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California WaterFix Start Dates Raise Red Flags

/in , /by /The Press (Brentwood) by Tony Kukulich

An application submitted by the Delta Conveyance Finance Authority (DCFA) seeking $1.6 billion in federal funding to support the California WaterFix project has raised some eyebrows.

The application indicates dates for the issuance of construction permits and the start of tunnel construction.

“They emphatically state that they’re going to have the permit in their hand on Dec. 14 and construction begins Dec. 15,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta. “So either the permit in front of the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) is a fait accompli or these guys are just straight out lying to the federal government and marching in with a lot of hubris.”

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Arizona May Have To Cut Back On Water Use in 2020, Outlook Says

/in , /by /Arizona Republicby Joshua Bowling

Arizona will avoid a water shortage next year, but water users may be forced to cut back in 2020, according to a new federal report released Wednesday.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s outlook comes as Arizona managers and stakeholders work to finalize a drought-contingency plan in time for the next legislative session. Overallocation, climate change and long-term drought have contributed to Lake Mead’s decline, where water levels hover just a few feet above shortage triggers.

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State Water Board Won’t Vote Until Next Week on Controversial River Flow Plan

/in , /by /Modesto Beeby Ken Carlson

The State Water Board is making it clear that it won’t vote next week on a much-disputed proposal to require higher river flows for improving water quality in the Sacramento-San Joaquin river delta.

Felicia Marcus, who chairs the water board, said in a letter Wednesday to the California Natural Resources Agency that final action will be taken at a board meeting later.

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OPINION: Unfinished Business On Water

/in , /by /Davis Enterpriseby Wade Crowfoot

In the latest Public Policy Institute of California poll, voters said drought, water supply, and water pollution are the state’s most pressing environmental challenge.

Californians recognize that water fuels our economy, grows our food, and sustains our natural places.

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OPINION: If We’re Smart, We Can Find Enough Water For All Of Us

/in , /by /Modesto Beeby Patrick Koepele

The Modesto Bee has expressed a strong negative opinion of the State Water Resources Control Board’s proposal to require additional water to be left in the Tuolumne River and other San Joaquin tributaries to improve water quality and the environment.

Regrettably, what has received little attention in this debate are the opportunities for improving water management to meet the agricultural and environmental demands placed on these rivers.

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California Public Utilities Commission’s Proposed Decision Backs Cal Am Desalination Project

/in , /by /Monterey Heraldby Jim Johnson

In a major development for California American Water’s long-sought desalination project, the California Public Utilities Commission has issued a proposed decision recommending approval of the proposal known as the Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project.

In a 223-page filing, a three-judge panel found that Cal Am’s desal project is the best option available to provide the Monterey Peninsula with a timely replacement water supply to offset the state water board’s Carmel River pumping cutback order and the need to reduce pumping from the adjudicated Seaside basin. Judges Gary Weatherford, Robert Haga and Darcie Houck also recommended certifying the project’s combined environmental review document, arguing that project impacts could either be mitigated or would be outweighed by the project’s benefits.

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Oroville Dam: See Before-and-After Video of Construction Progress

/in , /by /East Bay Timesby Paul Rogers

Eighteen months after the dramatic failure of the spillways at Oroville Dam in Northern California, a disaster that led to the evacuation of 188,000 people, construction is on schedule to complete the concrete work in the main spillway by Nov. 1.

In recent weeks, 805 workers from Kiewit, the Nebraska-based company that was awarded the main construction contract on the project, have continued to rebuild sections of the massive 3,000-foot-long spillway.

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Why One Arizona County Could Upend the Southwest’s Drought Plan

/in , /by /Water Deeplyby Matt Weiser

Serious water shortages on the Colorado River could be less than two years away, according to new federal estimates. Yet after 19 years of drought, just 500 farmers in one Arizona county may decide the fate of the entire Southwest: By holding tight to their own temporary water supply, they could stall a conservation plan designed to save the entire region from water shortages.

Pinal County, sandwiched between Phoenix and Tucson, is the third-largest farming county in Arizona and 54th in the nation, generating about $1 billion in annual sales, according to United States Department of Agriculture statistics. Beef cattle and milk generate more than half of that income, with cotton and alfalfa the next largest commodities

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California’s Biggest Environmental Challengers? Water. Climate Change. Political Hot Air.

/in , /by /Sacramento Beeby Editorial Staff

California Influencers, a group of the state’s most respected experts in public policy, politics and government, weighed in on this question: What is the biggest environmental challenge facing the state?

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In California’s New Wildfire Reality, Facing the Need for Periodic Fires to Clear Fuel

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Curtis Alexander

When a wall of flames raced up the hillside at Avalanche Creek on a recent afternoon, firefighters in Yosemite National Park had to act quickly.

The giant Ferguson Fire was headed toward the south rim of Yosemite Valley, and if crews didn’t stop it here, the fire would open up on the edge of the park’s most beloved spot. Already, 10,000 acres of Yosemite had been charred, and much of the park was entering its third week of closure.

But just as the blaze began spitting hot embers out of the creek drainage and across Glacier Point Road, where helicopters with water buckets and engine teams with chain saws had staked their line of defense, firefighters caught a break — at least for the moment.

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