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Water Shortages and Fires Loom After a Dry Winter

/in , , /by /The New York Timesby Vindu Goel and Jill Cowan

Good morning.

The weather forecast today calls for sunshine across the state, with barely a cloud on the horizon for the next week or so.

Pour yourself a nice, cool glass of water — and then think about how you’re going to start conserving it.

The lack of rain and snow during what is usually California’s wet season has shrunk the state’s water supply. The Sierra Nevada snowpack, a crucial source of water as it melts over the spring and summer, is currently at 65 percent of normal. Major reservoirs are also low.

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State Warns of Possible Water Shortages

/in , , /by /Manteca Bulliten

California farmers relying on State Water Project water were warned Monday to prepare for potential shortages by reducing water use and adopting practical conservation measures. Reservoir and groundwater levels are significantly below average, and despite recent storms, snowpack is only 58% of average as of March 10.

 

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Science Group Issues Valley-Focused Advice on Climate Change

/in , , /by /Bakersfield.comby John Cox

The San Joaquin Valley has received a specially addressed message from the Union of Concerned Scientists about what it thinks people across the region should be doing about looming water shortages, worsening air quality and generally more volatile weather in the years ahead.

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In a Dry State, Farmers Use Oil Wastewater to Irrigate Their Fields, but is it Safe?

/in , , /by /Inside Climate Newsby Abby Weiss

For decades, farmers in California’s Kern County have turned to wastewater from oil production to help irrigate their crops during extended dry spells. The wastewater provides an alternative to groundwater, which has become increasingly scarce as farmers have pumped more than they could replenish.

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‘Farming the Sun:’ As Water Goes Scarce, Can Solar Farms Prop Up The Valley?

/in , /by /Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler

On the Changala family farm in Tulare County, the past and future are separated by a dirt road and a barbed-wire fence.

On the south side sits a wheat field. On the north, a solar farm, built three years ago, sending electricity to thousands of Southern Californians. Alan Changala sees little difference between the two.

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Wildfire Panel Recommends Extending Safeguards to Water Agencies

/in , , /by /Ventura County Starby Arlene Martinez

When the Thomas Fire reached Ventura city limits early on Dec. 5, 2017, a critical tool to help curb the flames quickly disappeared: water.

Some of the more than 500 people who ultimately lost their homes sued Ventura over that lack of water, though they later directed their energy at Southern California Edison, which investigators found caused the fire.

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Wet Winter Likely To Keep Colorado River Out Of Shortage Next Year

/in , /by / Las Vegas Review-Journalby Henry Brean

For the moment, Mother Nature is smiling on the Colorado River. Enough snow has piled up in the mountains that feed the river to stave off a dreaded shortage declaration for one more year, according to federal projections released Friday afternoon. Just a month ago, forecasters expected Lake Mead to start 2020 about 17 feet lower than it is now, below the trigger point for a first-ever federal shortage declaration on the drought-stricken river.

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Water Shortages Ahead? Sierra Nevada Snow Pack On Track To Shrink 79 Percent, New Study Finds

/in , /by /The Mercury News (San Jose)by Paul Rogers

Every year, like a giant frozen reservoir, snow that falls across the Sierra Nevada mountain range slowly melts in spring and summer months, providing roughly one-third of the water supply for California’s cities and farms, from the Bay Area to Los Angeles. But at the current rate at which the climate is warming, the amount of runoff from Sierra snow into California’s largest reservoirs is heading for a dramatic decline — a 54 percent drop in the next 20 to 40 years and 79 percent in the next 60 to 80 years, according to a new study from scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

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Austin Boil-Water Mandate Could Last Less Than A Week As City Faces Possible Shortage

/in , /by /National Public Radioby Vanessa Romo

Travis County emergency management officials told Austin residents on Tuesday they’ll need to boil their tap water for the next several days, and urged residents to cut water consumption as the city faces a potential shortage. In a meeting with county commissioners, Chief Emergency Management Coordinator Eric Carter said Austin Water could take 10 to 14 days to stabilize all three treatment plants and restore production to last week’s preflood levels.

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As States Near Deal On Colorado River Shortage, California Looks At Water Cuts Of As Much As 8%

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Bettina Boxall

After years of stop-and-go talks, California and two other states that take water from the lower Colorado River are nearing an agreement on how to share delivery cuts if a formal shortage is declared on the drought-plagued waterway. Under the proposed pact, California — the river’s largest user — would reduce diversions earlier in a shortage than it would if the lower-basin states strictly adhered to a water-rights pecking order. California’s huge river take would drop 4.5% to 8% as the shortage progressed.

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