Page 2 - Chris Scheuring News Today

By Chris Scheuring, Special to CalMatters Wendell Berry famously said that eating is an agricultural act. That makes all of us into farmers, and nowhere is that more true than in water terms. For farming is irreducibly the process of mixing dirt, water and sunshine to bring forth from the ground wh

Snowpack up 160% in ‘good start’ to 2022

As the state's drought worsens, there are few, if any, protections in place for California’s depleted groundwater. The new law gave local agencies at least 26 years — until 2040 — to stop the impacts of over-pumping.

As drought worsens, there are few, if any, protections in place for California’s depleted groundwater. The law gave local agencies at least 26 years — until 2040.

Delta water cutbacks weigh on farmers

California is seeing the effects of the West's historic "megadrought," which has cut off critical water resources in multiple states.

Im not interested. Most of California is experiencing an extreme drought, with May and June the warmest and driest on record since 1896. Lake Oroville, one of California’s largest reservoirs, is expected to reach a new historic low in October.   Demand for water from rivers and streams has outstripped supply 16-fold in the San Joaquin River watershed and three-fold in the Sacramento River, according to State Water Resources Control Board staff. Dwindling flows risk salty backwash from the P...

Print Amid intensifying drought, state water regulators voted Tuesday to enact a drastic emergency order that will bar thousands of Californians — primarily farmers — from using stream and river water. California’s complex water rights system is designed to allocate water use during times of shortage and such curtailments, while rare, are not unheard of. But the scope of Tuesday’s order — which will apply to thousands of senior water rights across a wide swath of the state — is u...

Drought prompts California to halt some water diversions ADAM BEAM, Associated Press FacebookTwitterEmail 8 1of8FILE - In this June 9, 2021, file photo, the dried, cracked earth of a former wetland that was drained in an effort to prevent an outbreak of avian botulism which occurs in Tulelake, Calif. California regulators are planning to stop thousands of farmers from taking water out of the states major rivers and streams. The State Water Resources Control Board is considering th...

By ADAM BEAM Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Some farmers in one of the countrys most important agricultural regions will have to stop taking water out of major rivers and streams because of a severe drought that is threatening the drinking water supply for 25 million people, state regulators said Tuesday. The Water Resources Control Board approved an emergency resolution empowering regulators to halt diversions from the states two largest river systems. The order co...