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Feinstein Pushes To Extend Controversial Water Law Despite Environmental Concern

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

Sen. Dianne Feinstein is joining forces with House Republicans to try to extend a controversial law that provides more water for Central Valley farms, but with a sweetener for the environment: help with protecting California’s rivers and fish. The proposed extension of the WIIN Act, or Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act, would keep millions of federal dollars flowing for new dams and reservoirs across the West. It would also continue to allow more water to be moved from wet Northern California to the drier south.

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OPINION: Dan Walters: New Water Deal Isn’t A Political Certainty

/in , /by /Napa Valley Registerby Dan Walters

Water supply is clearly the most important long-term issue affecting California’s future. It’s also the most politically complicated. Incremental changes in California water policy typically take years, if not decades, to work their way through seemingly infinite legal, regulatory and political processes at federal, state and local levels – and the conflicts often are over the processes themselves.

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Sierra Snowpack Well Above Average After Storms

/in , /by /NBC 4 (Los Angeles)

Back-to-back California storms blanket the Sierra Nevada in snow, more than twice the snowpack level compared to this time last year, with winter still nearly two weeks away. At the same time last year, the Sierra snowpack was 47 percent of average, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday. A series of systems starting around Thanksgiving dropped several feet (meters) of fresh powder in some mountain areas.

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7 Southwestern States, Including California, Expected to Miss Deadline on Colorado River Drought Plan

/in , /by /KTLA 5 (Los Angeles)

With drought entering a second decade and reservoirs continuing to shrink, seven Southwestern U.S. states that depend on the overtaxed Colorado River for crop irrigation and drinking water had been expected to ink a crucial share-the-pain contingency plan by the end of 2018. They’re not going to make it — at least not in time for upcoming meetings in Las Vegas involving representatives from Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and the U.S. government, officials say.

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Big Setback for Gov. Brown’s Twin Tunnels Delta Water Project

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Peter Fimrite

A crucial certification needed to build two tunnels that officials believe would help solve California’s water delivery problems was withdrawn Friday, ensuring that Gov. Jerry Brown’s pet water project won’t be approved before he leaves office in January. The California Department of Water Resources withdrew its petition seeking approval of Brown’s $17 billion twin tunnels plan, known as California WaterFix, which would take water out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and deliver it to users in the south.

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No Longer a ‘Boys Club’: In the World of Water, Women are Increasingly Claiming Center Stage

/in , /by /Water Education Foundation (Sacramento)by Gary Pitzer

The 1992 election to the United States Senate was famously coined the “Year of the Woman” for the record number of women elected to the upper chamber. In the water world, 2018 has been a similar banner year, with noteworthy appointments of women to top leadership posts in California — Karla Nemeth at the California Department of Water Resources and Gloria Gray at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

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OPINION: We’d Prefer a Deal. But We’ll Fight to Protect our Rivers if That’s What it Takes

/in , /by /The Modesto Bee

Five appointed state regulators can do an enormous amount to help salmon and the state’s most-altered water system on Dec. 12. Or they can guarantee that water lawyers will stay busy for decades to come. The State Water Resources Control Board’s five members – including one added Thursday – are scheduled to vote on implementing the Bay-Delta Plan’s Substitute Environmental Document. If unchanged, the SED will require 40 to 50 percent of the Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced rivers to flow unimpaired to the Delta, for the sake of salmon. It would also require vast amounts of water be left in cold storage behind the region’s three dams to help salmon in an ever-warming environment.

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New Digital Map Shows Which Community Water Systems Have Lead

/in , /by /Paso Robles Daily News

A new digital map that highlights which community water systems have reported the presence of lead pipes and fixtures is the latest legislatively-mandated action to target the health risks of lead in drinking water and set a timetable to replace the potentially hazardous hardware. Released this week, the map uses State Water Board data from nearly 3,000 community water systems throughout California and places the information on an easy-to-read, color-coded document that is expected to change as testing continues statewide.

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Colorado River Drought Plan ‘Gaining Momentum’ As CAP Board Signals Support

/in , /by /The Arizona Republic (Phoenix)

The agency that manages the Central Arizona Project canal signaled its support for the latest outline of a Colorado River drought plan in a vote that could lay the groundwork for a deal aimed at preventing Lake Mead from reaching perilously low levels. Board members of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District passed a motion Thursday saying they support “key provisions” of the plan, which they’re calling Arizona’s implementation plan for the proposed three-state Drought Contingency Plan.

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Farm Bureau President Says Water Rights Will Be Priority In 2019

/in , /by /The Daily Democrat (Woodland, California)by Jim Smith

For months, the Santa Clara Valley Water District has been preparing for its annual flood awareness campaign. Our multi-language poster full of flood safety tips is hitting mailboxes in areas located in or near flood-prone zones. You may hear or see our new flood awareness ads, with the theme “Climate Changed.” The timing of this message could not be more fitting. The newly released Fourth National Climate Assessment shows that the effects of climate change are already being felt all over the country, including more frequent and intense extreme weather and climate-related events.

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