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Opinion: From Water to Energy, Calif. Policies Disproportionately Harm Minority Communities

/in , /by /The Sunby Julian Canete

As California continues to implement policies that are negatively impacting the agriculture and energy sectors, we must ask ourselves…who is looking out for California’s minority and disadvantaged communities?

The latest example is California’s Central Valley, particularly Kern County. Kern is a dynamic county that has a long history of welcoming people from other parts of the United States and immigrants from other countries.

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Arizona Prepares to Break Open Its Water Bank

/in , /by /E&E Newsby Jennifer Yachnin

In late April 1996, Lake Powell sat at an elevation of 3,673 feet — just 27 feet below its maximum capacity. At that time of plenty, Arizona lawmakers worried that the state wasn’t using its full share of Colorado River water.

Instead of potentially ceding those flows to California, the state opened a kind of liquid piggy bank, storing away a share of its water for an uncertain future.

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State Water Board Approves Historic Russian River Water Sharing Agreement

/in , /by /North Bay Business Journalby Mary Callahan

The State Water Resources Control Board on Tuesday approved a groundbreaking agreement that allows “senior” water rights holders in the upper Russian River watershed to share their supply with junior rights holders whose claims might otherwise be suspended due to drought.

The collaborative, community-first approach, negotiated over many months by agricultural, municipal, tribal and other stakeholders in the region, is the first of its kind to try to bring balance to the allocation of scarce water supplies in a state governed by what one board member called an “inherently inequitable” water rights system.

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As Drought Lingers, CA Considers $1.5 Billion to Buy Farm Water Rights

/in , /by /Los Angeles Magazineby Laurenz Busch

A proposal to use up to $1.5 billion to purchase farmer’s senior water rights has made its way into the budget negotiations between lawmakers and Governor Gavin Newsom, the Associated Press reports.

It comes at a time when 98 percent of the state is experiencing a severe drought and is part of the larger $7.5 billion Water and Drought Package “to build a climate resilient water system.”

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State Imposes Sweeping Ban on Pumping River Water in San Joaquin Valley, Bay Area

/in , /by /CalMattersby Rachel Becker

In sweeping water curtailments stretching from Fresno to the Oregon state line, cities and growers in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta watershed have been ordered to stop pumping from rivers and streams.

The cutbacks, announced today by the State Water Resources Control Board, will affect 4,252 water rights in the Delta watershed, including 400 or more held by 212 public water systems, beginning Wednesday. But they’re concentrated around the San Joaquin River and its tributaries, where state officials expect “significant, very deep cuts.”

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Monterey County Elected Officials to Debate a Change in Desal Law

/in , , /by /Monterey Heraldby Dennis L. Taylor

Desalination projects have always been a contentious issue in Monterey County and a proposal that will be mulled by elected officials Tuesday afternoon is sure to raise the eyebrows of advocates for publicly owned desal projects.

The idea that will be presented to the Board of Supervisors during its afternoon session beginning at 1:30 p.m. is an amendment to an existing ordinance allowing only public ownership of desal plants rather than private ownership.

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At Least 12 Military Bases Contaminating Water Supply With Toxic PFAS

/in , , /by /The Guardianby Tom Perkins

Dangerous levels of toxic PFAS are contaminating water supplies in areas around at least 12 military bases, new Department of Defense testing has revealed, drawing concern from public health advocates that the DoD is not doing enough to protect the public.

The data released this week by the military shows levels for five kinds of PFAS compounds at what Scott Faber, vice-president of government affairs for Environmental Working Group, characterized as “extremely high” levels, and he said they present a health threat to residents living nearby.

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Could Central Coast Get 3 New Reservoirs to Generate Power by Pumping Water Between Lakes?

/in , , /by /The Tribuneby Mackenzie Shuman and John Lindt

As the prospect of a floating offshore wind energy development off San Luis Obispo County’s coast gets ever closer, energy storage developers are taking a good look at their prospects in the region.

One company has proposals for pumped storage projects that involve moving water between reservoirs to generate electricity — which would call for three new reservoirs to be built along the Central Coast.

 

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Opinion: Water Scarcity Should Mean Less Planned Growth

/in , , /by /The Nevada Independantby Bob Fulkerson

“Water is not a constraint to growth,” according to EDAWN (Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada) Director Mike Kazmierski. But the hard truth is that the Sierra Nevada snowpack is in control of our regional water supply, not EDAWN. And, according to new research by the Lawrence Berkeley Lab, most of the Sierra Nevada snowpack will likely be gone by 2050 because of climate change and drought.

We are told by regional water managers that we have enough water rights to fuel growth in the Truckee Meadows and nearby valleys for the next 50 years.

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Colorado, Utah and Wyoming Could Be as Dry as Arizona in the Future, Study Says

/in , , /by /KJZZby Alex Hager

A new study finds that the upper Colorado River basin is drying out due to climate change. This means in the future, parts of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming could more closely resemble Arizona and the desert Southwest.

Research from the Los Alamos National Laboratory predicts that mountain snow will start melting and running into streams and reservoirs much earlier.

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