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"content": "\u003cp>To paraphrase an old expression, this might not be the end of the drought, but you can see it from here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Home/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?CA\">U.S. Drought Monitor’s weekly analysis\u003c/a>, released on Thursday, shows 58 percent of California in at least moderate drought, compared to 97 percent one year ago. Only 2 percent of the state remains in the most extreme category, “exceptional drought,” down from nearly 43 percent a year ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week some of California’s most respected voices in climate science and water supply started edging toward calling an end to the most punishing drought in memory, now in its sixth year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This series of storms — and when you look out it looks like we’re going to get even more wet — is a surface storage drought buster,” says Jeff Mount, co-founder of the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis, now a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a mid-week \u003ca href=\"https://californiawaterblog.com/2017/01/10/tails-of-californias-drought/\">post from the Center\u003c/a>, Mount’s former colleague, Jay Lund, largely agreed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In terms of surface water, most of California is no longer in drought,” wrote Lund. “Unless the remainder of the year is incredibly dry and warm, 2017 will not be a drought for surface water, with perhaps a few local exceptions.” (Lund held out Santa Barbara as one of those exceptions, a city that still “faces major urban drought.”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s two largest reservoirs — Shasta and Oroville — are 26 percent and 17 percent above their average levels for mid-January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Less than a month ago, hydrologists were fretting over a “snow drought” in the Sierra Nevada. But after a series of blizzards fed by atmospheric rivers off the Pacific, the statewide snowpack now stands at 58 percent above “normal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Note that both Mount and Lunds qualify their declarations by talking about “surface” water, which is to say the rapidly rising — in some cases overflowing — levels in most of the state’s reservoirs, even in long-parched Southern California. Those surface reservoirs (the ones you can actually see the water in) typically supply about two-thirds of the water that Californians use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1317439\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1317439 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/P1080219.jpg\" alt=\"Flooded vineyards along Hwy 29 in the Napa Valley. Standing water like this will slowly sink in, helping to recharge groundwater aquifers.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/P1080219.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/P1080219-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/P1080219-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/P1080219-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/P1080219-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/P1080219-1920x1440.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/P1080219-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/P1080219-960x720.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/P1080219-240x180.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/P1080219-375x281.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/P1080219-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Flooded vineyards along Hwy 29 on January 8 in the Napa Valley. Standing water like this will slowly sink in, helping to recharge groundwater aquifers — but it’s a slow process. \u003ccite>(Craig Miller)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In drought years, however, farms and many cities turn to pumping groundwater for relief, and there’s the rub. Mount says water consumers have been drawing down the state’s strained aquifers by about 2 million acre-feet per year, “come wet, come dry.” (That’s nearly a quarter of total urban water use in California). In recent years, the lack of surface water supplies have only accelerated that pace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s nothing historically that can compare to this,” says Mount, “and it will take many years — many, many years of wet or at least above-average precipitation to fill that gap and fill that hole in the ground that we left when we pumped so hard on our aquifers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mount’s full analysis is laid out in a \u003ca href=\"http://www.ppic.org/main/blog_detail.asp?i=2199&utm_source=The+PPIC+Blog&utm_campaign=cf4ff17e2b-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_Water&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1d97666088-cf4ff17e2b-218172481\">post for the PPIC blog\u003c/a> that published on Tuesday, as Northern California was getting hammered by rain and snow.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>To paraphrase an old expression, this might not be the end of the drought, but you can see it from here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Home/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?CA\">U.S. Drought Monitor’s weekly analysis\u003c/a>, released on Thursday, shows 58 percent of California in at least moderate drought, compared to 97 percent one year ago. Only 2 percent of the state remains in the most extreme category, “exceptional drought,” down from nearly 43 percent a year ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week some of California’s most respected voices in climate science and water supply started edging toward calling an end to the most punishing drought in memory, now in its sixth year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This series of storms — and when you look out it looks like we’re going to get even more wet — is a surface storage drought buster,” says Jeff Mount, co-founder of the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis, now a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a mid-week \u003ca href=\"https://californiawaterblog.com/2017/01/10/tails-of-californias-drought/\">post from the Center\u003c/a>, Mount’s former colleague, Jay Lund, largely agreed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In terms of surface water, most of California is no longer in drought,” wrote Lund. “Unless the remainder of the year is incredibly dry and warm, 2017 will not be a drought for surface water, with perhaps a few local exceptions.” (Lund held out Santa Barbara as one of those exceptions, a city that still “faces major urban drought.”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s two largest reservoirs — Shasta and Oroville — are 26 percent and 17 percent above their average levels for mid-January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Less than a month ago, hydrologists were fretting over a “snow drought” in the Sierra Nevada. But after a series of blizzards fed by atmospheric rivers off the Pacific, the statewide snowpack now stands at 58 percent above “normal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Note that both Mount and Lunds qualify their declarations by talking about “surface” water, which is to say the rapidly rising — in some cases overflowing — levels in most of the state’s reservoirs, even in long-parched Southern California. Those surface reservoirs (the ones you can actually see the water in) typically supply about two-thirds of the water that Californians use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1317439\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1317439 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/P1080219.jpg\" alt=\"Flooded vineyards along Hwy 29 in the Napa Valley. Standing water like this will slowly sink in, helping to recharge groundwater aquifers.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/P1080219.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/P1080219-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/P1080219-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/P1080219-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/P1080219-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/P1080219-1920x1440.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/P1080219-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/P1080219-960x720.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/P1080219-240x180.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/P1080219-375x281.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/P1080219-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Flooded vineyards along Hwy 29 on January 8 in the Napa Valley. Standing water like this will slowly sink in, helping to recharge groundwater aquifers — but it’s a slow process. \u003ccite>(Craig Miller)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In drought years, however, farms and many cities turn to pumping groundwater for relief, and there’s the rub. Mount says water consumers have been drawing down the state’s strained aquifers by about 2 million acre-feet per year, “come wet, come dry.” (That’s nearly a quarter of total urban water use in California). In recent years, the lack of surface water supplies have only accelerated that pace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s nothing historically that can compare to this,” says Mount, “and it will take many years — many, many years of wet or at least above-average precipitation to fill that gap and fill that hole in the ground that we left when we pumped so hard on our aquifers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mount’s full analysis is laid out in a \u003ca href=\"http://www.ppic.org/main/blog_detail.asp?i=2199&utm_source=The+PPIC+Blog&utm_campaign=cf4ff17e2b-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_Water&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1d97666088-cf4ff17e2b-218172481\">post for the PPIC blog\u003c/a> that published on Tuesday, as Northern California was getting hammered by rain and snow.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Talking About the Future of California's Water in the Face of Climate Change",
"headTitle": "Talking About the Future of California’s Water in the Face of Climate Change | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"start\">IN LESS THAN \u003c/span>a month, the United States will be led by a president who denies climate change exists. President-elect Donald Trump has also said he wants to see the \u003cspan class=\"caps\">U.S.\u003c/span> withdraw from the \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Agreement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Paris Agreement\u003c/a> and wants to roll back environmental regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, a state that has already seen the impacts of climate change and has been a leader when it comes to efforts to slow its pace and mitigate its results, many are wondering what the new direction on the federal level will mean for the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, Water Deeply’s managing editor, Tara Lohan, spoke with Juliet Christian-Smith, senior climate scientist with the \u003ca href=\"http://www.ucsusa.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Union of Concerned Scientists\u003c/a>, and Max Gomberg, the \u003ca href=\"http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">State Water Resources Control Board\u003c/a>’s climate and conservation manager, about the impact of climate change on California’s water future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tara Lohan: Juliet, given the current anti-science political climate right now, as a climate scientist, how are you feeling and what are some of the folks in your community thinking?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1259646\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 187px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1259646\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/juliet-christian-smith-200px1.jpg\" alt=\"Juliet Christian-Smith is a senior climate scientist with the Climate and Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. \" width=\"187\" height=\"245\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/juliet-christian-smith-200px1.jpg 187w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/juliet-christian-smith-200px1-160x210.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 187px) 100vw, 187px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juliet Christian-Smith is a senior climate scientist with the Climate and Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. \u003ccite>((Union of Concerned Scientists))\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Juliet Christian-Smith: It’s been a difficult month or so, but I’m happy to be in California. A meeting of the American Geophysical Union took place this past week – it’s the largest scientific conference in the United States – and it was a great moment for scientists to come together, share research and stand up for the value of science. Gov. [Jerry] Brown came and said during his talk that climate science will persevere and that California is doubling down on its efforts to show the rest of the country and the world how to fight emissions, address global warming and have a thriving economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While we’ll be facing some real challenges at a federal level, we hope that a call to science and integrity and the will to preserve in our commitment to the country will win in the end. We put together a letter signed by over 2,000 scientists, including more than 20 Nobel Laureates, asking the Trump administration to implement rules around scientific integrity so that even if the appointees don’t understand the science, they’re listening to the scientists who actually do the science and understand it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lohan: Max, from your perspective, what can the state do to help support climate science and scientists?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Max Gomberg: California has been a leader on climate change issues since 2006, when it passed \u003cspan class=\"caps\">AB32\u003c/span>, or the \u003ca href=\"https://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/ab32/ab32.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">California Global Warming Solutions Act\u003c/a>, and it is maintaining its leadership role. Last year, we passed \u003cspan class=\"caps\">SB32\u003c/span>, which tries to reduce emissions even further to a sustainable level to avoid catastrophic effects like massive sea-level rise, temperature change and dramatic changes in ecosystems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state has played a really critical role in our national negotiations leading to the Paris agreement last year. There’s a lot of work going on to continue both mitigation of climate change and to adapting to the changes that we’re already seeing. There’s a lot going on in California in the climate realm. That’s going to continue no matter what happens in Washington \u003cspan class=\"caps\">D.C.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lohan: California currently has the most ambitious greenhouse gas targets in the country. Can anti-science action at the federal level put that in jeopardy?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1259648\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 449px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1259648\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/27f39db.jpg\" alt=\"Max Gomber is climate and conservation manager at State Water Resources Control Board.\" width=\"449\" height=\"449\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/27f39db.jpg 449w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/27f39db-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/27f39db-240x240.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/27f39db-375x375.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/27f39db-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/27f39db-50x50.jpg 50w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/27f39db-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/27f39db-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/27f39db-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/27f39db-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 449px) 100vw, 449px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Max Gomber is climate and conservation manager at State Water Resources Control Board. \u003ccite>((Max Gomberg))\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gomberg: Certainly. In the past, the state has been granted waivers to go above and beyond federal legislation. For example, California took the lead in setting higher fuel efficiency standards for vehicles, and a number of states later followed. If there’s federal action to try to roll back those allowances for the states, that could hamper some of our work. On the other hand, ideological conservatives in Congress are fond of promulgating the idea that the federal government should leave decisions up to the states, so they might find themselves in a quandary there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lohan: Taking a step back, what do we actually know about California’s climate in the past, and what should we expect in the future?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Christian-Smith: We know that we’re already experiencing climate change. It’s not something that is going to happen later; it’s happening now, and it will get worse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The statewide average temperature in winter is already more than 5 degrees [fahrenheit] (\u003cspan class=\"caps\">2.8C\u003c/span>) warmer than it was historically. In 2015, for the first time ever in recorded history, temperatures in the Sierra Nevada were above freezing during the winter time. That’s a big problem for a state with a water system that is heavily counting on snowmelt. A third of our water comes from snowpack that melts into some of the major reservoirs that were created by the state and federal government in the 1950s. Those projects are seeing huge reductions in the amount of snow and they’re also seeing big changes in the timing of snowmelt. The peak snowmelt events occur now 30 days earlier than average. The timing of water supply is out of phase with the timing of water demand and that’s a problem for management.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because of the system of traditional surface waters – lakes, rivers, reservoirs – is failing, we have seen a huge shift toward relying on groundwater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lohan: Max, the state is already working toward sustainability on groundwater. In 2014, California passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. Its implementation has begun and will continue for quite some time. What else can water managers be doing except for relying on groundwater to plan for changes in the amount and timing of water they receive?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomberg: It partly depends on who they’re supplying, urban areas or agricultural operations. However, generally speaking, we still have a long way to go on efficiency. Part of the reason that the governor issued the \u003ca href=\"https://www.newsdeeply.com/water/articles/2016/12/09/how-california-plans-to-make-conservation-a-way-of-life\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">executive order\u003c/a> last May was to ensure that we’re moving toward a very highly efficient water-use future across the state. We can really gain a lot of water simply from more efficient practices. That will enable us to become more resilient for the droughts ahead, which we know under climate change are going to be more severe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lohan: Is there anything we need from an infrastructural point of view, whether that’s reservoirs or smaller or green infrastructure like stormwater capture?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomberg: Absolutely. There was a lot not to like in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.newsdeeply.com/water/articles/2016/12/20/what-the-new-federal-water-bill-means-for-the-delta\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">federal water law\u003c/a>that the president just signed, but some of the money in there is for additional flood control projects. That’s important because we know from the drought that when it’s wet, it’s going to be very wet. Because we may see really extreme precipitation events, with very powerful atmospheric rivers, that dump a ton of rain and put us in danger of devastating floods, we need to continue investing in our flood management infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘We’re in uncharted territory and we really need to use the scientific tools that the state has invested in and apply those to our real-world management decisions.’\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>In terms of water supply, we need to store as much water in the ground as possible when we have it. We built a lot of reservoirs in this state in the past century and a half, all the good spots are taken. Even if we do build another reservoir, it’s not going to make a major influence in terms of increasing our ability to respond to climate change. So new research is looking at whether we can use agricultural fields to let water percolate into the ground and replenish groundwater basins when that water is available.