Sacramento County Water Digest

Unlike a year ago, water storage is above average. Whether the year is wet or dry, though, remains uncertain despite El Niño conditions.

Much of California could get hit by extreme weather conditions this winter. A major storm is due to hit Northern California this week.

The Elmore Desert Ranch gets 22.5 billion gallons of water from the Colorado River, almost as much as is cleared for Scottsdale, Ariz. And that’s just a fraction of the 386.5 billion gallons from the river going to 19 other families in Imperial Valley.

The first reservoir in California in nearly 50 years is now on the fast track for completion.

Intense rains have California out of a drought less than a year after most of the state faced water shortages. A climatologist is urging wise water usage ahead of California’s next drought.

At the Water Education Foundation annual water summit in Sacramento, Eric Oppenheimer, chief deputy director of the California State Water Resources Control Board, discussed what he described as the state’s “antiquated” water rights system.

Three dam expansion projects could increase water storage for use in the Central Valley by a whopping 304,000 acre feet. Each of the projects—located in Merced, Madera and Fresno counties—would raise existing dams, not build new ones.

Wet weather and planned cuts by California, Arizona and Nevada averted declines that could have threatened water deliveries and power production—but long-term threats to the Colorado River remain.

Hundreds of wells in Tulare Lake aquifer are at risk of going dry. Today's recommendation is the first time that state officials have moved to crack down on local plans that fail to stop excessive groundwater pumping.

Water providers say rebates for residential areas are costly and residents may refuse to remove their lawns. The rules aim to save enough water for more than a million households a year.

The city of Sacramento aims to activate the new groundwater treatment facility by mid-October. Once it begins producing up to 4 million gallons of drinking water a day, people living in the Shasta neighborhood could notice their tap water change.

The irrigation bill, which aims to force businesses and institutions to remove their lawns, now goes to the governor.

Some 7,000 square miles of ocean on California’s Central Coast could soon become the largest national marine sanctuary in the continental U.S. It could also make history as one of the first federal sanctuaries to be spearheaded by a Native American tribe.

A Trump administration plan for delivering more water to Central Valley farmers—bottled up in court by opponents for almost four years—could be returned from legal limbo this summer by House Republicans.

There’s a possible rise of four invasive animals in California—another consequence from downpours last winter and spring. The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services warned about a potential population surge due to storm-related flooding.

State water authorities estimated that 3.8 million acre-feet of water went into depleted underground reservoirs this year—enough for 11 million California households annually. That sounds good, but experts say it will take years of rain and effort from local water agencies to reach sustainability.

Raising Shasta Dam to increase its capacity would provide 634,000 more acre-feet of water per year, legislators say. But that assumes there will always be enough precipitation, and the move risks flooding sacred Native American lands and harming local habitats.

In the magazine Nature, a team of scientists reports that they have detected changes in ocean color that cannot be explained by natural, year-to-year variability alone. These color shifts have occurred over 56 percent of the world’s oceans.

The environmental costs of ending water diversions from Mono Lake to Los Angeles would be mixed: It might help a shore bird habitat but would require changes that increase carbon emissions.

Indigenous leaders and environmental groups gathered at California’s Capitol July 5 to rally for better access to clean water. Advocates support a trio of bills that would revamp the state’s approach to water rights given before 1914, often referred to as senior water rights.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom had to concede defeat on trying to get the Legislature to give a very contentious water tunnel project streamlined regulatory treatment.

Elk Grove unveiled the new EchoWater Resource Recovery Facility, formerly known as the Sacramento Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant. It now has newer, more efficient methods to treat water and release it into the river safely.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Montana ruled the U.S. Forest Service can continue to use aerial fire retardant to fight wildfires while waiting on a Clean Water Act permit.

Environmentalists say it’s past time for California water officials to halt Los Angeles’ diversion of Mono Lake’s tributaries. But L.A. officials insist that water is a tiny but vital part of the city’s water supply.

The Carmichael Water District and Sacramento Suburban Water District have completed a study exploring how combining the two districts can lead to positive outcomes. The results of the research will be shared at a June 15 public event.

In the report sponsored by the California Water Impact Network, policy expert Max Gomberg—the former climate change and water conservation manager for the State Water Resources Control Board—says the tunnel “threatens MWD’s fiscal solvency.”

Fort Bragg is embarking on an innovative pilot project to desalt ocean water for the Mendocino Coast community using carbon-free wave action to power an energy-intensive process that in other cases generates climate changing greenhouse gases.

Lake Mead, a key water source for California and six other states, is close to drying up. Water policy expert Felicia Marcus says dramatic action is needed on conservation, recycling and efficiency.

Driftwood, which can be damaging to watercraft, has compiled in the north and south forks of the American River and is now flowing into Folsom Lake.

And neither was 1952. The top honor should really go to 1983, which clinched first at 231% of normal, an analysis by the Bay Area News Group found.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District has awarded a $114.4 million construction contract to Folsom Dam Constructors.

The American Jazz, a riverboat that docked for years in San Francisco, is now more local. Citing a dispute in docking fees, the cruise will now start and stop in Sacramento. Previously, Sacramento was the final stop on the week-long cruise before heading back to the Bay Area.