The hot dry conditions that melted strong snowpack early in
2020 and led to severe drought, low river flows and record
setting wildfires across the state could be a harbinger of what
is to come in Colorado. Climate change is likely to drive
“chaotic weather” and greater extremes with hotter droughts and
bigger snowstorms that will be harder to predict, said Kenneth
Williams, environmental remediation and water resources program
lead at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, headquartered in
California.
Much of the western U.S. continues to endure a long-term
drought, one that threatens the region’s water supplies
and agriculture and could worsen wildfires this year. In fact,
some scientists are calling the dryness in the West a
“megadrought,” defined as an intense drought that lasts
for decades or longer. Overall, about 90% of the West is
now either abnormally dry or in a drought, which is among the
highest percentages in the past 20 years, according to this
week’s U.S. Drought Monitor.
Rancho California Water District crews are continuing work to
replace more than a mile of aging pipeline under westbound
Temecula Parkway in Temecula. The project, which will
ultimately replace about 8,000 feet, or about a mile and a
half, of aging recycled water pipeline between Bedford Court
and Rancho Pueblo Road, began in November, and according to
Rancho Water staff work is expected to continue through the
middle of next year. According to RCWD, when district customers
use recycled water it helps to free up drinking water for
cooking, showering or cleaning.
Often the value of a plan or project can best be judged by its
opposition. In the case of the proposed Poseidon desalination
plant in Huntington Beach, the forces lined up against it are
clear indicators that it’s a worthwhile enterprise. The
Sierra Club calls the plant “rather pathetic,” “the most
expensive and environmentally damaging way to secure Orange
County’s future water supply.” -Written by Kerry Jackson, a fellow in the Center
for California Reform at the Pacific Research
Institute.
The Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 on Tuesday to approve an
extension of the county’s state water contract for 50 years,
saying it would ultimately save ratepayers money. … Eight
water agencies in Santa Barbara County, from the Carpinteria
Valley to the City of Santa Maria, presently import water
through the California Aqueduct. By 2035, their ratepayers will
have paid off the $575 million construction debt for the
pipeline that county voters approved in 1991 on the heels of a
six-year drought. It extends from the aqueduct in Kern County
to Lake Cachuma.
A bill aimed at addressing pollution along the U.S.- Mexico
border and improving water quality in the Tijuana and New
rivers was introduced Wednesday. The Border Water Quality
Restoration and Protection Act would designate the
Environmental Protection Agency as the lead agency coordinating
federal, state and local agencies to build and maintain
infrastructure projects aimed at reducing pollution along the
border. It would also require the EPA and other agencies to
identify a list of priority projects and would authorize the
EPA to accept and distribute federal, state, and local funds to
build, operate and maintain those projects.
Congressman Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, introduced a bill
Wednesday that would extend “critical water supply provisions”
in the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN)
Act for the next seven years in an effort to improve
California’s access to water. On Wednesday, Garcia introduced a
bill that would enact a seven-year extension for “critical
water supply provisions” in the WIIN Act, which became law at
the end of 2016.
[A]s often as I write about the importance of building clean
power infrastructure to fight climate change, the cheapest,
easiest way to reduce emissions is to use less energy in the
first place. And in Los Angeles, at least, one of the cheapest,
easiest ways to use less energy is to use less water.
California will face another critically dry year, and residents
will need to adapt quickly to cope with water shortages and a
warmer, drier climate that has helped fuel destructive
wildfires. Officials with the state’s department of water
resources announced on Tuesday they had found that the water
content of the overall snowpack for 2 March amounted to 61% of
the average. The state’s largest reservoirs were storing
between 38% and 68% of their capacity, officials said, meaning
that the state would have a lot less water to carry it through
the rest of the year.