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We also need to do more with respect to stormwater and recycled water. We need to fund more. We need to make the regulatory pathways for doing more of and make it easier than it is now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Christian-Smith: We have more than three times the amount of storage underground than we have aboveground. Therefore, groundwater is a huge new area for us to think much more strategically about using. But we haven’t had any formal regulatory framework for groundwater until very recently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Union of Concerned Scientists and other groups were instrumental in helping to pass the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. Right now, local entities are putting together groundwater sustainability agencies. Importantly, the state will be allowed to step in when those plans don’t look like they’re actually going to achieve sustainability or if the agencies get off track. We’re very hopeful that this state enforcement mechanism will be taken seriously. Groundwater is really our buffer to climate change impacts in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lohan: The state imposed mandatory conservation measures for water agencies and then \u003ca href=\"https://www.newsdeeply.com/water/articles/2016/07/14/concern-raised-over-water-agencies-stress-tests\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">switched to the stress test\u003c/a>. How does the state, as a regulator, bridge the gap in terms of making sure that water agencies have a reliable supply for the near future, but are also thinking long term?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomberg: It means we’re working twice as hard. We’ve provided emergency drinking water supplies to communities that ran out of water, imposed emergency conservation regulation for the rest of the state, provided funding from Proposition 1, the water bond that was passed in 2014, for a number of critical infrastructure and conservation measures as well as habitat restoration. And we’re going to continue to do that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, we’re going to focus on building resilience, both on the demand side – water efficiency and conservation – as well as when it comes to the supplies that we need to build more security in our water systems – better groundwater management, additional stormwater capture and reuse, and more recycled water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lohan: Is there any additional work that the state should be doing in terms of investments in climate change adaptation?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomberg: There’s so much work we could be doing on climate change adaptation. On the mitigation side, the state’s cap and trade program creates emission allowances and a pot of money that can be used to to fund additional actions, whether it’s public transit or other things to reduce emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We don’t have the same kind of funding source on the adaptation side, but we certainly need to use the funds we have, and potentially explore new funds, for actions ranging from upper watershed ecosystem restoration, to more green infrastructure to minimize flooding in urban areas, to managed retreat for crucial infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was a great article in the New York Times a couple of months back on sea-level rise in Florida. One of the mayors interviewed basically said that in the end, the ocean is going to win. That’s the truth. We can try to minimize the amount of sea-level rise by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but no amount of infrastructure is going to prevent sea-level rise from really changing the character of our coastal zone. We need to be proactive, and it’s going to cost a lot of money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Christian-Smith: Another key piece of adaptation is taking the information that was already put together and applying it to our planning processes and our investment decisions. This legislative session, we sponsored a successful bill called \u003ca href=\"http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/CA-Gov-Signs-Climate-Infrastructure-Bill#.WFnWF2QrJhA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Climate-Safe Infrastructure bill\u003c/a>, which was all about getting state engineers to talk to climate scientists who have been doing groundbreaking work in California so that we can understand impacts better and apply that information to real-world decisions around dams, bridges, highways, buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another example is the Water Bond. The very first drafts did not include the words climate change or any kind of climate science. Together with the California Water Commission, we were successful in getting climate change projections brought into the criteria that project applications need to put together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We know that we can’t use the past as a predictor of the future, that’s the biggest problem with climate change and adaption planning. We’re in uncharted territory and we really need to use the scientific tools that the state has invested in and apply those to our real-world management decisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lohan: We talked a little about the environmental impacts of climate change, but what are you seeing in terms of the social impact of climate change and the drought in California? Who are the people that are being affected and are most at risk?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Christian-Smith: We’ve been doing work with the \u003ca href=\"http://www.communitywatercenter.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Community Water Center\u003c/a> in Visalia, in the southern San Joaquin Valley. They represent largely disadvantaged communities who are primarily groundwater dependent. These communities are some of the hardest hit by the drought because domestic wells are typically shallower than irrigation wells. When there [aren’t] water supplies from surface water systems, agriculture typically shifts to groundwater. That draws down the groundwater and leaves these folks with no potable water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These areas – who have some of the lowest household incomes – are now paying very high prices for water that doesn’t even come out of their taps. It’s really a human rights travesty. The \u003cspan class=\"caps\">U.N.\u003c/span> special rapporteur declared the situation in the Central Valley a human rights crisis because a million residents don’t have access to clean drinking water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomberg: This really is a human rights travesty. In 2012, California was the first state to pass a bill titled the “Human Right to Water,” making it a policy of the state to provide safe, affordable and clean drinking water to all of our residents. We’ve made a lot of progress toward that goal, but we still have some critical funding gaps. Without divulging too much, I can tell you that it will be a very big priority for the administration in 2017 to try to close those gaps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lohan: What do you think is the No. 1 priority that California should be focusing on next year when it comes to climate change and water?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomberg: It’s the issue we’ve just been talking about. The most vulnerable communities are the most vulnerable to drought, water supply restrictions and reductions. At the state level, we’re looking at all the levers we can pull, at all the policy options available to close the gap. It’s an environmental justice issue, it’s a climate change resilience issue and it’s a human rights issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Christian-Smith: I agree and I’ll bring in one more thread from our conversation. Many of these communities are primarily dependent on groundwater for their drinking water supplies. The new \u003ca href=\"https://www.newsdeeply.com/water/community/2016/12/16/status-update-how-california-is-doing-at-managing-its-groundwater\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">groundwater sustainability agencies\u003c/a> will play a key role in putting basins on a path to more sustainable groundwater management and therefore guaranteeing more drinking water for these communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"fin\">Therefore, it’s crucial that these communities have a seat at the table in these new governance structures and can talk about the real-world impacts of climate change and the drought. The water world can be very insular, and in order for things to change, the people in the room have to change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This transcript was condensed and edited for clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This article originally appeared on \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://mail.kqed.org/owa/redir.aspx?C=9e4bb0e1a7d74f24ba4684ef2533053d&URL=https%3a%2f%2fwww.newsdeeply.com%2fwater\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Water Deeply\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and you can find it \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.newsdeeply.com/water/articles/2016/12/21/how-climate-change-will-affect-the-future-of-california-water\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">here\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. For important news about the California drought, you can \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"http://waterdeeply.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=8b78e9a34ff7443ec1e8c62c6&id=2947becb78\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">sign up\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to the Water Deeply email list.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Climate change is already impacting California’s water. We talk with climate scientist Juliet Christian-Smith and state regulator Max Gomberg about what California needs to do to be climate resilient.",
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"headline": "Talking About the Future of California's Water in the Face of Climate Change",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"start\">IN LESS THAN \u003c/span>a month, the United States will be led by a president who denies climate change exists. President-elect Donald Trump has also said he wants to see the \u003cspan class=\"caps\">U.S.\u003c/span> withdraw from the \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Agreement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Paris Agreement\u003c/a> and wants to roll back environmental regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, a state that has already seen the impacts of climate change and has been a leader when it comes to efforts to slow its pace and mitigate its results, many are wondering what the new direction on the federal level will mean for the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, Water Deeply’s managing editor, Tara Lohan, spoke with Juliet Christian-Smith, senior climate scientist with the \u003ca href=\"http://www.ucsusa.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Union of Concerned Scientists\u003c/a>, and Max Gomberg, the \u003ca href=\"http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">State Water Resources Control Board\u003c/a>’s climate and conservation manager, about the impact of climate change on California’s water future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tara Lohan: Juliet, given the current anti-science political climate right now, as a climate scientist, how are you feeling and what are some of the folks in your community thinking?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1259646\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 187px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1259646\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/juliet-christian-smith-200px1.jpg\" alt=\"Juliet Christian-Smith is a senior climate scientist with the Climate and Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. \" width=\"187\" height=\"245\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/juliet-christian-smith-200px1.jpg 187w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/juliet-christian-smith-200px1-160x210.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 187px) 100vw, 187px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juliet Christian-Smith is a senior climate scientist with the Climate and Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. \u003ccite>((Union of Concerned Scientists))\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Juliet Christian-Smith: It’s been a difficult month or so, but I’m happy to be in California. A meeting of the American Geophysical Union took place this past week – it’s the largest scientific conference in the United States – and it was a great moment for scientists to come together, share research and stand up for the value of science. Gov. [Jerry] Brown came and said during his talk that climate science will persevere and that California is doubling down on its efforts to show the rest of the country and the world how to fight emissions, address global warming and have a thriving economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While we’ll be facing some real challenges at a federal level, we hope that a call to science and integrity and the will to preserve in our commitment to the country will win in the end. We put together a letter signed by over 2,000 scientists, including more than 20 Nobel Laureates, asking the Trump administration to implement rules around scientific integrity so that even if the appointees don’t understand the science, they’re listening to the scientists who actually do the science and understand it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lohan: Max, from your perspective, what can the state do to help support climate science and scientists?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Max Gomberg: California has been a leader on climate change issues since 2006, when it passed \u003cspan class=\"caps\">AB32\u003c/span>, or the \u003ca href=\"https://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/ab32/ab32.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">California Global Warming Solutions Act\u003c/a>, and it is maintaining its leadership role. Last year, we passed \u003cspan class=\"caps\">SB32\u003c/span>, which tries to reduce emissions even further to a sustainable level to avoid catastrophic effects like massive sea-level rise, temperature change and dramatic changes in ecosystems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state has played a really critical role in our national negotiations leading to the Paris agreement last year. There’s a lot of work going on to continue both mitigation of climate change and to adapting to the changes that we’re already seeing. There’s a lot going on in California in the climate realm. That’s going to continue no matter what happens in Washington \u003cspan class=\"caps\">D.C.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lohan: California currently has the most ambitious greenhouse gas targets in the country. Can anti-science action at the federal level put that in jeopardy?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1259648\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 449px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1259648\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/27f39db.jpg\" alt=\"Max Gomber is climate and conservation manager at State Water Resources Control Board.\" width=\"449\" height=\"449\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/27f39db.jpg 449w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/27f39db-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/27f39db-240x240.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/27f39db-375x375.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/27f39db-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/27f39db-50x50.jpg 50w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/27f39db-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/27f39db-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/27f39db-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/27f39db-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 449px) 100vw, 449px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Max Gomber is climate and conservation manager at State Water Resources Control Board. \u003ccite>((Max Gomberg))\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gomberg: Certainly. In the past, the state has been granted waivers to go above and beyond federal legislation. For example, California took the lead in setting higher fuel efficiency standards for vehicles, and a number of states later followed. If there’s federal action to try to roll back those allowances for the states, that could hamper some of our work. On the other hand, ideological conservatives in Congress are fond of promulgating the idea that the federal government should leave decisions up to the states, so they might find themselves in a quandary there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lohan: Taking a step back, what do we actually know about California’s climate in the past, and what should we expect in the future?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Christian-Smith: We know that we’re already experiencing climate change. It’s not something that is going to happen later; it’s happening now, and it will get worse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The statewide average temperature in winter is already more than 5 degrees [fahrenheit] (\u003cspan class=\"caps\">2.8C\u003c/span>) warmer than it was historically. In 2015, for the first time ever in recorded history, temperatures in the Sierra Nevada were above freezing during the winter time. That’s a big problem for a state with a water system that is heavily counting on snowmelt. A third of our water comes from snowpack that melts into some of the major reservoirs that were created by the state and federal government in the 1950s. Those projects are seeing huge reductions in the amount of snow and they’re also seeing big changes in the timing of snowmelt. The peak snowmelt events occur now 30 days earlier than average. The timing of water supply is out of phase with the timing of water demand and that’s a problem for management.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because of the system of traditional surface waters – lakes, rivers, reservoirs – is failing, we have seen a huge shift toward relying on groundwater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lohan: Max, the state is already working toward sustainability on groundwater. In 2014, California passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. Its implementation has begun and will continue for quite some time. What else can water managers be doing except for relying on groundwater to plan for changes in the amount and timing of water they receive?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomberg: It partly depends on who they’re supplying, urban areas or agricultural operations. However, generally speaking, we still have a long way to go on efficiency. Part of the reason that the governor issued the \u003ca href=\"https://www.newsdeeply.com/water/articles/2016/12/09/how-california-plans-to-make-conservation-a-way-of-life\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">executive order\u003c/a> last May was to ensure that we’re moving toward a very highly efficient water-use future across the state. We can really gain a lot of water simply from more efficient practices. That will enable us to become more resilient for the droughts ahead, which we know under climate change are going to be more severe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lohan: Is there anything we need from an infrastructural point of view, whether that’s reservoirs or smaller or green infrastructure like stormwater capture?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomberg: Absolutely. There was a lot not to like in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.newsdeeply.com/water/articles/2016/12/20/what-the-new-federal-water-bill-means-for-the-delta\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">federal water law\u003c/a>that the president just signed, but some of the money in there is for additional flood control projects. That’s important because we know from the drought that when it’s wet, it’s going to be very wet. Because we may see really extreme precipitation events, with very powerful atmospheric rivers, that dump a ton of rain and put us in danger of devastating floods, we need to continue investing in our flood management infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘We’re in uncharted territory and we really need to use the scientific tools that the state has invested in and apply those to our real-world management decisions.’\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>In terms of water supply, we need to store as much water in the ground as possible when we have it. We built a lot of reservoirs in this state in the past century and a half, all the good spots are taken. Even if we do build another reservoir, it’s not going to make a major influence in terms of increasing our ability to respond to climate change. So new research is looking at whether we can use agricultural fields to let water percolate into the ground and replenish groundwater basins when that water is available.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We also need to do more with respect to stormwater and recycled water. We need to fund more. We need to make the regulatory pathways for doing more of and make it easier than it is now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Christian-Smith: We have more than three times the amount of storage underground than we have aboveground. Therefore, groundwater is a huge new area for us to think much more strategically about using. But we haven’t had any formal regulatory framework for groundwater until very recently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Union of Concerned Scientists and other groups were instrumental in helping to pass the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. Right now, local entities are putting together groundwater sustainability agencies. Importantly, the state will be allowed to step in when those plans don’t look like they’re actually going to achieve sustainability or if the agencies get off track. We’re very hopeful that this state enforcement mechanism will be taken seriously. Groundwater is really our buffer to climate change impacts in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lohan: The state imposed mandatory conservation measures for water agencies and then \u003ca href=\"https://www.newsdeeply.com/water/articles/2016/07/14/concern-raised-over-water-agencies-stress-tests\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">switched to the stress test\u003c/a>. How does the state, as a regulator, bridge the gap in terms of making sure that water agencies have a reliable supply for the near future, but are also thinking long term?