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Five Things To Know About Water Bonds On Upcoming California Ballots

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

California this year will vote on not one but two water bond measures totaling $13 billion. Given that the state still hasn’t spent all of the $7.5billion from the Proposition 1 water bond passed in 2014, it raises a crucial question: Does California really need another $13 billion in water bonds? As of December 2017, the state had allocated only about $1 billion from Proposition 1. About half of the total money available from the bond is dedicated to new water storage under a complicated new process that funds only the “public benefits” of such projects.

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OPINION: Keep State’s Struggling Water Systems Afloat

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Danielle Blacet and David Guy

We all can agree every Californian should have access to safe drinking water. But too many – nearly 800,000 people – do not. The unfortunate reality is their local drinking water system serves contaminated water or can’t provide reliable service, and also can’t afford to invest in improvements to make the system safe. There are about 300 of these chronically noncompliant systems, most small and in rural, isolated communities. We can take an important step toward fixing this important health and safety problem by empowering newly created local agencies to supply clean and safe drinking water.

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Adaptation To Global Water Shortages: Fresno

/in , /by /KCET (Burbank)

California’s Central Valley is home to 19 percent of food production in the world yet about 100,000 of its residents have lived without clean drinking water for decades. New technologies attempt to overcome political and cost challenges in filtering toxins out of tap water in this rural region. New technologies attempt to overcome political and cost challenges in filtering toxins out of tap water in this rural region.

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OPINION: Proposed Public Water Tax Must Be Rejected

/in , /by /Ukiah Daily Journalby Jim Shields

There’s a bill that’s been resurrected after not going anywhere last year in the state Senate that if approved would impose for the first time in California a tax on public drinking water for both homes and businesses. It was a bad idea the first time around, and its standing has not improved with its reintroduction this session. SB 623, sponsored by Sen. Bill Monning, D-Monterey, would generate $2 billion over 15 years allegedly for a Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund, which would provide emergency water and longer-term system fixes for hundreds of communities whose tap water doesn’t meet safe drinking-water standards.

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Sites Reservoir Officials: $1 Billion Falls Short Of Hopes

/in , /by /Appeal Democrat (Marysville)by Jake Abbott

The California Water Commission – the entity responsible for awarding $2.7 billion in Proposition 1 funds to water storage projects in a few months – didn’t quite see eye-to-eye with officials pushing for Sites Reservoir, primarily on the benefits to salmon the project would provide. When final public benefit ratio scores came out earlier this month, the commission said Sites, situation on the Colusa and Glenn counties border, was eligible for $1 billion – about $600 million short of what Sites officials requested.

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OPINION: The ‘Fix’ In WaterFix Is Certainly Appropriate

/in , /by /Oroville Mercury Register

A bit of irony has emerged over Jerry Brown’s name for his twin tunnels idea — California WaterFix — because it sure looks like the fix is on. The plan to put two huge tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to carry north state water south has faltered on its own, and is unlikely to advance if it is put to the kinds of environmental and financial review that it warrants.

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California Moves Closer To Crafting Specific Water Caps For Urban Districts

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Bettina Boxall

California cities and towns may find themselves on a water budget in the next decade under a pair of bills approved Thursday by the legislature. The measures follow Gov. Jerry Brown’s call to make water conservation a permanent way of life in a state long accustomed to jewel-green lawns and suburban tracts studded with swimming pools. More than a year of legislative negotiations reflected the enduring conflicts over state and local control. Though the bills establish a framework to end excessive urban water use, the proposals were substantially weakened by a series of amendments sought by water districts.

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Indoor Use Limits, Water Budgets And Aerial Data Gathering: California’s Plan To Wean Us Off Water Waste

/in , /by /KPCC (Pasadena)by Emily Guerin

In the next 18 months, a small plane will fly over every city in California, recording data on what kind of plants are growing in our lawns, parks and street medians. That data will help determine where we’re wasting water, and help cities use it more efficiently. It’s a radical departure from the way water conservation has been done in California in the past, when, during water emergencies, state officials would simply instruct cities to cut usage by a certain percentage.

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Trump Administration Names Former Oil Spokesman Who Led “Lock Her Up” Chants Against Hillary Clinton As EPA Chief for West Coast

/in , /by /East Bay Timesby Paul Rogers

The Trump administration on Friday named Mike Stoker, a Santa Barbara County attorney and former oil company spokesman who some credit with coining the “lock her up!” chants against Hillary Clinton at the Republican Convention in 2016, as the new West Coast head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Stoker will lead the U.S EPA Region 9 office, which is based in San Francisco. The office oversees a wide variety of subjects, from air pollution fines against oil refineries to drinking water issues and wetlands permits for developers in California, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, and the Pacific Islands.

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OPINION: A New Tax To Fund Drinking Water? Try The Old Ones

/in , /by /Eureka Times-Standard

Three hundred miles to the south, our society rewards the makers of tech trinkets with the greatest fortunes ever amassed in history — largely, infamously untaxed. Meanwhile, a coalition of government officials here and in Sacramento is asking you to pay a little more to ensure that everyone in the state has access to clean drinking water. It’s true, clean drinking water is an admirable goal for all and a sad memory for some. Just ask the residents of Flint.

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