Water

California today issued emergency drought rules aimed at wasteful water use. Although snowpack is 150% of average today, climatologists predict dry conditions for the rest of the season. And conservation still lags.

California cities face an array of crippling threats to water supplies: rising seas, extreme weather, drought, contamination, quakes, fires.

State officials warn some of the state’s most powerful and largest agricultural districts that their plans fail to address how over-pumping could harm local communities' drinking water supplies.

As the drought dries up California’s wetlands, traveling birds such as ducks, geese and eagles are struggling to survive and breed. “This drought is bad. The odds are against us,” a state expert said.

Gov. Newsom expands the California drought emergency from 50 counties to statewide, but does not order mandatory water conservation. He did authorize water regulators to ban wasteful water use, such as spraying down public sidewalks.

Officials warn that next year’s cuts in water supply could go even deeper as severe drought grips nearly 90% of California. North Coast and Bay Area residents cut water use while Southern Californians didn't.

The search is on to help California farmers find less-thirsty tree crops. But will the "Torture Orchard" experiments come through in time as droughts intensify?

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

Lea este artículo en español. Known for its starry skies, Joshua Trees and 100-plus-degree heat, California’s vast desert has recently become a hotbed of something else: thieves stealing California’s water. So who’s on the receiving end of all this theft? Local investigators say it’s often illegal pot farms. And with the parched state in a withering […]

Growers’ groups voiced strong opposition, questioning the water board’s power to stop senior rights holders from pumping the water.