Tag Archive for: Water

Running Out of Water: How Climate Change Fuels a Crisis in the US West

/in , /by /The Hillby Jeremy Deaton and Briana Flin

Except for a brief stint in the military, Paul Crawford has spent his entire life farming in southern Oregon. First, as a boy, chasing his dad through hayfields and now, growing alfalfa on his own farm with his wife and two kids, who want to grow up to be farmers.

“I wouldn’t trade a day of farming with my wife and my kids for anything. It’s an amazing life,” Crawford said. “It just may end if we don’t figure something out on this water issue.”

The American west is drying out as the region faces an unprecedented drought. Few places are as devastated as the Klamath Basin, where Crawford’s farm sits. Straddling the border between California and Oregon, the watershed spans 12,000sq miles – from agricultural lands fed by Upper Klamath Lake to tribal communities surrounding the Klamath River.

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Water is Disappearing in the West – and Not Just During the Summer

/in , , /by /CNN by Hannah Gard

Skiers and snowboarders pray for snow so they can shred the slopes. Climatologists and hydrologists have an entirely different and more critical reason to cross their fingers for the “white gold.”

The West’s historic drought has many impacts, including water shortages, more severe wildfire seasons and unprecedented heat waves, to name a few. Intense droughts are a result of many factors, one of which scientists have recently began to analyze with more scrutiny: snow drought.
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Water Futures Market Fails to Make a Splash with California Farmers

/in , , /by /Reutersby Karl Plume

Former bond trader Alan Boyce is just the type of California farmer expected to dive into the world’s first water futures contract.

Boyce is comfortable navigating financial tools, and he grows irrigated pistachios, tomatoes, alfalfa and other crops in California’s drought-prone Central Valley. But he says the water contract is still too illiquid to benefit him.

Financial exchange operator CME Group launched the contract late last year to help big California water users such as farmers and utilities hedge rising drought risk and give investors a sense of how scarce water is at any given time. The exchange and a United Nations report said this is the first water futures contract in the world.

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Tulare County Takes Over East Orosi Water System

/in , , /by /The Sun Gazetteby Ben Irwin

Help may be on the horizon for the about 700 residents of East Orosi dependent on bottled water. The Tulare County Board of Supervisors has directed county staff to begin negotiating the scope of work and a budget with the State Water Resources Control Board Division of Drinking Water for the county to take control of the East Orosi Community Services District public water system.

Of the thousands of water systems in the state, East Orosi CSD is one of just seven California water systems under a mandatory consolidation order by way of Senate Bill (SB) 88, which enables the state water board to order consolidations for water systems in disadvantaged communities that are consistently out of compliance.

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New Bill Would Make it Easier to Transfer Water Throughout California

/in , , /by /ABC 30by Dale Yurong

Growers are dealing with severe cutbacks in the surface water deliveries they normally receive from reservoirs.

The lack of steady irrigation has already impacted spring cropping decisions made by farmers.

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Wells Are Failing in Southeastern Madera County. What to Know About the Water Situation

/in , , /by /The Fresno Beeby Danielle Bergstrom

On Sunday evening, a well motor failed in a Madera Ranchos community water system that serves around 1,000 homes. Last week, another well pump stopped working in Parksdale, southeast of Madera. Neither community has lost water service. Both are experiencing low pressure. Madera County Public Works runs both water systems. From Madera Acres to the Bonadelle Ranchos, private wells are running dry at an alarming rate. Self-Help Enterprises, an organization that supports communities with water challenges, has been tracking the problem.

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New MWD GM Adel Hagekhalil Commits To “One Water” Agenda

/in , , /by /The Planning Report

TPR is proud to share this timely interview with Metropolitan Water District’s newly confirmed General Manager, Adel Hagekhalil. Throughout his career, from his time as president of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies to overseeing LA City’s wastewater, stormwater, and watershed programs as Assistant Director of City of LA’s Bureau of Sanitation (LA SAN), and most recently by delivering integrated multibenefit infrastructure as General Manager of LA’s Bureau of Streets Services, (StreetsLA), Adel has championed a holistic approach to water and infrastructure. In this VX Interview, Hagekhalil shares his One Water agenda for securing water resilience through integration, innovation, and inclusion and emphasizes his commitment to bringing all of Met’s member agencies and stakeholders to the table to enhance local supplies and deliver on Met’s mission to provide reliable, affordable water to the region.

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State Releases Its First Reviews of Local SGMA Plans

/in , , /by /AgAlertby Christine Souza

Against the backdrop of what’s shaping up as a devastating drought year, the California Department of Water Resources has released its first assessments of groundwater sustainability plans developed by local agencies to meet the requirements of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. The department released reviews of four local plans, approving two but sending the other two back to local groundwater sustainability agencies, saying the plans need more work. Under SGMA, the local groundwater sustainability agencies must develop plans to guide management of groundwater in basins and subbasins statewide. This first round of assessments pertains to agencies overseeing critically overdrafted basins and that were required to submit plans by Jan. 31.

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Water: Amazing New Map Shows the Path of Every Raindrop That Hits the United States

/in , , /by /The Mercury Newsby Paul Rogers

Water is like electricity. Most people don’t think about it much until it’s gone.

Now, as California and other Western states find themselves heading into a severe and worsening drought, a new interactive map is providing a breathtaking journey that shows where America’s water comes from and ends up.

The project is called River Runner. It allows anyone to click on any place where a raindrop would fall in the United States, and then track its path through watersheds, into creeks, rivers, lakes and ultimately the ocean.

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From Shasta to Folsom, Shriveled Reservoirs Show Depths of California’s Drought Disaster

/in , , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler, Ryan Sabalow and Phillip Reese

Instead of being flush with newly melted snow, Folsom Lake is the driest it’s been in springtime since the epic drought of 1977. Water levels are so low that temporary pumps probably will be installed to help move water out of the stricken reservoir.

Water levels at Lake Oroville have plunged to the point that its giant hydropower plant could be idled for the first time ever this summer, putting additional strain on California’s troubled electric grid. At Shasta Lake, which feeds the Sacramento River watershed and much of the Central Valley, conditions are so bad that major cities are drawing up conservation plans, farmers have scaled back plantings and environmentalists are angrily warning of extensive fish kills.

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