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Schwarzenegger Joins Jerry Brown As He Extends Climate Bill

When Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor of California, he backed environmental legislation that led to one of the world’s most closely watched initiatives in the fight against global warming. On Tuesday, Schwarzenegger joined his successor, Jerry Brown, as Brown signed legislation that kept alive a cap and trade program that both men have urged the rest of the world to emulate. The program puts a cap and a price on carbon emissions, creating an incentive for polluters to reduce emissions.

 

BLOG: The Drought Is Over, But Sacramento Wants You To Reduce Lawn Watering Permanently

The drought is over, but Sacramento water officials want to make permanent some of the region’s most restrictive lawn watering rules. The Department of Utilities wants to change the city code to allow sprinkler system watering two days a week during the summer, down from three in typical rainfall years. It will also increase the fines for a second violation of the rules from $25 to $50.Sacramento has kept its twice-weekly drought restrictions in place while other cities have eased rules. The plan, which a City Council subcommittee will consider on Tuesday, isn’t just about slashing water use.

Lake Tahoe Nears Full Capacity For First Time In 11 Years

For the first time in 11 years, Lake Tahoe is nearing capacity thanks to snow melt coming off of the Sierra Nevada mountains. The lake level peaked at 6,229 feet on July 9, coming extremely close to its full capacity level of 6,229.1, which hasn’t been reached in over a decade, SF Gate reported. The waterway has managed to flourish despite increased evaporation on its surface. In the summer, evaporation from lakes like Tahoe is generally more efficient due to windier and warmer conditions, according to weather.com meteorologist Jonathan Belles.

Delta Tunnels Project Reaches Key Milestone As Opponents May Sue

The state has reached a key milestone in its $15.7 billion proposal to build tunnel bypasses around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta as an environmental group is threatening to sue to stop it.The twin tunnels, both 40 feet in diameter and 35 miles long, would be California’s most ambitious water project since the 1950s and 1960s. The project would enable Sacramento River water to be sent directly to southern and central California farms and cities, bypassing the Delta.

 

 

Speculation About Oroville Dam’s ‘Green Spot’ Grows

A new report from a UC Berkeley group researching what caused the Lake Oroville spillway to fail in February is concerned that a green spot on the nation’s tallest dam might mean it is leaking. This is not the first time the “green spot” on the southern end of Oroville Dam has been brought up. It has been asked and answered at community meetings, where state Department of Water Resources officials have said it is caused by rain or is a natural spring. Robert Bea and his team at UC Berkeley are far from convinced.

Speculation About Oroville Dam’s ‘Green Spot’ Grows

A new report from a UC Berkeley group researching what caused the Lake Oroville spillway to fail in February is concerned that a green spot on the nation’s tallest dam might mean it is leaking. This is not the first time the “green spot” on the southern end of Oroville Dam has been brought up. It has been asked and answered at community meetings, where state Department of Water Resources officials have said it is caused by rain or is a natural spring.

Los Angeles Restoring Water Tunnel to Capture Runoff

Los Angeles is restoring a century-old water tunnel to capture runoff from the Sierra Nevada, which had a record snowfall this winter after years of drought. The Department of Water and Power is spending $4.5 million to repair and reopen a 2-mile-long tunnel that once carried water from the Los Angeles Aqueduct to a now-defunct reservoir, the Los Angeles Daily News reported. The tunnel is part of the Maclay Highline system of channels and tunnels that supplied water to homes and farms in Sylmar and the Sunland-Tujunga area.

Gov. Brown’s $16 Billion Water Tunnels Get Expected OK

The main California agency promoting Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed $16 billion water tunnels gave its expected approval to the project Friday. The move by the Department of Water Resources, which is helping shepherd Brown’s tunnels project over the regulatory and financial hurdles it must clear to break ground, endorsed the tunnels as a sound step environmentally. The Democratic governor wants to remake the state’s water system by tapping two 35-mile tunnels, both of them four-stories high, into Northern California’s Sacramento River, augmenting aging pumps to the south.

California Shows How States Can Lead on Climate Change

California, which has long been a pioneer in fighting climate change, renewed its commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions last week by extending, to 2030, its cap-and-trade program, which effectively puts a price on emissions. It’s a bold, bipartisan commitment that invites similarly ambitious policies from other states, and it sends a strong signal to the world that millions of Americans regard with utmost seriousness a threat the Trump administration refuses to acknowledge, let alone reckon with.

An Unconventional New Captain for California’s Water Agency

California Gov. Jerry Brown last week appointed Grant Davis as director of the state’s Department of Water Resources. Davis, 54, general manager of the Sonoma County Water Agency, brings an unusual resume to the job. With a degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, he had never worked for a water utility until joining the Sonoma County agency in 2007 as assistant general manager. Previously, he spent a decade as executive director of The Bay Institute in Novato.