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‘Pure Water’ Dominates Infrastructure Spending In Faulconer’s 2020 Budget

/in , , /by /KPBS by Andrew Bowen

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer unveiled his proposed budget for fiscal year 2020 on Thursday, saying it includes the highest infrastructure investment in the city’s history. The proposed $4.15 billion budget is a 19.5% increase over the city’s fiscal year 2019 budget. Despite the spending hike of nearly $700 million, Faulconer was still forced to make an estimated $15.3 million in cuts to various line items such as civilian staff in the police department and tree trimming services.

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Balancing Native Plants With A Fire-Resistant Garden

/in , , /by /Santa Cruz Sentinelby Jackie Pascoe

During long years of drought, homeowners were urged to replace thirsty lawns with drought-tolerant plants native to California, and plants from similar Mediterranean climate zones. Now the drought is officially over, but we have another worry: wildfires. Do drought-resistant plants burn more easily? Are we left with the wrong kind of gardens? The answer is: not really. Hydration makes plants are more fire-resistant, and drought tolerant plants, especially California natives, stay hydrated with less water and hold onto it longer than plants that originate in moister places. Plants to remove or avoid are those that shed bark or are fast growing. Also, plants that have a lot of wax, resin, oils, terpenes, or fats, such as chamise, rosemary, and sagebrush.

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With An Impending Deadline, Cal Am Pushes For Desal Plant Permits Amid Changing Waterscape.

/in , /by /Monterey County Weeklyby Asaf Shalev

When you turn on a faucet on the Monterey Peninsula, you’re consuming water that’s been illegally pumped from Carmel River. Now, after more than two decades of this, scores of public officials, utility executives and citizen advocates are working – and sometimes fighting – to replace the region’s water supply before state-mandated sanctions kick in. California American Water is forging ahead with its plan: a desalination plant near Marina. But operating a desal plant is energy intensive and the construction itself will cost about $329 million. Spread across Cal Am’s local customer base of 40,000, that sum averages $8,225 per ratepayer, an expense that would be collected over the course of a few years.

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Full Allocations Hard To Reach Despite Storms

/in , , /by /Western FarmPress (Fresno)by Tim Hearden

Even as winter and early-spring storms have filled reservoirs to the brim and piled snow on Sierra Nevada mountaintops, state and federal officials say they’re limited in how much water they can send south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. California’s lead water agency on March 20 set anticipated deliveries to contractors at 70 percent of requested supplies. The Department of Water Resources’ (DWR) update came a few days after the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced that agricultural operations north of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta will receive their full supplies while south-of-Delta ag contractors will receive 55 percent.

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DWR Stops Releases From Oroville Dam Spillway

/in , /by /Chico Enterprise-Record

The state Department of Water Resources stopped releases from the Oroville Dam spillway on Wednesday because of forecasts showing upcoming dry weather. The department said releases were halted at 1 p.m. on Wednesday. Outflows from the newly reconstructed spillway started at 8,300 cubic-feet per second, or cfs, on April 2 and peaked at 25,000 cfs on April 7. “Releases over the past 10 days have provided adequate space in the reservoir to help provide flood protection,” said Erin Mellon, assistant director of public affairs, in a written statement.

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Upgrading California’s Water Grid For Future Needs

/in , /by /AgNet West (Fresno)by Brian German

Lawmakers recently heard testimony about the needs of California’s water grid at a recent House Subcommittee meeting on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife.  Several experts presented information about the current conditions of western water infrastructure and what will be required going forward. “One of the first priorities is to really think about groundwater as a more active part of this grid; manage it more intensively and actively.  The second piece is fix what’s broken and expand capacity where it’s needed,” Director of the Water Policy Center at the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), Ellen Hanak told the committee.

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OPINION: Garbage In, Garbage Out: Sacramento’s Salton Sea Restoration Plan In A Nutshell

/in , /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Jeff Geraci

Throwing away millions of taxpayer dollars to re-purpose contaminated waste for creating toxic retention ponds disguised as “habitat,” in the middle of a desert waste sump, is not good logic. At its core, the ill-advised attempt to “restore” the Salton Sea is nothing short of environmental malpractice. It will inevitably fail at a very high cost to both wildlife and taxpayers, succeeding only in perpetuating a hazardous condition. Activists have been peddling the backward notion that Salton Sea is polluted and therefore needs to be “saved,” in large part because birds are threatened. The reality: Birds are in peril because the Salton Sea exists.

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Even Though The Rain Felt Endless This Winter, It Actually Wasn’t That Wet

/in , /by /SF Gate (San Francisco)by Amy Graff

It’s official: This week, San Francisco surpassed what’s normal for the water year, and the rainy season isn’t over yet. The city measures 23.65 inches of rain on average in a water year, which runs from October 1 to September 30. After a round of light showers on Monday, the downtown gauge’s water-year total hit 23.69 inches. With more unsettled weather in the forecast, that number is bound to inch up even more in April and May, before holding steady through the summer months. While this season has stood out in many people’s minds as noteworthy and painstakingly rainy, “it’s just a normal year,” said Jan Null, a consulting meteorologist with Golden Gate Weather Services.

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Legislation To Repair Friant-Kern Canal Receives 7 – 0 Bipartisan Support, Advances To Appropriations Committee

/in , /by /The Porterville Recorder (Porterville, Calif.)

Senate Bill 559 (SB 559), authored by Senator Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger), representing the 14th Senate District in California, and principal co-authored by Senator Andreas Borgeas (R-Fresno), Assemblymember Devon Mathis (R-Visalia), Assemblymember Dr. Joaquin Arambula (D-Fresno), and Assemblymember Rudy Salas (D-Bakersfield), today advanced through the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water by 7-0 vote. The legislation, which received bipartisan support, will invest $400 million from the State’s General Fund towards the Friant-Kern Canal, one of the Central Valley’s most critical water delivery facilities.

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Metropolitan Water District And Member Agencies Offering Upgraded Turf Replacement Program

/in , /by /California Water News Daily

With summer and its accompanying heat, you may be asking if you really want to pay for your increased water bill thanks to your thirsty lawn. Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of Southern California and its member agencies understand your concern and have returned with an upgraded rebate program for customers who remove grass from their yards and replace it with sustainable landscaping. The upgraded turf replacement program now offers $2 per square foot for the grass removal/ sustainable landscaping program which is double the rebate amount that was most recently offered. The last time MWD and its agencies offered a $2-per-square-foot incentive was during the drought of 2014/2015.

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