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Increasing Chance of La Niña and Meteorologists Don’t Know What That Means for NorCal Winter

/in /by /SF Gate

The chances of a weak La Niña are increasing for the rainy season, and scientists are trying to figure out what that means, especially after a year when the meteorology profession was thrown for a loop by unexpected monsoon-like conditions. La Niña, the inverse of better-known El Niño, is a cooling of equatorial waters in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean and can impact atmospheric conditions worldwide.

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Western Municipal Boosts Water Rates for Riverside, Murrieta Customers

/in /by /The Press-Enterprise (Riverside)

The nearly 24,000 Western Municipal Water District customers can expect to see their water bills rise on average about $15 to $20 a month after this week’s approval of phased rate increases. Residential customers in the Riverside area should see bills climb an average of $14.63 per month by early 2020, with a first incremental bump of $4.64 in January, a district report states. Customers in Murrieta are in for a hike of $19.24 over that period, starting with a $5.98 increase in January.

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Why Gov. Brown’s Water Tunnels Plan May Be Doomed

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune

Gov. Jerry Brown’s bold $17 billion plan to build two gigantic 35-mile, 40-foot-wide tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to make it easier to move water from Northern California to Southern California and to stabilize the state’s water distribution system always seemed like a tough sell. Critics were far more energized than supporters. Then last month, a huge new obstacle emerged. That’s when the Central Valley’s Westlands Water District — the nation’s biggest irrigation district — came out against the project. It had been expected to pay nearly a quarter of the $17 billion cost.

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OPINION: Implement California WaterFix in the Delta for the San Gabriel Valley

/in /by /San Gabriel Valley Tribune

Precarious environmental conditions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, coupled with the aging delivery infrastructure of the State Water Project, along with restrictive pumping regulations, threaten our ability to replenish the San Gabriel Valley’s vital groundwater basin. A declining Delta ecosystem and non-secure levees vulnerable to earthquakes, saltwater intrusion and climate change pose serious challenges for us all.

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Padre Dam’s East County Water Purification Program Moving Forward

/in /by /WaterWorld Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Padre Dam Municipal Water District’s Board of Directors unanimously approved a contract for the next phase of work on the East County Advanced Water Purification Program. The project, which is expected to produce up to 30% of East County’s water by 2023, is a collaboration between Padre Dam, Helix Water District, the City of El Cajon and the County of San Diego.

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L.A. City Councilman Wants Water Board to Call Off Delta Tunnels Vote

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune

A Los Angeles city councilman is calling on the council and Mayor Eric Garcetti to oppose a crucial vote by a Southern California water board on a $17-billion project that would be funded in part by Los Angeles ratepayers. Councilman Paul Koretz introduced a resolution Friday that asks the city and Garcetti to formally object to a vote by the board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California on the project, known as California WaterFix. The 38-member board is scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether to commit $4.3 billion in MWD funds to the project.

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Blocked By Old Contracts and Modern-Day Infighting, California’s Big Water Project Staggers To Its Deathbed

/in /by /Los Angeles Times

No one should have been surprised when the giant Westlands Water District voted Sept. 19 against joining the state’s equally imposing $17-billion water infrastructure project. After all, the Central Valley district — at 600,000 acres the largest agricultural water district in the nation — had been signaling its uneasiness about the California WaterFix for months. The district accepted that the reliability and volume of the water supply for Southern and Central California could be enhanced by the plan to build two 30-mile, four-story-high tunnels to carry water under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

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