The Weather Channel, 8/8/2022 As California’s drought persists, salt water is creeping farther into a region of northern California known as the Delta, hitting farmers hard.
Newsweek, 8/8/2022 The severe flooding that recently hit Death Valley is an event only seen once in a thousand years, according to the National Park Service (NPS).
Nearly a year's worth of rain fell on the California national park in just three hours, and caused severe damage to surrounding areas, the NPS said in a statement, calling it a "historic event."
Arizona Central, 8/9/2022 Sen. Kyrsten Sinema introduced a new water advisory council at Hoover Dam on Monday to discuss how to spend $4 billion in water and drought aid included in the Inflation Reduction Act.
The $4 billion is meant to stave off the worst effects of drought across the Colorado River system, which is suffering from overuse and two decades of drought exacerbated by climate change.
The Los Angeles Times, 8/9/2022 State officials have denied a request by Southern California municipal water districts for more water to mitigate wildfire risk. The agencies had worked with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to ask the California Department of Water Resources to allocate 26,300 more acre-feet of water under the health-and-safety exception to drought rules, using the rationale that the exception should include supplies to reduce wildfire hazards by irrigating vegetation in high-risk areas.
The Stockton Record, 8/8/2022 Charlie Hamilton pauses as he discusses the problem of irrigating his vineyard due to saltwater intrusion, near Rio Vista, Calif. Hamilton hasn't irrigated his vineyards with water from the Sacramento River since early May, even though it flows just yards from his crop.
UC Riverside News, 8/9/2022 Dust from all over the world is landing in the Sierra Nevada mountains carrying microbes that are toxic to both plants and humans. Research from UC Riverside shows higher concentrations of the dust are landing at lower elevations, where people are more likely to be hiking.
Grist, 8/9/2022 On an afternoon in late June, the San Luis Reservoir — a 9-mile lake about an hour southeast of San Jose, California — shimmered in 102-degree heat. A dusty, winding trail led down into flatlands newly created by the shrinking waterline. Seven deer, including a pair of fawns, grazed on tall grasses that, in wetter times, would have been at least partially underwater.
Vox, 8/9/2022 On Monday, President Joe Biden flew to eastern Kentucky to visit families affected by historic flooding that struck the Midwest in late July and early August, leaving at least 35 dead and hundreds missing. “It’s going to take a while to get through this, but I promise you we’re not leaving,” Biden said. “As long as it takes, we’re going to be here.”
About 2,000 miles away, the water in Lake Mead — the largest reservoir in the country, and a crucial water source for millions of people in the West — sat at a historic low, exacerbating a drought now in its third year. One part of the country has too much water; another has too little. These two things are related. They were also expected.
CBS Sacramento (KOVR), 8/8/2022 Dry lightning has ignited some of the most destructive and costly wildfires in California history, a new study shows. Researchers found that over the past few decades, nearly half of the lightning strikes that hit the ground during spring and summer had been dry — there was no rain falling nearby.
CBS News Bay Area (KPIX), 8/9/2022 In a life flight that could change the course of one tribe's history, a helicopter delivered 20,000 endangered salmon eggs to a remote area in Shasta County, in an effort to save the winter-run Chinook species struggling to survive in California's warming river waters.
Law360, 8/8/2022 The federal government, multiple states and a slew of conservation groups are urging a California federal judge not to pause his ordering vacating Trump-era Endangered Species Act regulations.
The San Francisco Chronicle, 8/7/2022 The last leg of Nina Gordon-Kirsch’s monthlong hiking journey was a 10-mile ascent up the western flank of the Sierra Nevada to a pair of gleaming alpine lakes near Ebbetts Pass, about equidistant between Lake Tahoe and Yosemite National Park.
The Los Angeles Times, 8/8/2022 A cluster of fires burning in steep and dry terrain in Northern California has spread to more than 1,100 acres, forcing evacuations in rural areas of Trinity and Humboldt counties. The U.S. Forest Service, which is managing the response, said lightning strikes from a thunderstorm ignited a dozen fires in the Six Rivers National Forest on Friday.
