Does California Really Need More Dams? We’re Running out of Places to Put Them

You hear this every time there’s a drought or deluge in California: “Why haven’t they built more dams?” Truth is, they’ve built a bunch. And they’re about done with it. Tally them up. There are more than 1,400 dams in the state. At least 1,000 are major and 55 can hold 100,000 acre-feet or more … Read more

Gov. Brown Takes Action to Bolster Dam Safety, Repair Infrastructure after Winter Storms

With extreme weather putting increasing stress on California’s roads, bridges and flood control system, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced a series of immediate and longer-term actions to bolster dam safety, improve flood protection and fix the state’s aging transportation and water infrastructure. “Recent storms have pounded the state of California resulting in a … Read more

This Year’s Floods May Be Good for California’s Salmon

In the mid-1990s, a scientist named Ted Sommer commuted routinely by bicycle between Davis and Sacramento, on the causeway that passes over the vast floodplain called the Yolo Bypass. At the time, state biologists had observed that numbers of Sacramento River fish increased almost every year following a wet winter. “We wondered what it was … Read more

America’s Aging Dams Are in Need of Repair

After two weeks that saw evacuations near Oroville, Calif., and flooding in Elko County, Nev., America’s dams are showing their age. Nearly 2,000 state-regulated high-hazard dams in the United States were listed as being in need of repair in 2015, according to the Association of State Dam Safety Officials. A dam is considered “high hazard” … Read more

Court Supports Order to Divert Water to Support Salmon

The federal government can redirect water from a Northern California dam to prevent mass die-offs of salmon in drought years, water that otherwise would be shipped to Central Valley farmers, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation had authority under a 1955 federal law to release Trinity River water from the … Read more

Dams Remain in Line for Bulk of Funding Over Cheaper Alternatives

WASHINGTON — Despite the spectacular near failure of Oroville Dam, a linchpin of California’s vast plumbing system, Congress and the state remain focused on building new dams and repairing existing ones. But they are giving short shrift to cheaper, more environmentally benign alternatives for water storage. With more rain this week, the state’s water system … Read more

Disturbing Deficiencies Seen in California’s Dam Safety Efforts

The dam burst on a warm afternoon, unleashing nearly 300 million gallons of muddy water on a Los Angeles neighborhood. Five people died and dozens of homes were swept off their foundations and destroyed. In the aftermath of the 1963 Baldwin Hills Dam catastrophe, the state strengthened inspection regulations, helping establish California as a modern … Read more

Hazardous Tankers Here to Stay

It looks like those railroad tankers parked on the tracks near Schellville may be there for a while, under terms of a 30-year agreement reached between Sonoma-Marin Area Rapid Transit (SMART), which owns the rail lines, and the North Coast Railroad Authority (NCRA), which claims freight rights. The agreement was approved by the SMART board … Read more

Action Alert: Eel River Valley Groundwater Sustainability Plan

Humboldt County submitted an analysis of conditions in the lower Eel River groundwater basin claiming the basin has operated within sustainable yield for the past 10 years, and that it is unnecessary to adopt a groundwater sustainability plan. Given what we have seen on the river, we do not agree. In August 2014, the lower … Read more