The California Water Fix/delta tunnels project is facing new challenges every day, most recently in regard to financing. Whether or not the state’s water suppliers support the plan, an essential piece is missing from the conversation: the potential of the state’s watersheds — the forests, meadows and streams that deliver water to our dams — to help solve California’s water problems.
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Handicapping the Rainy Season
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The New York TimesIt was a year of plenty for parched California. State figures released at the end of the water year, which resets each Oct. 1, tell the story: The northern Sierra Nevada had its wettest year, 95 inches of precipitation, since record-keeping began in 1895. IN the central Sierra, it was the wettest in more than three decades. The rain at times overwhelmed the state’s water infrastructure, terrifyingly so in Orville.
BLOG: Westlands Has Said ‘No’ Before
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Stockton Recordby Alex BreitlerOne under-reported detail in the wake of the Westlands Water District’s vote against the Delta tunnels is the fact that this isn’t the first time the water district has supposedly rejected the project — or at least, the process. “We’re not going to spend another dime on this,” Westlands board President Jean Sagouspe told the Fresno Bee in — wait for it — 2010. That’s right. Almost seven years ago Westlands declared that it was pulling out of what was then known as the Bay Delta Conservation Plan. Its concerns at the time were essentially the same as today: That the project — which was then sized to deliver up to 15,000 cubic feet per second of water, 40 percent larger than today — would simply not deliver enough water to make it worth the cost.
A Crazy Water Year Ended Saturday. So Did We Set Any Records for Rain and Snow?
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Modesto Beeby John HollandThe water year that ended Saturday was the wettest on record for the watersheds feeding the Tuolumne and Stanislaus rivers. The Merced River fell just short. The Tuolumne had about 4.86 million acre-feet of runoff from rain and snowmelt from last October through September, the Turlock Irrigation District reported. That beat the previous high of 4.64 million in 1983 and was 255 percent of the historical average, spokesman Brandon McMillan said.
Work Continues On The Oroville Dam Main Spillway
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Mercury News (San Jose)by Randy VazquezConstruction continues on the Oroville Dam’s main spillway this week. The Department of Water Resources has been working to reconstruct the the main spillway which was damaged in February because of heavy winter rain. Crews with Kiewit Corp., the lead contractor on the job, are working around the clock to rebuild enough of the main spillway in time for next rainy season. The deadline for the rebuild is Nov. 1. A study by an independent forensic team found that poor design and construction in the 1960s led to the failure of the spillway.
OPINION: Water Policy Leaves California Vulnerable
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Orange County Registerby Michael ShiresWater is the Central Valley’s economic lifeblood — of that, there is no doubt. The drought of the last five years has put tremendous pressure on the state’s water allocation systems and shown that they are not only broken but incapable of adapting to the realities of a sustained drought cycle. But, why should people in Southern California and Orange County care if water is not available to the Central Valley and agricultural production goes away?
The US Has a Vast, Untapped Supply of Renewable Energy That’s Neither Wind, Solar, or Hydropower
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Quartz (New York)The value of water as a liquid is obvious. We can drink it, use it to clean ourselves and our things, swim in it to cool off and to play, and build dams across it to harvest its energy. Water as clouds are also essential: they are key for the way they deliver precipitation to cropland and forests. But scientists now say we may have been overlooking the most useful stage of the water cycle.
Private Water Firms Tap Profit From Struggling Public Utilities
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Bloomberg BNAA cash crunch for public water utilities is creating an opportunity for the growing for-profit water companies—but it’s one that might drain customers’ wallets. Companies like American Water Works Co. and Aqua America Inc. are finding the time is right to purchase small, troubled water utilities from local governments that are facing political pressure to keep rates low—often by delaying infrastructure upgrades. Acquisitions like these are helping private water companies grow even while per capita water consumption continues its long-term downward trend.
Clogged Tunnels? North Delta Towns Stay Guarded After Financial Setback for Twin Tunnels
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Sacramento News & Reviewby Scott Thomas AndersonThe water project that north Delta communities fear will end their way of life may have met its own ending, after the plan to finance it collapsed unexpectedly in a Central California boardroom last week.
News of the twin tunnels’ setback came September 20, when the Westlands Water District, which serves farms in Fresno and King counties, voted not to participate in financing its share of the $17 billion project. The WWD’s manager told the Sacramento Bee that signing on would cause too much monetary pain. The district was expected to pay roughly $3 billion.