Santa Clara County Water Digest

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is getting a $100 million loan to help cover a shortfall more than three times as large. The district also may change how it charges its more than 19 million customers for water.

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.

An environmental watchdog is pressing forward with lawsuits against the cities of Mountain View and Sunnyvale in an effort to get them to clean up local creeks.

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.

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.

The federal bipartisan infrastructure law and the WIIN Act have combined to fund a major expansion of San Luis Reservoir.

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

The government of China is interested in buying water from Valley Water and selling it to other customers, according to CEO Rick Callender. A local developer contacted Callender and said he could secure the funding for a controversial expansion of Pacheco Reservoir.

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.

The state budget allocated $1.5 million to improving Lake Cunningham, which for years has suffered under the weight of faulty infrastructure and poor water quality.

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.

Later this month, Valley Water will host an event to celebrate the completion of the Lower Penitencia Creek Improvements Project in Milpitas.

New records show rising tensions, turmoil and dysfunction at the region’s largest water supplier with one of its own directors—Rebecca Eisenberg—now demanding the public agency pay her attorney fees in her fight against them.

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.

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.

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 Eel River is now one of the 10 most endangered rivers in the United States, according to an annual report released by America's Most Endangered Rivers. The 50-year-old conservation group each year spotlights American waterways that are suffering but where key impending decisions could improve their fate.

Water agencies in Santa Clara County are breathing a sigh of relief and easing restrictions as water levels hit 248% of normal. Twice-per-week lawn watering and other rules will be eliminated or modified.

One of the options would override California’s water rights and split the cuts evenly between California, Nevada and Arizona—which would be a big blow to Imperial Valley farmers.

Valley Water is shelling out millions for San Jose to clear out homeless residents living along Coyote Creek. The $4.8 million contract with the city comes as the water agency prepares to build out mandated flood protection measures along a nine-mile stretch of the creek.

The newest levee in the Baylands aims to protect Palo Alto’s critical infrastructure from sea-level rise, provide a refuge for endangered species and serve as a model for other cities and wastewater districts.

San Luis Reservoir, between Gilroy and Los Banos, is the largest off-stream reservoir in the United States.

California was once home to the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River, but Tulare Lake disappeared as water was diverted to irrigate crops. This year, however, the lake will once again re-emerge.

The salmon industry, worth about half a billion dollars, is devastated. The culprits: Drought and decades of water diversions and development.