Water News - Page 51 of 69 in California's San Joaquin Valley

Drought driving up water prices

May 28, 2021

• by Lois Henry

If you were looking for some bargain priced water this year, you’re out of luck. “We got out of the market when we started seeing prices north of $900 an acre foot,” said Jason Gianquinto, General Manager of Semitropic Water Storage District in western Kern County. “That’s just too much for us. We had some…

Drought • Friant-Kern Canal

Dry conditions could cut Friant water to zero in a replay of 2014-2015 drought

May 28, 2021

• by Lois Henry

Farms and towns in the south San Joaquin Valley that rely on water from Millerton Lake north of Fresno are anxiously waiting to hear if they will be cut to zero again this year. That happened in 2014 and again in 2015 when that prolonged drought was so bad the Bureau of Reclamation couldn’t deliver…

Drought • Federal System • Groundwater • Personalities

Will climate change alter water rights?

May 27, 2021

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting intern

The specter of climate change isn’t just impacting weather, it could also change California water rights, according to experts who spoke at this year’s annual Water Summit put on by the Water Association of Kern County. The May 25 virtual event included a host of experts who caught attendees up on the latest information about…

Drinking Water • Drought

Valley wells already going dry as drought settles in

May 27, 2021

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting intern

Dry wells are starting to crop up throughout California’s San Joaquin Valley as the 2021 drought digs in. And as the parched state barrels toward summer, the risk of more wells going dry is increasing. For some, that possibility is already a scary reality. Misty Vasquez was at work in December, when her husband called…

SGMA • State System • Water Markets

The sinking Central Valley town

May 25, 2021

• by Lois Henry

Editor’s note: This article was produced by SJV Water, the Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism (CCIJ) and the New York Times. The collaboration between SJV Water and CCIJ was led by the Institute for Nonprofit News as part of a project called “Tapped Out: Power, justice and water in the West.” This story was written with funding from the…

Drinking Water

Unpaid water bills a “pending disaster” the state is trying to head off

May 24, 2021

• by Lois Henry

If the state has any hope of heading off a looming “tidal wave” of residential water shut offs and bankrupt water systems it has to get a picture of current impacts, advocates urged. Right now, the state doesn’t even have a blurry sketch. Which is why the State Water Resources Control Board directed staff on…

Drinking Water

Money for water debt may be available but can California get it to those in need?

May 20, 2021

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting intern

As pandemic restrictions begin to ease in California, a race is on to get money in place to help with massive and growing household water debt before the statewide moratorium on shutoffs for non-payment is lifted. Some observers are looking at June 15, when Gov. Newsom said he’ll lift the state’s mask mandate, as a…

Conservation

Bakersfield students win grand prize for grey water project

May 13, 2021

• by Lois Henry

Students at Bakersfield’s Munsey Elementary School took home the grand prize in a statewide contest to find new, innovative ways to conserve water. The contest, called the H2O Challenge, is put on by water purveyor Cal Water. Teacher Barbara Elrod encouraged the students in her combination 5th and 6th grade class to take up the…

Drinking Water • Friant-Kern Canal • Rivers

Drought reduces runoff from watersheds burned by wildfires

May 13, 2021

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting intern

Drought isn’t all bad. In fact, it’s turning out to be a dry blessing in disguise this year as the lack of snow means less runoff in areas burned by the massive Creek and Sequoia Complex wildfires in 2020. The Creek Fire, which started on September 4, 2020, burned nearly 380,000 acres of the San…

Drinking Water • Rivers

Innovative partnerships and exchanges are securing the Gila River Indian Community’s water future

May 13, 2021

• by Sharon Udasin

Editor’s note: This story is part of a collaboration — Tapped Out: Power, justice and water in the West — that includes the Institute for Nonprofit News, California Health Report, Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism, Circle of Blue, Columbia Insight, Ensia, High Country News, New Mexico In Depth and SJV Water. It was made possible by a…

NEWS

Drought driving up water prices

Dry conditions could cut Friant water to zero in a replay of 2014-2015 drought

Will climate change alter water rights?

Valley wells already going dry as drought settles in

The sinking Central Valley town

Unpaid water bills a “pending disaster” the state is trying to head off

Money for water debt may be available but can California get it to those in need?

Bakersfield students win grand prize for grey water project

Drought reduces runoff from watersheds burned by wildfires

Innovative partnerships and exchanges are securing the Gila River Indian Community’s water future

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