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Oroville Dam: New Video Shows Crews Rebuilding Wrecked Spillway

A video released Friday by the state Department of Water Resources shows construction crews at Oroville Dam, the nation’s tallest, continuing to rebuild the severely damaged main spillway and emergency spillway. Hundreds of construction workers are racing on a $500 million project to rebuild enough of the main spillway by Nov. 1 so that it can be ready for heavy rains this winter. The job is scheduled to be finished in 2018. Crews this week are filling in crevices with concrete, in preparation of laying roller compacted concrete on top of that.

Sacramento County Sues to Block Delta tunnels – and It’s Not Alone

Sacramento County led a cascade of area governments suing the state in an effort to block the Delta tunnels, saying the $17 billion project would harm local farmers, endangered fish and low-income communities at the south end of the county. The lawsuits come as the tunnels project, championed by Gov. Jerry Brown as a means of improving south state water supplies, makes headway with environmental regulators. In July, the state announced that the massive project complies with the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, and wouldn’t hurt fish, wildlife or human health in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Met Water Chief Talks About Expansion Projects

Recently a North County water district hosted Jeff Kightlinger the general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, an entity almost big enough to be a country in its own right, but whose boss is not above making presentations to the member agencies of the large supplier of much of the water we drink. In San Diego County, which has worked strenuously over the years to develop its own supply network, the water the Met sells doesn’t make up the lion’s share, but it’s still a vital share.

Forests Taking Longer to Recover from Drought Due to Hotter Temperatures, Study Says

Gov. Jerry Brown may have declared the drought emergency over in April, but don’t tell that to California’s plants and trees. According to a new study, not only do the effects of drought on the environment linger after it starts raining, but this “drought recovery” period is lasting longer than ever before, likely because of climate change.