A roaring “pineapple express” is expected to blast the Sierra Wednesday and Thursday, marking the biggest storm of the season so far. The warm, moisture-rich storm is fueled by an “atmospheric river” originating in the South Pacific and predicted to bring up to a foot and above of snow at elevations as low as 7,500 feet.
One of the nation’s most successful partnerships between farm and urban water agencies has lately run into serious turbulence, potentially threatening an important Colorado River water-sharing deal. Twelve years ago, the Palo Verde Irrigation District in Blythe, California, signed an agreement with the powerful Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. It allowed the latter to pay Palo Verde farmers to fallow up to 35 percent of their acreage in times of water scarcity, and take delivery of the unused irrigation water, via canal, to serve its urban customers in the Los Angeles area, some 200 miles away.
California’s most important federal water reform law – the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) – celebrated its 25th anniversary on October 30. The landmark law, signed by President George H.W. Bush, was a historic effort to protect and restore California’s wetlands, rivers, migratory waterbirds, salmon and other fish species, and also to promote more sustainable water supplies for a drought-prone state. Before the CVPIA’s passage in 1992, Central Valley rivers, wetlands and salmon runs had been severely damaged by the construction and operation of the federal Central Valley Project (CVP), a water system including 20 dams and 500 miles of canals.
California could one day be uninhabitable. Fire. Heat. Floods. Infestation. Disease. Suffering. Scientists have for years warned about the ravaging consequences of a warming planet. Decamping for the 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Convention on Climate Change, California academics and political leaders were mulling how to better deploy the distressing projections to give unwary citizens a better understanding of what’s at stake and compel them to see the wisdom of embracing sustainability.
California governor Jerry Brown declared a drought state of emergency in January 2014, following years of wintertime rainfall levels dipping below historic averages. A lack of rainfall throughout 2015—precipitation was 20% below average—sustained the drought. Surface water levels got so low that residents had to increasingly tap into groundwater resources in order to meet agricultural, urban, and industrial needs. This usage put immense pressure on groundwater resources and made it extremely difficult to manage water resources across the state.
A proposed desalination facility producing 5 million gallons of drinkable water a day would satisfy the needs of all South Coast Water District customers, district General Manager Andy Brunhart said this week, though he added the agency would not rely completely on that source to serve ratepayers. The 5-acre Doheny Ocean Desalination Project would be built on 30 acres of district-owned property near San Juan Creek in Dana Point. “We would never want to be 100% desalinated water,” Brunhart said Thursday. “We always want to take some [imported] water so pumps do not rust and decay.”
Representatives for Oroville and downstream communities affected by the spillway crisis said they got the attention they were seeking in Washington this week. Sen. Jim Nielsen, Assemblyman James Gallagher, and members of the Oroville Dam Coalition are seeking federal assistance on issues relating to the dam they say need to be resolved. They met with commissioners of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and representatives for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Dudek will be studying the possibility of the Rainbow Municipal Water District obtaining some of its water supply from the Bonsall Groundwater Basin of the San Luis Rey River. The board voted 5-0 to approve a $572,903 contract with Dudek, Oct. 24, to provide engineering services for studies which would bring a Bonsall Groundwater Basin desalter project closer to implementation. “This project is to evaluate what water rights we have in the Bonsall basin and the feasibility of extracting that,” Rainbow general manager Tom Kennedy said.
Few issues are more important to me than inspiring young leaders to become advocates for a clean, reliable supply of water that supports everything we do in San Diego County – from our manufacturing and biotech businesses, to our farms, to our incredible tourism industry. And there’s no better way to understand the complexities of water than the Citizens Water Academy, an award-winning, innovative program of the San Diego County Water Authority designed to educate up-and-coming professionals about our region’s most vital natural resources.
Weather forecasting has come a long way, but it still has a long way to go before it will be a reliable tool for making water management decisions. That was the message delivered by various expert speakers during a half-day workshop titled “Can We Really Predict the Weather? The Latest in Forecasting.” The workshop, co-sponsored by the California Department of Water Resources and ACWA on Thursday, Nov. 9, featured presentations from local water district representatives, DWR and NASA. DWR Director Grant Davis and ACWA Deputy Executive Director for External Affairs Jennifer Persike kicked off the workshop with opening remarks.
