Posts

California Senate Passes Groundwater Reform Legislation

4 Comments
/
The Assembly votes on Thursday.

Drought to Cost California Agriculture $2.2 Billion and 17,000 Jobs, But Groundwater Is a Lifeline

1 Comment
/
Record reductions in river flows will be offset by pumping more water from aquifers.

In California, Groundwater Softens Drought’s Punch – That’s Both Good News and Bad

1 Comment
/
Agriculture may do better this year than expected, researchers say. But at a long-term cost.

Water Levels Dropping, Fresno Weans Itself from Groundwater

1 Comment
/
The largest city in California's San Joaquin Valley is transforming its water system, at a significant cost.

Map: California’s Water Use Per County (1985-2005)

0 Comments
/
Click through the interactive Google Fusion Tables infographic to see how California’s water use has changed over the last two decades and how these trends relate to population demographics and water contamination.
John Burchard, General Manager of the Alpaugh Community Services District, walks a ditch bank on the outskirts of town. The small farmworker community in California's Central Valley suffers from high levels of arsenic and other contaminates in its drinking water.

New Era of Much Drier Conditions Forecast For California

6 Comments
/
Federal and state agencies, communities and businesses not positioned well enough to respond, says new Circle of Blue report.

California Drought Saps Water Reserves Above and Below Ground, Says Satellite Data

2 Comments
/
Snow is scarce, reservoirs are approaching bottom, and groundwater is being exhausted in the nation’s most populous state. More than a dozen communities face water shortages in the next 60 to 100 days, and there will be zero water deliveries from the state’s largest canal system this year.
Juan Diego Hernandez, 9, bathes at his family's home in Alpaugh. The small farmworker community in California's Central Valley suffers from high levels of arsenic and other contaminates in its water.

Video: Water Crisis in California’s Central Valley from Photographer Matt Black

0 Comments
/
Water Crisis in California's Central Valley from Photographer Matt Black
A male Chinook Salmon is measured and tagged after being caught in a "Fyke Net," in the San Joaquin River. The fish will be transported upstream by truck, bypassing obstacles, on its way to the historic Salmon spawning grounds near Fresno in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

The Law and The Fish

In the competition for water, fish are on the frontlines.
A worker inspects a valve in the Pleasant Valley Pumping Plant, a facility that supplies irrgation water to the Central Valley's vast Westlands Water District.

Getting Off the Pipe

0 Comments
/
In Metro L.A., Searching for Local Water.
Seaguls from the coast fly far inland and into the dry landscape of California's Central Valley.

Big Water Supply Project Creates Unease in Delta

Farms, Wildlife Preserves in the Tunnels’ Path.
An overview map of the Central Valley project at the C.W. Jones Pumping Plant, a federal facility which supplies water to the project's network of irrigation canals and reservoirs.

Photo Slideshow: California’s Lingering Drought and Pollution Defy Solutions

1 Comment
/
Less snowmelt from Sierra Nevada leads to more pumping of Central Valley’s contaminated groundwater.