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].
The state’s reservoirs have done their job to help water users survive record drought in 2018. Now they are almost totally dry, and tensions are building over the year ahead. ‘Climate change is really happening,’ one water official says.
Jay Lund Director, Center for Watershed Sciences at U.C. Davis
California recently promised billions of dollars in bond funds to new water storage projects. But it remains to be seen if these projects can obtain water rights and regulatory approval to actually start construction.
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.
Ted Kowalski Senior Environment Program Officer, Walton Family Foundation
New evidence tells us water shortages aren’t going away in the Colorado River Basin. They’ll likely just get worse. Survival requires new funding sources and a new commitment to conservation.
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.
Water shortages at Lake Mead have drawn all the attention in recent years. Now water rationing has reached far into the Colorado River’s snowy headwaters, prompting concern about the long-term operation of Lake Powell.
The West has entered an era of permanent water scarcity and is facing more frequent, larger wildfires. Listen to two experts explain how these challenges – and our approaches to managing them – are intertwined.
Cassidy Johnston New Mexico Cattle Rancher and Sustainability Officer, U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance
Most ranches depend on rain to ensure cattle have enough to eat, but arid conditions amplified by drought across much of the West means that ranchers are employing best practices to use water as efficiently as possible, writes New Mexico rancher Cassidy Johnston.
New federal estimates suggest serious water shortages on the Colorado River are closer than thought. While Arizona water users try to cooperate on a conservation fix, one group of farmers stands in the way of a compromise.
Large reservoirs have buffered urban areas in the Southwest from the worst of the year’s dry conditions, but rural farmers and ranchers are bearing the brunt of water shortages and the economic fallout.
With a dismal snowpack this year and parts of the Rio Grande running dry, a new deal among an environmental group, municipalities and businesses in New Mexico will help restore some flows for the river to benefit the ecosystem and endangered species.
The arrival of the heavy rains has been a welcome relief, but it’s not expected to be enough to help the state’s ailing rivers fully recover from drought.
Drought and wildfires across the U.S. Southwest this summer are a preview of what’s ahead in the decades to come. A shift to hotter, drier weather will also require a change in mind-set for the region’s residents.
Just how long interim funding will play a central role in responding to water issues depends on implementing long-term solutions to contamination and groundwater depletion.
Conservationists in the Southwest are rushing to save endangered Rio Grande silvery minnows stranded in sections of the river that have run dry.
How bad was the snowpack across the West this winter and what will that mean for farms, cities and wildlife? John Fleck of the University of New Mexico and Water Deeply Managing Editor Tara Lohan discuss in our latest Deeply Talks.
Stretches of the Middle Rio Grande in New Mexico sometimes run dry during hot summer months, but this year biologists are trying to rescue stranded fish in early April – something that’s unprecedented.
Water managers in New Mexico will be relying on stored water to meet ecological, agricultural and water supply needs as the runoff from this winter is expected to be notably low.
Jay Lund Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director, University of California
With about a month of California’s wet season left, some areas will likely experience drought this year, but all water and wildlife managers should be preparing for it anyway, writes Jay Lund of University of California, Davis.
Kirsten James Oversees the California Policy Program, Ceres
The Golden State can take a big leap toward water sustainability with a group of bills before lawmakers this legislative session that address conservation, reuse and equity, says Ceres’ Kirsten James.
Concerning forecasts for runoff into the Rio Grande and the Colorado River are just the start of the bad news for the West as California and other southwestern states face warm weather, below average precipitation and paltry snowpack.
Tom Philp Executive Strategist, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
If we are adequately to talk about the weather this century, we are going to need a new lexicon that better captures the current reality, writes Tom Philp of Metropolitan Water District.
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.
Brian Gray Senior Fellow, PPIC Water Policy Center
Leon Szeptycki Director, Water in the West
Barton “Buzz” Thompson Robert E. Paradise Professor in Natural Resources Law, Stanford Law School
Assigning Ecosystem Water Budgets for California’s major watersheds would provide a defined amount of water that could be flexibly allocated and could ease conflict, say authors of a new report from Public Policy Institute of California.
Kirsten James Oversees the California Policy Program, Ceres
Water risk can translate to dollars lost for investors as businesses are impacted by droughts, floods and other water insecurities. Having the tools to evaluate that risk is key, says Ceres’ Kirsten James.
The Southern California city is building a number of big projects with the goal of becoming completely self-sufficient in water by 2020, according to Dean Kubani, its chief sustainability officer.
Latest research shows a second consecutive La Niña is in play this year. And it comes with stronger effects, likely including an expansion of the dry spell, which could be bad news for California.
A new poll commissioned by the Water Foundation looks at the views of residents of 12 Western states on a range of water issues, including climate change, policy and cost, explains Wade Crowfoot, the foundation’s chief executive.
During California’s five-year drought, residents started saving water long before the water agencies required it. That’s because they were motivated by heavy media coverage, says Stanford University’s Newsha Ajami.
The Ojai Valley in Ventura County relies solely on local water sources, but in light of a continued dry spell and concerns over future supplies, it’s looking at several options to diversify.
A century of fire suppression followed by the worst drought in recorded history has put California’s forest landscapes and water supply at risk. A study led by Van Butsic of U.C. Berkeley proposes a new way to manage forests.
The state’s governor declared a drought disaster across 20 counties while a National Weather Service official acknowledged a long-range forecast missed the mark.
New research into how drought kills trees has helped reveal a potentially huge climate consequence of an increase in dead and dying forests that one scientist cautioned could result in a “carbon death spiral.”
East Porterville was the hardest-hit community during the drought, when nearly 1,000 people were without water. Efforts to find a long-term fix have been successful but came with a big price tag and some important lessons.
New research by Robert Allen, a climatologist at the University of California, Riverside, suggests that climate change may actually result in more precipitation – and more floods and storms.
Drought conditions continue for thousands of rural residents in the San Joaquin valley who rely on groundwater. And the race to dig deeper wells is a losing game for small communities and those on private wells.
California’s prolonged drought has been an opportunity for the state to address critical water issues, but there is still more than can be done. Water Deeply asked four water experts about what the state should tackle next.
California agencies released a three-year plan to bring delta smelt back from the brink of extinction, but some of the goals and the overall feasibility of the plan have been questioned.
Michael Kiparsky Director, Wheeler Water Institute at CLEE
Our water systems need innovation, but the task of bringing new ideas to fruition falls on a sector that is regarded as conservative and risk averse, writes Michael Kiparsky, director of the Wheeler Water Institute.
Atmospheric rivers are responsible for a huge share of California’s precipitation. Weather expert Marty Ralph explains new efforts that aim to forecast these storms for the first time.
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