In the next couple weeks, we’ll likely know if California water agencies will bite the bullet and spend $17 billion to shore up the water system that brings water south from the rivers of Northern California. The project involves the construction of two 35-mile underground tunnels to keep water coming south through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta.
The decision by one of the state’s major water players to opt out of California’s $17-billion replumbing project was a surprise to many. The reasons for it were not. California WaterFix’s financing plans have assumed that the Westlands Water District and other agricultural districts would cover a large funding gap that has hung for years over the proposal to build two massive tunnels under the center of the state’s waterworks.
In part one of our report on rethinking drought and water,” (“Out of the woods?” Sept. 23, 2017) California State Climatologist Michael Anderson and University of California Riverside Professor of Environmental Economics and Policy Kurt Schwabe discussed the changing nature of drought in our region. But to merely focus on droughts may be shortsighted. According to both experts, the key to navigating the next drought will likely lie in how well we plan for change.
Think of it as a water bailout, easing Arizona’s Colorado River woes and the legal-environmental water conflicts plaguing many rural communities. Think of it as a boon for Indian tribes looking to make better and more lucrative use of their river water. Or, think of it as an enabler of growth and sprawl from Sierra Vista to Prescott and points beyond. All these descriptions could apply to a complex plan to send tribal water from the Colorado River into Arizona’s heartland to support existing residents and future development.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California will be upgrading the geodetic deformation monitoring system at Diamond Valley Lake. The board voted Sept. 12 to approve a $748,353.67 procurement contract to Allen Instruments and Supplies, while also authorizing the upgrades, finding the project categorically exempt from California Environmental Quality Act review and appropriating $1,900,000 for all aspects of the project.
Here we go again? Following a mild and short-lived La Niña episode in 2016/2017, the climatic phenomenon stands a 55 to 60 percent chance of developing once again this fall and winter. That’s the most recent forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Based on observations of what’s happening in the Pacific Ocean, and modeling to predict what may be coming, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center has issued a La Niña watch, indicating that conditions are favorable for its development.
Water: it poses one challenge after the next in the 21st Century. It’s increasingly scarce, it’s increasingly dangerous as sea levels rise, and it’s increasingly changing the workforce. But one of its most vital functions is often overlooked: the fact that it’s a lynchpin for (relative) world peace. Without clear distinctions of who it belongs to and how to share it, the world would be thrown into chaos.
The embattled Delta tunnels project has secured a financing commitment from a Bay Area water agency, albeit a small one. The board of Zone 7 Water Agency, which serves about 220,000 customers in Alameda County, voted Wednesday to join the project, known officially as California WaterFix. The 5-2 vote came one day after Westlands Water District, a sprawling agricultural district in Fresno and Kings counties, dealt WaterFix a huge setback by rejecting the project.
Public drinking water systems in California violated state and federal regulations more than 4,700 times in 2016. This database contains every violation from that year. Most of the violations occurred at small systems serving fewer than 300 people, but you might consume their water even if the district doesn’t serve your home. Many of the smallest systems serve non-residential users at schools, workplaces, campgrounds, parks or ski resorts. The violations are tracked by the California State Water Resources Control Board.
One of civilization’s greatest accomplishments, really a wonder of the world, is the water infrastructure built during the 20th century in the state of California. The historic challenge was described in a 2008 U.S. government study of water in the West: “Hydrologic conditions in California vary greatly from year to year, season to season and place to place. Wet years bring the threat of floods, and drought years put pressure on available water supplies.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
