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San Diego County Water Authority, Coastkeeper Trade Barbs Over Conservation

/in /by /KPBSby Maureen Cavanaugh, Michael Lipkin Quoted: Mark Weston

The San Diego City Council on Tuesday loosened some of its water restrictions, including limits on watering lawns, based on projections the city has enough water supply to weather continued drought.

The decision followed a similar move from the San Diego County Water Authority last month, which said it wouldn’t impose mandatory water use cuts through the end of January. The region already has enough water to meet demand through three more years of drought, according to the Water Authority.

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OPINION: Water Conservation: Mandatory or Way of Life? Guest Commentary

/in /by /Los Angeles Daily Newsby Jeffrey Kightlinger

Southern Californians are conserving water as never before. Yet based on one government formula, we are not conserving at all.

Southland water use is down, the same as if local water agencies were imposing a 30 percent rationing mandate. But the official conservation target by these same agencies, based on a new state reporting requirement, is officially “zero.”

What is going on? California agencies at various times have cajoled, motivated or mandated residents and businesses to use less water. Sometimes conservation mandates take the forefront. At other times, conservation is a way of life.

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Study Says Expansion of California’s Electric Grid Would Save Consumers $1.5 Billion

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ivan Penn and Jeff McDonald

The manager of the state’s electric grid released studies Tuesday that show its proposed expansion would yield annual consumer savings of as much as $1.5 billion by 2030 and help with the state’s goal of 50% renewable energy by then.

The California Independent System Operator, which produced the nearly 700 pages of reports under a mandate by state lawmakers, said expanding its operations to include more Western states would result in a more efficient electric grid system.

 

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OPINION: What You Should Know About the Sustainable Groundwater

/in /by /Appeal Democrat (Marysville)by Mary Fahey

The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, known as SGMA, is comprehensive statewide groundwater legislation that went into effect Jan. 1, 2015. SGMA requires for the first time sustainable groundwater management throughout California. The legislation allows local agencies to develop Groundwater Sustainability Plans specific to local conditions, however, if local agencies cannot or will not manage groundwater sustainably, the state will step in.

SGMA mandates that all high and medium priority groundwater basins in California must be managed sustainably over a 20-year implementation period. In Colusa County we have two groundwater basins subject to SGMA: the Colusa subbasin and the West Butte subbasin.

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Farmers Pitted Against Fishermen in House

/in /by /Courthouse News Service (Pasadena)by Nick Cahill

The plan to buoy historically low salmon populations imperiled by California’s historic drought made for a contentious hearing Tuesday on Capitol Hill. House Republicans accused federal agencies of depriving farmers of water while the Golden State’s reservoirs sit full. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Maine Fisheries Service teamed up for the drought proposal debated at this morning’s hearing of the House Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans.

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California’s Drought May Be Easing, But Fight Over Water Persists

/in /by /McClatchy DCby Michael Doyle

California Republicans are spreading out their bets in their annual effort to steer more water to the state’s farmers. In the absence of negotiations, such tactics matter most right now. Framed by a hearing Tuesday, the GOP-controlled House of Representatives will vote this week on whether to retain farmer-friendly California water provisions in an Interior Department funding bill for the fiscal year that begins in October. Whether this vehicle succeeds where others have failed will probably be known only after the November elections.

 

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California, Federal Agencies Launch Effort to Save Endangered Fish

/in /by /Capital Public Radio (Sacramento)by Amy Quinton

California wildlife agencies say the drought has pushed the endangered Delta smelt close to extinction. State and federal agencies announced Tuesday a joint effort to improve habitat conditions for the fish.

The plan is designed to prevent predators from eating the fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Most of those predators are not native. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife will spend $4.2 million from the state budget to eradicate invasive aquatic weeds where predators lurk. The strategy calls for assessing the feasibility of adding sediment to certain zones in the Delta to create the turbid waters where smelt hide.

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Rice Farms Receive Federal Help to Provide Waterbird Habitat

/in /by /The Sacramento Bee

With habitat for California waterbirds drying up, conservation groups and rice farmers are collaborating to flood fields and enhance waterbird habitat on roughly 550,000 acres of California’s rice fields.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is contributing $7 million, matched by partner agencies, for helping share farmers’ costs of implementing new practices that align rice growing with waterbird needs. “The idea behind the program is to provide the incentive for people to adopt new things and then do it on their own even without the payment,” program manager Alan Forkey said.

 

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BLOG: Suit Challenges Delta Pumping Restrictions

/in /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Ryan Sabalow

In a failed effort to protect endangered fish, the federal government decided without proper study to default to restricting the giant pumps at the bottom of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

So argues a lawsuit filed Friday at the U.S. District Court in Sacramento by a powerful consortium of water agencies. They’re hoping for a larger share of Delta water. It’s the latest salvo in a political and legal dispute over how to manage the competing demands on the fragile estuary.

 

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California’s Key Climate Change Program Aims for New Life

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Liam Dillon

In advance of a political showdown in the state Legislature, Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration made its first formal effort Tuesday to extend the life of the program central to California’s bid to combat climate change.

The California Air Resources Board, which is controlled by the governor, released a plan that would continue the state’s cap-and-trade program to cut carbon emissions beyond 2020, the date when the program currently expires. Cap and trade functions by forcing companies to buy permits in order to pollute, providing a financial incentive for power plants, oil refineries, manufacturers and other businesses to reduce their emissions.

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