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BLOG: Why Hydropower is Not ‘Cheap’ or ‘Clean’

/in /by /EcoWatch (Cleveland, Ohio)by Gary Wockner

The California think-tank Pacific Institute released a report—Impacts of California’s Drought: Hydroelectric Generation 2015 Update—earlier this month that contains significant false and misleading information that could negatively impact California rivers and delay the transition away from dirty energy.

First, the report and the news stories surrounding it repeatedly say that hydroelectric power is “less expensive” in California than competing sources. This statement gives credence to the anti-environmental mindset of discounting the negative impacts that dams and reservoirs have on free-flowing rivers, and disregards the externalized costs to the environment. In fact, the report omits the devastating impacts hydropower has on fish, wildlife, wetlands and countless other species that depend on healthy flowing rivers for survival. If the report would have included an “environmental full-cost accounting,” the cost of hydropower for California consumers would have been shown to be huge.

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A Dry Future Weighs Heavy on California Agriculture

/in /by /High Country News (Paonia, Colo.)by By Sena Christian

On a hot summer afternoon, California farmer Chris Hurd barrels down a country road through the Central Valley city of Firebaugh, his dog Frank riding in the truck bed. He lurches to a stop in front of Oro Loma Elementary School, which was built in the 1950s to accommodate an influx of farmers’ and farmworkers’ children.

“All three of my sons went here,” Hurd says, as we walk through overgrown weeds toward the shuttered building, closed in 2010. “I was on the school board, the grass was green, kids were running around. Now it’s a pile of rubble.”

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There’s a Lawsuit in San Diego That Began in 1951

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Kristina Davis Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

There is a lawsuit in San Diego County that is as old as “I Love Lucy.” It was filed the same year a disc jockey coined the term “rock ‘n’ roll,” a gallon of gasoline cost 27 cents, and turn signals were still optional in cars.
And it is still being waged in San Diego federal court today.

In 1951, the U.S. government sued thousands of landowners in and around Fallbrook in a move to secure Camp Pendleton’s water rights. It is the oldest, ongoing civil case in the county.

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Senator, Residents Critical of State Government

/in /by /Ramona Sentinelby Karen Brainard Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Road safety, government regulations and corruption, high-speed rail, medical marijuana and state-mandated water restrictions were just some of the topics brought up at Sen. Joel Anderson’s community coffee Thursday evening.

The state senator said the money that is being spent on the state’s high-speed rail, which is supposed to run from the Silicon Valley to the Central Valley, would be better spent on new technology for vehicles, road infrastructure or water projects.

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Rainbow MWD Approves Strategic Plan

/in /by /Fallbrook/Bonsall Village Newsby Joe Naiman

The Rainbow Municipal Water District board approved the district’s strategic plan at the Jan. 26 board meeting.

A 3-0 board vote, with Jack Griffiths abstaining and Bob Lucy having resigned prior to the meeting, adopted the strategic plan.

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OPINION: Water, growth and a little history

/in /by /The Bakersfield Californianby Lois Henry

Last Sunday, I had a column that asked what I thought was a simple question: How much more development can our water supplies sustain?
I figured planners must be looking at this issue considering the drought and new groundwater legislation that requires a holistic attitude toward our basin as opposed to the “I got my straw, go get your own” way we’ve always done things.
Nope.

Even with about 58,000 new homes either in some phase of construction or approved to be built in and around Bakersfield, no one is looking at how all that new demand will affect our aquifer.

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Should Desalination Play a Bigger Role in California’s Water Future?

/in /by /San Gabriel Valley Tribuneby Steve Scauzillo Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

When it comes to finding new sources of drinking water for residents of a coastal state mired in drought, some say desalination gets little respect in Sacramento.

“Desalination should be a priority,” said Assemblywoman Ling Ling Chang, R-Diamond Bar, who introduced a bill last week that would write first-time goals into the state water code for a percentage of drinking water originating from the ocean.

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OPINION: Canceling Turf Rebates is Counterintuitive

/in /by /Daily Trojan (University of Southern California)by Trevor Kehrer

The Metropolitan Water District, the primary water supplier for nearly 19 million people in Southern California, announced this month that its popular turf replacement rebate program may not be continued next year, even though the program provides visibility for non-traditional water conservation and improves drought awareness. When asked about why the program might be canceled, MWD Water Resource Management manager Deven Upadhyay said, “It was a one-time thing to try to ramp up attention on having more drought-tolerant landscapes while we’re in the drought.”

The rebate program certainly did just that. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the MWD teamed up to offer a budget of more than half a billion dollars for conservation to span two years. Many of these programs, like the turf removal rebate, were effective. The funding for the MWD turf removal rebate itself was exhausted in late 2015 due to overwhelming demand. However, the MWD should continue offering rebates for water-wise landscaping in Southern California.

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You Can’t Always Get What You Want – A Mick Jagger Theory of Drought Management

/in /by /California WaterBlog (Davis)by Jay Lund

“You can’t always get what you want but if you try sometimes you just might find
You get what you need,” Rolling Stones (1969, Let It Bleed album)

The ongoing California drought has many lessons for water managers and policy-makers. Perhaps the greatest lesson is how unimportant a drought can be if we manage water well.

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Spaulding, Folsom Lakes Well Above Normal

/in /by /Auburn Journalby Michael Mott

Fed by gushing runoff, some area reservoirs are filling fast: Lake Spaulding, which provides much of the water for the Auburn area is at 173 percent of normal, and Folsom Lake is at 118 percent.

Given rising levels, water leaders in Placer County rescinded an emergency drought status on Thursday. The Placer County Water Agency (PCWA) lifted the status when emergency conditions ended.

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