It came as a bittersweet surprise to biologists and government agencies monitoring the steadily shrinking Salton Sea's slide toward death by choking dust storms and salt.
The most recent Drought Monitor for California is mostly unchanged, with 85.3% of the state considered to be abnormally dry, according to data released Thursday.
The Trump administration on Tuesday unveiled new rules to govern California's scarce water, committing to send more to farmers in the Central Valley despite warnings from environmental working groups that it would imperil endangered species in the fragile San Joaquin Delta.
A class of toxic chemicals, known as PFAS, are present in numerous wells used for drinking water across California, according to new state tests performed on a fraction of California's many well water supplies.
Environmental Working Group, an activist environmental group, just updated its public database of tap water test results. And it's making some local water systems' drinking water look problematic.
West Basin Municipal Water District released on Wednesday, Oct. 23, the final environmental impact report for an El Segundo desalination plant that would convert 20 million gallons per day of seawater into fresh drinking water.
After The Times reported last week that nearly 300 drinking water wells and other sources in California had been contaminated with toxic chemicals linked to cancer, readers wanted to know what they could do.
The Trump administration on Tuesday moved to weaken protections for an endangered California fish, a change that would allow large amounts of water to be diverted from the San Francisco Bay Delta to irrigate arid farmland and could harm the region's fragile ecosystem.
Water is at the center of California's economic and enviromental health.
The Delta Smelt is such a small and translucent fish that it often disappears from view when it swims in the turbid waters of its home in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
In its effort to establish a new, drought-proof source of water that could a half-million Southern California homes, the Metropolitan Water District on Thursday, Oct. 10 unveiled a $17 million pilot plant that will bring wastewater to drinkable standards.
Just how far will Gov. Gavin Newsom go in his high-profile fight with the Trump administration over environmental protections?
California has more water stored in its reservoirs than it did a year ago after a marathon wet winter that pounded the state with rain and blanketed its mountain ranges with snow.
The Trump administration has retreated on a plan to push more water through the Delta this fall after protests from California officials on the harmful impacts on endangered Chinook salmon and other fish.
California got a Friday night surprise when Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed Senate Bill 1.
A potentially harmful chemical has been found in drinking water systems that serve about 7.5 million California residents, according to a report by a nonprofit environmental organization.
California needs to reshape how it manages the rivers of the Sierra Nevada and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Gov. Gavin Newsom faces thorny challenges as he seeks to balance water use between cities and farms, without destroying Central Valley rivers and wildlife.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas announced Thursday that "dramatic" improvements have been made to a water system that serves 6,800 customers in Willowbrook and Compton.
The Trump administation on Thursday revoked an Obama-era regulation that shielded many U.S. wetlands and streams from pollution but was opposed by developers and farmers who said it hurt economic development and infringed on property rights.
For years, the fight over how much power the federal government should have to regulate the wetlands and tributaries that feed into the nation's largest rivers has played out across the country.
California is close to adopting strict Obama-era federal environmental and worker safety rules that the Trump administration is dismantling.
Paul Kehmeier is a fourth-generation farmer from western Colorado.
Back in January, the head of an obscure government agency that exists almost entirely to draw the boundary lines of other public agencies had gotten wind of something.
Wells of nearly two dozen Southern California water agencies have reportable levels of PFAS, a chemical family increasingly linked to cancer, liver and kidney damage, thyroid disease, high cholesterol, low fertility, low birth weight and ulcerative colitis.
One hundred fifty years ago, John Wesley Powell and his small band of courageous explorers captured the nation's imagination as they completed their first expedition down the Colorado River.
Last week, the Delta Stewardship Council (DSC) held a public hearing to review proposed changes to how spending decisions on the maintenance of Delta levees are made, and the plan - known as the Delta Levee Investment Strategy (DLIS) - has drawn criticism from several sources.
After months of virtual silence, the California Department of Water Resources revealed via its blog on Tuesday that it is pursuing work on Gov. Newsom's scaled back tunnel project.
Rocky Mountain water managers worried about climate-driven depletion across the Colorado River Basin are mulling a "grand bargain" that would overhaul obligations among seven southwestern states for sharing the river's water.
Federal scientists pulled no punches in their report: The Trump administration's plan to send more water to San Joaquin Valley farmers would force critically endangered California salmon even closer to extinction, and starve a struggling population of West Coast killer whales.
Los Angeles city and county representatives hosted a discussion with state officials to address ways to increase local water supplies and to support a proposed statewide water system.
For the first time in history, low watear levels on the Colorado River have forced Arizona, Nevada, and Mexico to cut back the amount of water they use.
California is considering a far-reaching law that would lock current environmental protections into place and would be in effect until the end of Donald Trump's presidency.
Growers in California's Central Valley, famous for transforming patches of desert into the world's most productive farmland, suffered more than any other during a recent stretch scientists mark as the Golden State's driest since record-keeping began in 1985.
Arizona, Nevada and Mexico will be required to take less water from the Colorado River for the first time next year under a set of agreements that aim to keep enough water in Lake Mead to reduce the risk of a crash.
When it comes to global warming's one-two punch of inundation and drought, the presence of too much water has had the most impact on U.S. agriculture this year, with farmers in the Midwest swamped by flooding throughout the Mississippi Basin.
Snow piled up in the mouintains across the U.S. West last winter, leaving enough to thrill skiers into the summer, swelling rivers and streams when it melted, and largely making wildfire restrictions unnecessary. But the wet weather can be misleading.
Green pond scum floating on a lake is not just unsightly. As animal lovers have learned the hard way, it can be deadly.
Over 75 years, a billion-dollar industry has grown up around a group of toxic chemicals that helps keep carpets clean, makes water roll off of camping equipment, and stops your food from sticking to frying pans.
Rep. Josh Harder's opponents have called him a "shady venture capitalist" and "rabid socialist extremist" who only cares about "big donors and socialist Democrats in San Francisco."
A key reason the San Joaquin Valley is one of the world's premier farming regions is a ribbon of water called the Friant-Kern canal.
Water is easy to take for granted. It falls from the sky, and, though it's vital, we sometimes treat it as if it's worthless. How often have you seen sprinklers running in the rain?
A project to pump billions of gallons of water from under the Mojave Desert and sell it to people in Southern California could be slowed by a bill approved for the first time on Thursday by the Democratic-controlled Legislature.
As midwest states struggled with record spring flooding this year, the Southwest was wrestling with the opposite problem: not enough water.
As Midwest states struggled with record spring flooding this year, the Southwest was wrestling with the opposite problem: not enough water.
Remember the parade of atmospheric-river storms that deluged the Bay Area last winter, giving us the wettest rainy season in 20 years?
The biggest freshwater rivers on Earth don't flow along the planet's surface.
Seismologist Lucy Jones hikes through a dirt trail into a canyon, past a riverbed, through some brush in Altadena.
San Diego faces a hidden earthquake threat - to its water supply.
The 7.1 magnitude earthquake that rocked Southern California on Friday night tipped buildings off their foundations and left residents on edge but did not cause any fatalities or major injuries, officials said.
The Metropolitan Water Districct is the largest supplier of treated water in the nation.
On Thursday, June 27, 2019, the South Coast Water District (SCWD) Board of Directors certified the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Phase I Local Doheny Ocean Desalination Project, which would produce up to 5 million gallons per day (MGD) of new, drinking water supplies for the area.
As the 2018-19 precipitation year came to a close Sunday, record-setting snowpack in the Sierras and above-average rain means several reservoirs are near full capacity heading into the dry summer months. Here's a look at the past 12 months of California water.
Sunday is the end of the 2018-19 rainfall season in California, and you may have heard that the season's precipitation totals were extraordinary.
AT&T and Government Technology, Techwire's sister publication, have launed a regional awards program for special districts, with three categories to recognize IT innovation and leadership.
California's record snowpack is melting into significant runoff this summer, filling the state's lakes and ponds with cold, fresh water.
A federal judge has struck down Trump administration decisions that cleared the way for Cadiz Inc. to build a water pipeline across public land in the California desert.
A California Senate committee has voted in favor of a bill requiring that water providers notify their customers if they detect a class of chemicals called PFAS in drinking water.
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced Thursday it will increase the 2019 State Water Project allocation to 75 percent from 70 percent.
The outlook for Lake Mead continues to improve, as federal forecasters factor in the benefits from an unusually wet winter an a new interstate drought deal that will leave more water in the reservoir.
In the third year of the Trump administration, Congress and the White House have repeatedly discussed a multi-trillon dollar investment in the country's roads, dams, levees, telecommunication networks, power grids, drinking water pipes, and sewage treatment plants.
This early June morning is Boyd Shepler's birthday, No. 66, and he is spending it in a classic California way: a few hours of skiing in a snowflake-filled morning, then a round of golf in the dry afternoon sun.
