Illinois/Minnesota EDITION

VOL 8 | ISSUE 5

May 23, 2023

In This Issue

A Wet California Boosts Water Allocations to 100% for First Time in Nearly 20 Years

Iowa Water Quality Sensors Could Lose Funding Under Bill on Governor's Desk

QuizTime Question

A Wet California Boosts Water Allocations to 100%

for First Time in Nearly 20 Years

By: Grace Toohey, Los Angeles Times

For the first time since 2006, California officials have increased allocations from the vital State Water Project to 100% of requested supplies, as reservoirs across the state are nearing capacity and an epic snowpack has yet to melt.

An unusually wet winter brought unprecedented snowfall and a succession of heavy rainstorms, pulling much of the state out of a punishing years-long drought and transforming the year's water outlook.

"It's the biggest allocation in quite a few years now and it reflects a very, very wet year," said Jay Lund, professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Davis. "Even in pretty wet years, we haven't gotten to 100% allocations."

Just last year - when the state faced a third season of punishing drought - officials slashed water allocations to 5% for those relying on the State Water Project, a complex system of reservoirs, canals and dams that supplies about 27 million residents and 750,000 acres of farmland.

Iowa Water Quality Sensors Could Lose Funding

Under Bill on Governor's Desk

By: Katarina Sostaric, Iowa Public Radio

Iowa's network of water quality sensors that track nitrogen and phosphorus levels could lose state funding under a bill that is awaiting the governor's signature.

Republican lawmakers approved a budget bill this month that would cut $500,000 from the Iowa Nutrient Research Center, which awards grants for research focused on reducing nutrient loos and water pollution.

The bill would also end a current requirement for the research center, which is based at Iowa State University, to collaborate with the other two public universities.

Critics of the bill fear these changes would lead to the defunding of the University of Iowa's real-time monitoring network that measures nutrients in the state's rivers and streams.

Rep. Norlin Mommsen, R-DeWitt, said the $500,000 will be diverted to nutrient reduction projects like wetlands, saturated buffers and bioreactors through the Iowa Department of Agriculture instead of beings spent on research.