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Prop. 3: California Water Projects Bond Measure Goes Down To Defeat

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Nanette Asimov

Backers mourned the loss of Proposition 3 on Wednesday, the nearly $9 billion bond measure that would have modernized old dams, restored tainted watersheds and created desalination plants, among dozens of other water projects throughout the state. Prop. 3 — backed by state water agencies, farming organizations, social justice advocates and environmentalists, but not the Sierra Club — lost by 52 to 48 percent, a difference of 320,000 votes out of nearly 7 million ballots cast.

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Brown, Newsom Wade In To Delay Plan To Withhold Water From Cities, Farms

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

A river restoration plan that would restrict the water supplies of California cities and farms, including San Francisco, was put on hold Wednesday after Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom joined Gov. Jerry Brown in requesting more time for negotiations over the controversial initiative. The State Water Resources Control Board was scheduled to vote Wednesday on a years-long proposal to boost flows in the San Joaquin River and its tributaries, part of an effort to restore California’s declining salmon population and revive the languishing Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

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Three Things To Know About Colorado River Plans In The Works

/in , /by /Nevada Public Radioby Luke Runyon

Water managers along the Colorado River are trying to figure out how to live with less. Climate change is growing the gap between the river’s supply, and the demands in the communities that rely on it, including seven western U.S. states and Mexico. The federal government recently released proposals called Drought Contingency Plans designed to keep the Colorado River’s biggest reservoirs from falling to levels where water is unable to be sent through the dams that hold up Lakes Powell and Mead.

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Did Gas, Homeless People And Sick Kids Kill California’s Water Bond?

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Ryan Sabalow, Lewis Griswold, and Bryan Anderson

California voters on Tuesday rejected a water bond for the first time in almost 30 years, disregarding pleas from its backers that the money would fix crumbling infrastructure, bring clean drinking water to disadvantaged communities and kick-start badly needed environmental restoration projects. As of Thursday’s tally, 54 percent of voters had rejected the $8.9 billion Proposition 3 that promised funds to help repair Oroville Dam and aid Central Valley farmers facing groundwater problems, among a list of other expenditures.

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$9 Billion California Water Bond Trailing In Early Returns

/in , /by /The Associated Pressby Don Thompson

Californians were leaning against borrowing $9 billion for water projects Tuesday in a state where water scarcity often pits city dwellers, farmers, anglers and environmentalists against one another. About 53 percent of voters opposed Proposition 3 with about 3.6 million votes counted. The bond measure devoted money to storage and dam repairs, watershed and fisheries improvements, and habitat protection and restoration. Much of the $8.9 billion was earmarked for conservancies and state parks to restore and protect watersheds, and to nonprofits and local agencies for river parkways.

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Brown, Newsom Send State Water Board Letter Requesting To Delay Wednesday’s Vote

/in , /by /The Modesto Beeby Ken Carlson and Mike Dunbar

Those who depend on the Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced rivers for agriculture and drinking water may have received a reprieve Tuesday night. The State Water Resources Control Board was set to adopt a proposal to double the amount of water allowed to flow unimpeded down the rivers and out to the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta on Wednesday. Instead, the board received a written request from Gov. Jerry Brown’s office and Governor-elect Gavin Newsom to postpone the vote until Dec. 12.

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Trial Date Set For Oroville Dam Lawsuits Against DWR

/in , /by /Chico Enterprise-Recordby Risa Johnson

A trial date has been set to hear several lawsuits against the state Department of Water Resources over the Oroville Dam crisis. The court scheduled the trial for June 1, 2020 during the second case management conference Friday in the Sacramento County Superior Court. Nearly all cases against DWR over the spillway crisis are being considered together through what is called a coordinated proceeding. A few new parties have been added to the proceeding since the last conference, including PG&E, Butte County and Mary’s Gone Crackers with Richard Wilbur Ranch, Inc.

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OPINION: San Joaquin Water Plan Is Good For The Delta And Valley

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Peter Drekmeier

It’s fitting that the Bay Area was named after Saint Francis, the patron saint of animals and the environment. After all, the San Francisco Bay Delta was historically one of the most biologically productive ecosystems on Earth. Sadly, the estuary is now on the brink of ecological collapse. Starved of fresh water flow from rivers that feed the Bay, the salt balance has been altered dramatically, affecting everything from plankton to marine mammals and leading to toxic algae blooms that can make people sick and kill pets and wildlife. Problems extend up into the rivers that flow into the Delta.

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California Voters Consider $9 Billion For Water Projects

/in , /by /Capital Press (Salem, Oregon)by Don Thompson

Voters will decide Tuesday whether California borrows nearly $9 billion for water infrastructure projects in the state where its scarcity often pits city dwellers, farmers, anglers and environmentalists against one another. Proposition 3 would devote the money to storage and dam repairs, watershed and fisheries improvements, and habitat protection and restoration. It is the largest water bond proposed since California’s nonpartisan legislative analyst began keeping track in 1970.

 

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OPINION: Buying A Myth On California Water Impedes Real-World Solutions

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Brent Hastey and Steve LaMar

The same black-and-white perspective that overshadows nearly all discussion on the water of the San Francisco Bay-Delta unfortunately briefly became San Francisco policy last week when the Board of Supervisors reflexively labeled the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission as being against restoring the health of the bay-delta’s ecosystem. In this narrative, one party incorrectly identifies restoring unimpaired flows as the only answer to declining fisheries. The other party disagrees, which instantly labels them as anti environmental. This in turn creates a false reality that stalls progress, widens divisions and reinforces a good guy/bad guy myth.

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