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomberg: It means we’re working twice as hard. We’ve provided emergency drinking water supplies to communities that ran out of water, imposed emergency conservation regulation for the rest of the state, provided funding from Proposition 1, the water bond that was passed in 2014, for a number of critical infrastructure and conservation measures as well as habitat restoration. And we’re going to continue to do that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, we’re going to focus on building resilience, both on the demand side – water efficiency and conservation – as well as when it comes to the supplies that we need to build more security in our water systems – better groundwater management, additional stormwater capture and reuse, and more recycled water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lohan: Is there any additional work that the state should be doing in terms of investments in climate change adaptation?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomberg: There’s so much work we could be doing on climate change adaptation. On the mitigation side, the state’s cap and trade program creates emission allowances and a pot of money that can be used to to fund additional actions, whether it’s public transit or other things to reduce emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We don’t have the same kind of funding source on the adaptation side, but we certainly need to use the funds we have, and potentially explore new funds, for actions ranging from upper watershed ecosystem restoration, to more green infrastructure to minimize flooding in urban areas, to managed retreat for crucial infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was a great article in the New York Times a couple of months back on sea-level rise in Florida. One of the mayors interviewed basically said that in the end, the ocean is going to win. That’s the truth. We can try to minimize the amount of sea-level rise by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but no amount of infrastructure is going to prevent sea-level rise from really changing the character of our coastal zone. We need to be proactive, and it’s going to cost a lot of money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Christian-Smith: Another key piece of adaptation is taking the information that was already put together and applying it to our planning processes and our investment decisions. This legislative session, we sponsored a successful bill called \u003ca href=\"http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/CA-Gov-Signs-Climate-Infrastructure-Bill#.WFnWF2QrJhA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Climate-Safe Infrastructure bill\u003c/a>, which was all about getting state engineers to talk to climate scientists who have been doing groundbreaking work in California so that we can understand impacts better and apply that information to real-world decisions around dams, bridges, highways, buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another example is the Water Bond. The very first drafts did not include the words climate change or any kind of climate science. Together with the California Water Commission, we were successful in getting climate change projections brought into the criteria that project applications need to put together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We know that we can’t use the past as a predictor of the future, that’s the biggest problem with climate change and adaption planning. We’re in uncharted territory and we really need to use the scientific tools that the state has invested in and apply those to our real-world management decisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lohan: We talked a little about the environmental impacts of climate change, but what are you seeing in terms of the social impact of climate change and the drought in California? Who are the people that are being affected and are most at risk?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Christian-Smith: We’ve been doing work with the \u003ca href=\"http://www.communitywatercenter.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Community Water Center\u003c/a> in Visalia, in the southern San Joaquin Valley. They represent largely disadvantaged communities who are primarily groundwater dependent. These communities are some of the hardest hit by the drought because domestic wells are typically shallower than irrigation wells. When there [aren’t] water supplies from surface water systems, agriculture typically shifts to groundwater. That draws down the groundwater and leaves these folks with no potable water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These areas – who have some of the lowest household incomes – are now paying very high prices for water that doesn’t even come out of their taps. It’s really a human rights travesty. The \u003cspan class=\"caps\">U.N.\u003c/span> special rapporteur declared the situation in the Central Valley a human rights crisis because a million residents don’t have access to clean drinking water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomberg: This really is a human rights travesty. In 2012, California was the first state to pass a bill titled the “Human Right to Water,” making it a policy of the state to provide safe, affordable and clean drinking water to all of our residents. We’ve made a lot of progress toward that goal, but we still have some critical funding gaps. Without divulging too much, I can tell you that it will be a very big priority for the administration in 2017 to try to close those gaps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lohan: What do you think is the No. 1 priority that California should be focusing on next year when it comes to climate change and water?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomberg: It’s the issue we’ve just been talking about. The most vulnerable communities are the most vulnerable to drought, water supply restrictions and reductions. At the state level, we’re looking at all the levers we can pull, at all the policy options available to close the gap. It’s an environmental justice issue, it’s a climate change resilience issue and it’s a human rights issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Christian-Smith: I agree and I’ll bring in one more thread from our conversation. Many of these communities are primarily dependent on groundwater for their drinking water supplies. The new \u003ca href=\"https://www.newsdeeply.com/water/community/2016/12/16/status-update-how-california-is-doing-at-managing-its-groundwater\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">groundwater sustainability agencies\u003c/a> will play a key role in putting basins on a path to more sustainable groundwater management and therefore guaranteeing more drinking water for these communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"fin\">Therefore, it’s crucial that these communities have a seat at the table in these new governance structures and can talk about the real-world impacts of climate change and the drought. The water world can be very insular, and in order for things to change, the people in the room have to change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This transcript was condensed and edited for clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This article originally appeared on \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://mail.kqed.org/owa/redir.aspx?C=9e4bb0e1a7d74f24ba4684ef2533053d&URL=https%3a%2f%2fwww.newsdeeply.com%2fwater\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Water Deeply\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and you can find it \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.newsdeeply.com/water/articles/2016/12/21/how-climate-change-will-affect-the-future-of-california-water\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">here\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. For important news about the California drought, you can \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"http://waterdeeply.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=8b78e9a34ff7443ec1e8c62c6&id=2947becb78\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">sign up\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to the Water Deeply email list.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "It's Raining -- Will Californians Still Conserve Water?",
"headTitle": "It’s Raining — Will Californians Still Conserve Water? | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Californians ended three months of backsliding in September, using 18.3 percent less water than in September of 2013, according to the state’s monthly tally of local suppliers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State regulators were relieved by the number after monthly urban conservation rates had tumbled steadily month-to-month, from 28.1 percent in May, to 17.5 percent in August. Conservation began to evaporate when the state dropped its system of mandatory savings quotas for local water suppliers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Mandatory was a good idea to get things going,” said State Water Resources Control Board member Steven Moore, “and now things are going.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Or, at least in September they were going. October numbers won’t be available for about a month, but might show further improvement given the unusually wet month that much of California experienced. Rain often prompts homeowners to turn off their sprinklers, which is now required by state regulations. As part of the drought restrictions that Governor Jerry Brown made permanent last spring, outside irrigation is prohibited either while it’s raining or for 48 hours after it stops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But rain can also have the effect of signaling that the drought is “over,” which officials hasten to point out is not the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like I’ve spent my life saying, ‘Well, we’re still in a drought — just not the drought we were in last year,”‘ a drought-weary chair Felicia Marcus groaned at Tuesday’s meeting of the water board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ggweather.com/calif/oct2016.htm\">October’s copious rains\u003c/a> might signal otherwise. \u003ca href=\"http://www.cnrfc.noaa.gov/awipsProducts/RNOWRKCLI.php\">Many locations\u003c/a> in the northern half of the state saw 200-to-400 percent of their normal October precipitation, or even more. Sacramento clocked in at more than 450 percent of average. Mount Shasta City, near Shasta Lake, the state’s largest reservoir, registered five times the average for October.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1126416\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 541px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1126416\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/DroughtMonitor_161025.png\" alt='Much of California remains in official drought. The red and dark-red areas indicate \"extreme\" and \"exceptional\" drought conditions, respectively.' width=\"541\" height=\"592\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/DroughtMonitor_161025.png 541w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/DroughtMonitor_161025-160x175.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/DroughtMonitor_161025-240x263.png 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/DroughtMonitor_161025-375x410.png 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/DroughtMonitor_161025-520x569.png 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 541px) 100vw, 541px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Much of California remains in official drought. The red and dark-red areas indicate “extreme” and “exceptional” drought conditions, respectively. \u003ccite>(U.S. Drought Monitor)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Southern California remains stubbornly dry and more than 40 percent of the state is \u003ca href=\"http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Home/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?CA\">still categorized\u003c/a> by federal climatologists as being in “extreme drought.” But the extra precipitation up north was a boon to the entire state, if indirectly, as many of the key reservoirs that supply statewide water projects are located in the north.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But October can be a cruel tease. History shows that a wet start notwithstanding, the “tap” can shut off at any time, and soggy Octobers have often led to disappointingly dry winters, overall.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Californians ended three months of backsliding in September, using 18.3 percent less water than in September of 2013, according to the state’s monthly tally of local suppliers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State regulators were relieved by the number after monthly urban conservation rates had tumbled steadily month-to-month, from 28.1 percent in May, to 17.5 percent in August. Conservation began to evaporate when the state dropped its system of mandatory savings quotas for local water suppliers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Mandatory was a good idea to get things going,” said State Water Resources Control Board member Steven Moore, “and now things are going.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Or, at least in September they were going. October numbers won’t be available for about a month, but might show further improvement given the unusually wet month that much of California experienced. Rain often prompts homeowners to turn off their sprinklers, which is now required by state regulations. As part of the drought restrictions that Governor Jerry Brown made permanent last spring, outside irrigation is prohibited either while it’s raining or for 48 hours after it stops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But rain can also have the effect of signaling that the drought is “over,” which officials hasten to point out is not the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like I’ve spent my life saying, ‘Well, we’re still in a drought — just not the drought we were in last year,”‘ a drought-weary chair Felicia Marcus groaned at Tuesday’s meeting of the water board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ggweather.com/calif/oct2016.htm\">October’s copious rains\u003c/a> might signal otherwise. \u003ca href=\"http://www.cnrfc.noaa.gov/awipsProducts/RNOWRKCLI.php\">Many locations\u003c/a> in the northern half of the state saw 200-to-400 percent of their normal October precipitation, or even more. Sacramento clocked in at more than 450 percent of average. Mount Shasta City, near Shasta Lake, the state’s largest reservoir, registered five times the average for October.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1126416\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 541px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1126416\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/DroughtMonitor_161025.png\" alt='Much of California remains in official drought. The red and dark-red areas indicate \"extreme\" and \"exceptional\" drought conditions, respectively.' width=\"541\" height=\"592\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/DroughtMonitor_161025.png 541w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/DroughtMonitor_161025-160x175.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/DroughtMonitor_161025-240x263.png 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/DroughtMonitor_161025-375x410.png 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/DroughtMonitor_161025-520x569.png 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 541px) 100vw, 541px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Much of California remains in official drought. The red and dark-red areas indicate “extreme” and “exceptional” drought conditions, respectively. \u003ccite>(U.S. Drought Monitor)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Southern California remains stubbornly dry and more than 40 percent of the state is \u003ca href=\"http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Home/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?CA\">still categorized\u003c/a> by federal climatologists as being in “extreme drought.” But the extra precipitation up north was a boon to the entire state, if indirectly, as many of the key reservoirs that supply statewide water projects are located in the north.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But October can be a cruel tease. History shows that a wet start notwithstanding, the “tap” can shut off at any time, and soggy Octobers have often led to disappointingly dry winters, overall.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Documentary Plumbs the Future of Western Water, Blends Optimism With Caution",
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"content": "\u003cp>If you think California can secure its water future on its own, think again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If there’s one key takeaway from the new documentary \u003ca href=\"http://beyondthemirage.org/\">Beyond the Mirage\u003c/a>, it’s that the western states are bound together by water, and they’ll all have to play nice together to secure future supplies for any of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For producer-director Cody Sheehy, that hit home when he found a new home of his own in Arizona.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Looking around, I realized that it’s very tenuous,” says Sheehy, who grew up in the greener climes of Oregon. “Tucson almost feels like we’re a moon base out there in the desert.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arizona’s second-largest metro area is served by a 336-mile canal that hauls in water from the Colorado River, the future of which as a dependable water source might also be described as “tenuous,” after more than a decade of drought in that vital watershed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t know if this is the fifteenth year of a 15-year drought, or the fifteenth year of a 50-year drought,” notes author and University of Arizona professor Robert Glennon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1093462\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1104px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1093462\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/10/LkMeadGraphic.png\" alt=\"Graphic shows the plunging level of Lake Mead, the nation's largest man-made reservoir and key to the Colorado system.\" width=\"1104\" height=\"748\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/10/LkMeadGraphic.png 1104w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/10/LkMeadGraphic-160x108.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/10/LkMeadGraphic-800x542.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/10/LkMeadGraphic-768x520.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/10/LkMeadGraphic-1020x691.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/10/LkMeadGraphic-960x650.png 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/10/LkMeadGraphic-240x163.png 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/10/LkMeadGraphic-375x254.png 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/10/LkMeadGraphic-520x352.png 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1104px) 100vw, 1104px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Graphic shows the plunging level of Lake Mead, the nation’s largest man-made reservoir and key to the Colorado system. \u003ccite>(Beyond the Mirage)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I started the journey really as a lay person,” recalls Sheehy, “and as I learned more and more about the inter-connectedness between the states and between surface water and groundwater — the long-term projections for climate change — the situation in my mind just kept getting worse and worse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So shortly after Sheehy started as multimedia producer for the University of Arizona’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, he resolved to dive into the murk of western water policy. The project started small, but when Sheehy’s idea won the New Arizona Prize, the $100,000 boost from Arizona Community Foundation provided pockets deep enough for a feature-length documentary and some global perspectives. Some of those perspectives were eye-opening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Traveling around Israel and seeing a place that had issues every bit as complicated and every bit as challenging, recalls Sheehy, “they’ve overcome that and they really have a surplus of water now; they’ve turned their water issue into a global economic business opportunity, that they can export their solution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘It is one huge plumbing system. What happens in the Bay Delta, matters in Cheyenne.’\u003ccite>Pat Mulroy, Brookings Inst.\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>It’s become apparent that for the western U.S., solutions will only come if individual states give up long entrenched defensive positions and even give back some ground on long-held water rights. Otherwise, as former Nevada water-power broker Pat Mulroy asserts early in the film, “There won’t be any winners and losers. There will only be losers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the narrative would benefit from more personal encounters with people already feeling the pinch of water scarcity, the work is information-packed and beautifully shot, with engaging graphics that “connect the dots” in the western water system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is one huge plumbing system,” says Mulroy. “What happens in the [San Francisco] Bay Delta, matters in Cheyenne.