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This picture from NASA's Earth Observatory shows how much land in California's Central Valley is sinking, due primarily to the drawing of groundwater during periods of drought. Heavy rains have fallen on many parts of the state this winter, but the image above is a reminder of the lingering effects of drought, even in wetter times. As the legend at the bottom of the picture suggests, the yellowest areas are those with the greatest degree of subsidence (the term for sinking land) and the bluest areas are those with the least.

LiveCopter 3 shows extremely low water levels in 2008Before Lake Oroville became so full that it overflowed the emergency spillway, the lake was a barren body of water that suffered heavily during the drought. This video was taken by LiveCopter 3 in 2008 when water levels were extremely low.

Californians are always talking about the coming Big One, but what if the big one is a flood, not an earthquake? With this recent cavalcade of rainstorms, there's been renewed interest in a 2011 USGS study on the so-called "ARkStorm." In it, the USGS lays out a case for a hypothetical "megastorm," one that could cause up to $725 billion in damage and impact a quarter of California's homes. The ARkStorm would bring with it catastrophic rains, hurricane-force winds and hundreds of landslides. Central Valley flooding alone is projected to span 300 miles. If that sounds far-fetched, there's historic precedent:...

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) – A federal judge said Friday he will likely order the federal government to reallocate water, some earmarked for commercial interests, to stave off a salmon die-off on the California-Oregon border. Two Native American tribes sued the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation last year, claiming its bungled management of Klamath River waterways allowed a deadly parasite to infect 91 percent of endangered juvenile Coho and Chinook salmon.

LOS ANGELES -- California residents evacuated neighborhoods below hillsides scarred by wildfires as the third - and largest - in the latest series of storms brought powerful rain Sunday and warnings about flash flooding and possible mudslides.  The National Weather Service warned that the system was expected to gain strength throughout the day and could be the strongest in at least seven years. Flash flood watches and warnings were in effect for swaths of greater Los Angeles, where mountain areas could see more than 2 inches of rain.  Authorities ordered evacuations near wildfire burn areas in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles...

The researchers compiled data from the California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources, which tracks oil and gas wells around the state. Researchers determined if water had been detected while drilling, and also gathered data about depth, salinity and pressure. After looking at 360 oil and gas fields spread across eight counties, the researchers say that they’ve documented a trove of fresh water just over half the size of Lake Michigan hidden in California’s bedrock 1,000 to nearly 10,000 feet below the surface. This is almost three times more groundwater than what was indicated in previous studies, many conducted...

In December 2008, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued what is known as a “biological opinion” imposing water reductions on the San Joaquin Valley and environs to safeguard the federally protected hypomesus transpacificus, a.k.a., the delta smelt. As a result, tens of billions of gallons of water from mountains east and north of Sacramento was channelled away from farmers and into the ocean, leaving hundreds of thousands of acres of arable land fallow or scorched.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump told California voters Friday that he can solve their water crisis, declaring, "There is no drought." Speaking at a rally in Fresno, Calif., Trump accused state officials of denying water to Central Valley farmers so they can send it out to sea "to protect a certain kind of three-inch fish

Fremont (KRON) — Fremont police say vandals attacked an inflatable dam on Alameda Creek that resulted in the loss of nearly 50 million gallons of water. Police believe that those responsible entered a restricted area sometime on Thursday morning and intentionally damaged the dam. “The dam, which is instrumental to the Alameda County Water District’s water supply operations, suffered irreversible damage,” police said. According to police, more than 150 acre-feet of water – or 49 million gallons – washed past the destroyed dam and into the San Francisco Bay. With California enduring a crippling four-year drought and no signs of...

Experts estimate there will be less than a year's worth of drinking water in California reservoir's at the end of 2015 Yet the rich and famous of Los Angeles continue to water their lawns with apparently no concern for conservation Photographer John Chapple recently went out in a helicopter to photography the ever-green lawns of Kim Kardashian, Barbara Streisand and Petra Eccelstone among others

California just entered its fourth year in drought. Experts say it's the worst the state has seen in 1,200 years. Dwindling reservoirs, shrinking lakes, and dried-up farm fields are everywhere — and the drought shows no sign of stopping. The state's snowpack, which typically provides about a third of the water for its farms and residents, remains at its lowest level in history.

Water authorities are using a new tool in a major effort to crack down on people and businesses wasting water in light of new water restrictions issued by Gov. Jerry Brown to fight the drought. The Long Beach Water Department says sprinklers at a McDonald’s restaurant on Bellflower Boulevard went on for 45 minutes at a time, twice a night, for an undefined number of nights. Complaints continued to mount as water pooled and wasted. The department, however, could do little about the wasting. That was before the smart meter.

The United States, a vast nation of near unparalleled natural beauty, might have no more stunning an environment than that which characterizes the state of California. Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of taking a brief trip to the Bay Area where I sampled some of this landscape’s agricultural pleasures, many of which came in fermented form. The people were lovely and accommodating. The weather was near perfection. The scenery was positively inspiring. But the topic not far from every local’s lips was a worrying one. A debilitating drought that has forced Gov. Jerry Brown to impose draconian water...

Shortsighted coastal elites bear most of the blame for California’s water woes. April 2, 2015 Photo by Cowgirl Jules California governor Jerry Brown had little choice but to issue a belated, state-wide mandate to reduce water usage by 25 percent. How such restrictions will affect Californians remains to be seen, given the Golden State’s wide diversity in geography, climate, water supply, and demography. We do know two things. First, Brown and other Democratic leaders will never concede that their own opposition in the 1970s (when California had about half its present population) to the completion of state and federal water...

<p>California is not suffering one drought, but four. Each is a metaphor of what California has become.</p> <p>The first California drought, of course, is natural. We are now in the midst of a fourth year of record low levels of snow and rain.</p>

ABC anchor Martha Raddatz pressured Brown on criticisms that the new requirements he placed on California’s agricultural industry, which uses a reported 80% of the state’s water, were soft. To put this into perspective, Raddatz reported that more water is being used for almond production than by the combined businesses and homes of Los Angeles and San Francisco. “They’re not watering their lawn or taking long showers,” Brown said in response. “They’re providing most of the fruits and vegetables of America to a significant part of the world.”

Brown said, “This executive order is done under emergency power. It has the force of law. Very unusual. It’s requiring action and changes in behavior from the Oregon border all the way to the Mexican border. It affects lawns. It affects people’s — how long they stay in the shower. How businesses use water.”

Israel has gone through one of the driest winters in its history, but despite the lean rainy season, the government has suspended a longstanding campaign to conserve water.The familiar public messages during recent years of drought, often showing images of parched earth, have disappeared from television despite weeks of balmy weather with record low rainfalls in some areas. The level of the Sea of Galilee, the country’s natural water reservoir, is no longer closely tracked in news reports or the subject of anxious national discussion. The reason: Israel has in recent years achieved a quiet water revolution through desalination. With...

A punishing drought is forcing a reconsideration of whether the aspiration of untrammeled growth that has for so long been the state’s engine has run against the limits of nature. ... a punishing drought — and the unprecedented measures the state announced last week to compel people to reduce water consumption — is forcing a reconsideration of whether the aspiration of untrammeled growth that has for so long been this state’s driving engine has run against the limits of nature. Can Los Angeles continue to dominate as the country’s capital of entertainment and glamour, and Silicon Valley as the center...

ECHO LAKE, Calif. – California Gov. Jerry Brown has ordered state officials to impose mandatory water restrictions for the first time in history as the state grapples with a serious drought. In an executive order issued Wednesday, Brown ordered the state water board to implement reductions in cities and towns to cut usage by 25 percent.