Santa Clara County Water Digest

At 90% of the state historical average, the Sierra Nevada snowpack is far better than last year. But it’s nothing like the record-smashing 2023.

Billions of state and federal dollars are spent on Lake Tahoe. But is all this attention actually protecting this unique treasure? Pollutants pour in, while development continues. Funding has shifted in focus to tourism and traffic projects, while money spent directly on fixing the lake has declined.

Read on to learn the story behind the Army Corps of Engineers abrupt release of billions of gallons of water from two California dams despite pushback from water managers and state elected officials.

The governor’s planned $20 billion tunnel to divert more water south and bypass the Delta would bring years of construction noise, pollution and traffic. Residents worry their rural farm towns will never be the same.

A new conservancy will oversee work to improve vegetation, water quality and natural habitat in the Salton Sea. Will nearly half a billion dollars in projects be enough?

Oakland Democrat Buffy Wicks said lawmakers will soon see 20 bills to speed up housing construction, along with more on energy, water and transit.

State and federal water managers have announced significant increases to water allocations across California thanks to early February storms and healthy reservoir levels.

The governor vowed to clear the way for more groundwater recharge. Has it worked? “We’re still tinkering around with small numbers,” one expert says.

A new bill by a Bay Area state senator aims to create a special fund to help clean up so-called forever chemicals in California’s water supply. Senate Bill 454 was introduced by Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, on February 18 and, if passed by the state Legislature and signed by the governor, would create the PFAS Mitigation Fund.

Read on to learn more about the recently completed flood control project on Coyote Creek, eight years after it flooded and inundated neighborhoods around downtown San Jose.

Shopping carts and old televisions were among the items removed from Coyote Creek in San Jose by more than 80 volunteers working over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

Snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, which supplies about one-third of California’s water needs, was far lower than average for the end of January at one of the state’s measurement points on January 31.

Read on to learn more about the Trump-ordered "emergency" release of water from two San Joaquin Valley reservoirs and how it is literally going down the drain (and not to preserve LA from fires as claimed).

It would be impossible to overstate the complexity of water supply management in California.

Trump apparently wants to override new Biden-Newsom rules that have widespread support among Southern California cities and some Central Valley farmers.

Read on for the latest progress in the B.F. Sisk Dam Raise and Reservoir Expansion Project to raise the dam at the San Luis Reservoir to add storage capacity.

In their January 14 meeting, the board of the Santa Clara Valley Water District approved funding toward the massive Delta Conveyance project. Read on to learn more.

President-elect Donald Trump faulted California water policies for the devastating wildfires that are burning in Los Angeles County. The fires started because of fierce winds and extremely dry conditions.

Some Northern California cities have been soaked with almost twice their average rainfall, while southern cities are bone-dry. This season’s huge — possibly unprecedented — disparity works in favor of the state’s water supplies.

New operating rules for massive Delta systems will increase water deliveries to Southern California cities and some growers. Salmon numbers could drop, especially in dry years.

Get the details behind why San Jose and non profit partners have initiated a count of homeless encampments along area creeks and streams.

In a December 10 press conference, Governor Newsom urged lawmakers to press forward in building the Sites Reservoir in Colusa County. Read on to learn more about the project, the largest new reservoirs to be built in California in the last 50 years.

Each December there’s a new version of an old guessing game about how much water will be provided to agricultural and municipal users in the year ahead.

Most ships discharging ballast water into California waters are inspected, but state officials have tested the water of only 16 ships. Experts say invaders like mussels are inevitable under current rules and enforcement.

Sixty years ago, I was a reporter for the Klamath Falls (Oregon) Herald and News and with my family lived in a small house on the Link River, which flows out of Upper Klamath Lake, draining a large portion of the Cascade mountain range.

Low counts of spawning salmon could mean another year without fishing. Experts say the outlook still has time to turn around.

Growers support a federal and state proposal for operating California’s massive systems that send river water south. But it could harm more salmon and other endangered fish.

Most of us operate on the calendar year — the 12 months that begin on January 1 and end on December 31.

A look at the history and evolution of California Coastal Cleanup Day, 40 years and 27 million pounds of trash picked up since its founding.

The California state goal to conserve 30% of its land and coastal waters has advanced, with conserved lands reaching 25% and coastal waters 16%.

With the publishing of the final Environmental Impact Statement by the federal government, the effort to designate 116 miles of California coast a marine sanctuary achieved an important milestone.

A Kings County judge today issued a temporary restraining order against the state that pauses its unprecedented move to crack down on groundwater depletion in California’s agricultural heartland.