Dear Deeply Readers,
Welcome to the archives of Water Deeply. While we paused regular publication of the site on November 1, 2018, we are happy to serve as an ongoing public resource on water resilience. We hope you’ll enjoy the reporting and analysis that was produced by our dedicated community of editors and contributors.
We continue to produce events and special projects while we explore where the on-site journalism goes next. If you’d like to reach us with feedback or ideas for collaboration you can do so at [email protected].
It will be challenging to adapt to changing precipitation and snowmelt patterns in the vital Colorado River watershed. Jack Schmidt at Utah State University is launching a project that may provide some answers.
Size matters when the political debate turns to water storage in Colorado. Some candidates want as much as possible, some are only OK with small reservoirs. Either way, more Front Range water diversions are a touchy subject.
Four dams on the Klamath River may be simultaneously removed as early as 2021, after years of planning. It’s being hailed as a crucial effort to save salmon, but it won’t solve all the basin’s water problems.
Climate change brings new flood risks and new challenges for water storage managers. In California, one local water agency is taking on the big task of modifying its primary storage reservoir to be ready for these changes.
California is close to awarding $2.7 billion to new water storage projects. Jay Lund of U.C. Davis and Rachel Zwillinger of Defenders of Wildlife explain the process and how it will impact the state.
Eight obsolete dams have been removed or modified on the Rogue River over the past decade. Now its salmon help sustain commercial fishing, despite recent droughts that have devastated fish in other rivers.
Construction is set to begin next year, but environmentalists have filed a lawsuit over Chimney Hollow reservoir, which would store water for communities in Colorado’s Front Range.
California’s largest reservoir may get even bigger, despite opposition from the state. Some welcome the opportunity to store more water, but others are skeptical it could significantly ease competing demands for limited water and aid fish.
John McManus President, Golden Gate Salmon Association
Rachel Zwillinger Water Policy Adviser, Defenders of Wildlife
Environmental and fisheries groups have often opposed water storage projects. But two proposed projects in California have earned their backing, and Rachel Zwillinger of Defenders of Wildlife and John McManus of the Golden Gate Salmon Association, explain why.
A new study concludes that four hydroelectric dams on the Lower Snake River in Washington State could be effectively replaced by renewable power and more conservation. Fred Heutte of the Northwest Energy Coalition explain why.
A new report from the Center for American Progress found that rivers in Western states have been disturbed, from headwaters to floodplains. Kate Kelly sheds more light on the project, one of the most extensive of its kind.
Colorado is projected to see a water shortage of more than 500,000 acre-feet by 2050, mainly in fast-growing Front-Range cities from Denver to Fort Collins. Critics say the growth demands more conservation, not more water development projects.
An initial review by the California Water Commission slashed the ‘public benefits’ claimed by project applicants, prompting outrage in some quarters. Others say the process is working exactly as voters intended.
Barry Nelson Independent Water Policy Consultant
While California hasn’t added any large dams in the last 40 years, water managers have become creative about developing other kinds of water storage projects with fewer environmental impacts, writes policy expert Barry Nelson.
A dam failure in 1989 prompted the state of Utah to revamp its dam safety program. Engineer David Marble explains how the state keeps up with the task a generation later.
In the latest Deeply Talks, we talk to experts about wildfires, mudslides, infrastructure and what to keep an eye on in 2018 for water in the West.
California and other Western states will be grappling with long-term water issues related to infrastructure, clean drinking water systems and watershed restoration, among other concerns.
Here’s a look back at some of the key moments in 2017 as well as Water Deeply’s most read stories and the top reads from around the media picked by experts.
Research shows that the world’s saline lakes are at risk, among them Utah’s Great Salt Lake, which is fueling controversy over a proposal to build new dams on its largest tributary.
Richard Bloom Chair, California Assembly’s Budget Subcommittee on Natural Resources
As California works to make its infrastructure more climate-ready, it also needs to focus on restoration of vital watersheds, says California Assembly member Richard Bloom.
A California phenomenon called the ‘duck curve’ successfully predicted an electricity surplus as solar and wind energy flooded the grid. This may be bad news for Western hydroelectric dams that are unable to adapt.
In 2015 the San Clemente Dam was demolished, in part to restore the watershed and protect endangered steelhead trout. Now scientists are studying the impacts and the findings have them optimistic about the future.
A new study by the U.S. Geological Survey looks at more than 200 dam removals and finds that fish species and habitat can change rapidly, although examples from very large dams are rare.
A dozen water storage proposals are officially in the running for state bond funds. The tricky task now becomes analyzing their claimed “public benefits,” a new requirement to receive taxpayer support.
Matilija Dam in Ojai, California, no longer functions as it was intended, but it has still been a battle to raise the funds necessary to remove the 168ft-high structure that is impeding fish and coastal habitat.
The 50-year-old treaty with Canada governing the massive Columbia River system is up for revision. Aaron Wolf of Oregon State University explains what’s at stake as the two nations begin to discuss changes.
Jay Lund Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director, University of California
Ann Willis Staff Researcher, Center for Watershed Sciences
A look at how several California reservoirs may adapt to floods as the climate warms is both reassuring and disturbing, write Jay Lund and Ann Willis of the U.C. Davis Center for Watershed Sciences.
Mark W. Cowin Director, California Department of Water Resources
California’s highly engineered water system struggles to serve its 39 million people and the environment. But there a numerous things we can do to better plan for the future, writes Mark Cowin, director of the Department of Water Resources.
After 16 years of drought in the Colorado River Basin, Lake Mead has hit its lowest point ever. Here’s a look at what impact this will have on the 19 million Californians who depend on the water supply.
Konrad Fisher Director, Klamath Riverkeeper
The much-celebrated agreement to remove dams along the Klamath River has been hailed as a win for fish, but the river ecosystem needs more than just dam removal. Increased water flows are also paramount.
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