Drought Archives - Page 11 of 11

Dry year, not politics, behind 15-percent water allocation

May 1, 2020

• by Lois Henry

Water may be highly political but dry is dry. And California is exceedingly dry this year, Department of Water Resources Director Karla Nemeth told SJV Water in explaining the state’s low 15-percent allocation for farms and cities that rely on water from the State Water Project. Given the results of Thursday’s final snow survey in…

Drought • Federal System • Groundwater • State System

State’s low water allocation prompts frustration, suspicion

April 29, 2020

• by Lois Henry

Is the State Water Project’s extremely low water allocation based on California’s fickle climate? Or politics? A growing chorus of frustrated water managers are wondering. After a dry January, the Department of Water Resources announced it would only be able to deliver 15 percent of contracted water amounts to farms and cities. That number hasn’t…

Drought • Floods • Groundwater • Rivers

High tech and low show state’s snowpack is still stingy

April 23, 2020

• by Lois Henry

The snowpack above the Central Valley looked slightly better after March and April brought the winter weather that was AWOL during the first two months of 2020. But the late storms weren’t enough to get valley rivers much above the 60%-of-average mark, if that. San Joaquin River The storms did provide enough snow for the…

Drought • Federal System • State System

The atmospheric river is flowing

March 11, 2020

• by Lois Henry

The storm finally arrived in Bakersfield early Tuesday evening. The storm was expected to bring significant rainfall to areas in the San Joaquin Valley after a dry January and even drier February, according to the National Weather Service’s Hanford office: A system will approach the coast of California through Wednesday. Significant rainfall is likely in…

Drought • Groundwater

Collaboration is the new game in California water

March 5, 2020

• by Lois Henry

If agriculture in the valley is going to survive, water leaders need to get cozy with new ideas and new allies. And, yes, that means environmentalists. “Historically, water supplies have been developed in a vacuum,” said Eric Averett, General Manager of Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District, at the Water Association of Kern County’s annual day…

Drought • Groundwater • Uncategorized • Water Markets

Price of water going up as the snowpack shrinks

March 4, 2020

• by Lois Henry

Another block of water has been offered for sale in Kern County at $950 per acre foot. With a dry January and extremely dry February, California’s water outlook has worsened. And that has bumped the price of water for those who have it to sell. Buena Vista Water Storage District on the western edge of…

Drought • Federal System

Initial federal water allocations for valley ag are low at 15 and 20 percent

February 25, 2020

• by Lois Henry

An historically dry February forced the feds to keep initial water allocations to Central Valley Project contractors low in the first round of allocations announced Tuesday during a call with federal water contractors. The Bureau of Reclamation is looking at delivering 15 percent of contracted amounts to agricultural contractors, such as Westlands Water District, south…

Drought • Groundwater • State System • Uncategorized

Irrigation water prices under SGMA causing sticker shock

February 6, 2020

• by Lois Henry

Reaction was hushed when Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District General Manager Eric Averett asked the small group of farmers Tuesday morning if any were interested in buying irrigation water at the previously unheard of price of $770 an acre foot. No papers rustled. Keyboards went silent. And none of the growers raised a hand. Such…

Conservation • Drought • Personalities • State System • Water Banking

TUNE IN! KGET Channel 17 in Bakersfield Saturday night Nov. 23 6 p.m.

November 23, 2019

• by Lois Henry

Well this was a quick turnaround! I was invited by KGET Ch. 17 anchor Jim Scott to talk about water on his Kern County In-Depth program. We talked SGMA with Kern Delta Water District’s new Executive Steve Teglia (formerly Asst. City Manager for Bakersfield) and then Jim interviewed retiring Kern County Water Agency General Manager…

Drought

Pollution plumes stopped by drought but how much longer for cleanup?

April 1, 2019

• by Lois Henry

The good news is that more than 40 million pounds of petroleum hydrocarbons have been sucked — literally — out of the ground around the former Shell Oil (now Alon) refinery on Rosedale Highway. And the really good news is that toxic plume, which had been creeping toward the Kern River bed and several drinking-water…

NEWS

Dry year, not politics, behind 15-percent water allocation

State’s low water allocation prompts frustration, suspicion

High tech and low show state’s snowpack is still stingy

The atmospheric river is flowing

Collaboration is the new game in California water

Price of water going up as the snowpack shrinks

Initial federal water allocations for valley ag are low at 15 and 20 percent

Irrigation water prices under SGMA causing sticker shock

TUNE IN! KGET Channel 17 in Bakersfield Saturday night Nov. 23 6 p.m.

Pollution plumes stopped by drought but how much longer for cleanup?

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