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Controversy, Concerns Surround Drought Contingency Plan

/in , /by /Imperial Valley Pressby Richard Montenegro Brown

After four public workshops, the Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors will be asked Monday to approve an agreement that addresses California’s part to save the drought-plagued Colorado River as well as bolster supplies of water to Lake Mead. IID General Manager said staff will recommend the approval of the intra-California drought contingency plan agreement between IID and Metropolitan Water District, but the decision ultimately lies with the board.

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Water Rights Permits Issued for Conjunctive Use Project

/in , /by /Village News (Fallbrook)by Joe Naiman

The State Water Resources Control Board issued updated water rights permits and an updated license which finalizes that part of the Santa Margarita Conjunctive Use Project. The three permits and the license were issued Nov. 20. “It’s a big accomplishment to finally have the underlying permits and water rights for the project,” said Fallbrook Public Utility District general manager Jack Bebee. The Santa Margarita Conjunctive Use Project being pursued by FPUD, Camp Pendleton and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will enhance groundwater recharge and recovery capability within the lower Santa Margarita River basin and develop a program which will increase available water supplies for FPUD and Camp Pendleton.

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Halla Razak, Inland Empire Utilities Agency GM, Announces Resignation Effective Dec. 31

/in , /by /California Water News Daily

Citing family circumstances, Inland Empire Utilities Agency’s (IEUA) General Manager Halla Razak, has tendered her resignation effective Dec. 31. Razak her served as IEUA’s general manager since Dec. 1 of last year. Razak joined IEUA after a 19-year tenure with the city of San Diego. Her last position with the city was as director of the city’s Public Utilities Department. She held the position of director with the Colorado River Program Director for the San Diego County Water Authority position with the city of San Diego. Razak is a registered professional civil engineer in California.

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Big Setback for Gov. Brown’s Twin Tunnels Delta Water Project

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Peter Fimrite

A crucial certification needed to build two tunnels that officials believe would help solve California’s water delivery problems was withdrawn Friday, ensuring that Gov. Jerry Brown’s pet water project won’t be approved before he leaves office in January. The California Department of Water Resources withdrew its petition seeking approval of Brown’s $17 billion twin tunnels plan, known as California WaterFix, which would take water out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and deliver it to users in the south.

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No Longer a ‘Boys Club’: In the World of Water, Women are Increasingly Claiming Center Stage

/in , /by /Water Education Foundation (Sacramento)by Gary Pitzer

The 1992 election to the United States Senate was famously coined the “Year of the Woman” for the record number of women elected to the upper chamber. In the water world, 2018 has been a similar banner year, with noteworthy appointments of women to top leadership posts in California — Karla Nemeth at the California Department of Water Resources and Gloria Gray at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

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OPINION: We’d Prefer a Deal. But We’ll Fight to Protect our Rivers if That’s What it Takes

/in , /by /The Modesto Bee

Five appointed state regulators can do an enormous amount to help salmon and the state’s most-altered water system on Dec. 12. Or they can guarantee that water lawyers will stay busy for decades to come. The State Water Resources Control Board’s five members – including one added Thursday – are scheduled to vote on implementing the Bay-Delta Plan’s Substitute Environmental Document. If unchanged, the SED will require 40 to 50 percent of the Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced rivers to flow unimpaired to the Delta, for the sake of salmon. It would also require vast amounts of water be left in cold storage behind the region’s three dams to help salmon in an ever-warming environment.

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Mudslides Offer A Preview Of What Could Be A Wet Winter In Southern California

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Hannah Fry, Rong-Gong Lin II, Hailey Branson-Potts, Alejandra Reyes-Velarde and Richard Winton

As heavy rain pelted Hollywood Burbank Airport on Thursday morning, the pilot of Southwest Flight 278 out of Oakland came over the intercom with a warning: The runway was short and wet. It was going to be a bumpy landing. Paris Organist, a 31-year-old Oakland resident sitting in the front row, put up his foot to brace himself as the plane rolled off the end of the runway just after 9 a.m., its landing gear plowing into a concrete barrier designed to stop airplanes that overshot their mark. Mud splattered on the plane’s windows.

 

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New Digital Map Shows Which Community Water Systems Have Lead

/in , /by /Paso Robles Daily News

A new digital map that highlights which community water systems have reported the presence of lead pipes and fixtures is the latest legislatively-mandated action to target the health risks of lead in drinking water and set a timetable to replace the potentially hazardous hardware. Released this week, the map uses State Water Board data from nearly 3,000 community water systems throughout California and places the information on an easy-to-read, color-coded document that is expected to change as testing continues statewide.

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San Diego’s Wildfire Danger Plunges After Back-To-Back Storms

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Gary Robbins

The second major storm of December dropped far more rain than expected in San Diego County, greatly reducing a wildfire threat that was dangerously high barely a month ago. University Heights received 3.23’’ of rain and Oceanside got 2.82” Both figures are more than twice as high as precipitation projected by the National Weather Service. During a 12 minute period on Thursday night, San Diego International Airport got 0.84”. The airport has now received 4.18” since the rainy season began on October 1st. The average for this time of year is 1.79”.

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Colorado River Drought Plan ‘Gaining Momentum’ As CAP Board Signals Support

/in , /by /The Arizona Republic (Phoenix)

The agency that manages the Central Arizona Project canal signaled its support for the latest outline of a Colorado River drought plan in a vote that could lay the groundwork for a deal aimed at preventing Lake Mead from reaching perilously low levels. Board members of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District passed a motion Thursday saying they support “key provisions” of the plan, which they’re calling Arizona’s implementation plan for the proposed three-state Drought Contingency Plan.

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