Combat climate change, or clean up California's water? Those alarmed by the Legislature's decision to dip into a greenhouse gas fund to pay for clean drinking water may need to get used to it: constitutional restrictions on spending that money are set to expire in 2021.
The question of whether the Colorado River system is a reliable source of water for the future was the topic of a presentation held at the Washington County Water Conservancy District on Thursday.
Plant a native; help save Los Angeles. That's Cassy and Kirk Aoyagi's mission.
The Colorado River is short on water. But you wouldn't know it by looking at a slate of proposed water projects in the river's Upper Basin states of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic legislative leaders announced Sunday the broad outlines of a new state budget, one that provides a boost for California's low-income adults and children but excludes a controversial tax to pay for clean water in distressed communities.
The season of toxic algae blooms is here.
Propelled by a two-week siege of widespread severe weather and heavy rain in late May, the contiguous U.S. has once again broken its record for the wettest year-long span in data going back to 1895.
"Use it or lose it" is what state and federal water managers in California are wrestling with as one of the biggest precipitation years has the mountains packed with snow and reservoirs loaded to the brim.
Two water districts in northern San Diego County are exploring the possibility of leaving the San Diego County Water Authority and buying their water instead from an agency in southern Riverside County, a move one district says could save it as much as $6 million annually.
Recent rains and snow pack could force California's Department of Water Resources to release Oroville Dam's main spillway as early as next week.
Water rates in San Diego are some of the highest in the country. So, two rural San Diego County water agencies just came up with a novel way to save money: Buy water from Riverside County instead.
Once again, a big thirsty metropolis is looking at buying Central Valley farmland with an eye toward boosting its water supplies.
States that share the river's water finalized a big agreement last month, but an even larger challenge determining the river's future is just around the bend, expert John Fleck explains.
For motorists driving to Yosemite National Park from the Bay Area, Don Pedro Reservoir is a familiar sight.
Giant green stems with budding yellow flowers greeted hikers along a narrow path beneath the soaring Santa Monica Mountains on a recent drizzly day.
Keurig Dr Pepper said it was withdrawing its Penafiel brand unflavored mineral spring water products after reports that they contained high levels of arsenic.
With more rain and snow in the forecast this week, managers continue to release water from Northern California reservoirs.
Water is a currency in California, and the low-income farmworkers who pick the Central Valley's crops know it better than anyone.
Representatives from seven states along with federal water managers met at the Hoover Dam Monday to sign a historic agreement on how to deal with the ongoing drought in the West.
The Oxford Academy, based in Cypress, won first place in the veterans' division after the three-day competition while Oaks Christian of Westlake Village took the top prize in the rookie division.
Would you drink recycled sewage? It's a question you may need to think about someday.
Federal engineers are raising alarms that a "significant flood event" could compromise the spillway of Southern California's aging Prado Dam and potentially inundate dozens of Orange County communities from Disneyland to Newport Beach.
Wade Crowfoot, California's new secretary of Natural Resources, remembers the first time he saw the Salton Sea. He was in his early 30s, headed south to visit his cousin in El Centro, when he saw "the huge body of water next to this stunning, stark landscape, with great mountains to the west. It captivated me."
Students from Los Osos High School in Rancho Cucamonga hope to take a voyage to victory when they compete in the 2019 Solar Cup this weekend at Lake Skinner in Winchester.
First, don't panic. It's true that a report published late last month in the journal Environmental Health found a link between California tap water and cancer.
Four years ago, construction crews with huge jackhammers tore apart a 10-story concrete dam in the wooded canyons of the Carmel River, between the Big Sur hills and the beach front town of Carmel.
More than two years into the Trump presidency, California has embraced its role as chief antagonist - already suing the administration more times than Texas took President Obama to court during eight years in office.
We've made it through most of the prime water season and have had a few blockbuster winter storms.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom scrapped a $16 billion plan Thursday to build two giant water tunnels to reroute the state's water system and instead directed state agencies to restart planning for a single tunnel.
Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration officially pulled the plug Thursday on the twin Delta tunnels, fullfilling Newsom's pledge to downsize the project to a single pipe as he attempts to chart a new course for California's troubled water-delivery system.
As a new homeowner, my strategy for finding a house was probably a little different than most: I looked for the one with the smallest lawn I could find.
To better measure the water in our snow, California is sending sharper eyes up into the sky.
Colorado River states cheered this month when President Trump signed swiftly passed legislation ratifying a drought plan for the waterway.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday ordered key state agencies to develop a blueprint for meeting California's 21st-century water needs in the face of climate change.
Reason to celebrate? Threatened Central Valley Chinook adult salmon have returned and spawned to the San Joaquin River!
Dozens of fish carcasses - 13 of them Chinook salmon protected by the Endangered Species Act - rotted in the sun Tuesday a couple hundred yards from a new $6.3 million structure that state officials built specifically to keep that grisly scenario from happening.
Time may be running out for California's most infamous fish.
A bee-busy, massive California lilac bush in Santa Monica, the floppy, Dr. Seuss-like dune sedge in La Canada Flintridge, the mountain-inspired mix of California buckwheat, sagebrush and black sage in Pasadena: it's the riot of colors and diversity of plants that leaves a lasting impression from the Theodore Payne Foundation Native Garden Tour.
California's seven-year dry spell may be over, but there will be another drought somewhere in the country this year - and every year.
The Imperial Irrigation District is suing to put a hold on the multi-state drought plan for the Colorado River.
California is leading the world when it comes to climate action and environmental sustainability.
Let's face it, the 2018-2019 water year has been awesome!
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power announced its latest snowpack measurement in the Eastern Sierra Monday and it's at an encouraging 171% of what's considered normal (compared to the state reading of 153%).
A plan to address a shrinking supply of water on a river that serves 40 milion people in the U.S. West is headed to President Donald Trump.
To the editor: I agree with the March 29 editorial that projects to cover the shrinking Salton Sea's exposed shoreline are desperately needed to prevent an environmental and public health crisis.
Water levels will rise on the Sacramento and Feather Rivers as federal and state authorities release more water from Keswick and Oroville Dams.
It's been a beast of a year for snow in the Sierra Nevada range.
Precious water is vanishing into thin air at the Colorado River's two largest reservoirs, and scientists are only now learning the true scale of the problem.
California's largest internal body of water is steadily drying up, exposing a lake bed that threatens to trigger toxic dust storms and exacerbate already high levels of asthma and other respiratory diseases in Southern California.
Turning the tables on California, the Trump administration sued Thursday to block the state's ambitious plan to reallocate billions of gallons of river water to salmon and other struggling fish species.
California had a wet November, a moist December, an absolutely drenched January and February, and so far a fairly watery March.
Poseidon officials, who've spent 21 years working toward approval of a controversial desalination plant in Huntington Beach, had a figurative bounce in their step as they emerged from yet another permitting agency meeting Friday.
Most people think as little as possible about the wastewater that is produced daily from their showers, bathtubs, sinks, dishwashers and toilets. But with the right techniques, it can become a valuable resource.
The water is saved, for now.
It's official: California is 100% drought-free.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California on Tuesday sealed California's participation in a landmark Colorado River drought management plan, agreeing to shoulder more of the state's future delivery cuts to prevent Lake Mead from falling to dangerously low levels.
Millions of Californians could end up with higher water bills after the Trump administration on Friday announced that federal emergency officials aren't going to reimburse the state for $306 million in repairs to Oroville Dam stemming from the 2017 spillway crisis.
Yes, we know your lawn is gorgeous now, lush, glistening in the peekaboo sun and greener than it's ever been, thanks to our flood of winter rains.
The Trump Administration has ordered federal biologists to speed up critical decisions about whether to send more water from Northern California to farmers in the Central Valley, a move that critics say threatens the integrity of the science and cuts the public out of the process.
When you experience the delight of California's amazing king salmon, all other cares disappear. Maybe you caught one of these three-foot-long fish on a rod and reel, or maybe you took your first bite of a juicy grilled filet.
Another federal deadline passed Monday for seven states in the U.S. West to wrap up work on a plan to ensure teh drought-stricken Colorado River can deliver water to the 40 million people and farms that depend on it.
The city of Los Angeles' Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant has long symbolized the absurdity of water policy in the American West.
A historic water agreement was celebrated today on the grounds of the Sycuan Indian Reservation. While Sycuan's new hotel is getting most of the public attention, a reliable supply for the reservation is an even bigger achievement.
They may have been cold and wet, but that was a good thing for surveyors making their monthly winter trip to the state's Phillips station to measure the snowpack Thursday morning.
With a Monday deadline looming, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has offered to break an impasse on a seven-state Colorado River drought contingency package by contributing necessary water from its own reserves on behalf of the Imperial Irrigation District.
