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Opinion: Byzantine Water Laws Will Leave Californians High and Dry

/in , /by /Cal Mattersby Richard Frank and Holly Doremus

It’s been said that California is confronting a 21st century water crisis armed with 20th century infrastructure and 19th century laws. That’s indisputably true.

California’s water rights system was created in the latter half of the 1800s. It has changed surprisingly little since then. In a state that prides itself on environmental innovation, it’s alarming that California’s calcified water rights system is out of sync with current needs.

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Here’s Why You Might See Red Dye in the Water Near Del Mar Bluffs

/in , /by /FOX 5by Jamie Chambers

Bluff erosion along the coastal city has shut down train travel and endangered beachgoers.

Now, a new test has been set up to understand how rainwater destabilizes the bluffs in Del Mar.

The San Diego Association of Governments, or SANDAG, is using red dye to color water and then flush it down the storm drains to see where the water runs out of the bluffs into the ocean.

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PWD to Offer Water Use, Conservation Courses to Customers

/in , /by /Antelope Valley Pressby Allison Gatlin

The Palmdale Water District Board of Directors gave the go-ahead to staff to develop a water education class, which customers could attend in lieu of paying fines for overuse, should mandatory water restrictions be put in place.

Suggested by Director Amberrose Merino, the class is modeled after one used successfully in Santa Cruz in 2014, which offered customers a one-time waiver of fees for overuse if they attended a course about water use and conservation.

“They actually had a really successful program,” Resource and Analytics Supervisor Claudia Bolanos said.

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Experts – Once Again — Tell Senate Panel That California’s Key Climate Change Strategy Is Flawed

/in , /by /Cal Mattersby Julie Cart

Legislators today debated the Newsom administration’s long-term strategy for cutting greenhouse gases, with some experts reiterating their common refrain that parts of California’s cap-and-trade program are deeply flawed.

A panel of experts and the Legislative Analyst’s Office told lawmakers at a Senate hearing what they’ve heard before: The market-based cap-and-trade program that California relies on to do the heavy lifting to reduce climate-warming pollutants is unlikely to achieve the state’s 2030 targets.

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Feds’ Central Valley Project Expects to Send No Water to California Farms This Year, Little to Cities

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

After an extraordinarily dry start to the year, the federal government announced Wednesday that most farms in California will likely receive no water from the state’s biggest reservoirs in 2022, the latest fallout from drought and a blow to an agricultural industry already crippled by tight supplies. Cities and towns, meanwhile, will get just a fraction of the water they requested.

An impending third straight year of drought has left California’s federally managed reservoirs, including giant Shasta and Trinity lakes, soiled by cracked earth and “bathtub rings,” and standing as striking images of the state’s aridity. Many of the storage sites are at near-record lows for this point in the wet winter season, and officials at the Bureau of Reclamation say there’s just not enough water for everyone who needs it.

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Citing Drought, US Won’t Give Water to California Farmers

/in , /by /AP Newsby Adam Beam

With California entering the third year of severe drought, federal officials said Wednesday they won’t deliver any water to farmers in the state’s major agricultural region — a decision that will force many to plant fewer crops in the fertile soil that yields the bulk of the nation’s fruits, nuts and vegetables.

“It’s devastating to the agricultural economy and to those people that rely on it,” said Ernest Conant, regional director for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. “But unfortunately we can’t make it rain.”

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Vista Irrigation District To Hold Public Hearings On Redistricting

/in , /by

Vista, Calif. – Vista Irrigation District board of directors will hold a public hearing on March 2, 2022 at 9 a.m. to discuss proposed adjustments to division boundaries as part of the decennial redistricting process.

Every ten years, agencies with by-district election systems, such as Vista Irrigation District, must use new federal census data to review and, if needed, redraw electoral division boundaries to reflect how local populations have changed. This process, called redistricting, ensures all electoral divisions comply with both the California and federal Voting Rights Acts. The District must reestablish electoral divisional boundaries, creating divisions that are balanced in population and in accordance with local, state, and federal laws that govern the redistricting process. Redistricting does not change the District’s service area boundaries.

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California’s Drought Endures: Feds’ Central Valley Project Announces 0% Water for Farmers

/in , , /by /Fresno Beeby Dale Kasler

Farmers in California’s Central Valley are in for another brutal summer of drought.

The federal government announced initial 2022 water allocations Wednesday for customers of the Central Valley Project, and the figures were dismal: Most irrigation districts in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys can expect to receive no deliveries from the project’s vast network of reservoirs and canals.

 

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Snow Falling: As Climate Warms, Overhauling California Water Projections Gains Urgency

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Rachel Becker

Packed onto the slopes of the Sierra Nevada is a precious source of water for California — a frozen reservoir that climate change is already transforming.

As the planet warms, the spring snowpack is dwindling. The snow is creeping up mountainsides to higher elevations, melting earlier in the year and seeping into dry soils rather than washing into rivers and streams that feed reservoirs.

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Poseidon Vows 100% Clean Energy for Desalination Plant in Huntington Beach

/in , , /by /The Orange County Registerby Martin Wisckol

As Poseidon Water gears up for next month’s final permit hearings on its controversial Huntington Beach desalination proposal, the company signed a non-binding agreement Tuesday, Feb. 22, recognizing a “goal” of 100% clean energy for the massive power needs of the plant.

The surge of new greenhouse gases resulting from those needs is among numerous objections to the operation, and opponents remain skeptical Poseidon will follow through with its 100% clean energy promise.

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