Drought

The second snow survey of Water Year (WY) 2017-18 was conducted Monday at Phillips Station by Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program, and the results paint an improving – but by no means secure – picture for precipitation-needy California. Although the recent late-winter storm that brought …

Following a set of incentives to protect western ecosystems and hydroelectric facilities from invasive zebra and quagga mussels launched last June by U.S. Secretary of the Department of the Interior (DOI) Ryan Zinke, DOI recently released a report highlighting the progress being made regarding the aquatic invasive species. First introduced …

Santa Barbara County (SBC) officials are working to help prepare residents and businesses for the next approaching winter storm by elevating a prior Pre-Evacuation Advisory to a Recommended Evacuation Warning for the Thomas, Sherpa and Whittier burn areas (in the communities of Carpinteria, Goleta, Montecito, Santa Barbara and Summerland). The …

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Desalination and Water Purification Research Program (DWPR) has announced a funding opportunity aimed at increasing water supplies by reducing the cost, energy consumption and environmental impacts of treating impaired and otherwise unusable waters. This DWPR funding opportunity is seeking proposals to address these issues. With …

The semi-aquatic nutria – native to South America and reaching up to 20 pounds and 2.5 feet in body length with a 12-inch tail – are wreaking havoc in in the wetlands, rivers, canals and other freshwater habitats in Fresno, Merced and Stanislaus Counties. Consequently, a Nutria Response Team, with …

Although the 2017 water year was the wettest on record for most of northern California and Central Valley Project (CVP) reservoirs were essentially full for the first time since California’s five-year drought ravaged the state, it’s a far different scenario, thus far, for Water Year (WY) 2018. The Bureau of …