California's wet winter has dumped an estimated 18 trillion gallons of rain in February alone. But much of it is simply going down the drain.
Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to charge California water customers up to $10 per month to help clean up contaminated water in low-income and rural areas, but he will face resistence from some legislative Democrats hesitant to impose new taxes.
A potential grand compromise to settle a decades-long water fight has been obvious for years but blown off. Now Gov. Gavin Newsom is forcing all combatants to consider it seriously.
The Metropolitan Water District last week re-upped its turf-removal program, providing greater incentives for homeowners to replace thirsty lawns with drought-tolerant plants.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced in his first State of the State speech that he intends to scale back California's $77-billion bullet train project, saying that while the state has the capacity to complete the first leg in the Central Valley, extending the rail line to Southern California and the Bay Area would "cost too much and, respectfully, take too long."
Sixty years ago, California voters approved Gov. Pat Brown's plan for a 700-mile system of dams, water pumps and aqueducts to control flooding in Northern California and send water south to Los Angeles and San Diego.
I'm touring a construction site near Western Municipal Water District's headquarters in Riverside.
On the surface, things have seemed to be looking up in recent weeks for the future of Lake Mead.
A California water district and a looming environmental disaster have impounded drought contingency negotiations on the Colorado River.
While campaigning for president in 2016, Donald Trump promised a cheering Fresno crowd he would be "opening up the water" for Central Valley farmers who'd been victimized by "insane" environmental rules to protect fish.
The federal government Friday moved closer to imposing water delivery cuts along the drought-depleted Colorado River after California and Arizona failed to meet a deadline for inking a broad agreement on how the seven states that depend on the river would cope with shortages.
Last month hundreds of Western water managers, farmers and scientists gathered at a conference with state, federal and tribal officials in Las Vegas, where they heard a sobering address about the Colorado River
Water deliveries from Lake Oroville have been increased for 2019, but unlike most of California's reservoirs the local lake is still far lower than usual, though it's on the rise.
The Trump administration is laying the groundwork to enlarge California's biggest reservoir, the iconic Shasta Dam, north of Redding, by raising its height.
Federal Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman has drawn a line in the sand for Arizona and other Western states: Finish a deal to take less water from the Colorado River by Thursday, or the federal government will be forced to step in and decide how to prevent reservoirs from critical levels.
Arizona has one week left to approve an emergency plan for the drought-stricken Colorado River, and Nevada officials aren't just watching the clock run out from the sidelines.
Storms that soaked California during the first half of January did more than bring tons of snow to Sierra Nevada ski resorts. They also significantly boosted the state's water supplies.
Water issues are notoriously difficult for California governors. Just look at former Gov. Brown's floundering tunnels proposal for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Yet two factors suggest that Gov. Gavin Newsom must make water a priority.
A record number of Americans understand that climate change is real, according to a new survey, and they are increasingly worried about its effects in their lives today.
Since taking office Jan. 7, Gov. Gavin Newsom has not indicated how he intends to approach one of the state's most pressing issues: water.
Gloria D. Gray has added another "first" to her extensive public service career, as she becomes the first African American elected to chair the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Water Districct (MWD) of Southern California.
A wave of steady storms this week, capped off Wednesday night by a powerful atmospheric river event that caused the National Weather Service to issue a rare blizzard warning, brought more than four feet of snow to some Lake Tahoe-area ski resorts.
As rain continues to pelt Southern California, signs of an abudance of or even too much water are everywhere: Roads are flooded, reservoirs are filling and the wait time for Radiator Springs Racers at the damp Disneyland Resort has been less than a half hour.
California's water supply is now inextricably tied up with climate change.
The Colorado River may not look like it, but it's one of the world's largest banks.
With a federal deadline to sign a Colorado River drought deal three weeks away, Arizona water managers are still grappling with several unresolved issues that could get in the way of finishing an agreement.
As his term as governor drew to a close last month, Jerry Brown brokered a historic agreement among farms and cities to surrender billions of gallons of water to help ailing fish species.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has awarded the San Diego region $500,000 for three water supply technology projects.
In the last few weeks of 2018, the Trump administration set the stage for a big battle over water in the new year.
The new person in charge of delivering water to one in 17 Americans has two big goals: seeing through a controversial public works project to build two new California water tunnels and ensuring her agency is represented by a more diverse group of people.
It's been hard to see 2018 as a good year for water in California.
California's State Water Project and federal Central Valley Project span several northern watersheds, converging in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, where their pumping stations operate a stone's throw away from one another. They coordinate their operations on a daily basis and have done so for decades.
President Trump on Thursday signed the 2018 Farm Bill, which alters language in agricultural conservation programs to make the Salton Sea eligible for millions in new federal funding.
As stakeholders labor to nail down effective and durable drought contingency plans for the Colorado River Basin, they face a stark reality: Scientific research is increasingly pointing to even drier, more challenging times ahead.
Dare we say it? The outlines of a truce in California's unending water battles began to come into focus last week, though not everyone is willing to sign the treaty.
Congressional leaders reached a short-term spending deal Wednesday that effectively punts most of the contentious funding decisions into the new year.
Beverly Hills authorities are urging residents and visitors Tuesday to conserve water and avoid Sunset Boulevard between Alpine Drive and Rexford Drive as crews continue to work on repairing a water main break.
The snow season, which started this month, is off to a good start. A series of December storms covered the Sierra Nevada with heavy snow, leaving the snowpack at 106% of average, according to the state's snow survey.
Southern Californians could lose billions of gallons of water a year to Central Valley farmers under a deal Gov. Jerry Brown's administration has struck with water officials working for President Donald Trump.
As all eyes turn to the State Water Resources Control Board on Wednesday, the board won't have complete settlement agreements with Modesto-area irrigation districts to consider at a crucial meeting
With drought entering a second decade and reservoirs continuing to shrink, seven Southwestern U.S. states that depend on the overtaxed Colorado River for crop irrigation and drinking water had been expected to ink a crucial share-the-pain contingency plan by the end of 2018.
State officials pulled back on their effort Friday to secure a crucial green light for the Delta tunnels project, all but ensuring that the controversial plan to re-engineer the West Coast's largest estuary will remain in limbo after Gov. Jerry Brown leaves office.
After a great deal of hard work in recent weeks, water leaders from across Arizona have made significant progress in the effort to protect Arizona's Colorado River water supplies.
As Gov. Jerry Brown leaves office, his controversial Delta tunnels plan is on the ropes.
A scheduled shutdown of a pipeline supplying most of the water for Inland Valley cities has prompted officials to ask customers to limit their water use over a 10-day period.
Imperial County Superior Court Judge L. Brooks Anderholt could rule as early as today on whether to grant an injunction that would stop Imperial Irrigation District from taking part in a plan to prevent shortages on the drought-plagued Colorado River.
The effects of climate change are not far off problems for future generations. They are existential problems for everyone alive today.
It's going to take a lot more rain to help South Bay reservoirs that altogether are filled only a little more than a quarter of what they can hold.
Tribal control of groundwater could mean opportunities for economic development, while helping Native Americans deal with the pressures of climate change.
First, the good news: Heavy rain expected this week won't just drench Northern California's Camp Fire. It could also snuff out the risk of new wildfires for the rest of the year.
Today was the first day of a two-day workshop focusing on the Delta Stewardship Council staff's draft determination that the California Water Fix is consistent with the Delta Plan. The day began with Council staff giving an in-depth presentation on their findings.
With scarcely two weeks left for negotiations, Arizona's internal talks to stave off a disasterous drought on the Colorado River have entered a crisis of their own.
The Camp Fire's relentless push to the south overnight had California officials preparing for the worst Monday at the nation's tallest dam.
California's Water Resources Control Board described its new Salton Sea plan as a landmark agreement, but at least one expert is questioning the modified approach, calling it "Band-Aids to a very serious environmental disaster."
The State Water Resources Control Board honored a request by Gov. Jerry Brown and Governor-elect Gavin Newsom for 34 days to work out voluntary settlements with irrigation districts in the Northern San Joaquin Valley, which are under pressure to divert less water so salmon populations can rebound in rivers.
Water scarcity is an issue people in Southern California think about a lot. California experienced one of the worst droughts in state history from 2011 to 2017. Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought State of Emerency in 2014, calling for statewide water conservation. By 2022, California residents will need to limit their indoor water use to 55 gallons of water per person a day. And by 2030, that number will drop to 50 gallons.
Protecting California's fish is an important duty of the State Water Resources Control Board. But it is not our board's only duty.
Last week opponents and proponents of the California WaterFix Project squared off against one another again, this time during three days of hearings and public comments as the Delta Stewardship Council (DSC) attempted to determine if WaterFix, aka the Delta tunnels project, is consistent with the Delta Plan.
