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OPINION: Brown calls on Bruce Babbitt, as time runs short for water fix

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dan Morain

Working from a bland, windowless office on the 13th floor of the Resources Building, one of California’s newest state employees focuses on the one issue from which all else flows, water. Bruce Babbitt has signed on to help Jerry Brown fix what the governor calls the California WaterFix. They are of a type, Westerners, who understand the precarious balance between being environmental stewards and having millions of people inhabit deserts. And at 78, Babbitt and Brown understand that time is not limitless.

 

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OPINION: San Diego Lacks Adequate Reservoirs, Victimizes Lake Morena

/in /by /East County Magazineby George Barnett Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

East County Magazine did a recent piece on Lake Morena and whether water levels were maintained too low to be a viable source of water for fire-fighting.  In the article, Billie Jo Jannen is quoted as saying if there’s a safety issue it needs to be examined.  Billie Jo is quite right.

But this is not the first time Lake Morena has been so low.  As an occasional fisherman out there, I’ve seen the shoreline covered with dead fish as the City transferred water down-system to the reservoirs closer in to the City. 

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Agency’s Decision Could Expand Farmland in the Desert

/in /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Ian James Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Water from the Colorado River could transform several thousand acres of desert into farmland under a change in policy adopted by the Coachella Valley’s largest water district.

The Coachella Valley Water District’s board made the change in a contentious 3-2 vote Tuesday, approving new guidelines that allow for water from the Colorado River to be supplied in a larger zone than in the past. The decision has the potential to open up new areas to agriculture, pushing farmland farther outward along the dry fringes of the eastern Coachella Valley.

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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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