Capital Public Radio, 8/8/2022 Cal Fire posted on Twitter that a Red Flag Warning is in effect for parts of Siskiyou and Modoc counties from 2 – 11 p.m. Monday for strong gusty winds and low relative humidity. Gusty winds could contribute to fire spread. This is critical fire weather.
Reuters, 8/8/2022 Carbon offsets generated from forests to counteract future climate-warming emissions from California's big polluters are rapidly being depleted as trees are ravaged by wildfire and disease, new research published on Friday suggests.
One of California's key policy tools to combat climate change may be falling far short of its goals, the researchers said - raising questions about similar carbon offset programs around the world.
San Joaquin Valley Water, 8/8/2022 The prospect of being sent to California’s “groundwater cop” strikes dread in the hearts of most water managers. But for John Vidovich, having the Tulare Lake subbasin come under the glare of the State Water Resources Control Board may be the only way to end an irrigation practice by the J.G. Boswell Company that he says is wasteful, abusive and contributing to the sinking of an entire town.
California Globe, 8/8/2022 California has numerous formal acts in statute. Government Code Title 7, Division 1, Chapter 3, Article 10.9 provides the Water Recycling in Landscaping Act, which is contained in Sections 65601 to 65607. Article 10.9 was added in 2000 by Chapter 510. Section 65601 names the act.
AZ Central, 8/8/2022 Tribal leaders stood proudly in front of a row of flags from the 10 Indigenous communities whose lands converge with the Colorado River. They spoke about their status as equal players in the future of the Colorado and the role they will play in the high-stakes negotiations to set new management protocols for the river that more than 40 million people depend upon for their lives and livelihoods.
KCRA, 8/8/2022 During the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers used sewage water as an early detection method for the virus. That same approach is now being used to detect monkeypox.
WastewaterSCAN is the national expansion of the Sewer Coronavirus Alert Network (SCAN) that launched in 2020 to detect levels of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. It draws on research by scientists from Stanford University, Emory University, the University of Michigan, and several communities in NorCal.
DWR staff will present the JSCS pilot project and take public comments. The project is a 1-2 year pilot study to evaluate the feasibility of collecting juvenile anadromous salmon as they emigrate out of historical habitat upstream of Shasta Dam. No fish will be used in the study, which is integral to efforts to reintroduce salmonids to tributaries of the Upper Sacramento River System.
By the California Data Collaborative - This August, the CaDC will return in-person host its 7th Annual CA Water Data Summit! Bringing together individuals from water agencies, research teams, and other areas of the water sector, the CA Water Data Summit aims to encourage collaboration and provide opportunities for members of different organizations to interact and engage with new ideas and approaches to water data.
This is the second of four webinars to inform and solicit input from stakeholders on the development of a guidebook to support the preparation of County Drought Plans, which focus on state small water systems and domestic wells as required under SB 552. When: August 31, 2022 | 1:00 -3:00 p.m.
Join us for our 30 Year Anniversary to celebrate how GRA was built to last, and "Built for Change". This year’s event will include Individual, Panel and Poster Presentations as well as Technical Workshops that cover the following subject areas: Water Resources Exploration and Development; Groundwater Management; Contaminant Assessment and Remediation; Unique Challenges and New Opportunities
By the Water Education Foundation - This 3-day, 2-night excursion across the Sacramento Valley travels north from Sacramento through Oroville to Redding and Shasta Lake. Experts will talk about the history of the Sacramento River as the tour winds through riparian woodland, rice fields, wildlife refuges and nut orchards across the region.
When: October 12 -14, 2022
DWR is responsible for managing and protecting California’s water resources and works with others to benefit the State’s people and to protect, restore, and enhance the natural and human environments. DWR operates and maintains the State Water Project, oversees dam safety, provides flood protection, helps in emergency response, assists regional and local water agencies, promotes water conservation and safety, and plans integrated watershed management – in all to advance water resource sustainability.
The California Water News is distributed to California Department of Water Resources (DWR) management and staff, for information purposes, by the DWR Public Affairs Office. Inclusion of materials is not to be construed as an endorsement of any program, project, or viewpoint. If a link doesn’t work, entering the headline into Google News should locate the original news story.