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sheehy has parlayed his university projects into two spinoff companies, Rhumbline Media and \u003ca href=\"http://www.wildcat.arizona.edu/article/2016/09/n-ua-creates-filmstacker-new-educational-resource-video-and-social-media-platform\">Filmstacker\u003c/a>, both based in Tucson. The latter’s mission is to further develop the technology on the Mirage website that \u003ca href=\"http://beyondthemirage.org/experience/#player\">allows viewers to mix and match clips\u003c/a> to make their own mini-docs for distribution on social media. Sheehy says he believes this approach could help counter the “echo chamber” effect that the Internet tends to promote, wherein consumers of information are more and more immersed in the views of those who agree with them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mirage stands as both witness to the enormous challenges for water in the West, and testament to the resolve of those seeking a way forward. Sheehy’s main takeaway:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not something that we can’t solve.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Beyond the Mirage airs twice on Friday and once Sunday night on \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/tv/schedules/daily/world.jsp?format=long&ymd=2016-10-21\">KQED World\u003c/a>, one of KQED’s digital TV channels. It’s airing on various public \u003ca href=\"http://beyondthemirage.org/\">stations around the country\u003c/a> in October and November, and producers say it will become available for streaming in April.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>If you think California can secure its water future on its own, think again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If there’s one key takeaway from the new documentary \u003ca href=\"http://beyondthemirage.org/\">Beyond the Mirage\u003c/a>, it’s that the western states are bound together by water, and they’ll all have to play nice together to secure future supplies for any of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For producer-director Cody Sheehy, that hit home when he found a new home of his own in Arizona.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Looking around, I realized that it’s very tenuous,” says Sheehy, who grew up in the greener climes of Oregon. “Tucson almost feels like we’re a moon base out there in the desert.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arizona’s second-largest metro area is served by a 336-mile canal that hauls in water from the Colorado River, the future of which as a dependable water source might also be described as “tenuous,” after more than a decade of drought in that vital watershed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t know if this is the fifteenth year of a 15-year drought, or the fifteenth year of a 50-year drought,” notes author and University of Arizona professor Robert Glennon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1093462\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1104px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1093462\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/10/LkMeadGraphic.png\" alt=\"Graphic shows the plunging level of Lake Mead, the nation's largest man-made reservoir and key to the Colorado system.\" width=\"1104\" height=\"748\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/10/LkMeadGraphic.png 1104w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/10/LkMeadGraphic-160x108.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/10/LkMeadGraphic-800x542.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/10/LkMeadGraphic-768x520.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/10/LkMeadGraphic-1020x691.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/10/LkMeadGraphic-960x650.png 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/10/LkMeadGraphic-240x163.png 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/10/LkMeadGraphic-375x254.png 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/10/LkMeadGraphic-520x352.png 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1104px) 100vw, 1104px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Graphic shows the plunging level of Lake Mead, the nation’s largest man-made reservoir and key to the Colorado system. \u003ccite>(Beyond the Mirage)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I started the journey really as a lay person,” recalls Sheehy, “and as I learned more and more about the inter-connectedness between the states and between surface water and groundwater — the long-term projections for climate change — the situation in my mind just kept getting worse and worse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So shortly after Sheehy started as multimedia producer for the University of Arizona’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, he resolved to dive into the murk of western water policy. The project started small, but when Sheehy’s idea won the New Arizona Prize, the $100,000 boost from Arizona Community Foundation provided pockets deep enough for a feature-length documentary and some global perspectives. Some of those perspectives were eye-opening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Traveling around Israel and seeing a place that had issues every bit as complicated and every bit as challenging, recalls Sheehy, “they’ve overcome that and they really have a surplus of water now; they’ve turned their water issue into a global economic business opportunity, that they can export their solution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘It is one huge plumbing system. What happens in the Bay Delta, matters in Cheyenne.’\u003ccite>Pat Mulroy, Brookings Inst.\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>It’s become apparent that for the western U.S., solutions will only come if individual states give up long entrenched defensive positions and even give back some ground on long-held water rights. Otherwise, as former Nevada water-power broker Pat Mulroy asserts early in the film, “There won’t be any winners and losers. There will only be losers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the narrative would benefit from more personal encounters with people already feeling the pinch of water scarcity, the work is information-packed and beautifully shot, with engaging graphics that “connect the dots” in the western water system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is one huge plumbing system,” says Mulroy. “What happens in the [San Francisco] Bay Delta, matters in Cheyenne.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sheehy has parlayed his university projects into two spinoff companies, Rhumbline Media and \u003ca href=\"http://www.wildcat.arizona.edu/article/2016/09/n-ua-creates-filmstacker-new-educational-resource-video-and-social-media-platform\">Filmstacker\u003c/a>, both based in Tucson. The latter’s mission is to further develop the technology on the Mirage website that \u003ca href=\"http://beyondthemirage.org/experience/#player\">allows viewers to mix and match clips\u003c/a> to make their own mini-docs for distribution on social media. Sheehy says he believes this approach could help counter the “echo chamber” effect that the Internet tends to promote, wherein consumers of information are more and more immersed in the views of those who agree with them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mirage stands as both witness to the enormous challenges for water in the West, and testament to the resolve of those seeking a way forward. Sheehy’s main takeaway:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not something that we can’t solve.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Beyond the Mirage airs twice on Friday and once Sunday night on \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/tv/schedules/daily/world.jsp?format=long&ymd=2016-10-21\">KQED World\u003c/a>, one of KQED’s digital TV channels. It’s airing on various public \u003ca href=\"http://beyondthemirage.org/\">stations around the country\u003c/a> in October and November, and producers say it will become available for streaming in April.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "California's 70 Million Dead Trees: A 'Botanical Emergency Room'",
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"content": "\u003cp>Until recently, strolling through a California forest meant walking in dappled light along a path strewn with leaves or pine needles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But across the state, once-towering pines have collapsed, their desiccated limbs sprawled across forest floors. Toppled oak and tanoak trees, their trunks bleeding, decomposing from the inside out, litter the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Choked with the detritus of at least 70 million dead trees, vast tracts of the landscape have become a botanical emergency room, parched by drought, invaded by damaging insects and infected with a deadly organism that may have piggybacked its way to the state on rhododendron leaves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In many communities of the central and southern Sierra Nevada range, “80 percent of trees are dead,” said Ken Pimlott, the state’s top forester as director of Cal Fire, the state forestry and fire-protection agency. “There will be no conifers [there] when this is done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘We are literally one spark away from catastrophic fire in these tree mortality areas.’\u003ccite>Ken Pimlott, Cal Fire\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The catastrophic tree loss has taken out 66 million pines and other conifers and more than 5 million oak trees and tanoaks, which are relatives in the beech family. Nearly 60 million more water-starved trees are teetering. \u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dead and distressed woodlands represent a small fraction of the state’s billions of trees. But the problem is acute because large concentrations of trees — hundreds of acres of forest — are being wiped out. And experts expect the situation to worsen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists say that until they learn more about oak disease, or the drought eases, what is now a botanical calamity threatens to become an environmental disaster:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Dead and dying trees are exceptionally flammable, amplifying an already severe wildfire threat after five years of drought.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Treeless slopes foster soil erosion, perilous landslides and a loss of essential watersheds. More than 60 percent of the state’s water originates in the hard-hit Sierra.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Forests absorb carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, and long-term tree loss could set back the state’s battle against climate change.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>When trees burn and decay, they release “black carbon,” a highly destructive emission many thousand times more polluting than other greenhouse gases. A wildfire around Yosemite National Park in 2013 discharged as much carbon as 2.3 million cars emit in a year, state officials say.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_912265\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-912265\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Rizzo2-800x515.jpg\" alt=\"Dave Rizzo, a professor at UC Davis, walks through an area of trees dead from the effects of sudden oak death near Inverness, Calif. \" width=\"800\" height=\"515\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Rizzo2-800x515.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Rizzo2-400x257.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Rizzo2-768x494.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Rizzo2-1440x927.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Rizzo2-1920x1236.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Rizzo2-1180x759.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Rizzo2-960x618.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dave Rizzo, a professor at UC Davis, walks through an area of trees dead from the effects of sudden oak death near Inverness, Calif. \u003ccite>( Robert Durell/CALmatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The problem is playing out mostly along California’s edges. Coast-hugging oaks are dying from Monterey County north to Humboldt County. Pines and other conifers, dried by drought and attacked by bark beetles, are failing along the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B07BADv7t15JUGl5dVl2a2wtOHc/view\">eastern spine\u003c/a> from northern Los Angeles County to the Oregon border.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve never experienced a change and impact at this scale,” said Pimlott.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State leaders are paying attention. Gov. Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency. More than 80 federal, state and local agencies, electric utilities and other organizations have formed the \u003ca href=\"http://www.fire.ca.gov/treetaskforce/\">Tree Mortality Task Force\u003c/a>, co-chaired by Pimlott, to combat the problem. Another \u003ca href=\"http://www.suddenoakdeath.org/\">group\u003c/a> is grappling with what has been called “sudden oak death.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some aspects of the problem are not new. Drought has ravaged the state before. Insects have been opportunistically attacking weakened trees for hundreds of years. Disease takes hold. Trees die.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the current convergence of drought, bark beetles and oak disease is changing ecosystems enough that scientists cannot say when the tree population might be restored. In addition to the millions of oaks that have died since the mid-2000s, an unknown number may have the disease, and infected oaks can take two to five years to exhibit signs of trouble. [contextly_sidebar id=”WznzxFbrnM2angWaEyL24Eecd4eB66vj”]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, the disease is confined to 15 of California’s 58 counties, their nursery products quarantined to help prevent further spread. Scientists believe sudden oak death, or \u003cem>Phytophthora ramorum\u003c/em>, was brought to California on plants from commercial nurseries elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the die-off of pines and other conifers is occurring on a scale unprecedented in recent times, those trees evolved along with invasive insects, and healthy ones have the capacity to fight off attacks. When the drought eventually ends, pines are likely to come back, experts say, but even that is not fully understood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oak trees have no natural defense against the mold destroying them – it was identified in the state only about a decade ago — although not all infected oaks die. The question is whether, and how many, oaks can return.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_912268\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-912268\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/bleeding-bark-800x949.jpg\" alt='\"Bleeding\" bark is one sign of sudden oak death. ' width=\"800\" height=\"949\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/bleeding-bark-800x949.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/bleeding-bark-400x475.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/bleeding-bark-768x911.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/bleeding-bark-1440x1708.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/bleeding-bark-1920x2278.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/bleeding-bark-1180x1400.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/bleeding-bark-960x1139.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">“Bleeding” bark is one sign of sudden oak death. \u003ccite>(Robert Durell/CALmatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Already researchers are seeing diseased oak stands replaced by chaparral and other fast-growing flora. Tanoaks, scientists say, bear the brunt of the epidemic and may not come back at all or, like the chestnut trees that once flourished in the United States, may ultimately become shrubs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diseased oaks were first observed in the state in 1995, in Marin and Santa Cruz counties. Much of the damage didn’t show up until years later, and officials didn’t recognize the potential for the current epidemic. That may have allowed sudden oak death to gain a stranglehold in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A handful of state agencies, county crews and public utilities are removing dead and diseased trees around power lines, roads, bridges and other infrastructure where they might pose a hazard to public safety. The U.S. Forest Service, which manages much of California’s pine forest, has been cutting down dead trees, clearing debris from recreation sites and roads and taking other measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire and other agencies are carting away trees and limbs in places where thousands of dead pines and oaks still stand near homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are literally one spark away from catastrophic fire in these tree mortality areas,” Pimlott said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Homeowners and pest control specialists are spraying or injecting oaks with a chemical concoction aimed at helping them fight infection, hoping to keep the disease at bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That kind of labor-intensive work is not practical on a forest-wide scale, and aerial spraying of chemicals would likely be unacceptable and ineffective\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, the pathogen’s spread is accelerating, despite California’s drought, because many of the affected oaks are in coastal areas with damper climates. Researchers are documenting the advancing destruction and looking for ways to protect still-healthy portions of California’s 32 million forested acres.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>CALmatters is a non-profit journalism venture dedicated to exploring state policies and politics. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Eighty percent of the trees are dead in some forests, suffocated by drought and infected with sudden oak death.",
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"title": "California's 70 Million Dead Trees: A 'Botanical Emergency Room' | KQED",
"description": "Eighty percent of the trees are dead in some forests, suffocated by drought and infected with sudden oak death.",
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"headline": "California's 70 Million Dead Trees: A 'Botanical Emergency Room'",
"datePublished": "2016-08-10T14:42:27-07:00",
