You are now in California and the U.S. category.

Delta Tunnels: The Fight to Block the California WaterFix Comes Down to the Wire

Growing numbers of Southern California ratepayers are standing in opposition to Governor Jerry Brown’s Delta Tunnels, considered by opponents to be the most environmentally destructive and unjust public works project in California history. “MWD is the biggest water buyer in California,” said Tim Stroshane, Policy Analyst for Restore the Delta. “Recent presentations from MWD staff reveal a misguided belief that the way to fix the Delta is by destroying it with tunnels. CA WaterFix is neither a reliable nor cost-effective way to build southern California water supply reliability for the future.”

Should Oroville Dam Evacuees Get State Payment? Suit Seeks Class-Action Status

Could California give a cash payout to the 188,000 residents who frantically evacuated in February’s Oroville Dam crisis? That’s the end goal of a lawsuit filed Friday in Butte County Superior Court by evacuees Francis Bechtel, Jacob Klein, Chantel Ramirez and Denise Johnson. Their suit seeking class-action status alleges that the state Department of Water Resources negligently allowed maintenance woes at the nation’s tallest dam to fester, according to their Los Angeles attorney, Patrick McNicholas.

OPINION: Drought-Proofing the Water Supply

Last winter’s drenching rain filled many state and local reservoirs, and dumped a healthy dose of snow on the Sierra Nevada. But the state’s fragile Delta infrastructure threatens the delivery of imported water throughout the state, which can become challenging for water agencies, especially in times of drought. The Santa Clara Valley Water District knows that to protect us from future droughts and dependency on imported water, we must continue to work toward securing reliable local water sources. That’s why the water district has been hard at work expanding its recycled and purified water program.

 

MWD’s WaterFix Cost Assessment is Inaccurate and Inadequate

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) released its final white paper on paying for the California WaterFix project yesterday. Based on my initial review, as discussed below the white paper relies on two inaccurate assumptions, which significantly bias the analysis and conclusions and provides the Board of Directors with misleading and inaccurate information.

Brown’s Blunder Down Under

The biggest news story last week appeared in the classifieds. The legal notice declared a summons for all interested persons to appear in court in Sacramento as a defendant in a lawsuit. The lawsuit names the California Department of Water Resources vs. All Persons Interested in the matter of the Authorization of California Water Fix Revenue Bonds. That would be you.

Why Markets Aren’t Easy Solution for California’s Groundwater Problems

It has become popular to lament how slowly California is embracing water markets. Proponents’ rhetoric can paint markets as an unambiguously better, or even as the only, solution to California’s water challenges. But faith in market efficiency needs to be tempered with a firm grasp of the greater physical and institutional context for water. Markets may be part of the solution, but only where implemented carefully. Take groundwater. In many areas, decades of unfettered pumping have depleted aquifers, resulting in dry wells, deteriorating water quality, depleted streams and infrastructure damage.

California’s Plan to Tackle a Carcinogen Widespread in Water

If you drive Highway 99 through California’s Central Valley, you’ll pass through the heart of farm country, where the state’s bounty blooms with hundreds of crops – everything from peaches to pistachios, from tangerines to tomatoes. You’ll also pass through dozens of communities, large and small, whose water systems are tainted by a newly regulated contaminant, 1,2,3-trichloropropane (TCP), which for decades was used in agricultural fumigants injected into farmland across the Valley.

Under Court Order, San Diego County Releases Revamped Climate Plan — Proposes 90 Percent Green Energy Future

San Diego County released a draft climate plan on Thursday, pledging to dramatically reduce greenhouse-gas emission by limiting backcountry sprawl and using at least 90 percent renewable energy by 2030. The proposed blueprint for fighting global warming comes five years after the San Diego chapter of the Sierra Club first sued the county over an earlier version of the plan. Lawyers for the environment group argued in court that the county’s original vision lacked specificity on how it would realize deep cuts in climate-warming emissions.

NOAA Confirms 2016 as Hottest Year on Record for the Planet

The federal government confirmed 2016 as the planet’s warmest year on record, according to a report released Thursday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The combined influence of long-term global warming and a strong El Niño early in the year led to last year’s all-time record heat, NOAA said. While El Niño is a natural warming of Pacific Ocean water, man-made global warming is caused by greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal.

Congressman Questions Plan to Drain Lake Oroville for Project

A California congressman is questioning the degree to which state officials want to draw down Lake Oroville this winter, but the officials say it’s necessary to accommodate continued work on the dam. Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., whose district includes the Oroville area, argues it would be unnecessary for officials to drain the lake to as low as 640 feet of elevation by Dec. 31, as one Department of Water Resources scenario outlines.