April 2016

BLOG: OPINION: California Water Lies

April 19, 2016/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Edhat (Santa Barbara) by By Glen Mowrer

Big economic interests have invested heavily in convincing residents of California, and Santa Barbara in particular, that we are running out of water.

The policies they have pushed create a feeling of anxiety that rises to panic in many people. Imposition of 20% to 35% reductions on urban water use have led to the belief that any expenditure is appropriate to keep the drought from our doors. What is ignored is that California is always in a drought, or coming out of a drought.

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March Storms Were Likely Swan Song for El Niño

April 19, 2016/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Capital Press (Salem, Ore.)

The sometimes-ferocious rainstorms that hit California in March were likely the beginning of the end for El Nino, as the warm ocean system that produced a wet winter in many parts of the West is continuing to fade.

Any storms that remain on tap this spring will likely be mild and not contribute much to seasonal precipitation totals, experts say. “Now that we’re into the spring months, widespread rain events will become less and less likely as we transition into our ‘spring shower and thunderstorm’ season,” National Weather Service warning coordinator Michelle Mead said in an email.

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Pushing for tunnels vote

April 19, 2016/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Recort (Stockton)by Alex Breitler

Six years ago, a bill to force a legislative vote on the peripheral canal went before a state Assembly committee. It died there without a vote.
Four years ago, the same bill got five votes.
And on Tuesday a similar bill — this time calling for a vote of the public — got eight votes, enough to narrowly pass the Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee.The bill is a long way from becoming law, but the shift in support over time has encouraged Delta advocates.

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OPINION: Israeli Water Solutions Won’t Defeat California’s Red Tape

April 19, 2016/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The San Luis Obispo Tribune

Treating sewage and effluent currently discharging to the Pacific Ocean is an excellent idea for combating the drought, because millions gallons of clarified water is discharged annually to the Pacific Ocean from California and has been for some time. And I thought the oceans were rising because the ice caps were melting!

There were many students in the audience, who I believe were really excited about the prospect of addressing the drought. But no mention was made of all hurdles in our way by the federal, state and county governmental regulatory agencies.

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You Could Vote on Controversial Delta Water Tunnels Plan in 2018

April 19, 2016/in San Diego County /by Mike Lee /Los Angeles Times by By John Myers

An Assembly committee gave its approval Tuesday to legislation that would require California voters approve of Gov. Jerry Brown’s $15-billion water plan for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

“In times of crisis, we shouldn’t reach for the easiest thing,” Assemblywoman Susan Eggman (D-Stockton), the bill’s author, said during the hearing. Eggman’s AB 1713 would set new criteria for the long-debated water plan when it comes to the impact on the delta community. Most notably, though, it would also subject the project to an up-or-down vote at the next statewide election.

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BLOG: El Capitan’s operating schedule will change on May 1st

April 19, 2016/in San Diego County /by Mike Lee /SDFish

(Media Coverage editor’s note: This blog post previously contained erroneous information about San Diego County Water Authority operational activity at El Capitan Reservoir. The error has since been corrected by the post author.)

The city of San Diego had been drafting water from El Capitan at a rate of a little more than 1 foot per week since March 5th, leaving the lake lower than it had been in over a decade. However, the drafting stopped on April 7th, and the water level has leveled off about 5 vertical feet higher than the minimum operating level for the launch ramp to be usable.

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Delta Tunnels Bill Mandating Voter Approval Advances

April 19, 2016/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Sacramento Bee by By Jeremy B. White

A California Assembly committee on Tuesday moved to force a public vote on a controversial water conveyance project. The $15.5 billion plan to construct two massive water conveyance tunnels in the heart of California’s water circulatory system has driven the latest round of a decades-long battle over exporting water from wetter Northern California to more populous Southern California.

Lawmakers representing the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta area, where signs opposing the project are ubiquitous features of the landscape, have clashed with a potent pro-tunnels coalition of business groups, organized labor and major urban and agricultural water importers.

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Slow Progress on Salton Sea Projects as Time Runs Low

April 19, 2016/in San Diego County /by Mike Lee /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs) by By Sammy Roth

Efforts to limit air pollution and create wildlife habitat at the Salton Sea are inching forward, but critics say the progress isn’t nearly fast enough.

Earlier this month, Bruce Wilcox — Gov. Jerry Brown’s Salton Sea czar — submitted a report to the state Legislature outlining progress on restoration projects. While a few small-scale projects to reduce hazardous dust emissions and create habitat for fish and birds might be finished before the lake’s decline accelerates in 2018, several larger projects probably won’t start construction until 2018 or 2019, according to the report.

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OPINION: Too Much Water to Waste?

April 18, 2016/in San Diego County /by Mike Lee /Voice of Orange County by By Debbie Cook Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Does California have too much water? Seriously. Because our actions are sending peculiar messages. Even the State Water Board has backed off on conservation targets for some water agencies.

It’s true, rains have replenished much of Northern California’s reservoirs and Governor Brown’s mandated 25% water restrictions made a serious dent in our water binge. A whopping 1.1 million acre-feet of water was saved, or rather, not wasted, thanks to these restrictions.

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