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"nprByline": "Julie Cart\u003c/br>CALmatters",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Until recently, strolling through a California forest meant walking in dappled light along a path strewn with leaves or pine needles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But across the state, once-towering pines have collapsed, their desiccated limbs sprawled across forest floors. Toppled oak and tanoak trees, their trunks bleeding, decomposing from the inside out, litter the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Choked with the detritus of at least 70 million dead trees, vast tracts of the landscape have become a botanical emergency room, parched by drought, invaded by damaging insects and infected with a deadly organism that may have piggybacked its way to the state on rhododendron leaves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In many communities of the central and southern Sierra Nevada range, “80 percent of trees are dead,” said Ken Pimlott, the state’s top forester as director of Cal Fire, the state forestry and fire-protection agency. “There will be no conifers [there] when this is done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘We are literally one spark away from catastrophic fire in these tree mortality areas.’\u003ccite>Ken Pimlott, Cal Fire\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The catastrophic tree loss has taken out 66 million pines and other conifers and more than 5 million oak trees and tanoaks, which are relatives in the beech family. Nearly 60 million more water-starved trees are teetering. \u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dead and distressed woodlands represent a small fraction of the state’s billions of trees. But the problem is acute because large concentrations of trees — hundreds of acres of forest — are being wiped out. And experts expect the situation to worsen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists say that until they learn more about oak disease, or the drought eases, what is now a botanical calamity threatens to become an environmental disaster:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Dead and dying trees are exceptionally flammable, amplifying an already severe wildfire threat after five years of drought.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Treeless slopes foster soil erosion, perilous landslides and a loss of essential watersheds. More than 60 percent of the state’s water originates in the hard-hit Sierra.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Forests absorb carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, and long-term tree loss could set back the state’s battle against climate change.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>When trees burn and decay, they release “black carbon,” a highly destructive emission many thousand times more polluting than other greenhouse gases. A wildfire around Yosemite National Park in 2013 discharged as much carbon as 2.3 million cars emit in a year, state officials say.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_912265\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-912265\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Rizzo2-800x515.jpg\" alt=\"Dave Rizzo, a professor at UC Davis, walks through an area of trees dead from the effects of sudden oak death near Inverness, Calif. \" width=\"800\" height=\"515\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Rizzo2-800x515.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Rizzo2-400x257.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Rizzo2-768x494.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Rizzo2-1440x927.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Rizzo2-1920x1236.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Rizzo2-1180x759.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Rizzo2-960x618.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dave Rizzo, a professor at UC Davis, walks through an area of trees dead from the effects of sudden oak death near Inverness, Calif. \u003ccite>( Robert Durell/CALmatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The problem is playing out mostly along California’s edges. Coast-hugging oaks are dying from Monterey County north to Humboldt County. Pines and other conifers, dried by drought and attacked by bark beetles, are failing along the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B07BADv7t15JUGl5dVl2a2wtOHc/view\">eastern spine\u003c/a> from northern Los Angeles County to the Oregon border.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve never experienced a change and impact at this scale,” said Pimlott.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State leaders are paying attention. Gov. Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency. More than 80 federal, state and local agencies, electric utilities and other organizations have formed the \u003ca href=\"http://www.fire.ca.gov/treetaskforce/\">Tree Mortality Task Force\u003c/a>, co-chaired by Pimlott, to combat the problem. Another \u003ca href=\"http://www.suddenoakdeath.org/\">group\u003c/a> is grappling with what has been called “sudden oak death.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some aspects of the problem are not new. Drought has ravaged the state before. Insects have been opportunistically attacking weakened trees for hundreds of years. Disease takes hold. Trees die.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the current convergence of drought, bark beetles and oak disease is changing ecosystems enough that scientists cannot say when the tree population might be restored. In addition to the millions of oaks that have died since the mid-2000s, an unknown number may have the disease, and infected oaks can take two to five years to exhibit signs of trouble. \u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, the disease is confined to 15 of California’s 58 counties, their nursery products quarantined to help prevent further spread. Scientists believe sudden oak death, or \u003cem>Phytophthora ramorum\u003c/em>, was brought to California on plants from commercial nurseries elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the die-off of pines and other conifers is occurring on a scale unprecedented in recent times, those trees evolved along with invasive insects, and healthy ones have the capacity to fight off attacks. When the drought eventually ends, pines are likely to come back, experts say, but even that is not fully understood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oak trees have no natural defense against the mold destroying them – it was identified in the state only about a decade ago — although not all infected oaks die. The question is whether, and how many, oaks can return.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_912268\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-912268\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/bleeding-bark-800x949.jpg\" alt='\"Bleeding\" bark is one sign of sudden oak death. ' width=\"800\" height=\"949\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/bleeding-bark-800x949.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/bleeding-bark-400x475.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/bleeding-bark-768x911.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/bleeding-bark-1440x1708.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/bleeding-bark-1920x2278.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/bleeding-bark-1180x1400.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/bleeding-bark-960x1139.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">“Bleeding” bark is one sign of sudden oak death. \u003ccite>(Robert Durell/CALmatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Already researchers are seeing diseased oak stands replaced by chaparral and other fast-growing flora. Tanoaks, scientists say, bear the brunt of the epidemic and may not come back at all or, like the chestnut trees that once flourished in the United States, may ultimately become shrubs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diseased oaks were first observed in the state in 1995, in Marin and Santa Cruz counties. Much of the damage didn’t show up until years later, and officials didn’t recognize the potential for the current epidemic. That may have allowed sudden oak death to gain a stranglehold in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A handful of state agencies, county crews and public utilities are removing dead and diseased trees around power lines, roads, bridges and other infrastructure where they might pose a hazard to public safety. The U.S. Forest Service, which manages much of California’s pine forest, has been cutting down dead trees, clearing debris from recreation sites and roads and taking other measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire and other agencies are carting away trees and limbs in places where thousands of dead pines and oaks still stand near homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are literally one spark away from catastrophic fire in these tree mortality areas,” Pimlott said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Homeowners and pest control specialists are spraying or injecting oaks with a chemical concoction aimed at helping them fight infection, hoping to keep the disease at bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That kind of labor-intensive work is not practical on a forest-wide scale, and aerial spraying of chemicals would likely be unacceptable and ineffective\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, the pathogen’s spread is accelerating, despite California’s drought, because many of the affected oaks are in coastal areas with damper climates. Researchers are documenting the advancing destruction and looking for ways to protect still-healthy portions of California’s 32 million forested acres.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>CALmatters is a non-profit journalism venture dedicated to exploring state policies and politics. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Water Conservation Wanes in California as Most Mandatory Restrictions End",
"headTitle": "Water Conservation Wanes in California as Most Mandatory Restrictions End | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>It appears that California water suppliers have by and large abandoned mandatory water conservation — and it may be showing up in the latest monthly statistics on water saving in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the State Water Resources Control Board, urban customers reduced water use by 21.5 percent in June, compared to the benchmark year of 2013. That’s down from 27.5 percent savings a year ago, when statewide mandatory controls were in place. Savings were down even more compared to May of this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After months of state-imposed compulsory conservation levels, local water agencies are now setting their own marks — and setting the bar extremely low. While state regulators continue to review the numbers reported to them by local agencies, KQED has surveyed major water suppliers in the Bay Area and Sacramento region and most of them have set their compulsory savings targets at (drum roll, please)…zero.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California Water Agencies’ New Conservation Standards\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cb> After state-imposed quotas expired in May, local agencies have come up with their own numbers: overwhelmingly zero. (Largest Bay Area suppliers shown.)\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"sharedaddy show-for-medium-up\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Water_numbers_desktop.png\" alt=\"Water_numbers_desktop\" width=\"1730\" height=\"1780\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-895956\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Water_numbers_desktop.png 1730w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Water_numbers_desktop-400x412.png 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Water_numbers_desktop-800x823.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Water_numbers_desktop-768x790.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Water_numbers_desktop-1440x1482.png 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Water_numbers_desktop-1180x1214.png 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Water_numbers_desktop-960x988.png 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Water_numbers_desktop-32x32.png 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Water_numbers_desktop-50x50.png 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1730px) 100vw, 1730px\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"show-for-small-only\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Water_numbers_mobile.png\" alt=\"Water_numbers_mobile\" width=\"750\" height=\"1334\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-895958\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Water_numbers_mobile.png 750w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Water_numbers_mobile-400x711.png 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘Round’ Numbers\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Northern California’s largest urban supplier, the East Bay Municipal Utility District, had been required to cut water use 16 percent compared to the benchmark year of 2013. Its new self-determined target: zero. The Contra Costa Water District likewise moved its goal posts from 25 percent to zero. The same goes for the City of Sacramento. The Marin Municipal Water District ratcheted back from 20 to zero, Alameda County from 16 to zero, and well, you get the idea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even in Southern California, where severe drought conditions persist, the story is largely the same. The state’s biggest retailer of urban water, the Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power had been operating under a 14 percent conservation order. Its new tier: zero.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, state regulators have stopped short of saying publicly that this isn’t what they had in mind when they decided to stop assigning water savings “tiers” and allow local officials to come up with their own numbers — especially since state water managers continue to emphasize that the drought is not over, and may well worsen in the months to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some relaxation of conservation in light of the relief we got last winter and other supply conditions is appropriate and expected,” said water board chair Felicia Marcus in a statement. “Abandonment of conservation is not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pushback From Locals\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water managers have long argued that they are in a better position than Sacramento to know the level of water cutbacks that local conditions demand. And state regulators largely agree, which is why they’ve handed control back to the locals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The State Water Board prescribed the formula used to calculate the local quotas. Agencies were to assume that the next three years resembled the last three in terms of drought and water demand. Any shortage (in percentage terms) at the end of those three imaginary years was to become the new local conservation mark. Water Board officials have taken pains to point out that they will closely monitor the new system and that if it does not work to their satisfaction, they are prepared to return to a system of state-assigned quotas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many local water managers say they remain committed to conservation with voluntary measures. Jennifer Burke, deputy director of water and engineering resources with the City of Santa Rosa, tells KQED that the city is “committed to water conservation and will continue to offer our many programs, tips and tools as well as continuing to implement water waste prohibitions,” an apparent reference to the handful of water restrictions made permanent by the governor earlier this year. But Santa Rosa has also reset its compulsory conservation mark to zero.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state-imposed “tiers,” as they were called, never went down well with local water suppliers, as selling less water meant a direct hit to their revenues. It’s estimated that over the past year, local water agencies collectively \u003ca href=\"http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article89747342.html\">lost hundreds of millions\u003c/a> of dollars under the state-imposed cutbacks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those suppliers might have to rethink their revenue models given the \u003ca href=\"http://www.ppic.org/main/publication_show.asp?i=1108\">long-term trends\u003c/a>. A recent analysis by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California shows that overall water use is declining even as the state’s population grows.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Now that local water agencies are setting their own conservation quotas, the results are underwhelming.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It appears that California water suppliers have by and large abandoned mandatory water conservation — and it may be showing up in the latest monthly statistics on water saving in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the State Water Resources Control Board, urban customers reduced water use by 21.5 percent in June, compared to the benchmark year of 2013. That’s down from 27.5 percent savings a year ago, when statewide mandatory controls were in place. Savings were down even more compared to May of this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After months of state-imposed compulsory conservation levels, local water agencies are now setting their own marks — and setting the bar extremely low. While state regulators continue to review the numbers reported to them by local agencies, KQED has surveyed major water suppliers in the Bay Area and Sacramento region and most of them have set their compulsory savings targets at (drum roll, please)…zero.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California Water Agencies’ New Conservation Standards\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cb> After state-imposed quotas expired in May, local agencies have come up with their own numbers: overwhelmingly zero. (Largest Bay Area suppliers shown.)\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"sharedaddy show-for-medium-up\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Water_numbers_desktop.png\" alt=\"Water_numbers_desktop\" width=\"1730\" height=\"1780\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-895956\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Water_numbers_desktop.png 1730w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Water_numbers_desktop-400x412.png 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Water_numbers_desktop-800x823.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Water_numbers_desktop-768x790.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Water_numbers_desktop-1440x1482.png 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Water_numbers_desktop-1180x1214.png 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Water_numbers_desktop-960x988.png 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Water_numbers_desktop-32x32.png 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Water_numbers_desktop-50x50.png 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1730px) 100vw, 1730px\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"show-for-small-only\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Water_numbers_mobile.png\" alt=\"Water_numbers_mobile\" width=\"750\" height=\"1334\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-895958\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Water_numbers_mobile.png 750w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/Water_numbers_mobile-400x711.png 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘Round’ Numbers\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Northern California’s largest urban supplier, the East Bay Municipal Utility District, had been required to cut water use 16 percent compared to the benchmark year of 2013. Its new self-determined target: zero. The Contra Costa Water District likewise moved its goal posts from 25 percent to zero. The same goes for the City of Sacramento. The Marin Municipal Water District ratcheted back from 20 to zero, Alameda County from 16 to zero, and well, you get the idea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even in Southern California, where severe drought conditions persist, the story is largely the same. The state’s biggest retailer of urban water, the Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power had been operating under a 14 percent conservation order. Its new tier: zero.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, state regulators have stopped short of saying publicly that this isn’t what they had in mind when they decided to stop assigning water savings “tiers” and allow local officials to come up with their own numbers — especially since state water managers continue to emphasize that the drought is not over, and may well worsen in the months to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some relaxation of conservation in light of the relief we got last winter and other supply conditions is appropriate and expected,” said water board chair Felicia Marcus in a statement. “Abandonment of conservation is not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pushback From Locals\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water managers have long argued that they are in a better position than Sacramento to know the level of water cutbacks that local conditions demand. And state regulators largely agree, which is why they’ve handed control back to the locals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The State Water Board prescribed the formula used to calculate the local quotas. Agencies were to assume that the next three years resembled the last three in terms of drought and water demand. Any shortage (in percentage terms) at the end of those three imaginary years was to become the new local conservation mark. Water Board officials have taken pains to point out that they will closely monitor the new system and that if it does not work to their satisfaction, they are prepared to return to a system of state-assigned quotas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many local water managers say they remain committed to conservation with voluntary measures. Jennifer Burke, deputy director of water and engineering resources with the City of Santa Rosa, tells KQED that the city is “committed to water conservation and will continue to offer our many programs, tips and tools as well as continuing to implement water waste prohibitions,” an apparent reference to the handful of water restrictions made permanent by the governor earlier this year. But Santa Rosa has also reset its compulsory conservation mark to zero.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state-imposed “tiers,” as they were called, never went down well with local water suppliers, as selling less water meant a direct hit to their revenues. It’s estimated that over the past year, local water agencies collectively \u003ca href=\"http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article89747342.html\">lost hundreds of millions\u003c/a> of dollars under the state-imposed cutbacks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those suppliers might have to rethink their revenue models given the \u003ca href=\"http://www.ppic.org/main/publication_show.asp?i=1108\">long-term trends\u003c/a>. A recent analysis by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California shows that overall water use is declining even as the state’s population grows.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "The Unexpected Health Risks of Drought",
