Need a financial incentive to rip out your water-sucking lawn in favor of something a little more drought friendly? Here it is: The Metropolitan Water District is bringing back landscape rebates, starting in July: The district will offer a rebate of $1 per square foot of turf removal. And, depending upon where you live, you might get an additional incentive on top of that from participating member agencies.
Leaders of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California recently had a historic choice to make regarding our largest imported supply from Northern California via the State Water Project. We could either provide the funds necessary to ensure that the full modernization project known as California WaterFix could move forward. Or we could fund a fraction of it and hope the funding and project would somehow materialize. We also could delay and debate some more.
Proposition 68 would allow California to sell $4.1 billion in bonds to pay for desperately needed improvements in parks and water systems. It’s a sound investment. Failing to upgrade our infrastructure now would likely mean higher costs in the future. The bond sale would, of course, require interest payments over the years, but they would appear to be well within the guidelines for prudent financing. Californians should vote yes. There are a lot of good things in this bond.
A lawyer with the Colorado Attorney General’s Office says the state, and for that matter most Colorado River Basin states and the federal government, are “not OK” with an Arizona water district’s reported strategy of avoiding conserving water so it can generate larger-than-normal releases of water from Lake Powell. Karen Kwon, who works on water issues for the office, was sharply critical of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District as she spoke in Grand Junction Wednesday at a joint meeting of four roundtable groups representing various basins of the Colorado River watershed in western Colorado.
The sausage-making process in the state Legislature usually takes a bill and waters it down in the spirit of compromise. So it was a pleasant surprise when the Legislature took Lake Oroville dam safety legislation and made it stronger. That happened Tuesday in the Capitol, and Assemblyman James Gallagher had to be pleased.
Here in the Bay Area, we’re surrounded by the bounties of nature – the mountains define our region, the beauty of our beaches is world renowned and the bay provides sweeping vistas that can make even the most seasoned travelers stop short. Yet, we understand that natural resource protection is a dynamic process and one that cannot rest in the face of the increasing threats of climate change and the uncertainty of federal government support.
Allocation of storage funding from the Proposition 1 water bond moves another step closer next week, when the California Water Commission meets to discuss revised staff recommendations for investing in the public benefits of storage projects.
The Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee Tuesday failed to approve AB 1826, Assemblymember Jim Frazier’s bill to end the Delta Stewardship Council in 2020 and transfer its duties to the Delta Protection Coalition.
Worse than the 1906 earthquake. Worse than eight Hurricane Katrinas. Worse than every wildfire in California history, combined. The world’s first trillion-dollar natural disaster. A wintertime megaflood in California could turn out to be the worst natural disaster in U.S. history by far, and we are making it much more likely, according to an alarming study published this week in Nature Climate Change.
Founded in 2009, the California Water Alliance is the leading educational voice and authority on California water. The Alliance is a 501c4 nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that advocates for the water needs of California families, cities, businesses, farms, and the environment. The California Water Alliance is working to assist the farming community in multiple ways. Being transparent is at the forefront. William Bourdeau is executive VP of Harris Farms and a board member of the Alliance. The alliance is telling the truth and being transparent, and that is very important, he said.
