The Drought Is Over in California.
"This drought emergency is over, but the next drought could be around the corner," Brown said in a statement.
Lund exclaimed.
In the wake of the last prolonged drought, from 1987 to 1992, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California constructed a big reservoir in Riverside County to boost regional reserves.
In this drought we learned how much we can save outdoors," said Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the State Water Resources Control Board, which had the prickly task of enforcing the urban cuts.
Nudged by generous turf rebates from water districts, homeowners up and down California ripped out their shriveled lawns and replaced them with succulents and drought-tolerant native plants.
A 2014 law requires regional agencies, over the course of the next two decades, to develop and implement plans to stop the chronic over-pumping that has depleted what amounts to California’s biggest reservoir: the vast Central Valley aquifer.
"It was only the third year of the drought and we got a groundwater law."
The state water board is developing water budgets for urban agencies that will go into effect in 2021.
If they fall short, in 2025 the board can start demanding conservation steps.

Drought was tough on NH farmers, but good for moose.
Associated Press CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – Last year’s drought in New Hampshire was tough on farmers and towns.
But it turns out to have been good for moose.
Preliminary numbers from a project that puts tracking collars on moose show that only one of the calves – the most vulnerable group – died from winter ticks this year.
A year ago, nearly 75 percent of the calves tracked died.
Moose biologist Kristine Rines says many of the blood-sucking ticks died because they were deprived of moisture.
The latest findings come as a state commission prepares to vote Wednesday on a proposed 51 permits for the annual moose hunt, the lowest in nearly 30 years.
Permits have declined, partly because of the impact of parasites, both ticks and brainworm, on moose.
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BLOG ROUND-UP: More on Delta tunnels impacts and economics, Delta smelt take limits, CVP allocation, ag water conservation, nitrate troubles, and more ….
… ” Continue reading at the Valley Economy blog here: WaterFix Economics Flop in Two Recent Federal Consultant Lists of National Infrastructure Priorities Reclamation Requests Higher Smelt Take Limits: Tom Cannon writes, “The State and Federal water projects requested on March 16, 2017 a higher take limit for Delta smelt under their endangered species permits for the south Delta pumping plants.
And as climate change brings longer, more frequent droughts, rising sea levels, and floods (or even leads to near failures of our outdated water infrastructure like we recently saw at Oroville Dam), it’s critical that we prepare for the water challenges looming ahead.
Tom Cannon writes, “The Klamath River Chinook salmon fall run is expected to be a record lows in 2017.
… ” Read more from the California Fisheries Blog here: 2017 Klamath Chinook run: Disaster or catastrophe?
In recent years, the sea received a temporary water source arranged as part of a Colorado River water trading agreement that is sending some irrigation water to cities on the Southern California coast.
John Fleck writes, “David Owen makes an interesting point in this New Yorker piece: Just as proximity makes people think that Las Vegas is the principal cause of the decline of Lake Mead, it also makes them think that any further decline in the lake will be a problem mainly, or even only, for Las Vegas.
Glen Canyon Dam and the $10 bill: John Fleck writes: “tl;dr The claims of “Fill Mead First” advocates that we could save hundreds of thousands of acre feet of water a year while draining Lake Powell and consolidating all the Colorado River’s water in Lake Mead don’t hold up.
… ” Read more from the Legal Planet blog here: The overlooked part of Trump’s Executive Order on climate change New article on judicial review and the Endangered Species Act: Damien M. Shiff writes, “The Endangered Species Act gives the United States Fish and Wildlife Service the authority to exclude areas from protected species’ “critical habitat” when the benefits of excluding those areas would exceed the benefits of including them.
… ” Read more from Legal Planet here: The implementation gap Sign up for daily email service and you’ll never miss a post!