San Diego Water managers will meet with the Metropolitan Water District next week in a bid to end a long-running feud over water transfer costs.
State officials on Wednesday removed the elected board and general manager of a water district that for years has been accused of serving brown, smelly water to its customers in Compton.
State officials said Wednesday the damaged Oroville Dam flood-control spillway is ready for the rainy season, and will be able to fully blast water down its half-mile long concrete chute for the first time in nearly two years if lake levels rise.
San Diego County water officials, who have been mired in legal disputes with their counterparts to the north over billions of dollars in rates and methodology, proposed a sweeping compromise Thursday that, if accepted, could end years of acrimony and expensive litigation.
Riverside County is moving forward with a Salton Sea restoration plan that officials say could generate more than $1 billion in tax revenue, which would help fund construction of a permanent, horseshoe-shaped lake at the north end of the dying sea.
President Trump on Friday directed federal agencies to speed up their environmental review of major water projects in California and to develop plans to suspend or revise regulations that hamper water deliveries.
The rivers that once poured from the Sierra Nevada, thick with snowmelt and salmon, now languish amid relentless pumpking, sometimes shriveling to a trickle and sparking a crisis for fish, wildlife and the people who rely on a healthy California delta.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife hit a milestone in its ongoing efforts to control the state's nutria infestation on Friday morning when they successfully trapped Nutria number 300 at a pond in Merced County.
Oct. 10 marked the 15th anniversary of the signing of the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA).
Crews have begun to place the final layer of concrete this week on the upper portion of the Oroville Dam spillway chute.
As a 27-year Sacramentan, it's pretty easy to detect that there are fewer winter moments of dense, bone-penetrating valley fog than before.
At Scripps Pier in San Diego, the surface water reached the highest temperature in 102 years of records, 78.8 degrees.
The imported water that keeps most of Ventura County running comes from one main source — Northern California. It is delivered to us through the State Water Project.
Listen to two experts explain the implications of new water efficiency laws and highlight promising trends in conservation throughout the state.
The West is known for summer wildfires. Now it seems Western summers will be distinguished by another kind of flare-up: algae blooms.
Nearly six decades ago, shortly after becoming governor, Pat Brown persuaded the Legislature and voters to approve one of the nation's largest public works projects, the State Water Plan.
It's no secret that water is our most precious and limited resource, especially in drought-stricken California. As a result, water-use efficiency and water conservation have become a California way of life.
California voters place water storage and drought at the top of their concerns over the environment, according to a new Public Policy Institute of California poll released Wednesday.
California officials Tuesday awarded $816 million in voter-approved bond money to build Sites Reservoir, an hour north of Sacramento, providing a financial boost for what would become the largest water storage project built in the state since the 1970s.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke paid a visit Friday to two reservoirs that are embroiled in an intense fight over water allocations in the Northern San Joaquin Valley.
Here we go again.
Concerns over the cost and environmental impacts of desalinated water were overridden by the desire to fortify water supplies when the Orange County Water District board voted 6-2 Wednesday to approve non-binding contract terms with Poseidon, which has spent 20 years on the desalination plant proposal for Huntington Beach.
The extreme weather swings California has experienced recently, from a historic drought to record-breaking rain and snow, may become increasingly commonplace.
Critical permits and legal challenges are still pending, and some farming groups still haven't committed to paying for part of Gov. Jerry Brown's controversial $17 billion Delta tunnels project.
Los Angeles County supervisors voted Tuesday to place a property tax before voters in November to raise money for projects to capture and clean storm water.
With little clout in Sacramento, Republicans are trying to use their power in Washington to reshape California's water policies.
Completed during Harry Truman's presidency, the Friant-Kern Canal has been a workhorse in California's elaborate man-made water-delivery network.
San Diego County homeowners can receive $2.75 per square foot to replace their water-wasting turf lawns with sustainable landscaping under a new program in Southern California.
The recent heat wave served as a sobering reminder of how important it is to have a reliable source of water available to our communities. We'd burn up if the tap ever went dry.
California's wildfire season is off to its worst start in 10 years.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California Tuesday reaffirmed its approval of an $11-billion investment in a massive water delivery project with a vote that highlighted a deepening division on the agency's board.
Southern California's powerful water agency reaffirmed its commitment to the Delta tunnels project Tuesday, agreeing for a second time to spend nearly $11 billion on a majority stake in the twin tunnels.
Authorities in Salem, Oregon, lifted a drinking water advisory on July 3 that had been in place for children and the elderly since Memorial Day weekend, when algal toxins were discovered in the city's water system.
State regulators proposed sweeping changes in the allocation of California's water Friday, leaving more water in Northern California's major rivers to help ailing fish populations — and giving less to farming and human consumption.
When dust storms began rising off the dry bed of Owens Lake, authorities in the Eastern Sierra blamed Los Angeles' thirst. The city had, after all, drained the lake in the 1920s to serve its faucets.
California is about to embark on one of the biggest public works projects not just in its own state history, but in any state's history.
Water is a scarce resource, especially in California where rainfall is so inconsistent.
For the first time in well over a year, a clear path exists for completion of Arizona's share of a three-state drought plan for the Colorado River.
A four-year pilot program that paid ranchers and farmers in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico about $200 per acre-foot of water saved by fallowing fields in order to boost water levels in Lake Powell will be put on hold after 2018.
Fear can be a powerful motivator.
Saying it needs an insurance policy against future droughts, the Santa Clara Valley Water District is moving forward with plans to purchase a key property to build the largest reservoir constructed in the Bay Area in the past 20 years.
Americans are conserving water in their homes like never before, according to a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) report released this month.
A state commission on Tuesday approved $2.7 billion in funding for a variety of water storage projects across California, but the money doesn't guarantee that any of them will be built.
The words blasted to cellphones around Salem, Oregon were ominous: "Civil emergency. prepare for action."
A "use-it-or-lose-it" system of water allocation has historically required growers in California to irrigate their land or lose their water rights, whether market forces compelled them to grow crops or not.
Californians will vote this fall on a radical proposal to split the state into three: Northern California, Southern California and just plain California.
All recreational activities have been suspended at Diamond Valley Lake near Hemet because of an algal bloom outbreak.
California has always been America's leader on environmental policy, and water is no exception.
Water leaders in Arizona are again trying to get to "yes" on a deal that deals with drought.
For 22 years, Maureen Stapleton has led the San Diego County Water Authority.
The gates to Diamond Valley Lake are closed Monday, which is no surprise, but when the marina reopens Tuesday, boaters and fisherman will be greeted with something that many haven't seen in a while: a massive algae bloom.
An algal bloom in the Diamond Valley Lake reservoir near Hemet has prompted authorities to warn people not to touch or drink from the body of water.
An algal bloom covering nearly all of Diamond Valley Lake near Hemet has prompted officials to warn lake-goers not to drink or touch the water.
California's two Democratic senators have committed themselves to opposing a controversial House provision that would block judicial review of the state's WaterFix tunnel project, reprising a familiar Capitol Hill plot.
Reservoirs that store water along the Colorado River are projected to be less than half full later this year, potentially marking a historic low mark for the river system that supplies water to seven U.S. states and Mexico.
The first step to dissolve the Sativa Water Board in Compton has been taken, it was announced Friday.
Fire stations throughout the City have said goodbye to water-guzzling grass and hello to drought-tolerant landscapes in a water conservation overhaul made possible by Pasadena Water & Power.
California's Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) requires each local Groundwater Sustainability Agency to develop and implement a Groundwater Sustainability Plan for its basin and the first plans for critically overdrafted basins are due to be completed by January 31, 2020.
A historic vote on the Delta tunnels project is getting a do-over.
No, Californians, it's not against the law to shower and do laundry on the same day — even though loud voices in the conservative blogosphere are claiming it is.
For the first time in the state's history, California is setting permanent water-consumption goals to prepare for future droughts and climate change, with a local elected official involved in the historic move.
Californians approved the $4.1 billion bond measure Proposition 68 on Tuesday, giving a boost to California's long-delayed and underfunded effort to build thousands of acres of wetlands around the shrinking Salton Sea.
As a young biologist in the 1970s, Peter Moyle remembers towing nets behind boats in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and catching 50 to 100 translucent, finger-length smelt in a matter of minutes.
If the most powerful water officials in San Diego get their way, the county will ratchet down to a trickle one of its cheapest sources of water in the next two decades.
Chinook salmon, steelhead, and green sturgeon will soon have an easier path to the Sacramento River, and eventually their spawning grounds.
In this episode of Deeply Talks, Tara Lohan, Water Deeply's managing editor, speaks with University of California, Davis fisheries experts Peter Moyle and John Durand about the challenges and opportunities for fish restoration in the California Delta.
