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Sailing Forward With Water Storage

The effort to increase water storage along the San Joaquin River took a step forward Friday.

Local and state representatives signed an agreement allowing them to coordinate and complete feasibility studies for the proposed Temperance Flat Dam and Reservoir project, which would significantly increase water storage capacity in the Valley. Temperance Flat would have an initial double effect, said Tulare County Supervisor Steve Worthley, president of the San Joaquin Valley Water Infrastructure Authority.

Is it Time to Think About Removing Dams on the Colorado River?

Abrahm Lustgarten, a reporter for ProPublica, has written a new story about one of the largest dams in the US, Glen Canyon, and a recent push to open up its gates. It’s a remarkable development, he says, given how important the Colorado River dams — Glen Canyon, with its reservoir, Lake Powell, and Hoover with Lake Meade — have been for the development of the West.

In the early 1900s, the US government started building dams up and down the Colorado River to harness its water and distribute it far outside the river’s natural course — hundreds of miles into Arizona and California.

OPINION: California Needs Action Now on Groundwater Protection

As if California’s water supplies weren’t already sufficiently imperiled, a bill that would have taken a small step toward groundwater regulation unfortunately has now stalled.

Sen. Lois Wolk’s Senate Bill 1317 would have slowed the speed at which new wells are drilled, and denied permits for wells in critically overdrafted basins until groundwater regulations begin to take effect in 2022. But it ran into opposition from agricultural interests and local government agencies.

 

OPINION: Water Conservation Needs to be a Way of Life

Our community has done an outstanding job of reducing water use, and we thank you for embodying all of our water savings slogans: Brown became the new green. Rain or shine, you kept saving water. You fought the drought, inside and out.

 We know that you’re tired of the drought. But, it’s not over. In fact, we may face more frequent droughts in the future as our climate changes. Now is not the time to let our guard down. We need to be ready in case the next few years are as dry as the last few.

 

OPINION: Water Agencies Shortsighted with Zero Conservation Goal

Coachella Valley water agencies are sending the wrong message to customers who’ve spent the last year struggling to conserve this most precious resource.

All six of the area’s water suppliers have told state officials they’re officially shooting for a zero percent conservation rate compared to 2013, the benchmark year the state has been using to rate progress on that front.Though this is disappointing, no one should be surprised.