California Water Plan ENews – 2/17/16

This week’s Water Plan eNews includes:

  • Sierra watershed strategy available for public review and comment
  • Projecting this century’s climate change impacts on the Truckee Basin
  • Stanford report turns to the electricity sector for possible water project solutions
  • California’s water policy history and conflicts chronicled in new book
  • Delta Stewardship Council to discuss 2016 priorities, performance measures
  • Fish and wildlife spells out its list of major accomplishments in 2015
  • Water quality council to get briefing on statewide algal bloom strategy

Water Planning in the Climate Change Era – 2/5/16

California’s Water Commission is in the process of creating regulations for how to spend $2.7 billion that taxpayers approved to fund new surface and groundwater storage projects. This was part of Proposition 1, a water bond, passed in 2014.

It’s a chance to set the stage for a new era of water management and infrastructure in California and Dr. Juliet Christian-Smith wants to be sure the state is using the best climate science when considering the criteria for which projects to green-light.

It makes sense. If you’re planning to build a project that lasts a century you should be using climate modeling that considers what the world will look like in a hundred years. Except so far, that’s easier said than done. But Christian-Smith hopes that is about to change, because this year is looking like it will be a crucial year in deciding the future of California’s water.

Christian-Smith talked to Water Deeply this week about why 2016 is a tipping point for water in California and how the drought has tested the limits of our 20th-century water management system.

Click here for full article.

California Water Plan ENews – 2/3/16

This week’s Water Plan eNews includes:

  • DWR releases final version of 2015 UWMP Guidebook and appendices
  • Guidelines posted for $30 million in agricultural water use efficiency grants
  • Annual State Water Project management report available online
  • CWC issues proposed regulations, begins accepting concept papers for projects
  • Taking a lesson from Wisconsin on setting up a framework for water rate stability
  • PPIC includes water management in briefing kit on California’s pressing issues
  • Registration opens for April’s California Water Policy Conference in Davis

Upper Feather River Regional Water Management Group Endorses Sierra Nevada Watershed Improvement Program

On January 22, 2016, the Upper Feather River RWMG unanimously approved endorsement of the Sierra Nevada Watershed Improvement Program (WIP). The Sierra Nevada WIP is a coordinated, integrated, collaborative program to restore the health of California’s primary watershed through increased investment and needed policy changes.

Click here for the endorsement letter.

California Water Plan ENews – 1/27/16

This week’s Water Plan eNews includes:

  • Draft guidelines for IRWM grants made available for public comment
  • The list of California’s critically overdrafted groundwater basins hits 21
  • $6.6 million in funding recommendations posted for counties with stressed basins
  • USGS offers details on resources that buffer California’s drought
  • Map provides a look at California’s regional climate change vulnerabilities
  • A Caltrans symposium with a quick course in understanding the science of climate change
  • SWAMP newsletter makes its debut with look at toxic water blooms

El Niño inspires hope of ‘major dent’ in drought, but empty reservoirs point to long recovery

LA Times – Ever since climate experts first predicted El Niño last year, California officials have been tamping down expectations that this winter’s rains would bring significant drought relief.

Four years of drought have just been too severe, they said, and it was uncertain that the rains would fall where they were needed most: in the northern mountains and valleys where California’s water systems begin.

But after two months of steady rain and snow across Northern California, officials are beginning to see some rays of hope. Click here for full article.

California Drought Improves; 2015 Warmest Year on Record – 1/21/16

By Ed Joyce – Recent storms have brought more improvement, however slight, in the historic four-year drought in California over the past week.

The U.S. Drought Monitor says the percentage of severe and extreme drought was reduced in extreme northwestern California and southwestern and south-central Oregon.

“This doesn’t mean the region is drought free by any means, but it’s certainly a good start to the Water Year as we sit near the mid-point of the snow season,” according to the weekly update. “Now we’ll see if Mother Nature finishes strong or changes her mind.”

Click here for full article.

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California Water Action Plan 2016

The California Water Action Plan – originally released by the administration of Governor Brown in January 2014 – is a roadmap for the first five years of the state’s journey toward sustainable water management. The 2016 update reflects both considerable progress toward and reaffirmation of the goals first set forth in January 2014. Read the 2016 Update of the Plan here.

California Water Plan ENEWS – 1/13/16

This week’s Water Plan eNews includes:

  • Webcast option still available for this week’s briefing on the California Water Action Plan
  • State Water Project and workplan on agenda for California Water Commission
  • Sustainable groundwater management information offered at three webinars
  • Webinar series examines U.S. water quality trends since the 19th century
  • Direct potable reuse advisory group meeting next week in Orange County
  • Registration is open for this month’s California Biodiversity Council meeting
  • Water issue updates provided in latest issue of the WestFAST News

New Maps show spread and impact of drought on California Forests

by Susan Greene, LA Times. California’s forests have already lost millions of trees in recent years due to rising temperatures, the drought and a plague of bark beetle infestations. But if the drought persists, millions of more trees throughout the state could die, according to a study published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Click here for full article.

Maps show spread of drought across California forests