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How California Got Its First Groundwater Market

California’s drought might be over, but the state continues to suffer groundwater woes. The state’s first groundwater market for individual landowners hopes to address some of those problems. For much of California’s history, groundwater was completely unregulated – cities and farmers freely pumped from underground aquifers. Then in 2014, the state passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) to help curtail over-pumping during droughts and bring groundwater basins into sustainability. One powerful way to achieve that, says Matthew Fienup, is with market forces.

National Republicans Target California Water Needs In New Ads Against House Democrats

The National Republican Congressional Committee is going after five California Democrats for votes on a water issue. The online ads are identical except for one line tailored to target each Democrat: Reps. John Garamendi of Walnut Grove, Ami Bera of Elk Grove, Salud Carbajal of Santa Barbara, Raul Ruiz of Palm Desert and Scott Peters of San Diego. They specifically are about the Democrats voting against a bill to funnel dam permits through a single federal agency in an effort to speed up new water storage projects.

Water Experts Debate Benefits of Draining Lake Powell

An environmental group in Utah wants to drain Lake Powell and move its water downstream to Lake Mead. Supporters say the plan will save water and restore a natural ecosystem in Glen Canyon. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny reports. The proposal is called “Fill Mead First.” It was suggested by Utah’s Glen Canyon Institute. Executive director Eric Balken says it’s more efficient to have one full reservoir, instead of two half-empty ones.

 

Engineers Use Replica To Pinpoint California Dam Repairs

Inside a cavernous northern Utah warehouse, hydraulic engineers send water rushing down a replica of a dam built out of wood, concrete and steel — trying to pinpoint what repairs will work best at the tallest dam in the U.S for a spillway torn apart in February during heavy rains that triggered the evacuation of 200,000 people living downstream.

California Drought May Be Over, But Conservation Controversy Continues

An effort by California officials to carry their success with water conservation beyond the drought is not sitting well with local water managers, many of whom are eager to shake off state control. Gov. Jerry Brown declared the state’s five-year drought officially over in April, following an unusually wet winter that refilled reservoirs and buried the Sierra Nevada in deep snow. But Brown also made it clear, given the likelihood of future droughts, that he wasn’t going to ease up on water conservation.

 

San Diego Creating County’s First Low-Income Subsidy For Water Bills

The city of San Diego is creating the county’s first donation program to help low-income people pay their water and sewer bills, which have risen rapidly in recent years. The long-awaited program is expected to shrink the number of water shutoffs in the city and help some low-income seniors avoid having to choose between paying their water bill and buying medicines they need. In a typical month, about 500 of the city’s 275,000 ratepayers are deemed delinquent and in danger of having their service shut off, city officials said.

 

$1.9 Million Dollar Grant Awarded To Help Farmers Trade Water Supplies

A project is underway in Ventura County on a way for farmers to buy and trade water supplies. In January Ventura County opened the first of its kind water market. It allows farmers to transfer unused groundwater allocation to other farmers for financial compensation. Under California law, farmers have to use the water on their property or they lose access to it in the future. The incentive in this project is to use every single drop of water that is available.

The Kings River Flooded From Snowmelt That Couldn’t Be Measured Or Predicted

The flooding that displaced residents in 90 homes along the Kings River in the Central Valley over the weekend was more than a week in the making. For eight consecutive days last week, temperatures from Fresno to Bakersfield exceeded 100, according to the National Weather Service. Wildfires burned, utility providers warned of possible blackouts because of a surge in demand, and thousands of feet up in the Sierra Nevada — far from where humans and their scientific tools could reach — California’s historic snowpack continued to melt.

Key Federal Agencies Clear Way For Proposed Delta Tunnel Project

The Trump administration took a big step Monday toward clearing the way for construction of two giant tunnels that would siphon water from the Sacramento River and send it south to farms and cities. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service determined that the tunnel project, officially known as California Water Fix, would harm several endangered fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, but that an extra 1,800 acres of habitat restoration, on top of the 30,000 acres the project calls for, would offset the damage.

Federal Fisheries Sign Off On Calif. Delta Tunnels Project

In a win for a monumental water plan that would re-plumb the largest estuary on the West Coast, federal fisheries officials on Monday approved California’s decades-old delta tunnels project. The officials based their approval on a 1267-page biological opinion for the project prepared by Californian and federal officials. In a decision watched closely by proponent Gov. Jerry Brown and opposing environmental groups, federal regulators agreed that the $15.7-billion proposed makeover of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta could be completed without devastating impacts to native salmon and other endangered fish species.