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Releases Cut To Allow Lake Oroville To Fill A Bit

The flows have been shut off through the Hyatt Powerhouse at the base of Oroville Dam, and the lake is beginning to rise. And that’s all by design, according to the state Department of Water Resources. The flows were shut down about 10 p.m. Wednesday and hadn’t resumed as of Thursday afternoon. But hours-long cutoffs have been occurring since March 8. Since March 15, water has been released for a few hours in the morning and a few hours in the evening but the penstocks in the powerhouse have been closed off for the rest of the day.

Sierra foothills Dam, Part Of SF’s Hetch Hetchy System, Pushed To Near Failure

Heavy rain in the Sierra foothills pushed a small dam within San Francisco’s Hetch Hetchy water system to the brink of failure Thursday, sending a brief scare through the rural region where roads were closed and a few dozen residents were forced to evacuate. Officials at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission said the danger in the area, west of Yosemite National Park, had diminished by nightfall as the storm gave way. There was no interruption to water service for the agency’s 2.7 million Bay Area customers.

Class Action Lawsuit States City Of San Diego Misused Taxpayer Funds For Smart Water Meter Program

A class-action lawsuit was filed Tuesday against the city of San Diego, the Public Utilities Department and the city council, alleging the city misused taxpayer funds to pay for the city’s new smart water meters. The legal action alleges the city’s Public Utilities Department fostered an “illegal financing scheme” by using municipal sewer funds to pay for the advanced metering infrastructure, also known as the “AMI smart water meter program”. NBC 7 Responds has been investigating the smart meter program since last July and has revealed problems with meter installations and questions surrounding the financing behind retrofitted water meters.

California Water District Rejects Cadiz Inc.’s Proposed Mojave Desert Water Project

A company’s controversial plan to sell groundwater from the Mojave Desert ran into new opposition as a Southern California water district voted against the proposal. The board of the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District decided not to approve a nonbinding letter of intent to purchase water from the Cadiz Inc.’s proposed project. The company is looking to pump as much as 16.3 billion gallons of groundwater a year and pipe it across the desert to sell to cities in Southern California.

Little-Known California Lawsuit Complicates Drought Plan For Lake Mead

For years, Colorado River states have been negotiating a plan to avoid the worst – a shortage in Lake Mead so bad it could trigger unprecedented cutbacks. With the region experiencing drought conditions since 2000, even California, which has senior rights, came to the negotiating table. State officials said they were willing to voluntarily reduce Colorado River allocations to keep water levels in Lake Mead – the reservoir that holds water behind Hoover Dam for Arizona, California, Nevada and Mexico – from slipping below a critical threshold.

OPINION: No On Prop 68: Parks And Water Bond Would Leave California In A Mountain Of Debt

All Californians desire clean air, clean water, coastal protection, environmental protection, flood prevention and safe, well-maintained recreation areas. That’s why our state already spends about $5 billion annually to support these types of programs, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office. In June, voters will be asked to approve Proposition 68, the California Drought, Water, Parks, Climate, Coastal Protection and Outdoor Access For All Act, which would authorize the sale of $4.1 billion in bonds. The borrowed funds will have to be paid back over 40 years with interest.

Yep, It’s Nice Rain — But It’s No ‘Miracle March,’ Experts Say

It has all the earmarks of a “Miracle March” — heavy dousings of rain, intense flurries of snow in the Sierra and roadway havoc — but the showy display of stormy weather across California this week isn’t fooling the experts. Despite encouraging signs, including a Sierra snowpack that has risen to respectability from record-breakingly meager depths this month, meteorologists say California will almost certainly emerge from the winter drier than normal.

Los Angeles Comes Out Against $17 Billion Water Project

The Los Angeles City Council moved Wednesday to officially oppose staged construction of a proposed multibillion-dollar water- delivery tunnel project if it would result in greater costs or a greater portion of the financial burden for Los Angeles ratepayers. State water officials announced last month they will pursue staged construction of the California Waterfix project, leaving water agencies in the Southland and elsewhere to decide if they want to continue supporting the effort.

Federal Budget Proposal Include Sites Reservoir Study Funding

Inclusion of money for raising Shasta Dam got the most attention in a recently released federal budget proposal, but the same package also includes money for Sites Reservoir. The Department of Interior is recommending spending $33.3 million under the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act, which was signed into law in December 2016. The biggest piece of that would be $20 million for design and pre-construction work on raising Shasta Dam 18 feet. However there’s also $4.35 million to complete a decades-old federal feasibility study on Sites Reservoir.

Relicensing: Hydro Projects Face Hurdles From Agencies Says California Farm Bureau Federation – Don Pedro Hydroelectric Project

The multipurpose aspect of many reservoir projects adds an extra layer of regulation to those projects–and gives government agencies and advocacy organizations additional opportunities to seek more water and other concessions from reservoir operators. That scenario is playing out in attempts to relicense California hydroelectric projects that also provide water supplies to farms, ranches and cities. The Turlock and Modesto irrigation districts, joint owners of the Don Pedro Hydroelectric Project on the Tuolumne River, are seeking to renew the hydroelectric facility’s 50-year-old license to operate.