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Gov. Brown’s $17 Billion Delta Tunnels Plan Faces New Hurdle — a Leading Taxpayers Organization

/in /by /San Jose Mercury Newsby By Paul Rogers

In a development that casts significant doubt on whether Silicon Valley’s largest water district will help pay for Gov. Jerry Brown’s $17 billion Delta tunnels plan, a majority of Santa Clara Valley Water District board members now say they want to put the issue to a public vote.

The district, which provides 1.9 million residents of Santa Clara County drinking water and flood protection, has been a key player in Brown’s controversial plan. Its share of the tunnels project could cost up to $1.2 billion.

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Records Show Moldy Classrooms, Torn Up Roads

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby By Morgan Cook and Lauryn Schroeder Mentioned: Padre Dam Municipal Water District and Olivenhain Water District

Last year, public employees in San Diego County built fences with public money at prices that made them say, “Yikes!” They grappled with “screw ups” — including repaving a street scheduled to be dug up for utility work the following week.The San Diego Union-Tribune found these problems and others by sifting through tens of thousands of emails requested under the California Public Records Act from 107 government agencies throughout the county.

Two fence bids caused a “yikes” email, one at the Padre Dam Municipal Water District in Santee and one at the Olivenhain Water District in Encinitas.

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April Weather Looks to be Warm and Dry in Southern California

/in /by /Orange County Breeze by By Shelley Henderson

On March 25, NOAA released its outlooks for temperature and precipitation for the month of April. These outlooks were put together keeping in mind ongoing strong El Niño conditions — which were supposed to be highly favorable for breaking the back of the California drought, or at least refilling reservoirs to above cracked-mudflat levels.

While the country east of the Rockies will be grumbling about colder than normal temperatures, Southern California will continue to be warm and sunny. Sea surface temperatures will be warmer than average — so surfing and diving and general beach activity should attract crowds to the coast.

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DWR Says March 30, 2016 Snow Survey Will Help Reveal California’s Water Health

/in /by /Sierra Sun Times (Mariposa)

California’s snowpack usually reaches its peak in the early spring each year near the first of April. Melting of the snowpack increases as the sun’s path across the sky moves a little northward each day and solar radiation intensifies on the ground.

Snowpack surveys by the Department of Water Resource (DWR) in late March and early April are indicators of how much water California will reap from the melting snowpack, which in normal years provides about 30 percent of the state’s water.

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Water Picture Brightens

/in /by /The Record (Stockton)by By Alex Breitler

The old dam has once more been swallowed up by the rising lake, it’s no longer such a long hike from the campground to the shore, and — can you believe it? — boat ramps actually lead to water.

Yes, after a 23-foot rise there during the month of March, New Hogan is in much better shape as the end of the wet season approaches. And yet, it remains just 43 percent full, or 82 percent of normal.

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California’s Largest Reservoir Filling too Fast Thanks to El Niño, Must Release More Water

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby By Matt Stevens

The El Niño-fueled storms that have swept through Northern California in recent weeks have swelled some of the state’s largest reservoirs to encouraging levels even as the state’s drought persists.

One of the biggest beneficiaries has been Lake Shasta, a keystone reservoir of the Central Valley project, which serves California growers. To make room in Shasta for water from last weekend’s storms, the Federal Bureau of Reclamation ramped up releases from 5,000 cubic feet per second to 20,000 cubic feet per second on March 18.

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The Lessons From El Nino

/in /by /Townhall.com (Arlington, Va.)by By Patrick Michaels

As noted in a March 18 Reuters article by Karen Braun, the very strong El Niño event is showing signs that it is rapidly unwinding, and when it does, there could be some major changes in global temperature.

El Niño is a periodic weakening—or even a reversal, as is the case with this one—of the easterly trade winds across the tropical Pacific.

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South Coast Desalination Project is in the Works

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby By Bryce Alderton

The South Coast Water District is forging ahead as the lone agency intent on making a desalination facility in Dana Point a reality after more than 10 years of discussion.

The district, which serves customers in South Laguna, Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente, wants to build a treatment plant on 30 acres of property it owns near San Juan Creek in hopes of eventually producing 15 million gallons of potable water a day.

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Expanding Use of Recycled Water Would Benefit the Environment and Human Health

/in /by /Imperial Valley News by By Enrique Rivero

Expanding the use of recycled water would reduce water and energy use, cut greenhouse gas emissions and benefit public health in California – which is in the midst of a severe drought – and around the world.

A new study by the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, published online March 17 in the American Journal of Public Health, found that recycled water has great potential for more efficient use in urban settings and to improve the overall resiliency of the water supply.

 

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Bipartisan Push on California Drought Relief

/in /by /Roll Call (Washington, D.C.)by By Jeremy Dillon

California lawmakers from both sides of the aisle called on President Barack Obama to direct federal agencies to pump more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, which has been replenished by rainfall, to bring drought relief to the agriculturally intense San Joaquin Valley.

A letter by a coalition of 11 California Republican House members, led by Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy , R-Calif., and another from Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein urged the Obama administration to allow water exports after high water levels resulting from El Niño rain.

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