"headTitle": "The Unexpected Health Risks of Drought | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>No place has been hit harder by the California drought than Tulare County in the San Joaquin Valley. By now, most Americans have read or heard stories about residential wells going dry in the county’s rural towns, such as East Porterville, Orosi and Cutler.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it has remained unclear how water shortages are affecting people in these towns. How do they cope without running water in their kitchens and bathrooms? How has this affected their physical health and mental well-being?\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘Providing water for drinking and water for animals is going to take precedence over washing hands or washing food because there’s such a limited amount.’\u003ccite>Kelsey Hinton, Community Water Center\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Now there is polling data to answer such questions. For the first time ever, a survey tool developed by the Centers for Disease Control to assess public health in disaster settings has been applied to a drought. Specifically, it has been applied in Tulare County, which has had the state’s greatest number of residential well failures for several years running.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The survey, conducted by the California Department of Public Health and Tulare County Health and Human Services Agency, was conducted over several days in October 2015. Interviewers visited more than 390 homes in north and south Tulare County to speak with residents about the drought. The north survey region included the towns of Cutler and Orosi; the southern region included East Porterville.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Results were released on May 16. David Rozell, Tulare County’s public health emergency preparedness manager, said it has already proved valuable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had a lot of anecdotal information,” Rozell said, “and we really just didn’t have anything that said, in a statistically valid way, that this drought was having an effect on people’s physical health, on their mental health. For me, I think validating those concerns was a very important outcome.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Cutler and Orosi, 67 percent of the interviews were conducted in Spanish; in East Porterville, 48 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time of the survey, about 9 percent of the homes surveyed in Cutler and Orosi did not have running water, compared to about 12 percent in East Porterville.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the results, people reported the following drought effects:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Decrease in well water production: 21 percent in Cutler and Orosi; 53 percent in East Porterville\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Impact on finances: 38 percent in Cutler and Orosi; 40 percent in East Porterville\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Impact on health: 10 percent in Cutler and Orosi; 20 percent in East Porterville\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Impact on peace of mind: 33 percent in Cutler and Orosi; 49 percent in East Porterville\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Chronic health condition worsened: 23 percent in Cutler and Orosi; 28 percent in East Porterville\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Decreased income caused by drought: 35 percent in Cutler and Orosi; 29 percent in East Porterville\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Tomas Garcia, a homeowner in East Porterville, hauled water for more than a year after his well went dry in 2014. The experience led him to launch East Porterville for Water Justice, a group of residents working with state and county officials on a permanent water-supply solution.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">\u003cspan class=\"s2\">[contextly_sidebar id=”2BSCxMa9dhItkIN3SsavRC8eBx87gkfB”] \u003c/span>“It’s very, very hard to get off of work and haul water. My day was over around 10:30, 11 o’clock at night,” said Garcia, who works in a tire shop and has lived in East Porterville for 30 years. The family got a temporary water tank installed at their home about a year ago. “Now, I can take my kids to church in the morning instead of hauling water on Sundays. We’re surviving. It’s pretty crazy.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">About 95 percent of residents reported they have taken a number of actions to reduce their water consumption during the drought, from cutting showering time to repairing leaks and replacing appliances. More than 70 percent said there is still more they could do.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">But many also reported taking steps that could present a health concern. For instance, 58 percent in Cutler and Orosi said they reduced hand-washing frequency, while 68 percent reported this in East Porterville. In both areas, about 63 percent said they cut back on washing food.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Also, 60 percent in Cutler and Orosi and 70 percent in East Porterville said they stopped gardening, suggesting they were no longer growing their own food and likely switched to something less healthful.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_778831\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-778831\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/California-Drought-Dry-Town-2.jpg\" alt=\"Residents whose wells have run dry can draw water from this 5,000-gallon (18,900-liter) water tank in East Porterville, Calif. The health department recently completed a survey about the impacts of the drought on East Porterville and a neighboring community.\" width=\"1400\" height=\"987\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/California-Drought-Dry-Town-2.jpg 1400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/California-Drought-Dry-Town-2-400x282.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/California-Drought-Dry-Town-2-800x564.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/California-Drought-Dry-Town-2-768x541.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/California-Drought-Dry-Town-2-1180x832.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/California-Drought-Dry-Town-2-960x677.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Residents whose wells have run dry can draw water from this 5,000-gallon (18,900-liter) water tank in East Porterville, Calif. The health department recently completed a survey about the impacts of the drought on East Porterville and a neighboring community. \u003ccite>(Scott Smith/AP)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">“Unfortunately, people are forced to make these decisions about what’s most important,” said Kelsey Hinton, a Vista fellow at Community Water Center, a nonprofit group in Visalia working on water problems in the San Joaquin Valley. “Providing water for drinking and water for animals, things like that, are going to take precedence over washing hands or washing food because there’s such a limited amount.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">When people were asked why they hadn’t already come up with a permanent water solution on their own, the most common answers were either that it was too expensive, or that it was the landlord’s responsibility.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">In the first case, the only solution available to many homeowners is to drill a deeper well, because they are not close enough to an existing municipal water service to simply plug in a pipe. It can cost tens of thousands of dollars to drill a new water well, without a guarantee of hitting water.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To try to hold landlords more accountable, Rozell said Tulare County recently passed rules that forbid a landlord from charging rent if there is no running water in the home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">The county is also working with state officials on a permanent solution for unincorporated East Porterville, which has the greatest concentration of failed wells. It involves extending municipal water service from the adjacent city of Porterville. After a number of \u003ca href=\"http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/story/news/local/2015/12/10/county-porterville-trying-hash-conflict/77128608/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cspan class=\"s2\">false starts\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, that project now appears to be moving forward steadily.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">“I have a lot of hope that by the end of this year, some of our members in our community will have some water hooked up,” Garcia said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Susana De Anda, co-executive director of the Community Water Center, said the survey is helpful to paint a better picture of the Tulare water crisis. But she said it isn’t enough. For instance, it captures only a small slice of the affected population, in areas where homes are concentrated. Many people in more rural areas were not surveyed and their situation has not been quantified.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">“I think these studies and surveys are great to the extent they can help get information out to people,” De Anda said. “My question would be, how are we going to use it to help people?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Rozell said the county is working on that. One of the important findings from the study was that most residents rely on television to get information about the drought. So the county plans to approach local TV stations about running public service announcements and providing specific coverage of the water crisis.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">The county will also develop public information materials urging people not to cut back on basic hygiene practices, such as washing hands and food.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Last week, the county applied for a grant from the Centers for Disease Control to gather more data and use it to develop solutions to help people affected by the drought.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">One of the things Rozell found encouraging about the survey was the participation. Merely by knocking on doors unannounced, surveyors achieved a response rate in the survey of about 80 percent. This suggests people are eager for solutions and want to be involved.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">“We thought that was really tremendous,” he said. “It puts it on us now to go and do something useful with it.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cspan class=\"start\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.newsdeeply.com/water/about/\">Water Deeply\u003c/a> is\u003c/span> an independent digital media project dedicated to covering California’s water crisis. The project is part of \u003ca href=\"http://www.newsdeeply.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News Deeply\u003c/a>, a new media startup and social enterprise based in New York.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>No place has been hit harder by the California drought than Tulare County in the San Joaquin Valley. By now, most Americans have read or heard stories about residential wells going dry in the county’s rural towns, such as East Porterville, Orosi and Cutler.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it has remained unclear how water shortages are affecting people in these towns. How do they cope without running water in their kitchens and bathrooms? How has this affected their physical health and mental well-being?\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘Providing water for drinking and water for animals is going to take precedence over washing hands or washing food because there’s such a limited amount.’\u003ccite>Kelsey Hinton, Community Water Center\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Now there is polling data to answer such questions. For the first time ever, a survey tool developed by the Centers for Disease Control to assess public health in disaster settings has been applied to a drought. Specifically, it has been applied in Tulare County, which has had the state’s greatest number of residential well failures for several years running.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The survey, conducted by the California Department of Public Health and Tulare County Health and Human Services Agency, was conducted over several days in October 2015. Interviewers visited more than 390 homes in north and south Tulare County to speak with residents about the drought. The north survey region included the towns of Cutler and Orosi; the southern region included East Porterville.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Results were released on May 16. David Rozell, Tulare County’s public health emergency preparedness manager, said it has already proved valuable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had a lot of anecdotal information,” Rozell said, “and we really just didn’t have anything that said, in a statistically valid way, that this drought was having an effect on people’s physical health, on their mental health. For me, I think validating those concerns was a very important outcome.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Cutler and Orosi, 67 percent of the interviews were conducted in Spanish; in East Porterville, 48 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time of the survey, about 9 percent of the homes surveyed in Cutler and Orosi did not have running water, compared to about 12 percent in East Porterville.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the results, people reported the following drought effects:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Decrease in well water production: 21 percent in Cutler and Orosi; 53 percent in East Porterville\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Impact on finances: 38 percent in Cutler and Orosi; 40 percent in East Porterville\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Impact on health: 10 percent in Cutler and Orosi; 20 percent in East Porterville\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Impact on peace of mind: 33 percent in Cutler and Orosi; 49 percent in East Porterville\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Chronic health condition worsened: 23 percent in Cutler and Orosi; 28 percent in East Porterville\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Decreased income caused by drought: 35 percent in Cutler and Orosi; 29 percent in East Porterville\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Tomas Garcia, a homeowner in East Porterville, hauled water for more than a year after his well went dry in 2014. The experience led him to launch East Porterville for Water Justice, a group of residents working with state and county officials on a permanent water-supply solution.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">\u003cspan class=\"s2\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp> \u003c/span>“It’s very, very hard to get off of work and haul water. My day was over around 10:30, 11 o’clock at night,” said Garcia, who works in a tire shop and has lived in East Porterville for 30 years. The family got a temporary water tank installed at their home about a year ago. “Now, I can take my kids to church in the morning instead of hauling water on Sundays. We’re surviving. It’s pretty crazy.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">About 95 percent of residents reported they have taken a number of actions to reduce their water consumption during the drought, from cutting showering time to repairing leaks and replacing appliances. More than 70 percent said there is still more they could do.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">But many also reported taking steps that could present a health concern. For instance, 58 percent in Cutler and Orosi said they reduced hand-washing frequency, while 68 percent reported this in East Porterville. In both areas, about 63 percent said they cut back on washing food.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Also, 60 percent in Cutler and Orosi and 70 percent in East Porterville said they stopped gardening, suggesting they were no longer growing their own food and likely switched to something less healthful.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_778831\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-778831\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/California-Drought-Dry-Town-2.jpg\" alt=\"Residents whose wells have run dry can draw water from this 5,000-gallon (18,900-liter) water tank in East Porterville, Calif. The health department recently completed a survey about the impacts of the drought on East Porterville and a neighboring community.\" width=\"1400\" height=\"987\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/California-Drought-Dry-Town-2.jpg 1400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/California-Drought-Dry-Town-2-400x282.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/California-Drought-Dry-Town-2-800x564.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/California-Drought-Dry-Town-2-768x541.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/California-Drought-Dry-Town-2-1180x832.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/California-Drought-Dry-Town-2-960x677.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Residents whose wells have run dry can draw water from this 5,000-gallon (18,900-liter) water tank in East Porterville, Calif. The health department recently completed a survey about the impacts of the drought on East Porterville and a neighboring community. \u003ccite>(Scott Smith/AP)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">“Unfortunately, people are forced to make these decisions about what’s most important,” said Kelsey Hinton, a Vista fellow at Community Water Center, a nonprofit group in Visalia working on water problems in the San Joaquin Valley. “Providing water for drinking and water for animals, things like that, are going to take precedence over washing hands or washing food because there’s such a limited amount.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">When people were asked why they hadn’t already come up with a permanent water solution on their own, the most common answers were either that it was too expensive, or that it was the landlord’s responsibility.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">In the first case, the only solution available to many homeowners is to drill a deeper well, because they are not close enough to an existing municipal water service to simply plug in a pipe. It can cost tens of thousands of dollars to drill a new water well, without a guarantee of hitting water.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To try to hold landlords more accountable, Rozell said Tulare County recently passed rules that forbid a landlord from charging rent if there is no running water in the home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">The county is also working with state officials on a permanent solution for unincorporated East Porterville, which has the greatest concentration of failed wells. It involves extending municipal water service from the adjacent city of Porterville. After a number of \u003ca href=\"http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/story/news/local/2015/12/10/county-porterville-trying-hash-conflict/77128608/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cspan class=\"s2\">false starts\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, that project now appears to be moving forward steadily.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">“I have a lot of hope that by the end of this year, some of our members in our community will have some water hooked up,” Garcia said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Susana De Anda, co-executive director of the Community Water Center, said the survey is helpful to paint a better picture of the Tulare water crisis. But she said it isn’t enough. For instance, it captures only a small slice of the affected population, in areas where homes are concentrated. Many people in more rural areas were not surveyed and their situation has not been quantified.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">“I think these studies and surveys are great to the extent they can help get information out to people,” De Anda said. “My question would be, how are we going to use it to help people?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Rozell said the county is working on that. One of the important findings from the study was that most residents rely on television to get information about the drought. So the county plans to approach local TV stations about running public service announcements and providing specific coverage of the water crisis.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">The county will also develop public information materials urging people not to cut back on basic hygiene practices, such as washing hands and food.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Last week, the county applied for a grant from the Centers for Disease Control to gather more data and use it to develop solutions to help people affected by the drought.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">One of the things Rozell found encouraging about the survey was the participation. Merely by knocking on doors unannounced, surveyors achieved a response rate in the survey of about 80 percent. This suggests people are eager for solutions and want to be involved.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">“We thought that was really tremendous,” he said. “It puts it on us now to go and do something useful with it.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cspan class=\"start\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.newsdeeply.com/water/about/\">Water Deeply\u003c/a> is\u003c/span> an independent digital media project dedicated to covering California’s water crisis. The project is part of \u003ca href=\"http://www.newsdeeply.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News Deeply\u003c/a>, a new media startup and social enterprise based in New York.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>California water officials say they’re moving to scrap the system of state-imposed water conservation quotas put in place during the current drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The system resulted in a cumulative saving among urban consumers of about 24 percent compared to the benchmark year of 2013.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, Governor Jerry Brown issued an \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/docs/5.9.16_Executive_Order.pdf\">executive order\u003c/a> that makes permanent some of the most basic prohibitions in place since 2014, such as the ban on hosing down sidewalks and watering lawns to the extent that it creates runoff or within 48 hours of any measurable rainfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now we know that drought is becoming a regular occurrence and water conservation must be a part of our everyday life,” Brown said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rule barring restaurants from serving water unsolicited is being lifted, however. Officials say that was always intended as more of an “awareness” measure than a way to achieve major water savings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_687798\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-687798\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/IMG_2869.jpg\" alt=\"State officials are lifting the rule barring restaurants from serving water unless requested.