TOP STORIES
The Los Angeles Times, 4/6/22
Total water usage in California cities and towns decreased by just half a percent in February compared to the same month in 2020, a far cry from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s goal of reducing urban water use by 15%. Figures released this week by the State Water Resources Control Board showed that even during a third year of drought, Californians have been slow to step up conservation efforts.
WATER INFRASTRUCTURE
Water World, 4/6/22
To enhance the sustainability of its local water supply, the City of Santa Monica, Calif., has focused its efforts on developing alternative water supplies and expanding local groundwater resources. In January 2022, city officials broke ground on a project to expand the Arcadia Water Treatment Plant and to restore the Olympic Well Field. These projects are a $72 million undertaking with the potential to restore up to 3,200 acre-feet per year of water, according to city leaders.
WATER SUPPLY & QUALITY
California Institute of Technology, 4/5/22
Researchers have untangled puzzling patterns of sinking and rising land to pin down the underground locations where water is being pumped for irrigation. Scientists have produced a new method that holds the promise of improving groundwater management – critical to both life and agriculture in dry regions. The method sorts out how much underground water loss comes from aquifers confined in clay, which can be drained so dry that they will not recover, and how much comes from soil that’s not confined in an aquifer, which can be replenished by a few years of normal rains.
CLIMATE & WEATHER
The Sacramento Bee, 4/5/22
A big, early-spring heat wave will toast Northern California, with high temperatures that could soar more than 20 degrees hotter than normal in Sacramento by Friday. The latest National Weather Service forecasts show the capital city reaching 88 degrees Wednesday, 92 on Thursday and 93 on Friday. The historical average for this time of year in Sacramento is about 72 degrees. The daily records for April 6-8 are each 91 degrees, according to weather service records, all set in 1989.
CALIFORNIA WATERSHEDS
AG Alert, 4/6/22
A $2.6 billion plan to improve water quality for salmon and native fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, unveiled last week by the Newsom administration, pledges to increase river flows and enhance habitat restoration.
CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES
University of California, 4/6/22
2018’s Camp Fire grew into the state’s deadliest and most destructive fire on record, devastating the towns of Paradise and Concow. Last year the state suffered the Dixie Fire, raging for months through five Northern California counties on its way to becoming the single-largest blaze in state history.
AGENCIES, PROGRAMS, PEOPLE
The Fresno Bee, 4/5/22
Even as most agricultural water supplies are being cut to the bone, with California descending into a third year of extreme drought, the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractor districts will apparently receive 650,000 acre feet — 100% of their “critical year” allotment.
EVENTS
The California Department of Water Resources (DWR), in collaboration with the State Water Board, is hosting a series of stakeholder meetings to inform the development of an abridged Water Shortage Contingency Plan (WSCP) template as part of a comprehensive effort to assist small water systems.
Start: Wed 20 Apr 2022, 2:00 PM
End: Wed 20 Apr 2022, 4:00 PM
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