Santa Cruz County Water Digest

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.

Following the devastation to the Santa Cruz Harbor on December 23, questions are raised about what's next for the 50 people who live on their boats. Read on to learn more.

Following the collapse of a 150 foot section of the Santa Cruz Wharf, questions about contributing factors are raised. Who or what is to blame? Read on to learn more.

As efforts to clean up and take stock of damage to the Santa Cruz Harbor from the storm swells on December 23 continue, the estimate of damages stands at $26 million. Read on to learn more.

UCSC Professor Gary Griggs recounts a histories of the tsunamis which have struck the City of Santa Cruz. Read on to learn more, and about his thought on tsunami risk computer models.

An after-action interview with City of Santa Cruz lifeguards Isaiah Mullen and Sam Hofmann following their rescue of two construction workers when the end of the wharf collapsed.

The damage assessment is still under way and have so far amounted to $20 million following the December 23 storm surge which smashed into the Santa Cruz Harbor, sinking several moored vessels. Read on to learn more.

Learn more about how officials describe the damage from ocean swells to the municipal wharf and harbor.

Learn about the bill introduced by Rep. Jimmy Panetta which would initiate the process to designate the communities neighboring the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary as a National Heritage Area, and what that would entail.

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.

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.

Learn more about Central Coast District 17 State Senator John Laird's appointment to the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission by Governor Gavin Newsom.

The three year project to bring treated water from the Santa Cruz Wastewater Treatment Facility to a purification facility in Live Oak for injection to recharge the groundwater aquifer has been completed.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on October 2 to celebrate the beginning of work to repair a 10-mile stretch of levee on the Pajaro River.

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

The anchovies are back, and with them thousands of hungry seabirds.

On July 26, the City of Santa Cruz announced it had received an almost $8 million grant as part of a larger $71.1 million grant awarded to the California Marine Sanctuary Foundation.

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.

Harnessing clean energy is a venture of unprecedented scope in California, bringing big changes to Humboldt and the Central Coast, and requiring 26 ports along the coast.

The measures are substantially weaker than a previous proposal after an onslaught of criticism. But they will still save enough water through 2050 to supply the state’s entire population for a year, at a cost of $4.7 billion.

Almost 400 suppliers, two-thirds in communities of color, don’t meet safety and reliability standards. Fixing them would cost billions.

A new round of litigation began when environmental groups opposed to the Sites reservoir in Colusa County filed an appeal on a ruling which dismissed their suit seeking to halt the project from proceeding.

Legal rights to use water — particularly those obtained prior to 1914 — lie at the heart of California’s perpetual wrangling over the allocation of increasingly limited water supplies.

Young Great White sharks are convening in the warm waters of Soquel Cove off Seacliff State Beach between Capitola and Rio Del Mar.

Aiming to store more water and protect the public, legislators are negotiating with the governor to restore $50 million to help repair 42 aging dams throughout the state.