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Unquenchable Thirst: Groundwater Bill Could Shift State’s Water Management Approach

/in , , /by /KCET by Char Miller

The latest salvo is California’s long-running water wars, SB307, has the potential to emerge as one of the most important pieces of water regulation in recent years. Although its target was narrow — it was designed to undercut the capacity of Cadiz, Inc. to pump annually upwards of 16 billion gallons of groundwater in eastern San Bernardino County and sell it to ever-thirsty Southern California — the legislation may prove to be far-reaching in its consequences.

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San Diego Region Leaders To Visit White House Following Latest Beach Closure From Tijuana River Sewage

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union- Tribune by Joshua Emerson Smith

Imperial Beach shorelines remain closed after nearly 100 million gallons of sewage-tainted runoff recently poured over the border from Mexico.

Local officials plan to visit the nation’s capital in coming weeks to urge lawmakers to fund an U.S. EPA blueprint released this summer for capturing sewage-tainted flows in the Tijuana River.

The planned visit, spearheaded by Imperial Beach Mayor Serge Dedina, comes after his city experienced its latest beach closure from water pollution streaming over the Mexico border.

 

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Trump Administration To Finalize Rollback Of Obama’s Clean Water Protections

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Times

The Trump administration plans to revoke an Obama-era regulation that provided federal protection to many U.S. wetlands and streams, according to two Environmental Protection Agency officials with knowledge of the plan.

The rule defined which waterways are subject to federal regulation. The administration plans to replace it with its own version, according to the officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the decision and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

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2018 Was A Record-Setting Year For Fresno County Farmers

/in /by /GV Wire

Fresno County farmers and ranchers shattered the yearly record for the value of what they produced by nearly a billion dollars in 2018.

Despite below-average surface water supplies, their crops and livestock totaled $7.888 billion last year, according to the Fresno County Department of Agriculture’s annual report released Tuesday.

That marked a 12.23% increase from 2017 and was substantially higher than the previous record year of 2014 when total production hit $7.069 billion.

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Desalination ‘Only Option’ For Resilient, Reliable Water Supply — Expert

/in , , /by /The Jordan Timesby Hana Namrouqa Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

In Jordan, desalination is major component in meeting rising demand for water.

 Seawater desalination is the “only option” for countries seeking to become more resilient and have reliable water supply, according to an expert in water resource management, who stressed that water facilities should seek diversification of their water supplies.

While acknowledging that desalination of seawater is an expensive, highly technical and long process, the water resource management expert said that “… in some areas you have to make that investment because you just do not have the other sources of supply or resources that you can tap into.”

 

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California Professor Awarded Grant To Harness Water From Fog

/in , /by /ABC 10by Allison Horn

A California State University, Monterey Bay professor will receive a substantial grant from the Defense Department to find methods to harness fog.

The $266,589 gift will fund research on ways to use mesh-based devices to collect water circulating in fog, according to CSUMB. The DoD is interested in the study to collect usable water for drinking or irrigation, which may be useful for military personnel in remote foggy regions.

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OPINION: Hot Politics In The Cul-De-Sac

/in , /by /CALmattersby Dan Walters

San Diego has been trying for decades to wean itself from water supplied by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which is dominated by Los Angeles. The feud between San Diego and The Met, as it’s known, has been waged in the Legislature and in the courts.

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California’s Trump-Blocking Environmental Bill May Be Delayed In Fight Over Water

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler and Ryan Sabalow

It started out as a bold effort by the California Legislature to prevent the Trump administration from rolling back protections for the environment and labor.

The bill, proposed by one of the state’s most powerful Democrats, would attempt to negate every environmental regulation proposed by President Donald Trump’s administration for the duration of his term or terms. It has a clause that would expire the day he leaves office in 2025 if he wins a second term.

 

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State Seeks Comment On Its Water Resilience Portfolio

/in , /by /AgAlert (Sacramento, Calif.)by Christine Souza

In a new effort to balance California’s water needs, Gov. Gavin Newsom has directed state agencies to prepare a water plan known as the California Water Resilience Portfolio that includes “a comprehensive strategy to build a climate-resilient water system.” The portfolio features a broad approach that addresses safe drinking water, flood risks, depleted groundwater aquifers, water supply uncertainty for agriculture, and native fish populations faced with extinction.

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OPINION: Farmers Are Not To Blame For Valley Subsidence, But They Can Help Solve It With Water

/in , , /by /The Fresno Beeby Kristi Diener

Why do farmers pump the water under their land (which California law clearly states belongs to them) in the first place? Unfortunately, you’ll rarely read the answer to this question in the press, but it is the most important part of the story.

Farmers pump groundwater because for more than 25 years, an innumerable myriad of Endangered Species Act-related laws, mandates, opinions, rulings and settlements have resulted in less and less surface water allocations for agriculture — even though all of these directives have failed to produce a rebound of endangered fish. When food producers receive the 0% and 5% water allocations like we saw in 2014, 2015, and 2016, they have no choice but to exercise their lawful property rights and to use water under their land.

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