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/IMG_2869.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/IMG_2869-400x300.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/IMG_2869-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/IMG_2869-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/IMG_2869-1440x1080.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/IMG_2869-1920x1440.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/IMG_2869-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/IMG_2869-960x720.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">State officials are lifting the rule barring restaurants from serving water unless requested. \u003ccite>(Craig Miller/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But rather than having state officials assign mandatory saving targets to local water agencies, the State Water Resources Control Board will vote next week on a plan to put conservation more firmly back in local hands. Some local water agencies had pushed back hard on the imposed-quota system, calling it unduly restrictive and tone-deaf to local conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What the staff is proposing here isn’t a walk in the park,” board chair Felicia Marcus told reporters in a Monday conference call. Instead, Marcus called the new plan “much more tailored to circumstances we’re in now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those circumstances would be the much improved water conditions from a year ago, when reservoirs were scraping bottom and the \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2016/05/06/sierra-meltdown-what-snow-we-got-is-going-fast/\">Sierra snowpack\u003c/a> was at an estimated 500-year low.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With conditions remaining stubbornly dry in Southern California, Mark Cowin, who heads the state’s Department of Water Resources says officials are “a long way from calling off the statewide drought.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So why change the game plan now? Officials called the new proposal “a more nuanced approach” to keeping a lid on excess water use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the staff proposal unveiled on Monday, water suppliers would set local conservation targets based on their own three-year supply projections. Those projections would be modeled on a recurrence of both the drought conditions and demand levels from 2013-14.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the governor’s executive order, local agencies will still be required to report monthly water use to the state. Marcus says the state will still be empowered to step in and “second-guess” local agencies, possibly imposing restrictions on those that don’t comply with the proposed system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also on Monday, the California senate passed a bill from Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo) that would force water agencies to institute either surcharges or fines for excessive water use during a declared drought emergency. SB 814 now goes to the assembly.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California water officials say they’re moving to scrap the system of state-imposed water conservation quotas put in place during the current drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The system resulted in a cumulative saving among urban consumers of about 24 percent compared to the benchmark year of 2013.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, Governor Jerry Brown issued an \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/docs/5.9.16_Executive_Order.pdf\">executive order\u003c/a> that makes permanent some of the most basic prohibitions in place since 2014, such as the ban on hosing down sidewalks and watering lawns to the extent that it creates runoff or within 48 hours of any measurable rainfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now we know that drought is becoming a regular occurrence and water conservation must be a part of our everyday life,” Brown said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rule barring restaurants from serving water unsolicited is being lifted, however. Officials say that was always intended as more of an “awareness” measure than a way to achieve major water savings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_687798\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-687798\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/IMG_2869.jpg\" alt=\"State officials are lifting the rule barring restaurants from serving water unless requested.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/IMG_2869.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/IMG_2869-400x300.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/IMG_2869-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/IMG_2869-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/IMG_2869-1440x1080.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/IMG_2869-1920x1440.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/IMG_2869-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/IMG_2869-960x720.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">State officials are lifting the rule barring restaurants from serving water unless requested. \u003ccite>(Craig Miller/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But rather than having state officials assign mandatory saving targets to local water agencies, the State Water Resources Control Board will vote next week on a plan to put conservation more firmly back in local hands. Some local water agencies had pushed back hard on the imposed-quota system, calling it unduly restrictive and tone-deaf to local conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What the staff is proposing here isn’t a walk in the park,” board chair Felicia Marcus told reporters in a Monday conference call. Instead, Marcus called the new plan “much more tailored to circumstances we’re in now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those circumstances would be the much improved water conditions from a year ago, when reservoirs were scraping bottom and the \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2016/05/06/sierra-meltdown-what-snow-we-got-is-going-fast/\">Sierra snowpack\u003c/a> was at an estimated 500-year low.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With conditions remaining stubbornly dry in Southern California, Mark Cowin, who heads the state’s Department of Water Resources says officials are “a long way from calling off the statewide drought.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So why change the game plan now? Officials called the new proposal “a more nuanced approach” to keeping a lid on excess water use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the staff proposal unveiled on Monday, water suppliers would set local conservation targets based on their own three-year supply projections. Those projections would be modeled on a recurrence of both the drought conditions and demand levels from 2013-14.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the governor’s executive order, local agencies will still be required to report monthly water use to the state. Marcus says the state will still be empowered to step in and “second-guess” local agencies, possibly imposing restrictions on those that don’t comply with the proposed system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also on Monday, the California senate passed a bill from Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo) that would force water agencies to institute either surcharges or fines for excessive water use during a declared drought emergency. SB 814 now goes to the assembly.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Sierra Meltdown: What Snow We Got is Going Fast",
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"content": "\u003cp>California’s “frozen reservoir” is melting fast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unusually high temperatures this spring have acted like a blow-drier on accumulated winter snows, despite a healthy boost during the stormy month of March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One thing is undeniable: the Sierra snowpack is a lot more robust than the previous winter’s, which was off-the-charts ugly. Around the first of May, water content (which is what really matters) of the snowpack stood at 60 percent of the long-term average. That’s not great news unless you compare it to May 1 of last year, when it was 1 percent. That’s not a typo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On April 1, when hydrologists generally reckon the snowpack to be at its peak for the season, it stood at 85 percent of the average for that date.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This spring the most intense period of melting is running about two to three weeks earlier than normal, according to Nina Oakley, assistant research climatologist at the Western Regional Climate Center in Reno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Typically the steepest declines are in late April to early May,” she says. But this year, Oakley says monthly average temperatures in the early spring were running 2 to 5 degrees above normal at the higher Sierra elevations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_679295\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 939px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-679295 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/SNOTEL_Squaw_1604.png\" alt=\"This graph shows this year's snow melt (blue line) starting sooner than the long-term average (red).\" width=\"939\" height=\"459\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/SNOTEL_Squaw_1604.png 939w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/SNOTEL_Squaw_1604-400x196.png 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/SNOTEL_Squaw_1604-800x391.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/SNOTEL_Squaw_1604-768x375.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 939px) 100vw, 939px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This graph shows this year’s snow melt (blue line) starting sooner than the long-term average (red). \u003ccite>(Natural Resources Conservation Service/USDA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Plus there’s a “snowball” effect, or what Oakley calls a “positive feedback,” in which some snow melt leads to more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As soon as you start melting enough snow that you expose trees, rocks, soil underneath,” she explains, “these features are not reflective like the snow and so they’ll start to absorb solar energy and facilitate further snow melt.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘It’s a big juggling act, frankly, to manage the water resource here’\u003ccite>Doug Carlson, DWR\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The good news is that a lot of this early melt is ending up in reservoirs. The bad news with an early melt is that as consumers start drawing down those reservoirs, there’s less runoff to replace it during the peak growing season, when it’s most needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We try to capture every drop we can,” says Doug Carlson of the state’s Department of Water Resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The big Northern California reservoirs are filling fast. The two biggest, Shasta Lake and Lake Oroville, are both at more than 90 percent of capacity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Carlson concedes that significant \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2016/02/29/california-reservoirs-are-dumping-water-in-a-drought-but-science-could-change-that/\">volumes of water are let go\u003c/a> for flood control and to push back encroaching salt water and maintain river ecosystems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a big juggling act, frankly, to manage the water resource here,” says Carlson. “We think we’re capturing a good deal of the snow melt right now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An early melt can also have environmental impacts, especially on fish. If the cold water pulses come too early, lower flows and higher water temperatures later in the season can make it difficult or impossible for some species to survive.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Warmer-than-usual temperatures in the Sierra are driving the spring melt two to three weeks early.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California’s “frozen reservoir” is melting fast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unusually high temperatures this spring have acted like a blow-drier on accumulated winter snows, despite a healthy boost during the stormy month of March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One thing is undeniable: the Sierra snowpack is a lot more robust than the previous winter’s, which was off-the-charts ugly. Around the first of May, water content (which is what really matters) of the snowpack stood at 60 percent of the long-term average. That’s not great news unless you compare it to May 1 of last year, when it was 1 percent. That’s not a typo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On April 1, when hydrologists generally reckon the snowpack to be at its peak for the season, it stood at 85 percent of the average for that date.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This spring the most intense period of melting is running about two to three weeks earlier than normal, according to Nina Oakley, assistant research climatologist at the Western Regional Climate Center in Reno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Typically the steepest declines are in late April to early May,” she says. But this year, Oakley says monthly average temperatures in the early spring were running 2 to 5 degrees above normal at the higher Sierra elevations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_679295\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 939px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-679295 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/SNOTEL_Squaw_1604.png\" alt=\"This graph shows this year's snow melt (blue line) starting sooner than the long-term average (red).\" width=\"939\" height=\"459\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/SNOTEL_Squaw_1604.png 939w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/SNOTEL_Squaw_1604-400x196.png 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/SNOTEL_Squaw_1604-800x391.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/SNOTEL_Squaw_1604-768x375.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 939px) 100vw, 939px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This graph shows this year’s snow melt (blue line) starting sooner than the long-term average (red). \u003ccite>(Natural Resources Conservation Service/USDA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Plus there’s a “snowball” effect, or what Oakley calls a “positive feedback,” in which some snow melt leads to more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As soon as you start melting enough snow that you expose trees, rocks, soil underneath,” she explains, “these features are not reflective like the snow and so they’ll start to absorb solar energy and facilitate further snow melt.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘It’s a big juggling act, frankly, to manage the water resource here’\u003ccite>Doug Carlson, DWR\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The good news is that a lot of this early melt is ending up in reservoirs. The bad news with an early melt is that as consumers start drawing down those reservoirs, there’s less runoff to replace it during the peak growing season, when it’s most needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We try to capture every drop we can,” says Doug Carlson of the state’s Department of Water Resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The big Northern California reservoirs are filling fast. The two biggest, Shasta Lake and Lake Oroville, are both at more than 90 percent of capacity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Carlson concedes that significant \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2016/02/29/california-reservoirs-are-dumping-water-in-a-drought-but-science-could-change-that/\">volumes of water are let go\u003c/a> for flood control and to push back encroaching salt water and maintain river ecosystems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a big juggling act, frankly, to manage the water resource here,” says Carlson. “We think we’re capturing a good deal of the snow melt right now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An early melt can also have environmental impacts, especially on fish. If the cold water pulses come too early, lower flows and higher water temperatures later in the season can make it difficult or impossible for some species to survive.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Urban residents of California beat their goal for saving water in March by turning off their sprinklers when the rain fell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The State Water Board says cities and businesses cut water use by more than 24 percent compared to the same month in 2013. Board chair Felicia Marcus called it “a stunningly welcome number” after a six-month run of declining conservation. The 24.3 percent mark doubled efforts in February, when much of California was dry, with record-high temperatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_675079\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 829px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-675079\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/watercons_1603.png\" alt=\"March water conservation marked a significant reversal from several months of declining savings in California.\" width=\"829\" height=\"621\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/watercons_1603.png 829w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/watercons_1603-400x300.png 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/watercons_1603-800x599.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/watercons_1603-768x575.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 829px) 100vw, 829px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">March water conservation marked a significant reversal from several months of declining savings in California. \u003ccite>(State Water Resources Control Board)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>March is the first month under newly relaxed conservation requirements. Cities are now expected to use at least 20 percent less water, a break from the previous order of 25 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A bright spot continues to be water use per capita by urban Californians, who have throttled back from an average of more than 100 gallons per person, per day in August, to 66 in March, with people in some locations using significantly less.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials say it’s an indication that Californians have stuck to some of the water habits they formed during the state’s most punishing drought on record.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An especially soggy March helped depress water use — especially outdoor irrigation — but rainfall in California tapers off dramatically at just this time of year; there’s unlikely to be any “May miracle.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to keep conserving,” warns Marcus. “We may not need the same levels of conservation as last year, but we still need to keep all we can in our reservoirs and groundwater basins in case this winter is just a punctuation mark in a longer drought.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Urban residents of California beat their goal for saving water in March by turning off their sprinklers when the rain fell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The State Water Board says cities and businesses cut water use by more than 24 percent compared to the same month in 2013. Board chair Felicia Marcus called it “a stunningly welcome number” after a six-month run of declining conservation. The 24.3 percent mark doubled efforts in February, when much of California was dry, with record-high temperatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_675079\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 829px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-675079\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/watercons_1603.png\" alt=\"March water conservation marked a significant reversal from several months of declining savings in California.\" width=\"829\" height=\"621\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/watercons_1603.png 829w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/watercons_1603-400x300.png 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/watercons_1603-800x599.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/05/watercons_1603-768x575.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 829px) 100vw, 829px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">March water conservation marked a significant reversal from several months of declining savings in California. \u003ccite>(State Water Resources Control Board)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>March is the first month under newly relaxed conservation requirements. Cities are now expected to use at least 20 percent less water, a break from the previous order of 25 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A bright spot continues to be water use per capita by urban Californians, who have throttled back from an average of more than 100 gallons per person, per day in August, to 66 in March, with people in some locations using significantly less.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials say it’s an indication that Californians have stuck to some of the water habits they formed during the state’s most punishing drought on record.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An especially soggy March helped depress water use — especially outdoor irrigation — but rainfall in California tapers off dramatically at just this time of year; there’s unlikely to be any “May miracle.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to keep conserving,” warns Marcus. “We may not need the same levels of conservation as last year, but we still need to keep all we can in our reservoirs and groundwater basins in case this winter is just a punctuation mark in a longer drought.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Peak Sierra Snowpack: Beats Last Year But No Drought Buster",
