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OPINION: California’s Natural Treasures Will Benefit If Proposition 68 Passes

/in , /by /The Fresno Beeby Robert Snow

The Golden State’s incredible natural treasures are woven into our identity as Californians. And that is why we always react with such outrage when these treasures are threatened by things like oil spills, development and habitat destruction. But there is another threat that doesn’t get a lot of headlines, but is no less devastating: lack of funding. Not only does this contribute to the slow deterioration of parks and open space, but it divides our populace into those that have access to nature and those that don’t.

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San Diego Officials Warn Against ‘Water Tax’

/in , /by /Voice Of San Diegoby Sara Libby Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The Assembly this week passed a gun control measure that would let employers, co-workers and school employees seek gun violence restraining orders that could allow law enforcement to seize the guns of someone who’s exhibited threatening behavior. Two Republicans crossed the aisle to vote for the bill, Catherine Baker of Dublin and San Diego’s Brian Maienschein. Though Republicans generally oppose gun-control measures, Baker and Maienschein’s votes shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

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OPINION: Time For California To Deliver On The Human Right To Water

/in , /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Leo Heller

Six years after California recognized the human right to water in state law, more than 1 million Californians still lack access to safe drinking water, and in many ways the scope of the challenge has revealed itself to be even more pervasive and endemic than initially realized. Lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation impacts rural well-users, city residents, schoolchildren, mobile home communities and churches across the state.

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Examining Water Conservation, Availability And Security In South Orange County

/in , /by /Dana Point Timesby Daniel Ritz and Emily Rasmussen

Recently, unprecedented water shortages in the African metropolis of Cape Town, South Africa, have brought water security to international consciousness. According to a recent report by the United States Drought Monitoring agency at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln on May 17, the entirety of Orange County is still considered to be within what they call a “severe drought scenario.” According to that study, some areas of the Southwestern region’s precipitation (rainfall and snowpack are measured by the state of California by “water year,” which runs from Oct.1 to Sept. 30) was in the second percentile or lower.

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Oroville Dam: DWR Attempts To Quash Butte County Lawsuit

/in , /by /Chico Enterprise-Recordby Risa Johnson

Whether the Butte County district attorney will have a shot at winning a lawsuit against the state Department of Water Resources could come down to a comma. At the North Butte County Courthouse on Friday, the two sides presented different interpretations of the 1875 law that District Attorney Mike Ramsey is suing under for environmental damages caused by the Oroville Dam crisis in February 2017. Lawyers representing DWR tried to convince Butte County Superior Court Judge Michael Candela to throw out the complaint because Ramsey did not have the authority to sue.

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Interior Revives The Push For A Higher Shasta Dam

/in , /by /High Country News (Paonia, Colo.)by Tay Wiles

California’s largest reservoir, Shasta Lake, sits where the dry Central Valley meets the rainier, mountainous northern part of the state. At its western edge is Shasta Dam, 602 feet high, built by the Bureau of Reclamation between 1938 and 1945 to help irrigate California. For decades, agricultural and municipal water districts have sought to heighten the dam to capture more water as it runs out of the Cascade Range through the McCloud, Pit and Sacramento rivers. Environmentalists have long rallied against the proposal, and state officials contend such a project would violate California law.

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Water Authority Earns Regional Awards for Construction Project

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San Diego, Calif. – The regional chapter of the American Public Works Association today conferred two Project of the Year awards on the San Diego County Water Authority for a pipeline upgrade in Scripps Ranch and a rebuilt pump station near Miramar Reservoir, both of which will help ensure reliable water deliveries across the San Diego region.

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Wrap-up Of California’s Dry/Warm Winter; “May Gray” Along The Coast And Persistent Mountain Showers Continue

/in , /by /The California Weather Blogby Daniel Swain

Most of California was on track for one of its driest winters on record as recently as February as a result of persistent (one might even call it resilient) high pressure ridging along the West Coast during the first half of winter. Recall that December 2017 featured the largest wildfire in modern California history, following on the heels of the most destructive and deadly wildfire event in the state’s history just months earlier in October. Through late February, Sierra Nevada snowpack was tracking near its lowest level in recorded history–on par with the near-total snow drought of 2014-2015.

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OPINION: Pouring A Little Rain On Prop 68’s Parade; But Most Others Should Pass

/in , /by /The Modesto Bee

Virtually every newspaper in the state of California is marching in the Proposition 68 parade. The Parks, Environment and Water Bond promises to spend $4.1 billion on state parks, habitat conservation, ocean clean-up and many more water-related projects. Who doesn’t love parks? Who can’t see the need to conserve? Yet, here we are on the curb, unable to get in step.

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Prop. 72 Promises Tax Relief For Water Conservation

/in , /by /KCRA Sacramentoby Mike Luery

Rainwater is a precious resource in California and environmentalists are promoting a ballot measure that aims to protect homeowners who want to collect that water from higher taxes. It doesn’t happen often, but Proposition 72 actually has unanimous support from Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature, along with business, labor and environmental groups. In fact, there is no formal opposition to Prop. 72, which promises some rainy day relief.

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