The San Diego County Water Authority now supports Gov. Jerry Brown's twin tunnels project, a $17 billion plan to carry water south from the rivers of Northern California.
A bruising battle between the Central Arizona Project and many states and water users has revitalized the push for a stillborn plan to prepare for more drought on the Colorado River.
Water districts that have voted to commit their funds to the California WaterFix have formed a Joint Powers Agreement to help the state Department of Water Resources accomplish construction of the Delta Twin Tunnels.
The Colorado River has for years been locked in a pattern of chronic overuse, with much more water doled out to cities and farmlands than what's flowing into its reservoirs.
Some environmentalists go so far as to call the desalination proposal for south Orange County, just north of Doheny State Beach, a "good" approach.
Californians this year will vote on not one but two water bond measures totaling $13 billion.
Farmers receiving allocations from the State Water Project can expect a bigger allotment this year than they anticipated as recently as last month, thanks to late-season precipitation.
The final round of the 16th annual Solar Cup Competition, where students from 38 Southern California high schools rely on the sun's rays to power boats, will be held Sunday at Lake Skinner in Winchester.
For the past seven months, hundreds of high school students have been building boats equipped with solar panels, steering capabilities and motors that produce up to 320 watts of power.
A joint powers authority has been formed to oversee design and construction of California's delta water tunnel project, a milestone in the multibillion-dollar plan that has been in the works for more than a decade.
California's super bloom hasn't materialized the way it did last spring, but that hasn't stopped Woodland Hills homeowners Ron Gales and Andrea Fields from enjoying a spectacular wildflower bloom of their own.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and two other water districts that agreed to fund the California Waterfix tunnel project announced today the formation of a public agency that will be charged with its design and construction.
It's well-understood at this point that the Trump Administration is no friend to science-based governance.
Warmer days — and nights.
Mexico and the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada face a better-than-even possibility of getting less water from the Colorado River in 2020 because of a persistent drought, water managers said Wednesday.
Imagine the snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains as a giant reservoir providing water for 23 million people throughout California.
Gov. Jerry Brown warned local water agency officials throughout California on Thursday that unless the delta tunnels project gets needed state and federal permits soon and continues advancing, the major infrastructure project may not happen in their lifetime.
A Bay Area water agency agreed Tuesday to pump $650 million into Gov. Jerry Brown's Delta tunnels project, providing a meaningful boost for the controversial $16.7 billion plan.
On May 8, phase two of reconstruction will begin on the Oroville Dam Spillway, but as more repairs take place, the bills are stacking up.
In 2012, the San Diego County Water Authority launched an unusual website to attack Southern California's largest supplier of water, the Metropolitan Water District.
The outlook for the most important river in the Southwestern U.S. remains grim this summer after April storms failed to produce much snow in the mountains that feed the waterway, forecasters said Monday.
One of the teams within UC Riverside's Engineers Without Borders (EWB), a chapter under the Inland Empire professional chapter, took home first prize for the team category at the 11th annual Metropolitan Spring Green Expo on Thursday, April 19.
The 2014 water bond included a novel funding approach designed to take at least some of the politicking out of deciding which projects get public money.
California Gov. Jerry Brown's twin tunnels project in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta could receive a significant boost thanks to one Bay Area water district, but that extra help could result in higher water bills for some customers in the South Bay.
Many Americans know the name Kesterson as the California site where thousands of birds and fish were discovered with gruesome deformities in 1983, a result of exposure to selenium-poisoned farm runoff.
After a five-hour packed public hearing, the board of Silicon Valley's largest water provider postponed a decision on whether to provide up to $650 million toward a $17 billion plan to build two giant tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to move water south.
Lake Mead is the country's biggest reservoir of water. Think of it as the savings account for the entire Southwest.
The day of reckoning is drawing near for Huntington Beach's long-planned desalination plant, which would help quench Orange County's thirst with sea water and free up imported water for the rest of the Southern California.
Twenty years and $50 million into the process, officials with desalination plant purveyor Poseidon are optimistic they will get their final two permits — possibly by year's end.
When California's Orange County Water District began distributing drinking water derived from sewage in the mid-1970s, it acted out of simple need.
Lower Basin states can easily store conserved water upstream in Lake Mead, but it's not so simple for Upper Basin states with major reservoirs below them.
In a dramatic reversal of its stance just six months ago, Silicon Valley's largest water district has scheduled a vote Wednesday on a plan to commit up to $650 million to Gov. Jerry Brown's controversial proposal.
Recently, Southern California water leaders made their biggest investment decision in half a century.
Sea level rise and changing streamflows are converging with uncertain results in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
The meager 3 inches of rainfall this season is a reminder just how dependent San Diego and all of Southern California is on water from somewhere else.
Proposition 68 would allow California to sell $4.1 billion in bonds to pay for desperately needed improvements in parks and water systems.
The California Department of Water Resources on Tuesday announced a statewide increase in State Water Project allocations for 2018.
Despite getting a financial boost earlier this month, California's project to build two new water tunnels still faces big regulatory and legal challenges.
Californians should expect more dramatic swings between dry and wet years as the climate warms.
California already has one of the most variable climates and the swings between extremes will become more pronounced with unchecked climate change.
California has long battled both torrential rain and water shortages.
As Gov. Jerry Brown moves through his final months in public life, an elusive signature project — the construction of two massive water tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, intended to salvage the state's water supply network — has seemed endangered.
Last fall, after years of study, the state's largest water agency voted to spend $4 billion on a new project to bring water south from Northern California's rivers.
April is often a time of abundance in the mountains of the American West, when snowpack is at or near its peak, and forecasters work to determine how much runoff will course through our rivers and fill reservoirs later in the season.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California voted Tuesday to shoulder most of the cost of revamping the system that delivers water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta to the Southland, committing nearly $11 billion to building two massive tunnels.
After a decade of planning and debate, the controversial Delta tunnels project got a huge cash infusion Tuesday and took a giant step toward becoming reality.
The largest water district in California agreed Tuesday to fork over nearly $11 billion to build two tunnels that will siphon water south from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, a major boost for Gov. Jerry Brown's pet project.
A week after Southern California's largest water agency abandoned a plan to pay for much of the state's ambitious water project, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California's Board of Directors approved a nearly $11 billion plan for a two-tunnel project that would bring water from Northern California to Southern California.
Southern California's largest water wholesaler decided Tuesday to commit nearly $11 billion to build two tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to divert water south to Los Angeles and neighboring counties.
Officials have voted in favor of a proposed two-tunnel system that would deliver much needed water to Southern California.
California's largest water agency has approved a nearly $11 billion plan to help fund two enormous delivery tunnels, breathing new life into Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to remake the state's water system.
Today is a big day for billions of dollars in water projects.
Gov. Jerry Brown, in a last-minute bid to forge ahead with one of his legacy projects, urged Southern California's big water agency Monday to support a plan to build the two Delta tunnels simultaneously.
With the city of Los Angeles and Orange County on opposite sides, Southern California's role in financing a massive water delivery project is likely to hinge on a few smaller agencies.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) voted to approve its initial share of funding the entire $16.7 billion California WaterFix project in October 2017.
Communities across California are struggling to comply with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), the state's first comprehensive attempt to rein in wanton groundwater depletion.
In law school, first-year students are introduced to the term ipse dixit, a Latin phrase meaning a statement that, while unsupported and unproven, may carry some weight based solely on the authority or standing of the person who made it.
Camrosa Water District, a public services provider in Ventura County, gets its water from a combination of groundwater, recycled wastewater, and the State Water Project, which transports water south through the state.
After a spring storm system dumped 5 to 7 inches of rain into the Feather River basin over the weekend, state officials said Sunday they likely won't have to use the partly rebuilt flood control spillway at Oroville Dam after all.
The first thing to remember about precipitation in California is that it's unpredictable, as the past several winters have once again shown us.
Four days after Southern California's biggest water agency dropped a plan to pay for most of a major water delivery project, the funding proposal is back on the table.
A million people live in the Northern San Joaquin Valley. If Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to siphon water to Los Angeles is completed, all of us are going to suffer.
More groups are coming to their senses by not wanting to spend tens of billions of dollars on a wasteful project that will ruin the Delta forever.
Modernizing the state's water delivery system through the California WaterFix is necessary for our survival in Southern California.
A powerful Southern California water agency has breathed life back into the twin-tunnels Delta water project, a plan that appeared dead just a few days ago.
For far too long, too many leaders in California have had tunnel vision – Gov. Jerry Brown, local elected officials, water district executives.
About a year into his second go-round as governor, Jerry Brown was talking about all the challenges facing California.
Just how bad was California's last drought?
At the height of the California drought, David and Christine Ramirez started to question the practicality of their Woodland Hills lawn.