Human fingerprints are all over the world’s freshwater. A new
study published Wednesday in the journal Nature shows that
while human-controlled freshwater sources make up a minimal
portion of the world’s ponds, lakes, and rivers, they are
responsible for more than half of all changes to the Earth’s
water system. … Climate change already looms large over the
world’s freshwater supply. Major sources of drinking water,
like the Colorado River, have less water and are flowing
more slowly due to climate change—even as they face increasing
demand from our water-hungry farms and cities. Rainfall itself
is becoming more erratic in some locations, such as
California…
As climate change brings an increase in the frequency and
severity of droughts, forest dieback is a key cause for
concern: forests act as reservoirs of biodiversity and also
allow vast amounts of carbon to be stored, reducing the
so-called greenhouse effect. Oak trees, iconic veterans of
European and American forests, have previously been thought to
be highly vulnerable to drought. Now, thanks to a novel
non-invasive optical technique, scientists from INRAE and the
University of Bordeaux in France, with their colleagues from
University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University have
studied a range of oak species in North America to find out
more about their resistance to drought.
Early in 2020, when the severity of COVID‐19 became evident, US
water utilities implementing conservation programs had to act
quickly to determine how to mitigate changes in their
conservation programs and staffing. Prioritization and
collaboration helped utility staff settle into their new way of
working, which included adapting to online connection with
customers and each other. These adaptations might lead to
permanent changes. Thanks in large part to the power of
technology, many water conservation and customer education
programs have continued, with interest and participation even
increasing in some cases.
In an innovative time where power and energy have evolved
tremendously in the past few decades, efficiency and
conservation have become new focal points, constantly being
optimized in balance with costs. A study conducted by UC Davis’
Center for Water-Energy Efficiency illuminates the possibility
of saving not only water but also energy and greenhouse gas
emissions through water conservation programs.
Despite taking two years off from Congress, David Valadao
(R—Hanford) is getting back to work by introducing new
legislation to help keep water flowing in the Central Valley.
Early this month, Valadao introduced the Responsible, No-Cost
Extension of Western Water Infrastructure Improvements, or
RENEW WIIN, Act, a no-cost, clean extension of operations and
storage provisions of the WIIN Act. The RENEW WIIN Act would
extend the general and operations provisions of Subtitle J of
the WIIN Act and extend the provision requiring consultation on
coordinated operations of the Central Valley Project and State
Water Project.
The San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors in
February 2021 announced a plan to distribute a rebate of $44.4
million to its 24 member agencies across the region after
receiving a check for that amount from the Los Angeles-based
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to pay legal
damages and interest, according to a SDCWA press release.
Anyone who has hosted a good dinner party knows that the guest
list, table setting and topic of conversation play a big role
in determining whether the night is a hit or the guests leave
angry and unsatisfied. That concept is about to get a true test
on the Colorado River, where chairs are being pulled up to a
negotiating table to start a new round of talks that could
define how the river system adapts to a changing climate for
the next generation.
The winter storms that dumped heavy snow and rain
across California early in 2021 are likely not enough to negate
what will be a critically dry year, state water officials
believe. California’s Department of Water Resources on
Tuesday recorded a snow depth of 56 inches and water content of
21 inches at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada. The water
content of the overall snowpack was 61% of the average for
March 2 and 54% of the average for April 1, when it is
historically at its maximum.
Addressing the San Diego region’s limited local water supplies
with innovative ideas is something the San Diego County Water
Authority has become known for. Using expertise gained from
decades of successful planning and projects, the Water
Authority is developing strategies to reduce the future cost of
water that sustains the economy and quality of life across the
county.
The southern western pond turtle, San Diego’s only native
freshwater turtle, is becoming rarer and rarer in coastal
Southern California. These pond turtles are competing against
other recently introduced animals such as bullfrogs and
largemouth bass, and especially released pets such as other
turtles. Do NOT release pet turtles, or any other type of pet,
into the wild as they often eat the smaller southern western
pond turtle’s natural food and even their hatchlings, said Ms.
Mallory Lindsay of Ms. Mallory Adventures. Other non-native
turtle species can be found in the region such as snapping
turtles, softshell turtles, and red-eared sliders.
A tsunami of love is what anyone walking into 67-year-old
Deborah Bell-Holt’s Jefferson Park home can expect. … That’s
why when the pandemic hit, she welcomed back with open arms
eight of her children and grandchildren. All of a sudden, her
household grew from four to 12. But those extra family
members added another wrinkle to Holt’s already complicated
situation with water affordability. At the beginning of the
pandemic Holt owed $8,000 to LADWP, now her debt is over
$17,000.
