California Water News All In One Place – Aquifornia

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!

AuaiforniaThe 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.


Screenshot 2016-05-11 at 06.50.27 - EditedAquafornia
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.

Great Writing on Variety of Water Issues – California WaterBlog

This blog is about California water rights, diversions, devices, and how measurement devices work, plus a few posts on larger or different issues.  For a great source on a wide variety of water concerns in California, check out the California WaterBlog:  https://californiawaterblog.comCalifornia_WaterBlog

Reading this is like taking some college classes (but faster and more interesting), especially if you check out some of the linked sources.

The April 17 post is really interesting; everyone wants to end groundwater overdraft, which decreases the amount of available groundwater.  Increasing overdraft makes wells have to go ever deeper to get water while drying up some existing wells.  However, there is a cost to any new action, and some folks have figured out costs of getting more water through the Delta to fill up the San Joaquin and Tulare groundwater holes:  at least $50 Million, maybe as high as $1.5 Billion per year:  https://californiawaterblog.com/2016/04/17/californias-delta-groundwater-nexus-economic-and-water-supply-effects-of-ending-groundwater-overdraft-in-californias-central-valley/

Anyway, check out this blog, they talk about every aspect of California water!