Keep plants happy in a drought.
Updated 15 hours ago Learn how to keep plants happy in a drought It’s hard to imagine drought conditions right now, but gardeners know that the past few summers have been fairly dry and have taken a toll on trees, shrubs and gardens.
Becky Griffith, owner of Shadowwood Gardens in Latrobe, will discuss how to keep plants happy during drought conditions at 6:30 p.m. April 20 at West Overton Village and Museums in Scottdale, as part of its Garden Talk series.
The event will be in the Overholt Room in the lower level of the Distillery Museum.
Admission is $5 and can be paid at the door or online at westovertonvillage.org.
Details: 724-887-7910 Preservation resource center offers workshops The Landmarks Preservation Resource Center in Wilkinsburg has several upcoming workshops.
Cost is $10 per session.
Recycling events set The Pennsylvania Resources Council has scheduled its hard-to-recycle and household chemicals collections for the year.
The household chemical collection begins May 6 at North Park in Allegheny County.
The hard-to-recycle collection schedule includes: May 13 (Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills, Frazer, Allegheny County); June 24 (Quaker Valley High School, Leetsdale, Allegheny County); July 29 (La Roche College, McCandless, Allegheny County); Aug. 12 (Century III Mall, West Mifflin, Allegheny County); and Oct. 7 (Settlers Cabin Park, Allegheny County).

PUBLIC NOTICE: Proposal to accept funds from the California Department of Water Resources.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District has posted Public Notice SPK-2017-00271 to www.spk.usace.army.mil/Media/RegulatoryPublicNotices.aspx This Public Notice announces the preliminary intent of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District to accept funds contributed by the California Department of Water Resources in order to expedite processing of their permit applications which would implement projects related to system improvements; operations and maintenance and repair, rehabilitation or replacement (O&M, RRR) of features of the State Plan of Flood Control (SPFC), and to assist in the implementation of the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan and integration of its Conservation Strategy.
Written comments and/or a request for a paper copy of the notice may be submitted to project manager Michael Nepstad at email Michael.G.Nepstad@usace.army.mil or by mail at U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District, Regulatory Division, ATTN: Michael Nepstad, 1325 J Street, Room 1350, Sacramento, CA 95814-2922.
Comments must be received by 25 April 2017.
Regulatory Division US Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District 1325 J Street, Room 1350, Sacramento, CA 95814-2922
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The climatic situation has its own impact on the weather variability.
Climate variability is caused both by nature and human activities.
Thirty years ago, climate variability was a phenomena which occurs with a decade-long interval but nowadays it has been a common phenomena to face drought every two years.
At that time, due to lack of coping mechanisms, humans as well as animals used to lose their lives.
In 1985, during the Derg era, though institutionally the Aid Coordinating and Rehabilitation Commission was established in the northern part of the country, one million breathed their last helplessly due to drought.
Currently, in the Horn of Africa, due to drought more than 25 million people are at the verge of lapsing into famine.
Because of this unfolding, they pay less attention to the drought-thorn East African countries.
Their way of life is dominated by pastoral activities and when extreme weather conditions occurs humans and animals face risk.
The scarcity of water turns grazing land into barren ones and the non availability of food-stock and water leave animals to be physically weak and lose their life.
Recently, the government has announced that due to the hungover effect of El Nino and the absence of spring shower, drought has hit the eastern and south-eastern part of the country where particularly the pastoral community dwells and nearly 230 representatives from the Government, UN, NGOs and donors have visited affected communities and the assessment concluded that some 5.6 million people were in need of aid in 2017GC.

