Environment

Communities, largely home to low-income Latino residents, still have dry wells. Restoring groundwater takes decades, with costly, long-term replenishment projects — and ultimately, much less pumping.

Despite a federal deadline today, California — the largest user of Colorado River water — has refused to cut back as much as six other states proposed in a new plan today. Imperial valley growers have the most to lose.

Growers and Southern California cities that get water from the state aqueduct will receive 30% of their requested allocations. That’s the most in January since 2017, after heavy rains fed the reservoirs.

A CalMatters investigation finds that environmentally stringent California sends nearly half its toxic waste across its borders, often to states with weaker rules. One of the biggest out-of-state dumpers: the state’s own hazardous waste watchdog.

The Colorado River’s water transformed the Imperial Valley desert into one of California’s most productive farm regions. But now growers will have to sacrifice 10% of their supply because of shortages in the river's supply.

Despite expecting 12.5 million electric cars by 2035, California officials insist that the grid can provide enough electricity. But that’s based on multiple assumptions — including building solar and wind at almost five times the pace of the past decade — that may not be realistic.

A dozen days of wet and wild weather haven’t ended the drought, and won't cure the driest period in the West in the past 1,200 years.

The governor’s proposal to slash $6 billion in funding “unquestionably hurts the state more in the long-term,” one climate activist said.

As a "bomb cyclone" descends on Northern California tonight, storms have already tested a region highly vulnerable to flooding. One report says the Central Valley needs $30 billion in improvements over 30 years.

Urgently trying to help an endangered species devastated by drought, biologists hauled 40,000 eggs to the McCloud River this year, then brought the young fish back again to migrate. So far, it's gone well.