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Zone 7 Has Backup Plan To Keep Water Moving In Power Outages

/in , /by /The Independent (Livermore, Calif.)by Ron McNicoll

If PG&E shuts down power as part of its plan to prevent fires in northern California, the water will keep flowing in the Valley, thanks to Zone 7 Water Agency’s preparations. PG&E sent out notices with May bills that stated it had formed a Public Safety Power Shutoff program that would halt power deliveries in rural areas that may be threatened by wildfires. Investigators found that last year’s fatal Camp Fire, in Butte County, was caused by sparks from PG&E equipment.

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OPINION: The Changing Delta’s Challenges

/in , /by /News-Review (Sacramento)by Jay Lund

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is essential for the Central Valley’s economy, well-being and ecosystems. It is a major supplier of land for local agriculture, water for Central Valley farms and Bay Area and southern California cities, recreation for Californians and habitat for native species.

The Delta is ever-changing, from its origins 6,000 years ago as rising post-Ice Age sea levels drowned the confluence of local rivers to form a massive freshwater marsh. Since the 1800s this marsh was diked and drained for agriculture, leading to continuing land subsidence, as much as 25 feet below sea level in some places. Major federal and state water projects altered and reversed its water flows.

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CAISO To Require Equipment Improvements For Inverter-Based Generation

/in , /by /Utility Dive (Washington, D.C.)by Robert Walton

The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) will require equipment improvements for renewable energy resources, requiring inverter-based generators to inject reactive current during low-voltage conditions in order to maintain grid reliability.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved the ISO’s tariff revisions in a July 2 order. The change is designed to allow increased integration of wind and solar power.

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Dozens of Environmental Groups Want To Contribute To Newsom’s Water Portfolio Plan

/in , , /by /The Independent by Ron McNicoll

A coalition of 55 environmental, fishing, and water policy groups has written Gov. Gavin Newsom, backing his Water Portfolio planning process, and announcing that they plan to take an active part with their own proposals for the plan.

Newsom announced his Water Portfolio on April 29. He ordered three state agencies — Natural Resources, EPA, and Food & Agriculture — to prepare “a water-resilience portfolio that meets the needs of California’s communities through the 21st Century.”

 

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California Department Of Water Resources Approves Nine Alternatives To Groundwater Sustainability Plans

/in , , /by /Sierra Sun Times

The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) today announced approval of nine alternatives to groundwater sustainability plans (GSPs) submitted by water agencies to meet requirements of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA).

SGMA requires local agencies throughout the state to sustainably manage groundwater basins. Basins ranked as medium- or high-priority are required to develop GSPs or submit an alternative.

An alternative may be an existing groundwater management plan that demonstrates a reasonable expectation of achieving sustainability within 20 years. It may also be a basin adjudication with existing governance and oversight, or a 10-year analysis of basin conditions showing sustainable operations with no undesirable results such as subsidence, saltwater intrusion, or degraded water quality.

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Salmon Study May Foil Trump’s Plan To Boost Water Deliveries To Central Valley Farms

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Bettina Boxall

Federal biologists worked frantically this year to meet a deadline to assess the environmental impacts of Trump administration plans to send more water to Central Valley farmers.

But the biologists’ conclusion — that increased deliveries would harm endangered Chinook salmon and other imperiled fish — would foil those plans. Two days after it was submitted, a regional federal official assembled a new review team to improve the documents.

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No Earthquake Damage To Dams

/in , , /by /Kern Valley Sun (Lake Isabella, Calif.)by Kathe Malouf

Shortly after two major earthquakes rocked buildings and rattled nerves in the Kern River Valley earlier this month, U.S. Army Corps of Engineer officials reported that it was “business as usual” at Isabella Dam, stating that the 6.4 magnitude earthquake on July 4 and 7.1 magnitude earthquake on July 5 did not cause any structural damage or safety concerns. Safety inspections on Isabella Dam were conducted immediately following the two earthquakes that were both centered outside of Ridgecrest with the use of both digital technology and on-the-ground inspections. Due to the ongoing construction that has been underway for the past three years at Isabella, Corps officials have been monitoring both Main and Auxiliary dams for seismic activity on a regular basis.

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LA’s Kern County Sludge Farm To Stop Receiving Free Bakersfield Water

/in , , /by /Bakersfield.comby Sam Morgen

It was a match made in heaven, at least for the residents of Los Angeles, but it will soon be coming to an end. For around 20 years, Los Angeles has shipped a large portion of “biosolids” from its toilets to fertilize a farm it owns just west of Bakersfield. Bakersfield, in return, has been providing an annual load of 18,000 acre-feet of free water to the farm, Green Acres, in a deal that was meant to benefit both cities. However, Bakersfield is choosing not to renew the water contract with LA, and the farm will have to find another source to irrigate its crops.

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Sweetwater Authority Decides To Post Audio Of Committee Meetings Online

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby David Hernandez

In a move intended to provide access to discussions that happen at the committee level, the Sweetwater Authority has decided to post audio it records of those meetings online. The decision, announced this week by the South Bay water agency’s general manager in an email to the governing board, came after a July 11 report and subsequent critical editorial in The San Diego Union-Tribune about a policy change that did away with a requirement to keep minutes of meetings when board members on committees convene. Staff still planned to record audio. The revision to the policy on committees was criticized by Director Josie Calderon-Scott, who has represented the Bonita area since 2016, as well as some ratepayers.

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OPINION: All Too Rare: Public Agency Quickly Improves Transparency After Being Called Out

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune

When government agencies face sharp criticism for their decisions, it’s rare for them to immediately admit error. But that’s just what the Sweetwater Authority has done. On Friday, The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board posted an editorial criticizing the water agency for no longer requiring that minutes be kept at meetings of two important committees where key decisions are made. We wrote that Sweetwater, which serves 190,000 people in National City, Bonita and parts of Chula Vista, should be more transparent, not less. We suggested Josie Calderon-Scott, the only board member who seemed worried about this decision, should record committee meetings and post the audio online.

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