In “A Flood of Regulations Threatens to Leave California Dry” (Cross Country, June 1), Allysia Finley misinterprets the facts surrounding Cadiz’s plan to drain a vital Mojave Desert aquifer for profit. Cadiz wants to draw up to 50,000 acre-feet of water a year from the aquifer. However, it falsely claims the aquifer’s natural recharge rate is 32,000 acre-feet a year to justify withdrawing that much water.
The US Navy is seeking ideas to improve water and energy resilience for bases on two islands off the coast of California: San Clemente and San Nicolas. The islands already use various distributed energy resources, including solar, wind and diesel generators. The request is not a solicitation for contracts, but seeks information to help the Navy determine strategy for the facilities, leading to possible future solicitations. The Navy hopes to collaborate with private industry “to develop holistic energy and water solutions” on the islands, according to the white paper request. San Clemente is home to Naval Base Coronado, and San Nicolas to the Naval Base Ventura County.
At the same time Republicans in Washington are threatening to block President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Mexico, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis is counting the wounds inflicted on California by the White House’s “Molotov cocktail of policy.” Kounalakis, who is Gov. Gavin Newsom’s point person on trade, says the Trump administration’s tariffs on China have been deeply disruptive and costly to California’s $323 billion export market. The dollar volume of shipments to China declined 14% during the first three months of 2019 compared with last year at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the nation’s largest container port complex. And last year, California’s wine exports to China fell nearly 25%. Kounalakis says the Chinese simply bought more wine from Chile and Australia instead.
A coalition of California residents affected by unsafe drinking water held a symbolic “water strike” at the Capitol on Wednesday, pressing lawmakers to fund a plan that would clean up their water sources. More than 1 million Californians lack access to clean drinking water, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration. An additional 2 million people are vulnerable to contamination, according to the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund Coalition. “We cannot claim to be the Golden State when we have 1 million Californians without access to clean and affordable water,” said Daniel Peñaloza, City Council Member from Porterville in Tulare County. “This is an injustice and a disgrace.”
The 100% clean energy movement has swept the United States. Over the last six months, dozens of cities including Chicago (population 2.7 million+) have joined New Mexico, Washington State, Puerto Ricoand Washington D.C. in passing mandates that set a timeline by 2050 or sooner for utilities to entirely phase out fossil fuels in their electricity supply.
This brings us to the point where one in five Americans live in a jurisdiction that has passed such a policy. And with five more states considering legislation to do so, advocates say that this is just the beginning.
Use it or lose it” is what state and federal water managers in California are wrestling with as one of the biggest precipitation years has the mountains packed with snow and reservoirs loaded to the brim. For the state, water is liquid gold that feeds many people, animals, trees, and industries. But, if not well managed, it can also present great danger.
California set two renewable energy records last week: the most solar power ever flowing on the state’s main electric grid, and the most solar power ever taken offline because it wasn’t needed. There’s no contradiction: As California utilities buy more and more solar power as part of the state’s quest to confront climate change, supply and demand are increasingly out of sync. The state’s fleet of solar farms and rooftop panels frequently generate more electricity than Californians use during the middle of the day — a phenomenon that has sent lawmakers and some climate advocates scrambling to find ways to save the extra sunlight rather than let it go to waste.
In the midst of our most recent and severe drought, perhaps the most significant legislative water initiative in California in half a century was passed and signed into law, it is entitled: the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014 (SGMA). The 2014 law provides a framework for sustainable management of groundwater resources by local authorities. Water sustainability efforts ensure that adequate amounts of high-quality water supply will continue to be available in the future. The integrated management of water resources is a delicate balancing act that aims to maximize the economic and social benefits that water resources provide while maintaining aquatic ecosystems.
Everyone has heard it a million times by now: The Camp Fire was the most destructive fire in California’s history. But that’s only taking into consideration man-made structures. What about the natural landscape—and, in particular, our waterways? To echo the mantra of 2017’s Standing Rock protest, “Water is life.” That was what brought many people out to Chico State’s University Farm Tuesday (June 4) for the daylong Camp Fire Water Resources Monitoring and Research Symposium. Organized by the University of California Cooperative Extension, it included presentations from researchers who have been studying fire’s impact on ecosystems, in particular ground and surface water.
As the sun sets on California’s solar farms, a backup energy source deep in the Sierra Nevada Mountains springs to life. The huge system of reservoirs and turbines can store energy during the day and then crank out electricity for 900,000 homes, using just water and gravity.
As the state tries to make wind and solar work around the clock, officials want to build more like it. It won’t be easy: such projects take years to develop, are expensive and face stiff opposition.he push by California and other states to revive the century-old technology — called “pumped-hydro storage” — underscores the limitations of modern batteries.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
