Foam floated downstream and made circles on the water last week in the pool below Oroville Dam. Water quality experts are trying to determine why. Foam can happen naturally, or it can be a result of something else in the water. At this point the cause of the foam is unknown. Water tests were planned Wednesday, with lab results available in about two weeks, said Bryan Smith, supervising engineer with the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Nothing quite like calling a group of committed activists “stupid” to light an even bigger fire under their already aggrieved asses. In publishing a factually challenged editorial that uses the S-word five times, “dumbest” once, “narcissistic” once (rubber/glue, anyone?), calls their mission a “little takeover hobby” and compares them to stoners who celebrate 4/20 every day of the year, Carmel Pine Cone Publisher Paul Miller gave Public Water Now what I think of as a new sense of resiliency in its mission to bring public ownership of the Monterey Peninsula’s water utility to reality.

Even as local hearings have been scheduled for California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, a student survey is being planned to find out what farmers think of the program. The groundwater act has been the focus of debate statewide for the past two years with Yolo County primarily because of the involvement of the Water Resources Association of Yolo County. Known as “SGMA,” the act became law on Jan. 1, 2015, and mandates the creation of Groundwater Sustainability Agencies in groundwater basins defined as high or medium priority by the Department of Water Resources by June 30.

California’s recent drought was the worst in memory. However, in a relatively quick turnaround, this year the state’s water infrastructure is full and water managers are battling the wettest winter in quite some time. Now, by many accounts, the drought is over for much of the state. The uniquely wet winter of 2016-2017 has highlighted a key issue surrounding our surface water and groundwater storage infrastructure: We could have stored this abundant water, not in new reservoirs, but right under our feet.

California’s brutal five-year drought did more than lead to water shortages and dead lawns. It increased electricity bills statewide by $2.45 billion and boosted levels of smog and greenhouse gases, according to a new study released Wednesday. Why? A big drop-off in hydroelectric power. With little rain or snow between 2012 and 2016, cheap, clean power from dozens of large dams around California was scarce, and cities and utilities had to use more electricity from natural-gas-fired power plants, which is more expensive and pollutes more.