Suffering through the third year of an oppressive drought, California received good and bad news Thursday from scientists closely tracking the Pacific Ocean for El Niño, the phenomenon when ocean waters warm, often bringing wet winters to California. The chances of El Niño conditions developing by this fall are now 82 percent, up from 78
Americans looking to whip up a bacon cheeseburger are in for some sticker shock. 'Thanks to a perfect storm of drought, disease and strong demand, the key ingredients that make up the juicy treat are at record-high prices, pinching shoppers and eaters nationwide. Consumers can expect to pay about 32 cents more per burger than
The crews are building what boosters say represents California's best hope for a drought-proof water supply: the largest ocean desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere. The $1 billion project will provide 50 million gallons of drinking water a day for San Diego County when it opens in 2016. Fifteen desalination projects are proposed along the
The state Senate approved legislation this asking local agencies to develop plans to manage groundwater, a supply that is largely unregulated throughout the state even amid a statewide drought. The bill is identified by the governor’s office as one of two to carry his newly released groundwater governance language. Careful reporting and monitoring of groundwater
The last time California endured a drought, legislators set their sights on the state's heaviest water users: farmers. The state designed laws to push agricultural water districts to closely track their water flow and make the largest districts charge farmers based on how much they use. The economic theory is simple: If you aren't paying
California has ordered Sacramento River Valley, North and South Delta, San Joaquin River watershed and Russian River (upstream of Dry Creek) water agencies and users with post-1914 rights to stop pumping water from streams, a drastic response to the ongoing drought that hasn’t occurred since 1977. The curtailment notices were imposed by the State Water
Agricultural meteorologist Paul Brown says current long-range weather forecasts suggest a warm weather bias this summer along with a possible above-normal monsoon precipitation followed by a potentially wet El Niño winter in the West. These forecasts could be wet answers to parched prayers for western farmers dealing with reduced surface water allocations and smaller-sized crops
An environmental nonprofit organization has filed a lawsuit against the city of Livingston after its drinking water consistently exceeded the maximum contaminant level for arsenic. The documents filed in the Fresno Division of the Eastern District of California allege the city failed to resolve the issue after receiving a 60-day notice of violation from the
Sen. Dianne Feinstein will try to fast-track farm-friendly drought legislation through the Senate over the objections of environmentalists, who the senator complains have done nothing to help her adapt California's aging water system to deal with climate change and the addition of millions of thirsty residents. Environmentalists "have never been helpful to me in producing good
Research by hydrogeologists at The University of Texas at Austin, which appears in the May 11 edition of the journal Nature Geoscience, shows for the first time that virtually every drop of water coursing through 311,000 miles (500,000 kilometers) of waterways in the Mississippi River network goes through a natural filtering process as it flows