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Nottoli remains critical of Delta tunnels proposal

Sacramento County Supervisor Don Nottoli last week expressed his ongoing opposition to the controversial California WaterFix – aka “Delta tunnels” or “twin tunnels.”

The Gov. Jerry Brown-supported project calls for the construction of a pair of 35-mile-long, 40-foot-wide tunnels 150 feet beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta for the purpose of rerouting Sacramento River water to parts of Central and Southern California.

 

Do environmentalists really want to destroy Valley farms? No

I was surprised to read in the op-ed by Lance Johnson (“Learn from history; fight to hold onto your water,” Oct. 2, Page 1D) that he learned from me and other conservationists that our secret agenda was to bring an end to Central Valley agriculture.

That’s simply untrue.

I’ve never heard anyone in the environmental or fishing communities express that desire. Like everyone, I enjoy the products of Central Valley agriculture – the tomatoes, pistachios, lettuce and many other crops, increasingly grown with highly efficient drip irrigation. California’s Central Valley will continue to thrive and be our nation’s breadbasket, as it should.

San Diego Researcher Discovers New ‘Potentially Significant’ Earthquake Fault

Southern California is an epicenter for earthquakes, with an estimated 10,000 small temblors hitting the region every year. Now, there’s a discovery of a new, potentially significant fault line located 120 miles east of San Diego. It runs parallel to the notorious San Andreas fault, said Neal Driscoll, professor of geology and geophysics at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

 

Weaker water conservation numbers prompt fears that California is going back to its old bad habits

Californians’ water conservation slipped for the third consecutive month in August, prompting new alarm from regulators about whether relaxed water restrictions may be causing residents to revert to old habits as the state enters its sixth year of severe drought.

The trend raises new questions about Californians’ willingness to continue austere conservation after spending the last two years dramatically reducing their water use by ripping out lawns, installing water-sipping appliances and shortening their showers.

The Southwest Will Probably Suffer a Crippling Megadrought This Century

People living in the American Southwest have seen their share of drought. But the West’s recent water woes may pale in comparison to what’s coming later in the century, researchers say. The Southwest may very well face a decades-long megadrought before the 21st century is out.

A team climate scientists led by Toby Ault, an atmospheric researcher at Cornell University, has just calculated the risk of a Southwestern megadrought occurring by 2100. By “megadrought” they mean an extreme, bone-dry period that can last for more than 35 years.