california drought

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) issued an executive order Monday that directs the state to “consider modifying” ongoing releases of water from reservoirs to save fish in the California Delta rather than storing it.

More than half of California’s rice fields have been left fallow this year due to the ongoing drought and a lack of allocations from state and federal water projects, leaving the Sacramento Valley, normally inundated with water this time of year, dry.

Celebrities are not above the law in a drought — and several have been flagged by municipal water authorities in California for using water far in excess of their allocated limits.

An error has led to the death of 21,000 fish at the University of California Davis, including an endangered species, in what the university is calling a “catastrophic failure.”

More than six million California residents have been hit with “unprecedented” water restrictions on Wednesday as the state manages the worst drought in recorded history. 

The State of California is about to begin removing the first of four dams on the Klamath River — despite an extreme drought and a looming electricity generation crisis — to improve habitat for migratory salmon and satisfy Native American groups.

The California Coastal Commission (CCC) voted Thursday to reject plans for a desalination plant in Orange County, despite the fact that the state is running out of water in the midst of a drought that has highlighted the need for new water supplies.

Severe water restrictions have begun in Southern California, as the Metropolitan Water District has announced that residents of certain areas will be limited to watering outdoor plants just once a week, as the state suffers a third year of severe drought.

Staff of the California Coastal Commission have recommended that a proposed desalination project in Orange County be rejected ahead of a deciding vote on May 12, despite urgent water needs highlighted by an ongoing drought in the region.

California’s drought continues, with the state’s snowpack only at 35% of the historical average, despite heavy snows in the Sierra Nevada that doubled the entire snowfall for the first quarter of the year.

After record-breaking snowfall in December, California suffered its driest January in 38 years, and the second-driest in the state’s recorded history, making the ongoing drought even worse, with 99.57% of the state officially in drought.

A proposed ballot measure to require the State of California to spend 2% of its annual budget on expanding water infrastructure has been dropped after failing to raise enough money or gather enough signatures.

The Merced Irrigation District, a regional water authority in the San Joaquin Valley, is suing the State of California over a plan to divert water from the Merced River watershed to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta for fish and downstate use.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom extended a declaration of a drought emergency to every county in the state on Tuesday, and encouraged California to adopt a voluntary 15% reduction in water use, as one of the worst droughts in history continued.

After two consecutive winters of drought, Californians are hoping that a new forecast for heavy rain will be fulfilled. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday that a storm could bring two inches of rain to the state October 20 through 24.

Water levels in California’s Lake Oroville have dipped so low that houseboats are being removed from the water, or crowding into the precious little water that remains in the dam.

The California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) announced an emergency order Tuesday to stop 86% of water rights holders in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta watershed from pumping water, amid extreme drought.

California is planning to take a major hydroelectric power plant offline later this summer during a season of peak demand because extreme drought means there is not enough water available to run its turbines.

Farmers struggling in the California drought are shaking almonds off their trees to save the trees themselves, according to Victor Davis Hanson, a farmer and conservative commentator.

Comedian Bill Maher has not-so-jokingly threatened to leave California, arguing that the state continues to mismanage its water supply in the face of chronic droughts and wildfires. On Friday’s episode of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, the Los Angeles-based

Gov. Gavin Newsom extended his “drought emergency” declaration on Monday, placing 39 of the state’s 58 counties within that category as reservoirs remain extremely low heading into the dry summer months.

Most of the state of California is suddenly in “extreme” drought, as the snowmelt from winter storms has melted without reaching the state’s reservoirs.

California is on the verge of another drought, as the dry winter has led to alarmingly low water levels in Lake Oroville, one of the most important dams in the state.

California welcomed rain this weekend — including a storm that brought a dusting of snow to Malibu, near Los Angeles — as the state hoped to emerge from a new drought.

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.

As the 2017 wildfire season in California recedes in time, if not in memory, the 2018 wildfire season is looming into view. And so if you live in the Golden State—now the Scorched State, as more than 500,000 acres were burned in 2017—you should be worried about a fire-haunted future.

The drought that has plagued California for half a decade is over — and Lake Tahoe, tucked away high in the Sierra Nevada, is full for the first time in 11 years.

After a nearly decade-long drought, the state known for its endless summer, is now home to a seemingly endless winter, with eight feet of snow on the ground in some of the western mountain ranges.

U.S. Geological Survey issued new reports stating that cyclical drought areas in California could be relieved by purifying the vast amounts of underground brackish (salty) water.

California Gov. Jerry Brown declared Friday that the drought in his state is officially over, with a formal declaration to an end of the drought state of emergency in most counties.

The Cadiz Water Project will soon produce enough Mojave Desert groundwater to serve the needs of 400,000 people in Southern California, thanks to President Donald Trump’s Department of Interior reversing his predecessor’s stall tactics.

Farmers are applauding President Donald Trump’s executive order Tuesday that reverses the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule, which gave the agency virtually limitless authority to regulate water on private land.

California may soon be drought-free after experiencing the highest levels of runoff from the Sierra Nevada snowpack in 22 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.

President-elect Donald Trump has stated his commitment to helping California’s farmers attain more water, as the Golden State prepares to enter its historic sixth year of a crippling drought, with a federal water policy in place that favors fish over agriculture.

The Times of Israel reports: In the US, cleantech has often focused on ways to develop alternative energies, like solar and wind, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that water may be an even bigger problem. “Just look at what happened in