Basic microbiology research study unexpectedly uncovers practical findings for growers.
Cover cropping also has its risks, especially if dying cover crops encourage disease pressure that passes on to the next crop.
Such is the unexpected lesson behind a recent study published in Phytobiomes, a new open-access journal of The American Phytopathological Society.
In this recently-published article, titled "Isolation of Cultivation-Resistant Oomycetes, First Detected as Amplicon Sequences, from Roots of Herbicide-Terminated Winter Rye," Dr. Matthew G. Bakker and several other researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service set out to describe the microbiology of dying rye cover crop roots and how their microbial communities changed over time in a field setting.
Among the many microorganisms detected, they found that several less-known species of oomycetes, including Pythium and Lagena species, were commonly associated with cereal rye cover crops.
While this research was originally meant to be basic, the study unexpectedly turned out to have some very practical findings.
In addition to describing and validating the microbiology of these rye cover crop roots, their work revealed that the Pythium species naturally passed on to the corn plants as they sprouted into seedlings, resulting in seedling disease.
"This study tells a neat story about how new research techniques can lead to unpredictable findings with important and practical applications," said Bakker.
"Another interesting aspect of this study was that the most abundant species of Pythium in the cover crop roots was different on one side of the field than on the other.
Other benefits of this study include… An improved understanding of the microbiology of dying plants in natural and managed ecosystems The demonstrated importance of using DNA technology to help detect the microbial communities associated with crops, as microorganisms can be difficult to cultivate in the laboratory An improved understanding of the ecology of oomycetes — and of the potential for shared pathogens between cover crops and grain crops Bakker hopes this and similar work will spark more research in root-soil dynamics.

11 percent of disappearing groundwater used to grow internationally traded food.
To produce these crops many countries rely on irrigated agriculture that accounts for about 70 percent of global freshwater withdrawals, according to the United Nations Water program.
A new study by researchers at the University College London and NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies in New York City shows that 11 percent of the global non-renewable groundwater drawn up for irrigation goes to produce crops that are then traded on the international market.
Additionally, two-thirds of the exported crops that depend on non-renewable groundwater are produced in Pakistan (29 percent), the United States (27 percent), and India (12 percent).
Their analysis is the first to determine which specific crops come from groundwater reservoirs that won’t renew on human time-scales and where they are consumed.
"It’s important from Japan’s perspective to know whether that corn is being produced with a sustainable source of water, because you can imagine in the long term if groundwater declines too much, the United States will have difficulty producing that crop."
Countries that export and import these crops may be at risk in the future of losing the crops, and their profits, produced with non-renewable groundwater.
Aquifers form when water accumulates in the ground over time, sometimes over hundreds or thousands of years.
Non-renewable aquifers are those that do not accumulate rainfall fast enough to replace what is drawn out to the surface, either naturally to lakes and rivers or in this case by people via pumping.
"What’s innovative about this study is it connects groundwater depletion estimates with country level data," said hydrologist Matt Rodell at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who was not involved in the study.

Ways to encourage ‘refuge’ planting, slow resistance to Bt crops.
However, insect pests have shown the ability to evolve resistance to Bt proteins.
In fact, in the case of Bt corn, farmers are required to plant a section of their fields with refuge crops.
That’s because refuge crops provide fodder for insect pests that are not resistant to Bt proteins.
Some growers plant too little of their fields with Bt crops, and some don’t plant refuge crops at all.
Reisig divides his time between conducting research and helping farmers deal with problems related to insect crop pests.
What can influence whether growers plant refuge crops?
Reisig also found that there was a high correlation between how much land was devoted to corn, cotton and soybeans in a county, and how likely farmers in that county were to plant refuge crops.
Reisig also found that better enforcement and peer pressure from other farmers weren’t seen as making farmers more likely to plant refuge crops.
Journal Reference: Dominic D. Reisig.

Drought concerns in Loxahatchee Groves causing issues with canal levels, dust.
That’s not snow covering her trees.
“That’s the dust on the road.
Gisela, who owns an art studio in Loxahatchee, says the drought and increased dust is creating a tough situation for her clients.
“We’ve considered giving them $6 so they can go to a car wash every time they come out, but they don’t want to do that either,” she says.
It’s not just the dust causing concern.
Marge Herzog has lived here since the towns incorporation, and is also president of the town’s landowner’s association.
It’s a concern – especially in a town where so many people use well water.
“When the water table goes down, some of the wells could go dry if they aren’t deep enough,” she says.
Herzog says a possible solution would be to pump more water from the C-51 canal – but it’s a slow moving process between the state’s water management district and the town’s water management district.