2018 - Page 174 of 189 - Water News Network - Our Region's Trusted Water Leader

State scores Temperance Flat dam project at a big fat zero. Boosters are pushing back

January 28, 2018/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Fresno Bee

An application for $1 billion of state bond money to build Temperance Flat dam east of Fresno scored a dismal zero from the California Water Commission on the cost-benefit ratio, potentially jeopardizing its construction. Supporters of the dam expressed shock and dismay and are blaming the commission staff for the low score. They’re got company. All 11 water project applications from around the state under review by the commission have scored less than one or even zero on their public benefit ratios, said state Assemblyman Joaquin Arambula, D-Fresno. That includes the proposed Sites Reservoir project in Northern California.

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Warmer winters spell more floods for northern California

January 28, 2018/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Union (Grass Valley)

Floods likely will surge more often across northern California, as wintertime temperatures rise in the Sierra Nevada and snow shifts to rain, scientists predict. When precipitation falls as snow, the water stays longer on the mountain as snowpack, then slowly flows out as snowmelt over the spring and summer. The ground has more time to absorb it, said Nevada Irrigation District Watershed Resources Planner Neysa King.

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High winds, hot weather to last through Monday

January 28, 2018/in San Diego County /by Mike Lee /The San Diego Union-Tribune

Strong Santa Ana winds whipped across San Diego County Sunday, prompting a utility company to shut off power to about 2,500 customers as a precaution and making play more challenging at the Farmers Insurance Open in Torrey Pines. The winds help push temperatures to record levels in Vista, Oceanside Harbor and El Cajon, and tied records in Chula Vista and Ramona. San Diego International Airport reported a high of 82 — 18 degrees above average.

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OPINION: Don’t give Southern California control of Delta water

January 27, 2018/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Mercury News‎ (San Jose)

Seven years into Jerry Brown’s final tour as governor, his promise to create a reliable water delivery system that protects the health of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is in shambles. His twin-tunnel fixation was ill-conceived and, for Northern California at least, unacceptable, and he is not giving up.

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How Trump’s pumping plan is dividing California over water – again

January 26, 2018/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Sacramento Bee

They gathered this week at Sacramento’s federal building on Capitol Mall, carrying protest signs and vowing to resist the Trump administration’s plan to pump more of Northern California’s water through the Delta to the southern half of the state. The government “wants to suck our lifeblood dry,” said Noah Oppenheim, leader of a group representing commercial fishermen. An ally hoisted a sign that said, “Don’t pump the Delta to extinction.”

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Now $870 Million, Price of Oroville Dam Crisis Jumps by a Third

January 26, 2018/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Sacramento Bee

Oroville Dam’s battered flood-control spillways have been largely rebuilt, but the cost of last February’s near-disaster keeps rising. On Friday, state officials put the total price tag at $870 million. The latest figure from the California Department of Water Resources represents a 32 percent increase from DWR’s estimate in October, when the cost was pegged at approximately $660 million.

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A Cap-And-Trade System of Water Conservation and Resiliency

January 26, 2018/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Phys.Org

California has struggled with drought for most of the last decade. From 2011-2015, the state experienced the driest four-year stretch in recorded history, leading to unprecedented water restrictions for residents, including a state mandate to reduce water use by 25 percent. Heavy precipitation last winter relieved much of California, but dry conditions linger. Wildfires raged during the fall and early winter months, ravaging towns and hillsides from Los Angeles to Santa Rosa.

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Los Angeles and the Future of Urban Water in California

January 26, 2018/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Water Deeply (New York)

Los Angeles is a grand American urban experiment. It brings emerging ideas into the mainstream, sometimes for better, and sometimes for worse. In the early 20th century, it seemed fanciful to build a metropolis in a region receiving limited seasonal rainfall. But L.A. adopted the ideas of the time at grand scales. It built pipelines over hundreds of miles of rugged terrain to import water from the Owens Valley (1913), Colorado River (1939) and Northern California (1972). In a quest for growth, L.A. has always adopted new ideas to keep ahead.

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Wanted: Large Landscapes for Program Proven to Reduce Irrigation Water Use

January 25, 2018/in Education /by Andrea Mora

Participants receive training, state-of-the-art tools to cut outdoor demand by at least 20 percent.

The San Diego County Water Authority is seeking approximately 20 commercial-scale landscapes for participation in a program that has demonstrated significant outdoor water-use reductions through a combination of training, hardware upgrades and technical assistance valued at more than $15,000 per site.

Applicants have until March 31 to file statements of interest in the WaterSmart Landscape Efficiency Program, using the form at watersmartsd.org. An interest meeting is scheduled from 2-4 p.m. on Feb. 15 at San Diego Gas & Electric’s Energy Innovation Center, 4760 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.

In two earlier iterations of the landscape efficiency program, water savings topped 30 percent, exceeding the target of 20 percent. Participating sites have included parks, apartments, schools and homeowner association common areas. Project sites are typically about four irrigated acres (though they are often part of a larger property), and they must be on dedicated potable water meters.

“We are looking for places to showcase significant water savings without compromising landscape quality by employing best practices for irrigation management and top-tier technology,” said Carlos Michelon, principal water resources specialist at the Water Authority. “This program is one of many ways the Water Authority continues to promote long-term water-use efficiency.”

The WaterSmart Landscape Efficiency Program requires joint participation by property owners and landscape maintenance contractors at each site. Landscape contractors receive training, assistance, and performance-based financial incentives for documented water savings. Site owners receive water-saving devices and the long-term benefits of lower water use. The program is funded mainly through a Proposition 84 Integrated Regional Water Management grant from the California Department of Water Resources.

Program benefits include leak detection and repair, irrigation system pressure regulation, improvements in distribution uniformity of irrigation water, and the installation of flow sensors and weather-based irrigation controllers. Each site is provided with a water management target that will be tracked for a year. Participants are responsible for hardware installation, landscape maintenance and other contract conditions.

From the pool of interested parties, the Water Authority will select those that best fit the program’s technical requirements and are most likely to meet the program’s demanding implementation schedule. Promising sites that aren’t selected for the program’s current round may be eligible for future rounds, depending on funding.

In addition to the WaterSmart Landscape Efficiency Program, the Water Authority offers free training to landscape professionals through the Qualified Water Efficient Landscaper program. That program, known as QWEL, provides 20 hours of training on the latest water-efficiency principles and the opportunity to earn a QWEL certificate. Information about QWEL is at qwel.watersmartsd.org.

WaterSmart Landscape Efficiency Program

A statement of interest must be filed by March 31 for sites to be considered for the program. Details and the interest form are at watersmartsd.org/watersmart-landscape-efficiency-program.

Another Leak: Sacramento County Joins Action Alleging Illegal Communications Over Twin Tunnels

January 25, 2018/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Sacramento News & Reviewby Scott Thomas Anderson

Already facing a lawsuit claiming decades of state mismanagement of the Oroville dam and a “culture of corruption” that fostered harassment, the California Department of Water Resources drew a new legal challenge from Sacramento County—one that accuses its employees of improper communications around the twin tunnels project.The latest DWR drama was triggered January 15, when attorneys for Sacramento and San Joaquin counties, and the city of Antioch, filed a motion demanding that the State Water Resources Control Board halt the phase-two public hearings for WaterFix, better known as “the twin tunnels” project.

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Archive for year: 2018

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Participants receive training, state-of-the-art tools to cut outdoor demand by at least 20 percent.