Statewide Region Local News: Water


All Local Water News articles contributed by our local media allies and other local newsrooms.

Image caption: Since the Gold Rush era, land reclamation has cost California 90 percent of its wetlands.
How Land Reclamation Hurts California’s Environment

Since the Gold Rush era, land reclamation projects have helped to build California, but they are also damaging the state’s environment for people, plants and animals by eliminating essential wetlands.

Image caption: How California reclamation districts turned millions of acres of wetlands into fertile agricultural land, starting in the earliest days of the Gold Rush.
Reclamation Districts: Turning ‘Swamps’ Into Farmland

California has used reclamation districts to turn millions of acres of unusable swamps into fertile agricultural land, starting in the earliest days of the Gold Rush. Here’s how it happened.

Image caption: From nitrates to arsenic to “forever chemicals,” California’s water supply faces a serious pollution threat.
Dirty Water: California Faces a Water Contamination Crisis

Almost one million California residents are forced to drink from contaminated water supplies, or pay for bottled water. Economic inequality makes the crisis worse. What is the state doing to fix it?

Image caption: Just because record rains have been falling, the state’s water crisis remains.
What Is Drought? Probably Not What You Think

2023’s torrential rainstorms have eased California's drought conditions. But there’s a lot more to drought than the amount of rain, and this drought isn't over yet.

Image caption: There are more than 300 community service districts in California.
Community Services Districts, Explained

Community service districts can do most anything a city government can do. Here’s how they work and how to start one.

Image caption: RCDs look after the land, whether it’s used for grazing, growing, or getting out into nature.
California Dirt

What do resource conservation districts protect? Pretty much everything that’s worth saving.

Image caption: Water is a human right under California law, but it doesn’t always work out that way.
Agriculture and Water Shortages in the State’s Breadbasket, Explained

Residential wells are drying up in the state’s main agricultural region at the same time that agricultural businesses consume almost 90 percent of the water there.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

03/06/2024
California, Arizona and Nevada would cut their allocations about 20% when reservoir levels drop. But other states have their own more aggressive plan. Now the federal government has to decide how to manage the drought-plagued river.

California Local Pin Marker From Los Angeles Times...

02/20/2024
A temporary lake in Death Valley National Park doubled after recent rains and is now deep enough to launch a kayak. Prior to August, ghostly Lake Manly hadn’t appeared in 19 years.

California Local Pin Marker From Los Angeles Times...

02/19/2024
Efforts to restore river floodplains are expanding in California. Making space for water is increasingly seen as a natural solution for floods and droughts.

California Local Pin Marker From Los Angeles Times...

02/09/2024
There’s a 55% chance La Niña could develop between June and August, and a 77% chance it could develop between September and November, NOAA said.

California Local Pin Marker From Los Angeles Times...

02/08/2024
Human-caused climate is projected to bring wetter, more intense storms. Scientists explain what these shifts mean for California and the West.

California Local Pin Marker From Los Angeles Times...

02/07/2024
Public satellites haven’t yet flown over the areas hit by the storm. These images are “simulating what the satellites would have seen.”

California Local Pin Marker From Los Angeles Times...

02/05/2024
The storm fed off of unusually warm waters as it grew. It also reached “bomb cyclone” status as it neared California.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

01/30/2024
Chinook and other salmon runs are collapsing. Conservation groups call it too little, too late. Plan includes dam removals and restoring river flows.

California Local Pin Marker From SF Gate...

01/29/2024
What is an ARkStorm and why is everyone talking about it on social media right now?

California Local Pin Marker From CapPublicRadio...

01/28/2024
Take a period of limited rainfall. Add heat. And you have what scientists call a “hot drought”—dry conditions made more intense by the evaporative power of hotter temperatures.

California Local Pin Marker From Los Angeles Times...

01/24/2024
Groundwater depletion is worsening in many of the world’s farming regions. But a global study also found that some efforts are helping to boost aquifers.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

01/24/2024
In a sign of the ongoing threats to its precious groundwater stores, half a dozen regions in California rank among the world’s most rapidly declining aquifers.

California Local Pin Marker From CapPublicRadio...

01/19/2024
A California judge says a nearly 65-year-old law does not give the state permission to borrow the billions of dollars it would need to build a large water project.

California Local Pin Marker From Los Angeles Times...

01/14/2024
‘No more beach closures’: Mexico breaks ground on long-awaited wastewater treatment plant.

California Local Pin Marker From YubaNet...

01/08/2024
New rules took effect Jan. 1 permanently protecting the most fragile deep sea corals off Southern California. Simultaneously, more than 4,500 square miles of ocean waters are now reopened to fishing after more than 20 years of closures.

California Local Pin Marker From Monterey Herald...

01/07/2024
Raging storms brought major damage to California’s coastline last winter. But in Half Moon Bay, a different kind of coastal upheaval is gaining momentum—one that could decide the fate of billions of dollars of property and affect hundreds of public beaches.

California Local Pin Marker From California Local...

01/05/2024
Image for display with article titled California’s New Water-Saving Regs Lack 'Compelling Justifications' in Many Cases, Say Legislative Analysts

Benefits of the state's new, strict water conservation rules may not outweigh the costs, analysts say.

California Local Pin Marker From Los Angeles Times...

01/05/2024
Munition boxes, depth charges and smoke floats have been found 3,000 feet underwater off the coast of Los Angeles. More than 100 square miles of ocean might be contaminated.

California Local Pin Marker From KQED...

01/05/2024
The Bay Area’s fog is iconic. But the latest episode of KQED podcast “Bay Curious” looks at how climate change could reduce the number of foggy days in the area.
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