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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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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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In Bid For Cleaner Water, California Seeks Arranged Utility Marriages

/in , /by /Circle of Blue (Traverse City, Mich.)by Brett Walton

Michael Salazar, in his mid-fifties and on government disability, is the reluctant president of South Kern Mutual Water Company. The tiny nonprofit enterprise supplies drinking water from a single well tainted by toxic substances to 15 homes in an unincorporated community just outside this city’s southern boundary, where almond orchards unfurl toward the horizon. The outgoing president, Sherry Settlemoir, who lives across the street, stepped down at the beginning of 2018 because the duties of the troubled water company were overwhelming. She had to file regulatory paperwork and administrative reports, collect bills, do basic maintenance, and pay contractors. Besides, she has an ill father in Oklahoma to take care of.

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OPINION: SB307 Goes Against California’s Water Needs

/in , /by /The Press-Enterprise (Riverside)

California is finishing one of its rainiest winters in decades, which leaves most of us pining for less water rather than more of it. But it wasn’t long ago the state was facing a devastating and persistent drought. Rain comes and goes, but this mostly arid state still has a growing population. There’s continual need for new water resources. That’s why we’re disappointed that Sen. Richard Roth, D-Riverside, and Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, D-Glendale, have reintroduced legislation designed to cripple a long-planned water project in the Mojave Desert. Senate Bill 307 prohibits water transfers unless two agencies agree that the transfers do not harm state and federal desert lands.

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San Jose Water Bills Could Go Up, Despite Years Of Conservation Efforts

/in , /by /Fox KTVU (San Jose)by Kristin J. Bender

When California’s historic drought mandated that residents take shorter showers, cut back on watering their lawns and give up washing their cars, folks in San Jose did their part to save water. At the start of the drought in 2014, then Gov. Jerry Brown set down a 20 percent reduction target (from 2013 levels) for urban water suppliers. San Jose Water Company hit the mark every year from 2015 to 2018. Further, the water company put in place a “critical water reduction plan” in order to meet a 30 percent water-use reduction goal set by the Santa Clara Valley Water District and residents nearly achieved that goal during 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

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Santa Barbara declares End To Drought Emergency

/in , /by /KSBY (Santa Barbara)by Lindsay Zuchelli

The City of Santa Barbara declared an end to its drought emergency Tuesday. The city says the above-average rainfall this winter improved water supplies. Based on current water supply forecasts, the city believes it has enough supply to meet demands through 2021. On Tuesday, the City Council ended its Stage Three Drought Emergency, lifting drought water use regulations. The City Council first enacted the Stage Three Drought Emergency in 2015, requiring 25 percent water conservation initially. According to the city’s website, that conservation number eventually increased to 40 percent. Now that the drought emergency is over, that requirement will be lifted, however, the city will still enforce regulations against irrigation runoff and anyone who fails to repair a leak.

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