California and Arizona both have laws meant to ensure new housing developments have enough water. In California, major new developments with more than 500 units must prove they have access to enough water for at least 20 years. Most water agencies, including the San Diego County Water Authority, have water already set aside for population growth, so this is usually a pretty simple thing to do.
SACRAMENTO – Stakeholders statewide are reviewing and analyzing recently released new legislative language for two water-use efficiency bills that generated opposition by water agencies, including the Water Authority, when they were introduced last year.
The companion bills – AB 1668 authored by Assemblymember Laura Friedman (Burbank) and SB 606 by Sen. Bob Hertzberg (Van Nuys) – propose a new water conservation ethic and aggressive water-use standards for Californians. Dozens of water agencies and stakeholders opposed the bills because of concerns related to enforcement of new laws and their failure to encourage development of new supplies such as potable reuse.
During winter recess in Sacramento, opponents provided more input on refinements that would be needed to earn water agencies’ support; some of those suggestions have been incorporated into the bills, but a number of important policy and implementation issues remain unresolved.
The Water Authority also remains actively engaged with local and regional organizations throughout San Diego County to communicate the agency’s policy positions on the long-term water use efficiency legislation.
SACRAMENTO – Water ratepayers across California would benefit from three concepts approved by the San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors for legislation in 2018, and agency staff is seeking to turn the ideas into reality.
One bill – AB 2371 – would advance a series of consensus recommendations by a state Independent Technical Panel for improving water-use efficiency in outdoor landscapes. The Water Authority is co-sponsoring the legislation with the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo (Los Angeles) is the bill author.
The second bill – AB 2064 – would reduce cash-flow challenges for disadvantaged communities and nonprofit organizations by ensuring opportunities for advanced payment of state grant funds. Assemblymember Todd Gloria (San Diego) and Assemblymember Shirley Weber (San Diego) are joint authors of the bill.
A third bill – SB 1277 – proposes working with organizations in the Imperial Valley to develop a governance and administrative structure that helps implement the 10-year Salton Sea Management Program. Sen. Ben Hueso (San Diego) is the bill author on behalf of the Water Authority and a variety of stakeholders.
SACRAMENTO – A controversial state Senate bill that would impose new taxes on California water customers is back in the legislative hopper after water agencies helped prevent its passage in 2017.
Senate Bill 623 (Monning) proposes taxing fertilizer, dairy products and water customers around the state to address groundwater pollution largely in agricultural regions of the state. If passed, the bill would impose a first-of-its-kind tax to raise as much as $160 million a year to fund safe drinking water projects in disadvantaged communities.
The legislation is opposed by water agencies, including the San Diego County Water Authority, as well as numerous stakeholder organizations such as the Association of California Water Agencies, California Municipal Utilities Association, and the League of California Cities.
Opponents say the bill violates the principle of “polluter pays” by forcing urban ratepayers to cover up to 85 percent of the cost. They believe more money for drinking water pollution cleanup should come from the agricultural and dairy industries, which would pay just 15 percent of the cost under SB 623.
Opponents are advocating for alternative revenue sources for cleanup work, for instance, money from the state’s general fund, federal safe drinking water funds, general obligation bond funds, and proposed assessments related to nitrates in groundwater.
It won’t wipe out San Diego’s rain deficit. But a potentially juicy storm is likely to drop 1 inch of rain along the coast and 1.5 inches in the region’s valleys and foothills later this week, and possibly a few inches of snow on mountain peaks. The National Weather Service says the system — like the one that hit on Saturday — could tap moisture from the sub-tropics as it passes through Southern California.
California’s water conservation habits, refined and improved over five years of drought, are quickly evaporating. For the seventh time in the last eight months, the amount of water saved by urban Californians has declined, according to new data from the State Water Resources Control Board. In other words, lawn sprinklers are back on, showers are getting longer and overall, California’s water use, after five years of conserving, is now back to where it was before the drought began.
One of the easiest decisions for California voters on the June 5 ballot should be Proposition 68. Vote yes on the $4.1 billion bond plan to fund parks and water projects throughout the state. The ballot measure is the first statewide parks and water bond to appear before voters since 2006, when the $5.4 billion Proposition 84 was approved by 54 percent of voters. Prop 68 would authorize $2.83 billion for parks projects that would fund everything from building Bay Area hiking trails to upgrading California’s 110 state parks.
In the first of a series of weekend customer service sessions held by the city since receiving a flood of complaints over huge spikes in water bills, concerned homeowners spoke out. It’s the first of three weekend sessions planned in coming weeks to address residents’ complaints that they were being charged by the city for more water than they actually used. The sessions come after months of investigations and reporting by the NBC 7 Responds team.
One of California’s foremost experts on freshwater fish believes there may be hope for restoring native salmon to abundance – but there’s a catch: California must build the controversial Delta tunnels, he says. “The expected costs are tremendous and there is a lot of concern over that, but our paper is about what’s good for fish,” said Peter Moyle, a professor of fisheries with the University of California, Davis Center for Watershed Sciences. “Will the Delta tunnels be good for fish or not? I think they will.”
Despite recent rain and snow, California is back to dry conditions again after a very wet 2017. With about four weeks left in the normal wet season, the Sacramento Valley is at about 65 percent of average precipitation (less than one-third of last year’s precipitation). The southern Central Valley has less than 50 percent of average precipitation and Southern California is still drier. Snowpack is much less, at 37 percent statewide. Surface reservoirs, which almost all refilled and spilled in record-wet 2017, are now at 98 percent of average for this time of year, and will fall quickly as there is well-below-normal snowpack to melt.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
