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Gov. Brown Orders Californians to Permanently Curtail Water Use

/in /by /KUSI Quoted: Sandy Kerl

San Diego County residents will need to permanently curtail their water use under an order issued Monday by Gov. Jerry Brown that bans activities such as hosing off sidewalks and requires urban suppliers to continuing producing monthly reports on water-reduction efforts.

The order calls for long-term implementation of temporary water conservation measures put in place to combat the ongoing statewide drought, with Brown pointing to some parts of the state that are still dealing with dry conditions and the likelihood of continued water shortages.

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Everything We Know About the Climate Action Plan Could Be Wrong

/in /by /Voice of San Diegoby By Andrew Keatts

San Diego’s mayor and City Council have been getting national attention for their landmark Climate Action Plan, precisely for one simple characteristic of it: It is legally enforceable.

But Mara Elliott, a city attorney candidate who as a chief deputy city attorney oversaw the vetting of the policy, says that’s just not true. “The entire policy right now is, frankly, a dream until they find ways to implement it,” she said.

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Gov. Brown Extends State Drought Restrictions

/in /by /Fox 5 (San Diego) Quoted: Sandy Kerl

San Diego County residents will need to permanently curtail their water use under an order issued today by Gov. Jerry Brown that bans activities such as hosing off sidewalks and requires urban suppliers to continuing producing monthly reports on water-reduction efforts.

The order calls for long-term implementation of temporary water conservation measures put in place to combat the ongoing statewide drought, with Brown pointing to some parts of the state that are still dealing with dry conditions and the likelihood of continued water shortages.

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CALIFORNIA DROUGHT: Crisis Isn’t Over, But Water Restrictions May Be Eased

/in /by /The Press-Enterprise (Riverside) by By David Downey

Inland water officials may finally get what they wanted: the opportunity to set their own conservation targets. And that could bring relief to thousands of homeowners who have struggled to cut back and still keep lawns and gardens alive.

After a year of enforcing a 25 percent reduction statewide and some sharper cuts locally, state officials Monday proposed setting aside mandated targets and letting agencies develop their own goals for this summer and fall, citing the wet winter up north that refilled crucial reservoirs. The State Water Resources Control Board is scheduled to take up the plan May 18.

 

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State Moves to Revise its Water Conservation

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune by By Matt Stevens and Bettina Boxall

Gov. Jerry Brown and top water regulators on Monday laid out a revised game plan for dealing with California’s persistent drought, making some conservation rules permanent while also moving to give communities more of a say in deciding how much water they must save.

Brown issued an executive order enshrining a conservation ethic in state regulations — banning permanently some wasteful water practices and ordering regulators to develop new water-efficiency standards designed to drive down long-term urban use.

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OPINION: Water Rights Will Be Next Big California Fight

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby By Dan Walters

After years of drought, winter’s rain and snow storms generated close to a normal supply of water for California. As winter turned to spring, the Bureau of Reclamation announced allocations to farmers.

Rice growers and other farmers in the Sacramento Valley north of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta were pleased to learn that they would receive 100 percent of their contracted water supplies. However, it was bad news for farmers south of the Delta, who were told they would get, at most, just 5 percent of contract water this year.

 

 

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Water Recycling Deal Stalls at National Level

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby By Joshua Emerson Smith

With broad local support for San Diego’s envisioned water recycling program, Mayor Kevin Faulconer touted the plan again last week — this time as one of his top-funded efforts to fight climate change.

However, his strategy for pulling off the so-called Pure Water program isn’t a done deal. An agreement between local green groups and government officials that threaded the way for the project’s approval has hit a snag in recent months — one that could unravel regional backing for the program or end up costing residents billions of additional dollars.

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Nestle: Forest Service shouldn’t infringe on water rights

/in /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by By Ian James

Nestle is objecting to the U.S. Forest Service’s terms for issuing it a new permit to continue piping water out of a national forest, saying the agency is overstepping its authority and infringing on the company’s water rights.

Nestle Waters North America detailed its concerns publicly for the first time in a 79-page document submitted to the Forest Service. The company, the largest producer of bottled water in the country, has long drawn water from the San Bernardino National Forest to produce Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water.

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Exclusive Calif. Community Ordered to Beautify Lawns Despite Drought

/in /by /CBS News

Behind the gates of Blackhawk, California, an exclusive community of homes costing more than a million dollars, the warning has gone out: no more brown lawns.

Over the past year, some Blackhawk residents let their lawns die as Californians were ordered to reduce water use, reports CBS News correspondent John Blackstone. Now, the Blackhawk Homeowners Association is telling residents they must beautify their front yards, even though officially California is still in a drought.

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San Diego’s Multi-Million Dollar Treatment Plants Stand Idle

/in /by /Water Onlineby By Sara Jerome Quoted: Mike Lee

San Diego has built out massive water infrastructure systems over the years that are now standing idle as water demand drops.

“This winter, demand for water was so low that the San Diego County Water Authority temporarily idled a $160 million plant in San Marcos that it built less than a decade ago. Water agencies that went into debt building treatment plants still have to pay up, whether the plant is needed every day or not,” Voice of San Diego recently reported.

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