Drought
From: Matt Weiser, Sacramento
Bee
California officials ordered
another round of sweeping water diversion cuts Friday to manage limited stream
flows during the drought, this time affecting 1,634 water users in the San
Joaquin River watershed.
The curtailment order by the
State Water Resources Control Board requires so-called "junior" water
rights holders to immediately cease drawing water directly from streams. It
comes after the agency, on Wednesday, similarly restricted about 2,600 junior
water rights holders in the Sacramento River watershed.
Water Storage
From: Matt Weiser, Sacramento
Bee
As California struggles through a
third year of drought, elected officials from both parties are proposing to
spend billions of dollars in public money on new dams and reservoirs. Seven
different bills are pending in the Legislature that would use varying amounts
of state bond funding to launch a new era of dam construction with the aim of
increasing the state's capacity to store precious mountain snowmelt.
The surge of proposals has stoked
familiar arguments in California's historic battles over limited water
supplies: Water users in many cities and throughout the state's arid central
farm belt say new reservoirs are vital to capture snowmelt that would otherwise
flow "wasted" to the sea. Environmental groups counter that habitat
and wildlife need that water, and call for more sweeping conservation measures
and water recycling instead.
Groundwater
From: Staff, Sacramento Bee
This has to be the year that
California finally starts to regulate groundwater. It has to be.
Not since the drought of 1977
have water resources been in such dire straits. To cope, the state is taking
drastic steps when it comes to surface water. Last week, the State Water
Resources Control Board ordered more than 4,200 "junior" water rights
holders in the Sacramento and San Joaquin watersheds to stop pumping water from
streams and warned that, if things got worse, "senior" water rights
holders might see restrictions as well.
From: Sasha Khokha, KQED
Steve Arthur practically lives
out of his truck these days. But he's not homeless. He runs one of Fresno's
busiest well drilling companies.
"It's officially getting
crazy. We go and we go but it just seems like we can't go fast enough," he
says, sitting behind the steering wheel as he hustles up and down Highway 99 to
check on drilling rigs that run 24 hours a day, probing for water. Some days,
Arthur doesn't even have time to stop for gas; he's got an extra tank hooked up
to the flatbed of his pickup. He says he's lucky if he gets three hours of
sleep a night.
From: Mark Grossi, Fresno
Bee
A study last month estimated
farm-related drought losses at $1.7 billion this year in California -- a dark
prediction but researchers added a little extra downer. "There will be
substantial long-term costs of groundwater overdraft that are not reflected in
this study," said the study from the University of California at Davis.
In other words, this could get
much worse down the line. Think about wells drying up, water quality suffering,
pumping costs climbing and the landscape sinking. The U.S. Geological Survey
describes the impacts of overdrafting the underground.
From: Staff, Sacramento Bee
A controversial deal to transfer
groundwater from Merced County north to farmers in Stanislaus County has people
talking about groundwater regulation in the state. California, unlike other
states, doesn't have rules governing the use of groundwater, but in the current
drought the issue is gaining prominence. Last week's Conversation asked: Should
groundwater be regulated by local agencies or by the state? Or, should
groundwater remain unregulated?
From: Staff, Modesto Bee
Being first can make you the
focus of a lot of attention. That's just one of the reasons Stanislaus County's
efforts to deal with water issues are important. We're among the first in the
Valley coming to grips with finding and supplying enough water to keep
agriculture not just alive but thriving.
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