"The Colorado River’s largest reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, have declined to their lowest combined levels on record.
Researchers say the new low underscores the urgent need to cut water use in the seven states that depend on the river."
"California bars utilities from cutting off power to customers who fall behind on their bills when it’s dangerously hot outside – a basic safety protection. Losing power in some rural areas can also mean losing water, and in cities, having no way to cool down can be dangerous, even deadly, when hot weather spans several days."
"In a case that has become a local flashpoint, environmental groups seeking to halt a lithium operation in Imperial County until it gets further review argued before a state appeals court in San Diego on Thursday."
"Until recently, when members of the Konkow Valley Band of Maidu pulled up a map of their ancestral land in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, only about two dozen of their historic sites appeared." "Then the forests burned."
"A surf camp buses kids to other beaches, and junior lifeguards travel up the coast from this California beach town plagued by cross-border sewage."
"The Trump administration has signed off on a company’s plan to convert an oil and gas pipeline to pump groundwater from the Mojave Desert to thirsty California cities for the first time, a lucrative venture that critics say threatens natural springs and wildlife."
"A year before Greenwater Services got a $1.7 million contract to clean the algae-infected Reflecting Pool, it had received another no-bid government contract to deploy at the trash-plagued Tijuana River."
"Federal officials will begin rounding up wild horses in the Eastern Sierra on July 8, citing trampled wetlands and highway hazards, with the animals to be offered for adoption. The helicopter-assisted operation is praised by some environmentalists but condemned by others, including local tribes and animal advocates."
"The Boyle Heights and Garden Grove emergencies are raising questions about emergency planning, inspections and accountability. The real test of California’s chemical safety system comes after the smoke clears, experts say."
"A pilot program is building solar panels over irrigation canals to generate electricity. As a bonus, the shade prevents water from evaporating."
