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OPINION: Oroville Dam Repairs Are Just The Start

Workers have been laboring hard to get the spillway at Oroville Dam fixed in time for the winter rainy season. There has been intensive construction to repair a hole in the spillway, as well as to shore up the dam’s emergency spillway with a new underground retaining wall. The state Department of Water Resources, which owns the dam, is confident that the construction repairs for the spillway are on target. It will be good news indeed if the dam repairs are completed on time.

Congress Takes an Important Step to Prevent Future Droughts

Thanks to a stormy winter, California’s long drought is over says state government. But California’s man-made drought will continue as long as Sacramento misallocates our water supply. Maybe it’s time to appeal to a higher but distant authority. When Gov. Jerry Brown declared in April that the six-year “drought emergency is over,” he didn’t seem like a man relieved. Maybe because what followed was a weary caveat. “The next drought could be around the corner,” he said. “Conservation must remain a way of life.”

10 States Back California Agencies in Fight with Tribe Over Groundwater

Ten states from Nevada to Texas have weighed in to support two water agencies in their fight with an Indian tribe over control of groundwater in the California desert. The states filed a brief Monday before the U.S. Supreme Court, which will soon decide whether to take up an appeal by the Desert Water Agency and the Coachella Valley Water District. The water agencies are challenging a decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians has a federally established right to groundwater dating to the creation of its reservation in the 1870s.

OPINION: California WaterFix Project is Right Investment for Whole State

Water has always been a building block of the California economy. From the Gold Rush to the tech boom, and encompassing agriculture, manufacturing, construction and the service sector, reliable water creates opportunities for growth. Investments in infrastructure support these industries and create well-paying jobs. Over the next few months, water agencies across our state will consider one of the biggest water projects in a generation — a proposal to modernize our statewide water system. That project is called California WaterFix. Millions of California homes, farms and businesses depend on a system that brings water hundreds of miles from the Sierra Nevada.

California’s Largest Water Supplier Says Federal Water Bill Goes Too Far

The measure, called the “Gaining Responsibility on Water Act” or GROW Act, has already passed the US House, largely along party lines. Supporters, including many Central Valley Republicans and farmers, say it would cut the red tape that prevents dams and water storage projects from being built. While that might normally sit well with powerful Southern California water interests, this bill is unlikely to garner support from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger says the measure doesn’t strike the right balance between water supply and the environment.

The Science of Desert Water

To explain why she authored a bill to protect water in the Mojave Desert, Assemblywoman Laura Friedman goes back to her childhood. Growing up in Plantation, Florida, on the edge of the Everglades, the 50-year-old Glendale Democrat had a “front-row seat” to the destruction of the swamps, sloughs, and mangrove forests that spread across most of South Florida. “I saw the devastation that was wrought from not caring about that resource,” Friedman says. South Florida’s water is less protected now, and its coastline is more vulnerable to the sea-level rise that accompanies the changing climate.

One of the Largest Dam Removals in California History Inches Forward

Nestled in the mountains of the quiet California town of Ojai is Matilija Dam, which has become a poster child of the national dam removal movement. At 168ft high, the dam towers above Matilija Creek. Since the dam’s construction in 1947, an estimated 8 million cubic yards of sediment have clogged Matilija reservoir, rendering it useless for water storage and flood control, while trapping sediment that would have flowed into the Ventura River and then fed Ventura’s coastline nearly 16 miles downstream.

OPINION: Storm Water Bill Would Evade Taxpayer Protections

If Senate Bill 231 (Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys) becomes law, property owners would be saddled with thousands of dollars in additional, annual property taxes. What’s worse is that this bill would allow these tax increases to be implemented without a vote of the people. Political sleight of hand? Yes, and here’s how .SB231 redefines the word “sewer” to include storm-water and storm drains, thereby allowing local governments to evade Proposition 218 taxpayer protections. That 1996 initiative requires that all new property-related taxes and most fees proposed by a local government or agency be approved by two-thirds of voters.

California’s Largest Water Supplier Says Federal Water Bill Goes Too Far

The measure, called the “Gaining Responsibility on Water Act” or GROW Act, has already passed the US House, largely along party lines. Supporters, including many Central Valley Republicans and farmers, say it would cut the red tape that prevents dams and water storage projects from being built. While that might normally sit well with powerful Southern California water interests, this bill is unlikely to garner support from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger says the measure doesn’t strike the right balance between water supply and the environment.

From Toilet Water to Drinking Water

This legislation might be hard to swallow: Lawmakers are considering a bill that would clear the way for California communities to put highly treated wastewater directly into the drinking water supply. “The media likes to start off with the catchy phrase toilet to tap,” said Jennifer West, managing director of Water Reuse, about the intensive purification process. “But there’s a lot that goes on between toilet and tap.” Assembly Bill 574, authored by Assembly Member Bill Quirk, D-Hayward, would require the State Water Resources Control Board to develop regulations in four years for “direct potable reuse” provided research on public health issues is completed.