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Colorado River Losing Vast Amounts of Water Due to Warming Climate, Study Finds

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Iam James

For much of the last 23 years, the Colorado River has been ravaged by unrelenting dryness, its reservoirs falling to their lowest levels since they were filled. New research shows that global warming is a major culprit, shrinking the river’s flow and robbing the region of a vast amount of water.

A team of scientists at UCLA estimated that from 2000 to 2021, rising temperatures led to the loss of about 32.5 million acre-feet of water in the Colorado River Basin, more than the entire storage capacity of Lake Mead, the country’s largest reservoir.

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Hundreds Of Hazardous Sites in California Are At Risk Of Flooding As Sea Level Rises, Study Finds

/in , , /by /CNNby Rachel Ramirez

Hundreds of hazardous industrial sites that dot the California coastline – including oil and gas refineries and sewage-treatment plants – are at risk of severe flooding from rising sea levels if the climate crisis worsens, new research shows.

If planet-warming pollution continues to rise unabated, 129 industrial sites are estimated to be at risk of coastal flooding by 2050 according to the study, published Tuesday in the journal Environmental Science & Technology by researchers from University of California at Los Angeles and Berkeley, as well as Climate Central.

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String of Brutal Atmospheric Rivers Imperils a California Already Weakened by Drought

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Hayley Smith

A successive series of powerful atmospheric river storms poses a growing threat to California as the ground becomes more saturated, river levels rise and heavy winds threaten the power infrastructure. This week’s storms are expected to dump intense levels of rain in a fairly short period of time. The greatest potential for disaster is in Northern California, which has already been battered by several destructive storms — including one this weekend that caused a deadly levee breach.

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UCLA Study: Climate Change Causing ‘Extreme’ Rain and Snowfall Across Globe

/in , , /by /Times of San Diegoby City News Service

A UCLA study shows that abnormally heavy rain and snowfall events since as early as the 1980s are intensifying globally due to human-driven climate change, researchers said Tuesday.

“These findings further elevate the urgency of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to prevent even larger impacts down the road,” said senior author Alex Hall, director of the UCLA Center for Climate Science, which is a part of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. “We can now say that extreme precipitation is increasing globally due to human-induced climate change.”

A Warming California Sets the Stage for Future Floods – UCLA Study Finds that Continued Climate Change Will Deliver a Dangerous One-Two Punch for State’s Water Managers

/in , , /by /Sierra Sun Timesby Sonia Aronson

By the 2070s, global warming will increase extreme rainfall and reduce snowfall in the Sierra Nevada, delivering a double whammy that will likely overwhelm California’s reservoirs and heighten the risk of flooding in much of the state, according to a new study by UCLA climate scientists.

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UCLA Students Take First Place In National EPA Stormwater Treatment Design Competition

/in , , /by /Water Onlineby UCLA Samueli School of Engineering

Ateam of UCLA undergraduate students has won a national competition sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency seeking innovative plans for stormwater management. The team proposed to redesign elements of a Los Angeles elementary school to improve its environmental sustainability.

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California is Dry With no Rain in Sight. Should We Start Worrying About Drought and Wildfire?

/in , , /by /The Sacramento Bee by Dale Kasler

California’s alarmingly dry winter continues, with no meaningful snow or rain in sight. Although it’s far too soon to predict a drought, experts said wildfire risks could worsen this summer as a result of the shortage of precipitation.

And while the rainy season still has more than two months left, a persistent high-pressure ridge over the Pacific is keeping wet weather at bay, just as it did during the five-year drought, said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA. Swain said it’s possible parts of Northern California “could go completely dry in the month of February.”

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Water In LA Receives C+ Grade While 60 Percent Continues To Come From Outside Region

/in , /by /CBS Los Angeles

The water quality in Los Angeles is not great, but a new study shows it is improving.

UCLA gave Los Angeles County an overall C+ grade in its annual water report that was released Wednesday.

The report included a C+ grade for water supply and consumption even though 60 percent of the water in L.A. County comes from outside of the region.

The quality of drinking water, however, has risen to a B+ grade.

According to the report, the L.A. water infrastructure was at a C+ while surface water received a D grade due to pollution.

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UCLA Forecast: Strong California Economy Faces Slowdown By End Of 2020

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Chris Jennewein

California’s economy is continuing to outperform the nation as a whole, but thanks to anticipated economic slowing in the United States and globally, the state will likely start seeing some negative impacts by the end of next year, according to a UCLA Anderson Forecast released Wednesday.

In his report on the state, UCLA Anderson Forecast Director Jerry Nickelsburg wrote that California’s unemployment rates remain “extremely low,” particularly in the largest job markets. And while the U.S. gross domestic product has slowed, California’s has been growing at a 4% annual rate.

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