But there may be a less-expensive way to increase water flows into the Central Valley: Start thinning out the overgrown Sierra Nevada forests. Cutting down trees may not sound environmentally friendly, but researchers from UC Merced and elsewhere think that may be just what’s needed to restore forest health and increase water runoff. http://www.modbee.com/2014/03/24/3257376/overgrown-sierra-forests-gulping.html?sp=/99/1571/&ihp=1
Even before the drought, the southern San Joaquin Valley was in big trouble. Decades of irrigation have leached salts and toxic minerals from the soil that have nowhere to go, threatening crops and wildlife. Aquifers are being drained at an alarming pace. More than 95 percent of the area's native habitat has been destroyed by
Zinfandel will flow like the water once did in Paso Robles this weekend. Bottles will pop open during a wine festival as rigs drill deep across the city to find a resource whose scarcity threatens Paso Robles to its core: water. How scant has the crucial underground water supply become around the San Luis Obispo
Most drought-plagued Merced Irrigation District farmers will receive just 6 inches of water per acre during this year’s truncated irrigation season. “People are used to having 3-plus acre-feet per acre over a seven-month season, so this is quite a cutback,” MID General Manager John Sweigard said Tuesday. http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2014/03/18/3555099/merced-farmers-to-receive-smallest.html
Quietly whirring away in a dusty field in the Central Valley is a shiny solar energy machine that may someday solve many of California's water problems. It's called the WaterFX solar thermal desalination plant, and it has been turning salty, contaminated irrigation runoff into ultra-pure liquid for nearly a year for the Panoche Water and
Check it out here: http://slate.me/1qf8Qa5
Despite urgent calls for water conservation amid one of California's worst droughts, more than 255,000 homeowners and businesses across the state can still use all the water they want without paying higher bills. And nobody even knows how much water they are using. From Bakersfield to Sacramento to Shasta County, 42 communities in California have
To supplement the water bond being debated now in the Legislature, California will need to find billions of dollars annually to improve its water system, according to a new Public Policy Institute of California report. The report's authors are generally optimistic about local entities that perform such services as providing drinking water and managing wastewater or stormwater. User
With 2013 the driest year on record and 2014 possibly worse, the devastation of California's drought is trickling down to crops, fields, farmers markets, grocery stores -- and the kitchen table. While it's too early to tell precisely how much the drought will push up household grocery bills, economists say consumers can expect to pay
Water — or actually the lack thereof — came close to saturating the agenda at an educational tailgate meeting presented by the San Joaquin Valley Winegrowers Association in Madera. The meeting opened with reminders that the clock is ticking for growers to join coalitions to comply with state regulations on surface and ground water. It