The state Department of Water Resources could have lost control of the spillway radial gates for days during the Oroville Dam crisis if crucial power lines had gone down, according to department officials. DWR leaders Cindy Messer and Joel Ledesma stated this Jan. 10 during a legislative oversight hearing on the dam at the State Capitol. This has since led some local groups to wonder why there was no backup power supply.
The past week was a difficult one for supporters of the California WaterFix project, formerly referred to as the Delta tunnels project, as allegations of ex parte communications between the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the California State Water Board have come to light, largely as a result of work done by the Discovery Bay-based Save the California Delta Alliance (STCDA).
Every year, Californians get a report card from their water department telling them if something is wrong with their water. These polished brochures typically begin by laying out all the great things water agencies are doing with ratepayer money. It would be easy to just throw them away. But near the end is series of hard-to-decipher charts that show what sort of contaminants have been found in their drinking water. These are things, like bacteria, that could make someone sick immediately and others, like disinfectant byproducts, that could give someone cancer over time.
Infrastructure EPC company Black & Veatch will evaluate proposals received for a 500MW pumped hydro energy storage facility in San Diego, California. San Diego Water Authority issued a request for proposals (RfP) for the plant last summer, with a 12 September 2017 deadline for submissions. The RfP was for a facility with 5-8 hours energy storage duration, to help support the stability of the local grid at peak times and to integrate local renewable energy production, mostly solar PV.
Water agencies across the West, including in Southern California, have for decades shot silver iodide into clouds from cannons and airplanes. The theory is that the particles make the clouds drop even more snow than would fall otherwise. But there is very little scientific evidence that it works. “You do get the question, how much snow did we make? I can’t really tell you. I don’t really know.” said Chris Harris, executive director of the Colorado River Board, a California state agency that represents Southern California water agencies on Colorado River issues and spends up to $250,000 annually on cloud seeding in the Rocky Mountains.
The City of San Diego and the San Diego County Water Authority have selected Black & Veatch (B&V) as the owners’ representative for 500MW hydropower storage project to be located at the San Vicente Reservoir near Lakeside in San Diego County, California. The San Vicente Energy Storage Facility (SVESF) is expected to increase the availability and efficiency of renewable energy in the region by providing enough stored energy to be supplied to about 325,000 Californian homes annually.
A man’s body was recovered Tuesday from a reservoir pipeline supplying drinking water to several Northern California communities, but authorities say the water quality is not affected. KCRA-TV reports that the body of Tory Robert Mayes, 34, of Pollock Pines was found in an area of raw water flowing from Jenkinson Lake.The water is heavily treated before it flows to customers, said El Dorado Irrigation District spokesman Jesse Saich.
The next Pacific storm will spread rain and mountain snow from Washington to Northern California by the middle of the week. The winter months are typically the stormiest months of the year across the Northwest, and this season has proven no different. Since Jan. 4, Seattle has had only one day without measurable rainfall. A strong Pacific storm coming into the West will bring more soaking rain and heavy mountain snow from the Pacific Northwest through central California Tuesday through Wednesday night, according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Jack Boston.
When Californians overwhelmingly approved Proposition 1 in 2014, voters made clear their desire for additional water storage in anticipation of future droughts. Opportunities to build significant storage occur only once or twice in a century. The state must not let this one slip away. The California Water Commission has an obligation to fulfill the state’s commitment to voters when it announces in July which projects, if any, will receive the $2.7 billion authorized in the $7.5 billion bond measure.
In April 2015, California Gov. Jerry Brown called on the people of the most populous state to reduce their water use by 25 percent in response to a punishing four-year drought. It was an audacious goal, and Californians came close to meeting it. Between June 2015 and April 2016, when restrictions were in effect, residents reduced the amount of water they used by 24.5 percent.
