Drought prompts state to cut off water to thousands of farms, water agencies [San Francisco Chronicle]
… The extraordinary directive, issued Tuesday by state regulators amid a deepening drought, targets 4,300 “junior” water rights holders between Fresno County and the Oregon border and forces them to turn to sources of water other than surface supplies, such as wells or storage — or go without water entirely. The restrictions are likely to hit California farmers the hardest, both because they use the most water and because they don’t always have alternative sources. … “Curtailment is not a game,” said Chris Scheuring, water attorney for the California Farm Bureau Federation. “It affects families. It affects livelihoods. I got through college on farm income.”
https://www.sfchronicle.com/drought/article/Drought-forces-state-to-cut-off-water-to-16249597.php
More blackouts? California grid manager warns of power shortage as major heatwave looms [Sacramento Bee]
… The California System Operator said it expects the demand for power to exceed supplies as temperatures soar past 100 degrees toward the end of the week. … The heat wave could find California in a repeat of last August, when the state endured two consecutive nights of rolling blackouts as temperatures surpassed 110 degrees. … Barely a month ago, the ISO said it believed it could avoid blackouts this summer, thanks to an influx of new power capacity — but acknowledged that the margin for error could get squeezed if a heatwave blanketed the entire West. That’s exactly what’s supposed to happen this week.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/article252134288.html
Red Hill Bay lawsuit on hold while county and IID try to come to terms [Imperial Valley Press]
Imperial County and the Imperial Irrigation District are trying to work together to resolve the issues involving the Red Hill Bay restoration project without it going to court. … The Red Hill Bay project is intended to restore 420 acres and convert them into a shallow-water habitat for migrant birds while covering the newly exposed shoreline in order to reduce the health hazards caused by dust from the exposed playa. … The two-on-two meeting between the IID and the county occurred shortly after IID filed the legal documents against the county to sue in response to an Imperial Air Pollution Control Pollution District hearing panel’s decision to uphold notices of violation for failure to control dust emissions at the Red Hill Bay site.
Santa Cruz’s steelhead numbers low in midst of drought, but endangered coho spotted [Santa Cruz Sentinel]
… Steelhead numbers are low with drought conditions plaguing Santa Cruz for a second consecutive year. But coho salmon, a species at-risk of extinction, were spotted off Santa Cruz’s North Coast in the Laguna Creek estuary. Documenting coho anywhere in Santa Cruz County is a relatively rare event, explained Chris Berry, watershed compliance manager with the city. … Berry said the focus of the major spring and fall surveys is tracking the regional steelhead population.
Beehives stolen from Sutter County orchard [The Appeal-Democrat, Marysville]
Approximately 12 beehives, worth an estimated $4,200, were reported stolen from a south Sutter County orchard last week. Biregosa Apiaries owner Ricardo Gomez hopes someone from the Yuba-Sutter community can help him locate and recover them. … Gomez was the victim of a beehive theft in Arbuckle about seven years ago, though he ultimately was able to recover the hives and the bees. … The Yuba-Sutter Farm Bureau also put out a “Be On The Lookout” for the beehives along with a picture of what they look like.
A college grad honored her parents with a photo shoot in the fields where they worked [NPR]
Jennifer Rocha wanted to hear the rustle of her black graduation gown against the bell pepper bushes in the California farm fields. … That’s why she decided to take her college graduation photos in the same hot vegetable fields in Coachella, Calif., where she has worked with her parents since she was in high school. “I’m proud that that’s where I come from,” says Rocha, who graduated from the University of California, San Diego on Saturday. … The stunning pictures, in which she’s in heels wearing full graduation regalia and picking veggies alongside her parents dressed in “regular field picking work clothes,” have struck a chord across social media, going viral over the past couple of days.
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