Pounding rains, heavy snow: It's shaping up as another wintry week in Northern California.
California's water conservation habits, refined and improved over five years of drought, are quickly evaporating.
ONE OF CALIFORNIA'S foremost experts on freshwater fish believes there may be hope for restoring native salmon to abundance – but there's a catch: California must build the controversial Delta tunnels, he says.
Water that once coursed through city sewers may soon find new life coming out of your home faucet.
DESPITE RECENT RAIN and snow, California is back to dry conditions again after a very wet 2017.
Lake Mead is unsustainable.
Two tunnels, one or none? The question continues to swirl around plans to perform major surgery on the sickly heart of California's water system.
Scientists have found dramatically declining snowpack across the American West over the past six decades that will likely cause water shortages in the region that cannot be managed by building new reservoirs, according to a study published Friday.
Facing pressure from Gov. Jerry Brown, Southern California's largest water agency could vote as soon as April on whether to take a majority stake in the twin-tunnels project Brown plans for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
About the size of a beagle, they can quickly turn a lush green marsh to a wasteland.
Amid one of California's driest winters in modern history, state water regulators on Tuesday met in Sacramento to consider making permanent the water-wasting rules that were in effect during the last drought — rules that would carry fines of up to $500 per violation.
With California facing another potential drought, legislators demanded Wednesday that a state agency release $2.7 billion in bond funding for dams, reservoirs and other water storage projects.
As dry conditions persist in California, residents in San Diego County and around the state have started using water at levels not seen since before the state's historic drought.
Amid a winter marked by more sun than storms, California is desperate for rain and snow.
It appears Gov. Jerry Brown's Delta Tunnel plan could be back on track with both underground waterways.
In a dramatic twist on the Delta tunnels saga, Southern California's powerful water agency is exploring the feasibility of owning the majority stake in the controversial project, a move that raises fears of a "water grab."
Even a single water tunnel burrowed under the California's Delta would be worth it for urban ratepayers and farmers who would to pay to build and maintain the project, according to an analysis released Tuesday by Gov. Jerry Brown's administration.
Like a patient waiting for heart bypass surgery while the insurance company dickers with the hospital over the numbers, California has been stuck in pre-op for decades, awaiting approval of an aqueduct or tunnel bypass from the Sacramento River around (instead of through) the state's hydrological heart — the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
The troubled Delta tunnels project was officially downsized Wednesday, as Gov. Jerry Brown's administration announced it would attempt to build a single tunnel in its effort to re-engineer California's elaborate water-delivery system.
Governor Brown's proposed budget―the last of his tenure―highlights his priorities for the state.
Water policy is becoming a prisoner of its own limited vocabulary, particularly when it comes to the weather.
When Governor Brown issued mandatory restrictions back in 2015, many people ripped out lawns in favor of drought-resistant gardens or, at the very least, watered our plants a lot less.
This winter in the southern Rocky Mountains is shaping up to be one for the record books. And not in a good way.
Many Western reservoirs are full, and downpours have triggered floods and deadly mudslides in parts of California.
By summer, four million people in the city of Cape Town—one of Africa's most affluent metropolises—may have to stand in line surrounded by armed guards to collect rations of the region's most precious commodity: drinking water.
Semi-arid Southern California's residents saved a record amount of water last year, more than 1 million acre feet, according to the Metropolitan Water District, the region's biggest water wholesaler.
California water officials have approved $34.4 million in grants to eight desalination projects across the state, including one in the East Bay city of Antioch, as part of an effort to boost the water supply in the wake of the state's historic, five-year drought.
They gathered this week at Sacramento's federal building on Capitol Mall, carrying protest signs and vowing to resist the Trump administration's plan to pump more of Northern California's water through the Delta to the southern half of the state.
The 2016-2017 water year was one of the wettest on record in California.
The news, as it often does, has been bouncing back and forth from extreme to extreme — historic drought, historic snowfall, historic fires, fatal floods and mudslides.
California officials have moved closer to scaling back the troubled Delta tunnels project, officially notifying potential construction contractors that they're considering limiting the project to one tunnel.
Colorado mountain snowpack shrunk to record-low levels this week, raising concerns about water supply, and some federal authorities calculated even big late snow — if it falls — may not make up for the lag.
Think of it as a dense blob of air. When it parks itself over the Pacific Ocean, it can act like a wall – and prevent rain and snow from reaching Northern California.
Biologists assumed baby winter-run Chinook salmon hung out in the Sacramento River where they hatched until they grew large enough to make the trip downstream to the Pacific Ocean.
Republican senators used their majority to advance two of President Donald Trump's picks for key environmental posts over the objections of Democrats who say the nominees are unfit for office.
I got up at 5:15 a.m. on Saturday morning with the idea of driving 100 miles to watch the sun rise over the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
During California's five-year drought, the row of ponds in the desert north of the Palm Springs often lay empty and dry.
California regulators on Tuesday approved a plan to spend nearly $400 million over 10 years to slow the shrinking of the state's largest lake, a vital migratory stop for birds and a buffer against swirling dust in farming towns.
Governors of 19 Western states are pressing the federal government to do more to prevent the spread of damage-causing invasive mussels from infected federally managed waterways.
The Oroville Dam flood control spillway has been fixed.
Hydrologist Mark Hanna stood on the North Broadway Bridge recently and gazed out on an industrial vista of treated urban runoff flowing down the Los Angeles River channel between graffiti-marred concrete banks and train trestles strewn with broken glass.
If two massive, 40-mile long, 40-foot-diameter tunnels that would direct Sacramento River water around the fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to Central and Southern California are too big, too expensive and too scary to contemplate, how about splitting the difference and going with a single tunnel?
Indian tribes in our arid region need access to reliable water to continue to live on reservation lands. This session, I jointly wrote Assembly Bill 1361 with Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia, D – Coachella, to streamline water deliveries to Indian reservations throughout California.
Bringing more certainty to an unruly and unpredictable Colorado River system was a common theme among water managers speaking at the Colorado River District's annual seminar September 15.
After far too many years lost to the indecisiveness of "let's do yet another study," momentum finally seems to be behind real efforts to "save" the Salton Sea.
Silicon Valley's water district Wednesday rejected Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to build twin tunnels beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta but said it would support a smaller, less expensive project.
When it comes to water policy, all environmental groups are not the same.
The Coachella Valley's largest water agency voiced support for California's proposed $17.1 billion plan to build two water tunnels beneath the Delta, even as key questions about the project remain unanswered — including how much customers would end up paying.
Southern California's largest water agency Tuesday threw a lifeline to California WaterFix, approving a $4.3-billion buy-in to the water delivery project.
Southern California's powerful water agency committed more than $4 billion to the Delta tunnels Tuesday, giving the troubled plan a desperately needed vote of confidence.
Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California took the opportunity to give voice to the love of water conservation in a new media campaign called "H2 Love Letters."
A longtime Sonoma County water manager and environmental advocate is in line to lead the state Department of Water Resources, Gov. Jerry Brown announced Wednesday.
An internationally recognized purification system credited with turning wastewater into drinkable water in Orange County will begin the final stage of expansion with a $124 million investment from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, officials announced Wednesday, July 19.
The federal government is poised to invest as much as $492 million to get Pure Water, the city of San Diego's effort to turn sewage into drinking water, off the ground.
The state's recently released survey about California's use of recycled water was disappointing for recycled water use advocates, but it doesn't tell the full story.
In Santa Clara County, 40 percent of the water we need for our families, businesses and to grow our local food comes from the Sacramento – San Joaquin Delta. But the infrastructure that delivers this water is aging, at risk of collapse and subject to continual supply cutbacks due to the deteriorating condition of the Delta.
The governor's proposed Delta tunnels ran into a roomful of skeptics Monday – an influential group of San Joaquin Valley farmers who remain unconvinced the controversial project will deliver the water they need at a price they're prepared to swallow.
Two years ago, the amount of water in the massive Diamond Valley Lake was … well, not so massive.
California officials are trying to speed up repairs on Oroville Dam's battered flood-control spillway.
The price of almost everything is on the rise, but we tend to shrug off inflation in goods and services we can cut back or do without.
California could get wetter — not drier — in coming decades, according to a UC Riverside study that upends some conventions about climate change.
UC Riverside climate researcher Robert Allen says California should get ready for more rain.
A new bill in the state Legislature would require California to review the environmental impacts of a company's proposal to pump groundwater from beneath the Mojave Desert and sell it to Southern California cities — a controversial plan that was slowed down by President Obama, but which appears to have the backing of the Trump administration.
The preliminaries are just about over. Permanent structural repairs are about to begin at Oroville Dam.
When it comes to California and climate change, the predictions are staggering: coastal airports besieged by floodwaters, entire beaches disappearing as sea levels rise.
