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OPINION: Sen. Feinstein Should Study The Facts Before Rejecting Cadiz’s Desert Water Project

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Winston H. Hickox

While I was California Environmental Protection Agency secretary, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and I often worked collaboratively on important statewide water issues. That is why I found her op-ed regarding the Cadiz water project so troubling (Water extraction project would be destructive to California’s Mojave Desert, May 24). The project has followed the law and offers immense benefits for her constituents. Yet the senator’s opinions are disconnected from facts in this case.

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They Built It, But Couldn’t Afford To Run It—Clean Drinking Water Fight Focuses On Gaps In Funding

/in /by /Valley Public Radio (Clovis)by Ezra David Romero and Kerry Klein

This is the third installment in our series Contaminated, in which we explore the 300 California communities that lack access to clean drinking water. When we began the series, we introduced you to the community of Lanare, which has arsenic-tainted water while a treatment plant in the center of town sits idle. Today, we return to Lanare to learn why infrastructure projects aren’t always enough, and how Sacramento is trying to ensure Lanare never happens again.

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Failing Tijuana Coastal Sewage Treatment Plant In Line For $24.7 Million Overhaul

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Sandra Dibble

Baja California is moving ahead with plans to expand and upgrade its failing San Antonio de los Buenos sewage treatment plant, located on Tijuana’s coast, and expects to launch construction next year, a state official said. The project, estimated at $24.7 million, entails the upgrade of existing wastewater treatment ponds at the 30-year-old facility just south of the border with San Diego County. It also involves the construction of a new activated sludge facility on the site.

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Water Saving Efforts Slipped In April, After Drought Ended

/in /by /89.3 KPCC (Los Angeles)by Aaron Mendelson

Californians used more water this April than they did in April 2016, according to state data, and that jump in water use came thanks to residents of Southern California. The numbers were released Tuesday by the State Water Resources Control Board, which requires urban water districts across the state to report on local water use. Gov. Jerry Brown declared an end to the state’ drought emergency in April, following a wet winter across California. That included lifting the mandatory water conservation limits imposed by the state.

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California Water Agencies Look For Larger Stake To Speed Up Delta Tunnel Plan

/in /by /AndNowYouKnowby Eva Roethler

After coming out of a major drought via a remarkably wet winter, California water management is top of mind for the fresh produce industry. Looking to address the issue, major water agencies are working with California Governor Jerry Brown to take additional responsibility in order to close a $15.7 billion delta tunnel deal, named WaterFix, according to the Associated Press. Initially proposed in 1982, and revisited numerous times in the decades since, the WaterFix plan seeks to modernize the 50-year-old water conveyance system throughout the state, but has moved slowly due to environmental concerns.

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The Oroville Dam Spillway Failed Miserably, So California Is Blowing It Up

/in /by /The Washington Postby Angela Fritz

The cause of one of the year’s most memorable weather disasters is getting the boom this month — the spillway on the Lake Oroville Dam in California. In February, the spillway failed spectacularly, to the tune of 200,000 people evacuated from their homes. After torrential winter storms, water poured over the lake’s spillways. The main spillway, which was ostensibly designed to bear the weight, crumbled on one side and allowed a torrent to flow out of the spillway onto the wall of the dam itself. That’s problematic because this area of the dam is literally just a hill.

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Helix Water Board To Weigh Permanent Drought Effciency Measures For Ratepayers

/in /by /East County Magazineby Miriam Raftery Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Items of interest include a presentation by the County Water Authority on its lawsuit against the Metropolitan Water District, a proposal to adopt a resolution declaring an end to drought level 1 restrictions but keeping in place other permanent water use restrictions.  The board will also consider spending funds on a customer satisfaction survey.

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Otay Water District Sues City Of San Diego

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Karen Pearlman

The Otay Water District has filed a lawsuit against the city of San Diego challenging the amount the city charges Otay for reclaimed water. The suit, filed May 30 in San Diego Superior Court, claims that there has been a breach of contract by San Diego and excess charges of more than $16 million to Otay since the beginning of 2016. San Diego more than doubled its reclaimed water rate in November 2015, from $350 per acre feet to $753 per acre feet. One acre foot is about 326,000 gallons.

 

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California Salmon and Trout in Peril: Study

/in /by /New American Media (San Francisco)

Salmon are at the heart of tribal cultures up and down the West Coast—their diet, commerce, ceremonies, and spirituality. They appear in cave art of 10,000 or more years ago. Salmon are not just a way of life. They are life.
And in California, they may soon be extinct. Three quarters of the state’s salmonids, as salmon and trout are called, could be gone in a century if conditions don’t change. That’s according to a new scientific assessment released on May 16. Nearly half of all salmon species face extinction in 50 years if trends in the state stay the same.

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OPINION: CA Legislators Must Formulate Constructive Water Policies

/in /by /The Daily Californian (Berkeley)by Heliya Izadpanah

Californians are in deep water — dirty water, to be more precise. Over half a million residents are neglected the same basic access to clean drinking water enjoyed by the rest of the state. Hardest hit are children (a quarter of California schools fail to meet water provision standards) and farmworkers in the Central Valley, particularly low-income Latino communities. The toxic groundwater in these communities often features lovely chemicals such as arsenic, pesticides, uranium, bacteria, nitrates and even carcinogens.

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