivers

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Jack Lee

This year’s historic snowpack has meant epic amounts of water flowing through California’s rivers, streams and creeks. … That’s more than the capacity of four standard 40-foot shipping containers rushing by each second. Around 40% of the roughly 500 stream gauges across the state are running above normal, provisional data from the U.S. Geological Survey shows. A few dozen are registering record highs for this time of year, especially along the central and southern Sierra. With peak melt season expected in the coming weeks, this means plentiful amounts of water running into reservoirs, but also dangerously fast flows and the risk for potential flooding.

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Saving Salmon: Chinook Return to California’s Far North — With a Lot of Human Help

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Alistair Bland

Chinook salmon haven’t spawned in the McCloud River for more than 80 years. But last summer, thousands of juveniles were born in the waters of this remote tributary, miles upstream of Shasta Dam.

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California Spent Decades Trying to Keep Central Valley Floods at Bay. Now It Looks to Welcome Them Back

/in , , /by /Water Education Foundation / Western Water by Alastair Bland

Land and waterway managers labored hard over the course of a century to control California’s unruly rivers by building dams and levees to slow and contain their water. Now, farmers, environmentalists and agencies are undoing some of that work as part of an accelerating campaign to restore the state’s major floodplains.

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Atmospheric Rivers Left California Mostly Dry in Water Year 2021

/in , , /by /Water News Network Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

The Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes, or CW3E, at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, released its report October 11 on atmospheric rivers during Water Year 2021.

The report, “Distribution of Landfalling Atmospheric Rivers over the U.S. West Coast During Water Year 2021: End of Water Year Summary” shows that more atmospheric rivers landed on the U.S. West Coast in Water Year 2021 than in Water Year 2020. But the majority of those storms reached the Pacific Northwest, not California, where drought conditions have impacted water supply.

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A 20-Year Megadrought Threatens Hydropower in the West

/in , /by /Colorado Public Radioby Michael Elizabeth Sakas

A 20-year megadrought in the West is threatening hydropower for millions of people, so the federal government is taking emergency action. It’s sending water from other reservoirs to Lake Powell to help keep the power turbines there spinning.

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Big Battle Looms Over California Water Rights

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Dan Walters

California doesn’t have enough water to meet all demands even in wet years, and when drought strikes the competition becomes, to put it mildly, intense.

State and federal officials who must ration the restricted supply are beset with pleas from farmers, municipal water systems and advocates for the environment.

However, water managers must also contend with a bewildering array of water rights, some of which date to the 19th century, as well as long-standing contractual obligations and laws, both statutes and judicial decrees, on maintaining flows for spawning salmon and other wildlife.

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Rare California Water Restrictions Hit Farmers Amid Dire Shortages

/in , , /by /The Guardianby Dani Anguiano

Faced with dire water shortages and a severe drought, California has moved to enact emergency restrictions that will prevent thousands of farmers and landowners from using water drawn from an enormous system of streams and rivers that services nearly two-thirds of the state.

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Drought Prompts California to Halt Some Water Diversions

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Adam Beam

Some farmers in one of the country’s most important agricultural regions will have to stop taking water out of major rivers and streams because of a severe drought that is threatening the drinking water supply for 25 million people, state regulators said Tuesday.

The Water Resources Control Board approved an emergency resolution empowering regulators to halt diversions from the state’s two largest river systems. The order could apply to roughly 86% of landowners who have legal rights to divert water from the San Joaquin and Sacramento river watersheds. The remaining 14% could be impacted if things get worse.

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Thousands of Central Valley Farmers May Lose Access to Surface Water Amid Worsening Drought

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Times by Julia Wick

As California endures an increasingly brutal second year of drought, state water regulators are considering an emergency order that would bar thousands of Central Valley farmers from using stream and river water to irrigate their crops.

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Why the Southwest’s Shrinking Water Reservoirs Matter to Colorado

/in , , /by /The Denver Postby Bruce Finley

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has signed off on increased funding for water development projects that state officials regard as critical to meet growing demands. But the state’s plans to secure more water from rivers here are colliding with the hotter, drier climate that’s hammering the Southwest, where Colorado River reservoirs are at record-low levels.

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