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Saving Troubled Water Systems Requires Flexible Solutions, Not Mandates

/in , /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Michael Kiparsky and Nell Green Nylen

During the hot summer months of 2014, East Porterville, Calif., became a poster child for vulnerable drinking water. Hundreds of shallow wells in this unincorporated Tulare County community ran dry in the midst of statewide drought. Some families had to wait years to have running water again, when their homes were finally connected to the city of Porterville’s municipal water supply. While East Porterville’s experience made headlines around the country, the serious drinking-water problems facing other communities across California are just beginning to receive much-needed attention.

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Water Conservation Is Only Part Of The Solution

/in , /by /Ventura County Starby Susan Mulligan

After reading the Ventura County Star’s Aug. 12 editorial, “Conserving water still our best bet,” as general manager of the Calleguas Municipal Water District, which is responsible for meeting the potable water demands for 75 percent of Ventura County’s residents, I felt compelled to set the record straight. The editorial indicated that the entire county’s water supplies are deficient and urged water users to “up their game” with respect to conservation. While we agree that water should always be used efficiently, we do not agree that conservation is the only tool needed to manage water supplies, or that the water supply condition across the county is uniform.

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Delta Caucus Urges Postponement Of Tunnel Hearings

/in , /by /East County Today

Assemblymember Jim Frazier (D-Discovery Bay), co-chairman of the California Legislative Delta Caucus, Friday sent the attached letter from the Caucus to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, urging postponement of a hearing scheduled Tuesday morning on State Water Project contract extensions and amendments, which has implications for the proposed Delta tunnels project. “The timing of this hearing and lack of adequate notification is deeply disturbing, an example of backroom dealing that causes Californians to distrust their elected leaders. There is no good reason to hold these hearings now. These contracts don’t expire until 2023, five years from now. This is another attempt by proponents of the Delta tunnels to push this project through. I am disappointed the Joint Legislative Budget Committee couldn’t see that this hearing is unnecessary at this time.”

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OPINION: California’s WaterFix Was Always A Dangerous Deal. Now The Trump Administration Is Making It Worse

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Eric Wesselman and Robert Wright

There are many reasons to oppose the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta water tunnels project, now called the California WaterFix. The Trump administration has just added a few more. The WaterFix is the most controversial and expensive water project in California history. It would install two huge tunnels, at a cost of at least $20 billion, revamping the way the state diverts water from the Sacramento River and the delta to farms and cities to the south. The earlier “peripheral canal” version of this project was voted down in a statewide referendum by a 2-to-1 margin in 1982.

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Water Agencies, Farmers Fret Over California’s Move To Regulate Wetlands

/in , /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Matt Weiser

The State of California is working on a new regulatory program to oversee protection of wetlands and other ephemeral water bodies, such as seasonal streams. It comes in response to the Trump administration’s plan to roll back federal protection of such waters, which are critical for wildlife habitat, flood protection, groundwater recharge and water quality. Water Deeply explored the state’s proposal in detail in an article published this week. But what would this broad new California regulatory program mean to the water industry and developers in the state?

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Fire, Water And Trump’s Tweets

/in , /by /Capitol Weekly (Sacramento, Calif.)by Scott Soriano

On Aug. 6, President Donald Trump made his first Twitter statement on California’s summer fire season, which started on June 1. Unlike his statement on last year’s Wine Country fires, when the president tweeted condolences to victims of the fires and support for the firefighters, Trump used these latest natural disasters to troll California with nonsense. At 10:43 a.m., Trump tweeted, “Governor Jerry Brown must allow the Free Flow of the vast amounts of water coming from the North and foolishly being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Can be used for fires, farming and everything else. Think of California with plenty of Water –Nice! Fast Federal govt. approvals.”

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Why Some Water Managers Are Unprepared For Climate Change

/in , /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Lindsay Abrams

Water Utility Managers in California are far from unified in their use of climate change science to guide decisions, according to a recent study from the University of California, Davis. And as a result, they may be putting water supplies at risk. The study’s authors were interested in finding out what was happening on the ground, right at the local utility level. They interviewed 61 water managers across the state, ultimately dividing them into three groups based on how they engage with climate information.

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OPINION: Stop The Delta Debacle Before Property Owners Get Gouged

/in , /by /The Mercury News (San Jose)by Ed Clendaniel

Call it the Big Gouge. Tuesday, Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration will try for a third time to secure a political mega-deal that would commit millions of California property owners to pay for the $19.9 billion  Delta twin-tunnels water grab. Without approval of voters or the Legislature. It’s an atrocious abuse of the political system that must be stopped. Blocking the effort would save property owners thousands of dollars over the next 20-40 years and help preserve the health of the Delta for the next generation and beyond.

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Part Of California Is Sinking, Here’s Where And Why

/in , /by /The Weather Networkby Dr. Mario Picazo

Researchers from UCLA and the University of Houston have been tracking changes in the groundwater table that runs below California’s San Joaquin Central Valley. The study directed by UCLA’s Department of Geography Dennis Lettenmaier shows how between 2002 and 2016 there was a significant loss of groundwater from what is considered one of the largest agricultural hubs in the United States, as it provides more than half of the country’s fruit, vegetable and nut supply.

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Oroville Dam Repairs Hit $1.1 Billion, Could Climb Further

/in , /by /Bakersfield Nowby Paul Elias

The cost of repairs and other improvements stemming from last year’s near disaster at the nation’s tallest dam is $1.1 billion, a staggering total nearly $250 million over projections at the start of the year and that could go higher, California officials said Wednesday.

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