"headTitle": "Peak Sierra Snowpack: Beats Last Year But No Drought Buster | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The “April 1” snow survey in the Sierra Nevada is always anxiously awaited, in the truest sense of the term. Early April is when the \u003ca href=\"http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/snowapp/sweq.action\">snowpack\u003c/a> is generally reckoned to have peaked and the spring melt season is upon us. If there isn’t sufficient snow by now to carry California through its parched summer, there likely won’t be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year’s April1 survey (done on March 30 this year for arcane reasons) was a good news/bad news affair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The good news is that water content (which is what they actually measure, not accumulation) came in at 87 percent of average — that’s a far cry from last year at this time, when Governor Jerry Brown stood on a barren mountainside along Highway 50 to announce California’s first-ever statewide mandatory water restrictions. The snowpack on that date was virtually non-existent, shattering records for “bad” at about 5 percent of normal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bad news is that same 87 percent of average, which is to put it another way, 13 percent below normal. After four years of drought, hydrologists have warned, that’s not going to cut it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“An average snowpack wouldn’t solve the hole we’re in from four years of dry soil moistures and low reservoirs, and overpumped groundwater,” says Peter Gleick, a hydrologist and head of the Oakland-based Pacific Institute. “We really needed more than average — a lot more than average.” (There’s more from Gleick on why we should expect more disappointing snowpacks in our \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2016/03/23/get-used-to-skimpier-snows-in-the-sierra/\">recent post\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s hard for many to square the ongoing drought with reservoirs that have \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2016/03/28/was-march-the-rainfall-miracle-wed-hoped-for/\">filled rapidly in recent weeks\u003c/a>, water tumbling down huge spillways in many cases (often a \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2016/02/29/california-reservoirs-are-dumping-water-in-a-drought-but-science-could-change-that/\">required precaution\u003c/a> against possible floods). California has been under a declared state of drought emergency since January of 2014, and water use restrictions have been extended through the coming summer, with some \u003ca href=\"http://www.mercurynews.com/drought/ci_29700280/california-drought-rules-likely-be-relaxed\">yet-to-be-announced modifications\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, state water managers urge that, “Residents should continue to conserve water due to drought conditions and impacts that are still felt in many parts of the state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spring blizzards are not unheard of. The survey comes just two days after Reno recorded it’s third biggest dumping of late-season snow on record — nearly 7 inches. But once the calendar turns to April, precipitation of all kinds drops off dramatically throughout California and the Sierra.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The “April 1” snow survey in the Sierra Nevada is always anxiously awaited, in the truest sense of the term. Early April is when the \u003ca href=\"http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/snowapp/sweq.action\">snowpack\u003c/a> is generally reckoned to have peaked and the spring melt season is upon us. If there isn’t sufficient snow by now to carry California through its parched summer, there likely won’t be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year’s April1 survey (done on March 30 this year for arcane reasons) was a good news/bad news affair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The good news is that water content (which is what they actually measure, not accumulation) came in at 87 percent of average — that’s a far cry from last year at this time, when Governor Jerry Brown stood on a barren mountainside along Highway 50 to announce California’s first-ever statewide mandatory water restrictions. The snowpack on that date was virtually non-existent, shattering records for “bad” at about 5 percent of normal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bad news is that same 87 percent of average, which is to put it another way, 13 percent below normal. After four years of drought, hydrologists have warned, that’s not going to cut it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“An average snowpack wouldn’t solve the hole we’re in from four years of dry soil moistures and low reservoirs, and overpumped groundwater,” says Peter Gleick, a hydrologist and head of the Oakland-based Pacific Institute. “We really needed more than average — a lot more than average.” (There’s more from Gleick on why we should expect more disappointing snowpacks in our \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2016/03/23/get-used-to-skimpier-snows-in-the-sierra/\">recent post\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s hard for many to square the ongoing drought with reservoirs that have \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2016/03/28/was-march-the-rainfall-miracle-wed-hoped-for/\">filled rapidly in recent weeks\u003c/a>, water tumbling down huge spillways in many cases (often a \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2016/02/29/california-reservoirs-are-dumping-water-in-a-drought-but-science-could-change-that/\">required precaution\u003c/a> against possible floods). California has been under a declared state of drought emergency since January of 2014, and water use restrictions have been extended through the coming summer, with some \u003ca href=\"http://www.mercurynews.com/drought/ci_29700280/california-drought-rules-likely-be-relaxed\">yet-to-be-announced modifications\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, state water managers urge that, “Residents should continue to conserve water due to drought conditions and impacts that are still felt in many parts of the state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spring blizzards are not unheard of. The survey comes just two days after Reno recorded it’s third biggest dumping of late-season snow on record — nearly 7 inches. But once the calendar turns to April, precipitation of all kinds drops off dramatically throughout California and the Sierra.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>When the numbers come in for the closely watched April 1 survey of \u003ca href=\"http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/snowapp/sweq.action\">snow in the Sierra Nevada\u003c/a>, California is likely to fall short of an average year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s a major disappointment in a winter that featured one of the \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2016/02/01/why-this-el-nino-is-one-for-the-books/\">strongest El Niño events on record\u003c/a>—warm ocean conditions that were widely expected to produce torrents of precipitation. It’s also a source of concern since the state has historically counted on runoff from accumulated mountain snows for about a third of its water supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this week, the northern Sierra snowpack briefly nudged the long-term average for April 1, while measurements from the southern Sierra were lagging badly, at just 75 percent of normal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To be sure, both numbers are \u003ca href=\"http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=86838\">a huge improvement\u003c/a> over last year at this time, when the Sierra Nevada range was virtually barren. But this year, almost-average isn’t going to cut it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_594396\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 561px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-594396 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/No-SnowSurvey_150401.png\" alt=\"Governor Jerry Brown looks on as last April's snow survey is conducted on barren ground along Highway 50, near Echo Summit.\" width=\"561\" height=\"381\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/No-SnowSurvey_150401.png 561w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/No-SnowSurvey_150401-400x272.png 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 561px) 100vw, 561px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Governor Jerry Brown looks on as last April’s snow survey is conducted on barren ground along Highway 50, near Echo Summit. \u003ccite>(Calif. Dept. of Water Resources)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We really needed more than average—a lot more than average,” says Peter Gleick, a hydrologist and co-founder of the Oakland-based \u003ca href=\"http://pacinst.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pacific Institute\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Average snowpack wouldn’t solve the hole we’re in from four years of dry soil moistures and low reservoirs and overpumped groundwater,” he says. “I think a fifth year of drought is now pretty inevitable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, El Niño conjured up enough rain and snow to slightly dampen Californians’ worries over water. In a survey just released by the Public Policy Institute of California, while 57 percent of respondents still consider water supply to be a “big problem,” water and drought slipped from the top spot among residents’ biggest concerns, yielding once again to jobs and the economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Long-Term Outlook Not Encouraging\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gleick attended this week’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/03/22/fact-sheet-working-together-build-sustainable-water-future\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">White House Water Summit\u003c/a>, a confab designed to assess threats to future water security and seek solutions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coinciding with that event, federal water managers issued some sobering projections for the continuing impact of California’s changing climate on key watersheds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Sacramento and San Joaquin River Basins:\u003cbr>\nMean annual runoff is projected to increase as much as 5.4% in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers Delta by the 2050s. Moisture falling as rain instead of snow at lower elevations will increase wintertime runoff by 22% (December through March) and decrease springtime runoff by 27% (April through July).\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>And moving uphill toward Lake Tahoe, the outlook does not improve:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Truckee River Basin:\u003cbr>\nMean annual runoff is projected to increase by from [sic] 5.7% by the 2050s. Warmer conditions are projected to transition wintertime snow into rain, increasing December–March runoff and decreasing April–July runoff. The median date of peak runoff is expected to be 19 days earlier by the end of the century.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Those increases in runoff might sound like a good thing. More water is more water, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘We don’t just care about how much water we get, we also care about when we get it’\u003ccite>Peter Gleick, hydrologist\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“I wouldn’t bank on that,” says Gleick, citing both the uncertainty inherent in precipitation models for California and rising temperatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t just care about how much water we get, we also care about when we get it,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More wintertime and less springtime runoff is a sign that winter storms are dropping more rain and less snow, depleting the state’s “frozen reservoir” and leaving less water during the summer growing season, when farms and cities most need it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As John Upton \u003ca href=\"http://www.climatecentral.org/news/california-snowpack-returns-fears-future-20166\">writes for Climate Central\u003c/a>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>The low snowpack experienced last year is expected to become more common during the decades ahead — even though storminess in the region is \u003ca href=\"http://www.climatecentral.org/news/west-likely-stormier-with-climate-change-20009\">projected to increase\u003c/a>. Last year’s was the \u003ca href=\"http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/snowapp/sweq.action\">smallest snowpack on record\u003c/a>, caused primarily by a shortfall in large winter storms, fueling a withering drought \u003ca href=\"http://www.climatecentral.org/news/global-warming-fueled-heat-calif-drought-18719\">exacerbated by high temperatures\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Within 50 years, snowpacks as diminutive as last year’s could occur on average more than once every decade, said \u003ca href=\"https://profile.usgs.gov/mddettin\">Michael Dettinger\u003c/a>, a U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we have to do is a combination of smarter storage and better management of reservoirs, and much more efficient water use,” says Gleick. “There is no one solution to Cailfornia’s water problems.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When the numbers come in for the closely watched April 1 survey of \u003ca href=\"http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/snowapp/sweq.action\">snow in the Sierra Nevada\u003c/a>, California is likely to fall short of an average year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s a major disappointment in a winter that featured one of the \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2016/02/01/why-this-el-nino-is-one-for-the-books/\">strongest El Niño events on record\u003c/a>—warm ocean conditions that were widely expected to produce torrents of precipitation. It’s also a source of concern since the state has historically counted on runoff from accumulated mountain snows for about a third of its water supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this week, the northern Sierra snowpack briefly nudged the long-term average for April 1, while measurements from the southern Sierra were lagging badly, at just 75 percent of normal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To be sure, both numbers are \u003ca href=\"http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=86838\">a huge improvement\u003c/a> over last year at this time, when the Sierra Nevada range was virtually barren. But this year, almost-average isn’t going to cut it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_594396\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 561px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-594396 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/No-SnowSurvey_150401.png\" alt=\"Governor Jerry Brown looks on as last April's snow survey is conducted on barren ground along Highway 50, near Echo Summit.\" width=\"561\" height=\"381\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/No-SnowSurvey_150401.png 561w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/No-SnowSurvey_150401-400x272.png 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 561px) 100vw, 561px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Governor Jerry Brown looks on as last April’s snow survey is conducted on barren ground along Highway 50, near Echo Summit. \u003ccite>(Calif. Dept. of Water Resources)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We really needed more than average—a lot more than average,” says Peter Gleick, a hydrologist and co-founder of the Oakland-based \u003ca href=\"http://pacinst.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pacific Institute\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Average snowpack wouldn’t solve the hole we’re in from four years of dry soil moistures and low reservoirs and overpumped groundwater,” he says. “I think a fifth year of drought is now pretty inevitable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, El Niño conjured up enough rain and snow to slightly dampen Californians’ worries over water. In a survey just released by the Public Policy Institute of California, while 57 percent of respondents still consider water supply to be a “big problem,” water and drought slipped from the top spot among residents’ biggest concerns, yielding once again to jobs and the economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Long-Term Outlook Not Encouraging\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gleick attended this week’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/03/22/fact-sheet-working-together-build-sustainable-water-future\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">White House Water Summit\u003c/a>, a confab designed to assess threats to future water security and seek solutions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coinciding with that event, federal water managers issued some sobering projections for the continuing impact of California’s changing climate on key watersheds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Sacramento and San Joaquin River Basins:\u003cbr>\nMean annual runoff is projected to increase as much as 5.4% in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers Delta by the 2050s. Moisture falling as rain instead of snow at lower elevations will increase wintertime runoff by 22% (December through March) and decrease springtime runoff by 27% (April through July).\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>And moving uphill toward Lake Tahoe, the outlook does not improve:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Truckee River Basin:\u003cbr>\nMean annual runoff is projected to increase by from [sic] 5.7% by the 2050s. Warmer conditions are projected to transition wintertime snow into rain, increasing December–March runoff and decreasing April–July runoff. The median date of peak runoff is expected to be 19 days earlier by the end of the century.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Those increases in runoff might sound like a good thing. More water is more water, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘We don’t just care about how much water we get, we also care about when we get it’\u003ccite>Peter Gleick, hydrologist\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“I wouldn’t bank on that,” says Gleick, citing both the uncertainty inherent in precipitation models for California and rising temperatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t just care about how much water we get, we also care about when we get it,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More wintertime and less springtime runoff is a sign that winter storms are dropping more rain and less snow, depleting the state’s “frozen reservoir” and leaving less water during the summer growing season, when farms and cities most need it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As John Upton \u003ca href=\"http://www.climatecentral.org/news/california-snowpack-returns-fears-future-20166\">writes for Climate Central\u003c/a>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>The low snowpack experienced last year is expected to become more common during the decades ahead — even though storminess in the region is \u003ca href=\"http://www.climatecentral.org/news/west-likely-stormier-with-climate-change-20009\">projected to increase\u003c/a>. Last year’s was the \u003ca href=\"http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/snowapp/sweq.action\">smallest snowpack on record\u003c/a>, caused primarily by a shortfall in large winter storms, fueling a withering drought \u003ca href=\"http://www.climatecentral.org/news/global-warming-fueled-heat-calif-drought-18719\">exacerbated by high temperatures\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Within 50 years, snowpacks as diminutive as last year’s could occur on average more than once every decade, said \u003ca href=\"https://profile.usgs.gov/mddettin\">Michael Dettinger\u003c/a>, a U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we have to do is a combination of smarter storage and better management of reservoirs, and much more efficient water use,” says Gleick. “There is no one solution to Cailfornia’s water problems.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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},
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"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
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},
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"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
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"order": 1
},
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"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "WNYC"
},
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"hidden-brain": {
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
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"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
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