Water watchers cast a wary eye

Folsom Lake's water level is way down; mandatory conservation efforts are likely soon.

Yet it's easy for the experts to sound out a clear warning: This may become, simply, the worst drought California has ever seen. (Sacramento Bee - 02/02/2009)

Smallest fall run of chinook salmon reported

Six years ago, the peak salmon return was 13 times higher

The smallest number of Pacific Ocean salmon ever recorded swam back to the Sacramento River via San Francisco Bay last fall, the latest evidence of the decline of the storied fish along the West Coast, officials said Wednesday. (San Francisco Chronicle - 02/19/2009)

New Study Reports Bottled Water Use 2000 Times More Energy Intensive than Tap

In a newly published article in the February 2009 edition of the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Research Letters, the Pacific Institute estimates that the annual consumption of bottled water in the U.S. in 2007 required the equivalent of between 32 and 54 million barrels of oil -- roughly one-third of a percent of total U.S. primary energy consumption. (YubaNet.com - 02/25/2009)

Legal action could stall Natomas levee repairs

Crews remove trees from an area that will expand the levee as part of the Natomas Levee improvement project.

Levee repairs in Sacramento's Natomas Basin face new legal and financial threats that could delay construction of the massive project. The Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency is just weeks from awarding a $90 million construction contract for a key phase of the project. But that work depends on state matching funds, which have been bottled up by the state budget crisis. (Sacramento Bee - 03/09/2009)