How do you keep up on California’s water news? A great place to see articles for all major and many local newspapers is Aquafornia.
I fell behind on my blog and missed the weekly deadline, so I am behind a couple of days. Travel for my son’s college graduation on the other coast, as well as Internet issues played a part. Now my schedule is back on track and I’ll get another post in this week to make up for the tardy post.
Newspaper articles vary in length, coverage of the subject, and context. The quality depends on reporters’ experience and editors’ interest in water subjects. Since the great majority of California’s population lives in urban areas, reporting on water issues can be brief and leave out detail regarding agricultural issues. Water rights is a complicated subject and it can be difficult to figure out what a reporter is actually saying when writing about some aspects of changes that can affect diversions!
The great thing about Aquafornia is that they aggregate, or pull together, a whole bunch of articles in one place. I have been reading news articles from their site for years to keep up on news inside my area of expertise, as well as reporting well outside my own interests.
It’s always good to know what;s coming down the pipeline that might widely impact water rights. For example, urban and environmental water shortages or water quality issues will certainly affect agricultural water rights in the long run, possibly even in the near future.
Aquafornia is a whole lot more than current water news. The site, hosted by the Water Education Foundation, is an encyclopedia of Statewide water issues. If you want to do research on any water subject, it’s a very good place to start or get pointed in the right direction.