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Tunnels Fight Changes Venue

Ten years after the first seeds were planted for the proposed twin tunnels, the battle shifts to a new arena in 2016 — a critical year for the controversial project.

 

A small state agency will soon begin the daunting process of deciding whether to change the water rights for the state and federal water projects, allowing them to divert some of their water from the Sacramento River and bypass the Delta for the first time.

 

The water rights must be changed before a shovelful of earth can be turned.

 

But it won’t be simple. Months of hearings are expected, starting in April.

Beginning Sunday Night, Los Angeles Could See A Week Full Of Rain

A series of El Niño-related rainstorms and snowfall is expected to begin late Sunday night and could last all the way into next weekend.

There’s a 30% chance of rain between 10 p.m. Sunday and 4 a.m. Monday, and a 70% chance Monday morning, said Robbie Munroe, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard, with the possibility of up to a half-inch of rain.

The strongest storm of the week is likely to hit Tuesday, Munroe said, bringing 1 to 2 inches of rain in foothill areas and up to 4 inches at higher elevations. Mountain areas above 6,000 feet could see up to 2 feet of snow.

OPINION: Planning Today For Tomorrow

We’ve talked a lot about desalination in recent years. We have examined the arguments for and against, and it can be compelling both ways.

Still, removing salt from sea water and using it to supplement California’s dwindling portfolio seems the only responsible thing to do.

Thanks to a billion-dollar experiment on the coast just north of San Diego, California and the rest of the nation will have evidence — one way or another — of the utility of desalination on a scale heretofore not seen in the Western Hemisphere.