The Delta tunnels got a crucial green light from two federal agencies Monday when scientists said the controversial project can co-exist with the endangered fish that inhabit the waters of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Gov. Jerry Brown won crucial early approval from federal wildlife officials Monday for his $16 billion proposal to re-engineer California's north-south water system, advancing his plan to build two giant tunnels to carry Northern California water to the south even though much about the project remains undetermined.
Federal fishery agencies Monday pushed forward a controversial water project that would change the way Northern California supplies are sent to the Southland.
Federal wildlife agencies gave the controversial Delta tunnels a partial approval on Monday, announcing that the $17 billion project to replumb the dying estuary will not jeopardize threatened and endangered fish.
The San Diego County Water Authority – and San Diego ratepayers – were dealt a major legal loss this week that could leave local water customers back on the hook for billions of dollars over the next several decades.
The San Diego County Water Authority – and San Diego ratepayers – were dealt a major legal loss this week that could leave local water customers back on the hook for billions of dollars over the next several decades.
legal ruling that San Diego County water officials said would save customers here up to $7 billion has been overturned.
A legal ruling that San Diego County water officials said would save customers here up to $7 billion has been overturned.
The Butte Creek salmon story is a rare one. Usually stories about fisheries in California are centered around a species that is disappearing. This one is about a species that is thriving.
For the first time in the Western Hemisphere, the public will receive bottles of highly purified wastewater, demonstrating the safety and technological advancements of sophisticated treatment systems that now provide new sources of drinking water, officials announced.
The Butte Creek salmon story is a rare one.
While winter rains have refilled California reservoirs and dumped near-record snow on the mountains, communities across the state are wisely seeking ways reduce their vulnerability to future droughts.
Love it or hate it, the Delta tunnels project is reaching a decision point.
A company's vision to pump water from the Mojave Desert and sell it to thirsty Southern California cities had looked to some to be a long shot.
As Southern California gardeners select drought-friendly plants and keep water conservation in mind, it would be wise to not forget about maintenance.
California is emerging from one of the worst droughts in its modern history, a dry spell that prompted emergency regulations and some deep reflections on the fragile nature of our water supplies.
San Diego County Water Authority directors have met behind closed doors more than three times a week on average since the start of the year, putting the agency on pace to surpass last year's tally of gatherings that critics say could run afoul of open-meetings laws.
Jerry Brown took an Old English turn from his Latin wisdom in 2012 by declaring: “I want to get s--- done,” a reference to his vision for building two tunnels 30 miles long to move Sacramento River water south from the Delta to the rest of the state.
The San Diego County Water Authority is floating a radical idea to upend how 19 million Southern Californians get their water.
The San Diego County Water Authority is floating a radical idea to upend how 19 million Southern Californians get their water.
San Diego has some of the most expensive water in California – and in the country.
Those weed fabrics and barriers that you just spent the weekend putting down? They're great at cutting back on weeds in the short term.
CALIFORNIA'S LARGEST LAKE, the Salton Sea, is an accident. It was created in 1905 when a levee broke on an irrigation canal, flooding a giant desert playa.
California's five-year drought was officially declared to be over in April.
Officials in Arizona have reached an impasse on a multistate agreement aimed at storing more Colorado River water in Lake Mead, but Southern Nevada Water Authority chief John Entsminger said he is confident the deal will still get done.
The first part of this article, about the current water situation in the state, will run this week.
California has decrepit water infrastructure at risk of catastrophic failure.
The Riverside County board of supervisors, who act as the board of the Riverside County Regional Park and Open-Space District, approved a Memorandum of Intent between the Riverside County Regional Park and Open-Space District, the Valley-Wide Recreation and Park District, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the city of Hemet and the Eastern Municipal Water District, regarding the Diamond Valley Lake Recreation Area.
While no one will be swimming in Diamond Valley Lake anytime soon, plans for developing recreational opportunities around the reservoir are moving forward.
The winter's welcome wet spell has brought at least an unofficial end to California's drought.
The company that built one of greater Sacramento's most important flood-control projects in years will fix the damaged spillways at Oroville Dam, site of a near catastrophe two months ago.
Design flaws, construction shortcomings and maintenance errors caused the Oroville Dam spillway to break apart in February, according to an independent analysis by Robert Bea for the Center for Catastrophic Risk Management at UC Berkeley.
The company that built one of greater Sacramento's most important flood-control projects in years will fix the damaged spillways at Oroville Dam, site of a near catastrophe two months ago.
California's historic five-year drought is officially over, washed away with the relentlessly drenching rains, floods and snowstorms of this winter.
A series of late-season storms has vaulted this winter into the history books, making it the wettest winter for California's northern Sierra Nevada in nearly a century of record-keeping, according to the California Department of Water Resources.
California's historic five-year drought is officially over, washed away with the relentlessly drenching rains, floods and snowstorms of this winter.
Land subsidence from over pumping groundwater in the San Joaquin Valley has been called the largest human alteration of the Earth's surface.
California's climate has long been dominated by cycles of intense dry conditions followed by heavy rain and snow.
California's climate has long been dominated by cycles of intense dry conditions followed by heavy rain and snow.
A state-commissioned report on climate change released Wednesday raises the stakes for fighting global warming, offering a clearer and, in some cases, more catastrophic picture of how much sea levels will rise in California.
CALIFORNIA IS A LAND OF EXTREMES – where preparing for extremes must be constant and eternal.
Startlingly green hills, surging rivers and the snow-wrapped Sierra Nevada had already signaled what Gov. Jerry Brown made official Friday: The long California drought is over.
After one of the wettest winters on record, Gov. Jerry Brown declared Friday that California's historic drought is officially over for all but a handful of areas in the Central Valley.
Gov. Jerry Brown made official on Friday what anyone who happened to be looking out a window at yet another soggy Sacramento morning may have suspected: The California drought is over.
The drought officially ended in most of California on Friday, but state officials vowed to clamp down on wasteful water use and impose a long-term conservation program that could create friction with urban water users.
Southern California's most powerful water agency is prepared to invest in Sacramento Valley's proposed Sites Reservoir, a move that could broaden support for the $4.4 billion project but also raise alarms about a south state "water grab."
In this year of record rainfall, billions of gallons of water are flowing to the ocean that – if only sufficient storage existed – could be stored for the drought that inevitably will return.
The Trump administration has removed a major roadblock to plans by a Los Angeles company to pump ancient groundwater from below the Mojave Desert and sell it to urban areas of Southern California.
Californians are still conserving substantial amounts of water even as Gov. Jerry Brown appears ready to rescind or relax his drought declaration.
My age begins with a "five," so on this rare issue, I speak with a degree of authority.
Jason Tucker's job title is facility manager at the Glen Canyon Dam.
Jason Tucker's job title is facility manager at the Glen Canyon Dam.
To understand how climate change is creating a world of extremes, look to California, where the reality of severe drought coupled with intense precipitation threatens millions of residents, a rich ecosystem and the dated infrastructure designed to protect them.
The main spillway at Oroville Dam is riddled with design flaws and so badly damaged that an independent panel of experts hired by the state has concluded it's probably impossible to repair the structure completely before the next rainy season begins in November.
As California pulls out of the drought, expect to see a weird thing: water agencies opposing plans to help the state get through future droughts.
Stanford Professor Noah Diffenbaugh warns that heavy California rains like those experienced this past winter are here to stay.
In the years before California's civil engineers got around to confining the Sacramento River, it often spilled over its banks, inundating huge swaths of the Central Valley.
In the years before California’s civil engineers got around to confining the Sacramento River, it often spilled over its banks, inundating huge swaths of the Central Valley.
The city of Los Angeles gets much of its water from the Owens River watershed in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.
Gov. Jerry Brown asked the federal government Sunday to provide additional help for California's storm recovery, including repairs at the damaged Oroville Dam.
California officials have temporarily resumed using the damaged main spillway at Lake Oroville, marking an important milestone in efforts to get the vast state reservoir back to normal after a near collapse last month.
During one of this winter's frequent storms, sheets of rainwater spilled from roofs, washed across sidewalks and down gutters into a sprawling network of underground storm drains that empty into the Los Angeles River channel.
Last year, 100 percent of the imported water needed to run the North County economy came from the Colorado River.
State officials said Wednesday that Californians reliant on water pumped out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta won't face supply shortages, even as crews shut down a massive pumping station that serves much of Southern California for at least a month to make repairs to its intake reservoir.
A deluge of rainstorms have soaked many parts of California this winter, quenching a thirst that persisted for nearly five years and plunged us into an alarming state of drought emergency.
Kale or quinoa?
California's years-long drought put hydroelectric power flat on its back.
Fueled by a parade of "Pineapple Express" storms, California is in the midst of its wettest water year in 122 years of record-keeping, according to federal scientists.
