“Republic of Thirst” is a three-part series made possible by a generous fellowship from the Robert Novak Foundation. Part I of examined the debate over how California’s scarce water resources should be allocated. Part III will examine whether those resources can
Outgoing California Governor Jerry Brown will not be in office to see his “twin tunnels” project completed — if it is ever begun at all — after the state’s Department of Water Resources withdrew a key certification last Friday.
California Governor Jerry Brown signed two bills that will force water districts and municipalities to permanently adopt even more aggressive water rationing level than during the state’s 5-year drought.
Dam safety experts are warning that a three-day storm set to hit Northern California beginning on Thursday could risk an overflow event at the partially rebuilt Oroville Dam spillway.
The California Department of Water Resources’ (DWR) cost estimates for the Oroville Dam crisis and repair have spiked to $870 million, after an independent forensic report blamed the state for misleading the public about its knowledge of dangerous conditions.
The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) technical report has admitted that 75 percent of the newly repaired cement slabs in the Oroville Dam’s spillway already have cracks. The DWR report for the California-owned dam was issued on Nov. 2
Oroville Dam neighbors and downstream residents blasted California officials for claiming they should not worry about hundreds of cracks in the newly reconstructed dam spillway.
The Kiewit Corporation contractor poured the final smooth layer of cement on the Oroville Dam spillway chute Wednesday and the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) is set to certify that the massive repair job was completed by the November 1 deadline.
A team of University of California infrastructure risk management experts has warned that patches of green foliage growing on the face of Oroville Dam are indications of water saturation in the earthen structure that could cause a catastrophic collapse.
With heavy rain and snow slamming into the Central Sierra Mountains, the spillway at Lake Davis overflowed for the first time in 21 years, re-igniting concerns about the downstream water level rising at Oroville Dam.
Data from the U.S. Energy Information Agency suggest that the state could receive an extra $900 million in new hydro-electric revenue as a result of record California rain — and that the cash could pay for some of the damage to the Oroville Dam, the Los Angeles Aqueduct, and much of California’s key flood control infrastructure.
California’s crippling five-year drought has come to a temporary halt in the northern part of the state, as roughly 350 billion gallons of water came pouring into the region’s biggest reservoirs over the past few days, boosting storage to levels not seen in years.
With storms pummeling Southern California, and California’s Northern Sierras receiving the third-highest early season precipitation in the last 50 years, state officials doubled the amount of water they expect to provide next year from the State Water Project.
California Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order Monday making some of the state’s temporary drought restrictions permanent.
A leak Wednesday forced state water officials to shut down the California Aqueduct, the canal that delivers water from Northern California to tens of millions of residents and farms in Southern California. Water officials first discovered the leak on January 2
A report released by NASA this week indicated that the amount of farmland in California left idle has more than doubled in just four years due to the state’s punishing drought.
The State of California is planning to use eminent domain law to acquire hundreds of farms in the Delta for a controversial, multi-billion-dollar underground water tunnel project proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown.
In an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, NASA senior water scientist Jay Famiglietti warned that California only has about one year’s worth of water supply left in its snowpack, reservoirs, and groundwater storage. If conservation efforts are not ramped up, and soon, the state could be facing a full-blown “crisis.”
The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) raised the annual water allocation it provides to the State Water Project (SWP) to 20 percent on Monday following several large storms that have brought much-needed rain to northern California’s reservoirs.
