Newsletter: Water and Power: Watch out for this snake

Your guide to the California drought from the Los Angeles Times.

NEWS AND POLICY

Revised standards: Water districts in the Coachella Valley want state water regulators to reevaluate their approach to water conservation in light of the region’s hot climate, large homes and seasonal "snowbird" population. “A one-size-fits-all approach is not the best way to regulate water consumption in a state as economically and geographically diverse as California,” according to David Luker, general manager of the Desert Water Agency.

Water storage: What is the best way for California to store water for farmers? That’s the big question facing officials as the Golden State prepares for the rains that are likely to come with El Niño. “It’s a straight-up calculation: What’s the benefit to the people of California compared to the costs? If you think your project is such a good project, prove it,” said  Jay R. Lund, head of the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis.

ON THE GROUND

Zombie park: Horticulturists want to bring native plants back to Elysian Park, which was overtaken with eucalyptus, deodar cedar and Mexican palm at the turn of the 20th century. But the proposal lacks funds to bring in new plantings. So in the meantime, the park is filling up with dead and dying trees. "I appreciate that's a matter of budget, but there are some safety factors there that are significant. That's something the city needs to look at,” said arborist Jan Scow.

Fewer crops: It’s a rough season for small farmers who are used to selling their crops to high-end restaurants and farmers’ markets. Warm temperatures and a lack of rain have allowed bug populations to take over their fields. “We’re just going to find something else, but for farmers it’s a serious situation. They can’t just go put something different on the menu,” said Karen Beverlin, a buyer for high-end restaurants in Los Angeles and New York.

OFFBEAT

Need to know: This video presentation should tell you everything you need to know about El Niño.

Drought goes on: Just a reminder that sadly, El Niño will not solve California’s shortage of water. “California is now missing an entire year’s worth of precipitation. That’s an incredible amount of water to expect to fall over the course of a season.”

BIG IDEAS

“It is a crisis in L.A., and I don't think people realize the magnitude of it,”

--  John Kump, an outreach program manager at the charity People Assisting the Homeless, on what El Niño will mean for the tens of thousands of Angelenos living on the street.

"We've done more in the past two or three years than we have in the past two or three decades on water in California.”

-- Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the State Water Resources Control Board

DROUGHT SNAPSHOT

A yellow bellied sea snake washed ashore in Huntington Beach on Dec. 13. It is the third sea snake ever recorded in Southern California and was probably driven north of its normal tropical habitat by El Niño.

(Lisa Gonzalez/Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County)

A yellow-bellied sea snake washed ashore in Huntington Beach on Dec. 13. It is the third sea snake ever recorded in Southern California and was probably driven north of its normal tropical habitat by El Niño. (Lisa Gonzalez/Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County)

DAILY TIP

The best way to prepare for El Niño is to know what’s ahead. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is tracking the system’s status as it moves in on California.

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Alice Walton or Shelby Grad.