The dramatic spillway failure at Oroville Dam sparked a national conversation around the status of dams throughout the West.
Over the last 18 months, California has experienced one of the driest, wettest and wildest rides in its recorded water history.
The recent election may have changed the dynamic in Washington, but the facts on the ground in the California desert remain the same: The Cadiz water mining project poses a grave threat to the California desert and should not be approved.
Since the beginning of the year, enough water has spilled out of California's rain-swollen Lake Oroville to meet the demands of roughly 14 million people for a year.
Here's a cold, wet reality: the more water in California's reservoirs, the less urgency there is to build new ocean-water desalination plants that became a major talking point during the state's long, parched years of drought, an ultra-dry period some folks insist has still not ended despite months of heavy rains.
For three generations, Phillip Filter's family has tended orchards that grow on a shelf of floodplain above the Feather River.
The drought has been declared over in most of California, with heavy winter rains sending water over the Oroville dam and forcing the evacuation of nearly 200,000 people.
Water distribution agencies from across Southern California reacted with alarm after state officials announced recently that free-floating microscopic larvae of an invasive mussel had been found in water samples collected from a State Water Project pipeline that connects Silverwood Lake and Lake Perris.
The crisis over the last few weeks at Oroville Dam was about how to handle large amounts of water flowing into the lake with both of the reservoir's spillways damaged.
As California labored under a severe drought for more than five years, industry and media debated the pros and cons of desalination coming to the rescue of the drought-stricken state.
Plunging the long, metal rod into the snow beneath his feet in the mountain town of Phillips, state snow survey chief Frank Gehrke measured the Sierra Nevada snowpack Wednesday not against California's recent, historic drought but against its biggest rain years.
The epic rainfall that has pummeled Southern California this winter has lifted the area out of extreme drought – and it's also been great for air quality.
Californians are in shock that after five years of too little water, the problem now is too much.
Many Californians are still in disbelief that after five years of too little water during the drought, now the problem is too much water.
Operators of Oroville Dam – the nation’s highest – shut down its main spillway Monday so that debris could be cleared and the dam’s hydroelectric turbines could be restarted.
Until a few weeks ago, the McCormack-Williamson Tract in the California Delta was an island of low-lying farmland, more than two square miles protected from the surrounding rivers and sloughs by earthen levees.
For three weeks, Oroville Dam's fractured main spillway and the surrounding hillsides have taken a nearly nonstop pounding.
Good politicians like Jerry Brown know not to waste a good crisis.
The historic drought that plagued California for five years is finally over in nearly every part of the state, federal scientists reported Thursday.
For the first time ever, heavy winter rains have filled the Las Virgenes Reservoir in Westlake Village to the brim, causing the excess water to flow through a spillway that has never been used before.
As a kid growing up in the Southland, I got my weather tips on the television from a mustached meteorologist named Dr. George.
The snow keeps piling up in the Sierra Nevada.
As heavy winter storms continue to hammer California, the Legislature is launching a review of dam and levee safety and bracing for major investments necessary to shore up flood control throughout the state.
Bill Croyle stood in front of an aerial photo of Lake Oroville and swept his hand across the top of the emergency spillway that was helping drain water out of the brimming reservoir.
No disaster is entirely natural in our re-engineered state and valley. Owing to our hubris, we humans have a direct hand in them all.
Jeffrey Mount, a leading expert on California water policy, remembers the last time a crisis at the Oroville Dam seemed likely to prompt reform. It was 1997 and the lake risked overflowing, while levees further downstream failed and several people died.
How did a giant, gaping hole tear through the massive Oroville Dam's main concrete spillway last week, setting in motion the chain of events that could have led to one of America's deadliest dam failures?
The Oroville Dam crisis was about infrastructure.
After five years of record-setting drought, much of California is being pummeled by an extremely wet winter.
The St. Francis Dam was a proud symbol of California’s engineering might and elaborate water system
Federal emergency officials approved Gov. Jerry Brown's requests to pay for winter storm damages and to support California's unfolding response to the emergency at the distressed Oroville Dam, the White House announced Tuesday
California's snowpack is at 184% of average for this time of year. Cities from San Francisco to Los Angeles have recorded their highest rain levels in years.
State engineers have found new damage to the Oroville Dam spillway, although not as much as they'd feared, after conducting two test releases to see how much water the scarred facility could handle, the state said Thursday.
The State Water Resources Control Board on Wednesday voted to keep statewide emergency drought controls in effect, even as most of California sees historic amounts of rain and snow.
Until Donald Trump won the presidency, prospects looked bleak for Cadiz, a California company that has struggled for years to secure federal permits to transform Mojave Desert groundwater into liquid gold.
Roaring storms that brought California almost a year's worth of snow and rain in a single month should make state water managers' Sierra snowpack survey Thursday a celebration, marking this winter's dramatic retreat of the state's more than 5-year-drought, water experts say.
After five years of drought, could California really have so much rain and snow there's no room to store all the water?
The state's snow survey measured 28.1 inches of snow water content at Phillips Station off Highway 50, the highest measurement for February since 2005, state figures show.
After a month of huge blizzards and "atmospheric river" storms, the Sierra Nevada snowpack — source of a third of California's drinking water — is 177 percent of the historic average, the biggest in more than two decades.
Think of the snow that falls each winter in the Sierra Nevada as something like a paycheck for California's water supply.
How do you seriously dent a drought?
The arrival of rains with the new year have tempered one of California's most severe ongoing drought periods on record, which officially entered its sixth year in October 2016.
Late last week, something rare happened in Southern California: It rained for three days.
At the end of June, Los Angeles had recorded its driest five-year period since record-keeping began almost 140 years ago.
California's water year officially began in October, and it got off to a good start, with above-average precipitation in Northern California
California's top water regulator has strongly suggested the state will keep drought conservation rules in place despite winter storms that have waterlogged many communities.
San Luis Reservoir west of Los Banos is on its way to filling for the first time since 2011 as rain and snow bring the state additional relief from a punishing drought.
Following two weeks of winter storms, Gov. Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency for Sacramento and 49 other counties, making them eligible for money to fix roads and make other repairs.
California's water year officially began in October, and it got off to a good start, with above-average precipitation in Northern California.
Los Angeles County storm water capture systems have shunted enough water from rain
Ventura could begin actively exploring connecting to state water if the City Council approves setting aside money for a comprehensive study evaluating what it would take.
The third in a series of powerful winter storms unleashed a deluge in Southern California on Sunday, flooding numerous roads and freeways, setting new rainfall records and stranding some in dangerously rising waters.
California water suppliers pleaded with state water officials on Wednesday to end a statewide emergency water conservation regulation.
Despite a wet winter that has much of California emerging from drought, state officials are showing no sign that they'll ease up on water regulations imposed on cities and towns over the past three years.
Kevin Starr entered this world in 1940 in a rare fraternity — a fourth-generation Californian whose family's roots dated back to the Gold Rush era.
After weeks of storms in Northern California, the water picture in the Golden State is brighter than it has been in years.
After five years, is the drought over? The feds seem to think so, at least as far as Sacramento and most of Northern California are concerned.
Leaning against a wooden rail, environmental activist Geoffrey McQuilkin took stock of a parched geological wonderland that had been altered by a weekend deluge.
A large-scale effort to purify wastewater and inject it into groundwater basins could feasibly produce enough water to serve 335,000 homes, according to a study released by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
The third and latest storm to hit the state within a week is expected to inundate rivers in Northern California and flood parts of Napa Valley wine country, while also blanketing the frigid Sierra Nevada in heavy snowfall, according to state officials.
The powerful storms that soaked Northern California over the past week did more than trigger power outages, mudslides and flash floods.
OK, so let's get this straight: California is soaked, Los Angeles had its wettest December in six years
We're close – really close – to an agreement on how Arizona, California and Nevada will share looming cuts to the water we all depend on from Lake Mead.
Two weeks before President Barack Obama leaves office, his administration vowed to move full speed ahead on California's controversial Delta tunnels project, calling it essential for the state's water supply as well as its environment.
The outgoing Obama administration on Wednesday tried to nudge forward Gov. Jerry Brown's proposal to build two giant north-south water tunnels for California.
Higher elevations of Northern California were hit by heavy snowfall overnight, prompting avalanche warnings, as the region braced for a week of intense weather.
California is getting the rain and snow it needs this week thanks to a shift in the weather, and the region's meteorologists are finally calling it "normal" for winter on the West Coast.
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Solar Cup is a high school education program in which teams of students from throughout Southern California build and race solar-powered boats.
Jeffrey Kightlinger, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, issues the following statement regarding the draft State Water Action Plan released today by the California Natural Resources Agency, California Department of Food and Agriculture and California Environmental Protection Agency.
