Despite opposition by a number of consumer and water conservation groups, the Pasadena City Council Monday evening unanimously approved a resolution in support of the proposed $16 billion California WaterFix Program, due to be completed in 2030. The resolution is only a policy statement of support and not an official legislative action.
Local dignitaries gathered at the Santa Monica Beach on Monday to officially break ground on a new water reuse project designed to help the city reduce its dependency on imported water. The Santa Monica Clean Beached Project will install a large catchment tank under the parking lot near the Santa Monica Pier. The water will be passed through a pre-treatment system before being pumped to the sewer or the SMURFF facility depending on capacity.
LA Ratepayers and Advocates Rally Against Runaway Rate Hikes, Demand Firing Of DWP Ratepayer Advocate For Siding With Utility, And Call On Mayor Eric Garcetti and City Council To Reject $2,000-$4,000 Delta Tunnels Tax and Rate Hike outside LA City Hall Monday.
The pressure on California’s water supply during the recent drought was further complicated by outdated policy and antiquated infrastructure. There are multiple projects and policies in the process of getting funded or being approved that will address some of the water needs of the state. Executive Director for the California Water Alliance Aubrey Bettencourt explained that “we have this undersized, outdated water infrastructure system that hasn’t quite been updated since the ‘60s and ‘70s and it’s not able to keep up with our modern priorities, our modern requirements of it.”
Voters in California may see two more water-related bond measures on their ballots next year as proponents try to build on the success of Proposition 1. Gerald Meral, a former deputy secretary of the state Natural Resources Agency, is about to begin gathering signatures for an $8.9 billion measure for such water-related projects as repairs to the sinking Friant-Kern Canal in Tulare and Kern counties.
A coalition of California environmental groups is calling on the California Department of Water Resources to build a complete, functional emergency spillway at Oroville Dam as part of a sweeping program to improve dam safety and flood control practices across the state and beyond. The conservation coalition — including Friends of the River, the California Sports Fishing Alliance, the South Yuba River Citizens League and American Whitewater — released a 53-page report seeking to apply lessons learned from February’s Oroville spillway crisis.
A few hours after the Westlands Water District board voted 7-1 to not participate in the proposed $67 billion California Delta water tunnels project, the state government said it would continue to pursue the controversial project. “This vote, while disappointing, in no way signals the end of ‘WaterFix,’” says California Secretary for Natural Resources John Laird. The name “WaterFix” is the latest marketing moniker for the tunnels project, pushed by Gov. Edmund Gerald Brown Jr.
In a major and potentially fatal setback to Gov. Jerry Brown’s $17 billion plan to build two huge tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, America’s largest irrigation district voted Tuesday to pull out of the project. The board of Westlands Water District, based in Fresno, voted 7-1 following an hour of debate and discussion over the costs of the project, which is intended to make it easier to move water from north to south.
The board of the Westlands Water District on Tuesday dealt a potentially fatal blow to the most ambitious California water project planned in decades. By a 7-1 vote, the state’s largest irrigation district decided not to join California WaterFix — a $17-billion plan to build two tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta that would re-engineer the way Northern California supplies are moved to the rest of the state. The proposed financing structure of the project “doesn’t work for Westlands Water District,” board member Todd Neves said.
Chula Vista, Calif. – Sweetwater Authority (Authority) was awarded with The Corky McMillin/Best of South County Award at the South County Economic Development Council’s 27th Annual Economic Summit on September 15. The award was presented to the Authority for the recent expansion and completion of the Richard A. Reynolds Groundwater Desalination Facility.
Sweetwater Authority Logo 2019