Tag Archive for: Wildfires

Wildfires are Putting Water Supplies at Risk, and Corporate America is Scared

/in , , /by /CNBCby Diana Olick

As wildfires tear across America’s West, the immediate risk is to life and property, but they will eventually affect water supplies.

That’s one reason large corporations are beginning to help fund forest restoration in order to mitigate their water risk.

The water supply for many communities, including large cities, starts in mountains and national forests. In California, about 70% of the water either starts or flows through national forests, according to Forest Service estimates.

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“This is a Lose-Lose”: Drought, Wildfires Complicate Biden’s California Water Plans

/in , , /by /Politicoby Debra Kahn and Annie Snider

As climate-driven drought and wildfires rage in California, the Biden administration is struggling to navigate the hard politics that come with deciding who gets access to the state’s precious — and dwindling — water supplies.

Responding to the hot and parched conditions that have contributed to the wildfires and worsened the water shortages this summer has strained both federal and state capacity. Now the Biden administration is delaying action on the fundamental question at the heart of California’s long-running water wars: How much water should be reserved for species protections, at the expense of the state’s powerful agricultural industry?

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Wildfires, Drought and Blackouts: California’s Climate Change Nightmare Is Already Here

/in , , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler and Margo Rosenbaum

After last year’s historic wildfire season, two nights of blackouts and a dry winter that raised alarm bells about another drought, California knew a difficult summer lay head.

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Newsom: Statewide Water Restrictions Possible

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Emily Hoeven

Californians could soon face mandatory statewide water restrictions — but likely not until the end of September, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday.

The timing suggests the governor may be trying to avoid unpopular mandates before the Sept. 14 recall election — but California’s devastating drought and ever-expanding fire season have their own schedules.

Around 51,000 Californians could wake up this morning without power — a scenario Newsom undoubtedly would like to avoid as recall ballots hit voters’ mailboxes. Still, PG&E’s decision to start preemptively cutting power as humidity plummets and fierce winds buffet Northern California could help Newsom avoid an even worse situation — another massive wildfire igniting.

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Wildfires Are Threatening Municipal Water Supplies

/in , , /by /EOSby Alex Tat-Shing Chow, Tanju Karanfil, and Randy A. Dahlgren

In recent decades, wildfire conflagrations have increased in number, size, and intensity in many parts of the world, from the Amazon to Siberia and Australia to the western United States. The aftereffects of these fires provide windows into a future where wildfires have unprecedented deleterious effects on ecosystems and the organisms, including humans, that depend upon them—not the least of which is the potential for serious damage to municipal water supplies.

In 2013, the Rim Fire—at the time, the third-largest wildfire in California’s history—burned a large swath of Stanislaus National Forest near Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, raising concerns about the safety of drinking water provided from the reservoir to San Francisco.

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‘We’re in Uncharted Territory’: Lake Oroville Levels Reach Historic Low, Impacting Recreation

/in , , /by /KCRA3by Stephanie Lin

In a year already plagued by pandemic and wildfires, Californians are also entangled with the crippling effect of drought.

“Every year, there seems to be a disaster and issues,” lamented California State Parks Public Safety Chief Aaron Wright, who responded to help Oroville through the Camp Fire and many other crises.

In 2017, hundreds of thousands of lives were threatened when massive flooding damaged the Oroville Dam. Today, changing weather conditions have created a stark contrast from years ago: Hot temperatures and low rainfall have left miles of dusty, cracked shorelines exposed.

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Senate Approves Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill With Funds for California

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Jennifer Haberkorn

The Senate on Tuesday approved an expansive bill to rebuild the nation’s aging roads and bridges, with $8.3 billion specifically targeted to water infrastructure projects in the West and billions more to fund national projects to mitigate the impact of wildfires.

After months of negotiation among President Biden, Democrats and a group of moderate Republicans to forge a compromise, the Senate voted 69 to 30 in favor of the legislation. In the end, it had support from 19 Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

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California Water: 10 Charts and Maps That Explain the State’s Historic Drought

/in , , /by /Mercury Newsby Paul Rogers

A historic drought is spreading across California and much of the American West. How bad is it? Which places are most affected? What does it mean for our water supply and wildfire risk?

These 10 maps and charts tell the story.

Over the past two years, rain and snow totals in Northern California, Nevada, Utah and other parts of the West have been less than 50% of average. As this map from the Western Regional Climate Center in Reno shows, the drought is severe and widespread.

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Researchers Study Impact of California Drought, Wildfires

/in , /by /The Daily Californianby Zachary Khouri

As California grapples with the effects of an ongoing drought, UC Berkeley researchers are studying changes in the magnitude of streamflows and drought-induced tree mortality in order to advise climate change policy.

Laurel Larsen, campus associate professor in the department of geography, is the lead scientist of the Delta Stewardship Council and provides data that informs the council’s decisions on water management in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

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Megadrought Poses ‘Existential’ Crisis in California and the West

/in , , /by /CBS SF Bay Areaby Ben Tracy and John Goodwin

The American West was once seen as a place of endless possibilities: grand vistas, bountiful resources and cities that somehow grew out of deserts. Now, manifest destiny has become a manifest emergency.

A scorching drought made worse by climate change is draining reservoirs at an alarming pace, fueling massive wildfires and deadly heat waves and withering one of the most important agricultural economies in the country.

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