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On Tuesday, the Santa Barbara City Council voted unanimously to spend $55 million on reactivating the Charles E. Meyer Desalination Facility that is currently unused. The move is considered an investment in Santa Barbara’s future water needs, especially as the California drought continues to worsen. It’s estimated that the desalination …

Last week, the House of Representatives voted on H.R. 2898, the Western Water and American Food Security Act of 2015. The legislation was passed 245-176. Under the newly passed legislation, water policies will be modernized, meaning the federal regulators would be able to capture water during periods of greater precipitation. …

On Monday, the State Water Resources Control Board proposed a $1.5 million dollar fine for the Byron-Bethany Irrigation District, located in the San Francisco Bay Area. The fine was proposed because the district was illegally diverting water from a pumping plant. The district was warned about the lack of water …

A decade-long U.S. Geological Survey found that almost one-fifth of California’s raw groundwater – that’s primarily used as drinking water – contains excessive levels of harmful contaminants. This study is the first comprehensive look at the state’s groundwater and drinking supply. About one-third of the state’s drinking water comes from …

Under a new regulation approved by the California Water Commission last week, turf lawns could be a thing of the past. In response to the state’s ongoing drought, the commission passed an ordinance that limits the amount of turf in new landscaping projects to just 25 percent of a home’s …

As the California drought continues to grow bleak, the Central Valley is seeing the side effects, both in food production and jobs. Vast amounts of farmland is being left untouched at a time when it’s normally plowed and prepared for harvesting. Researchers at UC Davis estimate that 564,000 acres of …