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Opinion: This Water Project is Expensive, Wasteful and Ecologically Damaging. Why is It Being Fast-Tracked?

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Michael Hiltzik

Noah Cross, the sinister plutocrat of the movie
“Chinatown,” remarked that “politicians, ugly buildings and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.”

He might have added public works projects to that list: If they get talked about long enough, sometimes they acquire the image of inevitability. That seems to be the case with the Sites Reservoir, a water project in the western Sacramento Valley that originated during the Eisenhower administration.

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The Future of the Colorado River Hinges on One Young Negotiator

/in , , /by /ProPublicaby Mark Olalde and Janet Wilson

John Brooks Hamby was 9 years old the last time a group of Western states renegotiated how they share the dwindling Colorado River. When the high-stakes talks concluded two years later, in 2007, with a round of painful cuts, he hadn’t reached high school.

Yet this June an audience of water policy experts listened with rapt attention as Hamby, now 27, recited lessons from those deliberations.

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Sites Project Authority Certifies Sites Reservoir’s Final Environmental Report

/in , , /by /CBS News Sacramentoby Brandon Downs

An important milestone was reached Friday for the construction of another reservoir in California. The Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for Sites Reservoir was certified and the Sites Reservoir Project was approved by the Sites Project Authority, the lead agency under the California Environmental Quality Act.

Next up for the Sites Project Authority is to move the project through the final planning stages. After getting through the final stages, crews will begin building the reservoir.

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What an El Niño Winter Could Mean for California

/in , , /by /The New York Timesby Soumya Karlamangla

Odds are that this winter’s going to be a wet one. The intermittent climate phenomenon known as El Niño, which typically means more rain and snow for California, developed over the summer and is expected to intensify in the next few months. And this year’s El Niño is predicted to be an exceptionally strong one — maybe even ranking in the top five on record, according to Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at U.C.L.A.

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Turf Replacement Rebates To Increase Thanks To $38M Grant

/in , , /by /Patchby Paige Austin

A $38 million state grant awarded this week will be used to increase rebates to businesses and institutions that replace turf with water-efficient landscaping as a deadline looms to phase out turf at commercial, industrial, municipal and institutional properties.

In addition to the rebate program, the money will also be used to help thousands of low- income households install water-efficient irrigation systems.

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As Storms Arrive in California, Reservoirs Are in Good Shape. But the Water Forecast is Murky

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Rachel Becker

As forecasts tease California with rainstorms this week, the state’s reservoirs are already flush with water.

It’s a big departure from a year ago: The state’s major reservoirs — which store water collected mostly from rivers in the northern portion of the state  — are in good shape, with levels at 124% of average. In late 2022, bathtub rings of dry earth lined lakes that had collectively dipped to about two-thirds of average — until heavy winter storms in January filled many of them almost to the brim.

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Water Districts Gain Access to New Supply

/in , , /by /The Acornby John Loesing

Millions of Southern Californians who were required to dramatically reduce their water use last year will have increased access to water in the future under two projects recently announced by the Metropolitan Water District.

Metropolitan—the nation’s largest water wholesaler and sole water provider to the local Las Virgenes and Calleguas municipal water districts—approved a $9.8-million contract for the Sepulveda Feeder Pump Stations Project that will bring additional water from the Colorado River, as well as water stored at Diamond Valley Lake in Riverside County, to the two local districts.

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Elk Grove Water District Will Help Some Households Pay Late Bills. Here’s How to Sign Up

/in , , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Marcus D. Smith

The Elk Grove Water District is putting together a free sign-up event Friday that will provide a leg up for low-income households struggling to pay bills. The event will help residents apply for assistance through the Low Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP), a federally funded program operated by California Department of Community Services and Development.

 

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Fish to Receive 40% of Kern River Flow Under Judge’s Order

/in , , /by /SJV Waterby Lois Henry

A judge’s order signed Tuesday ensures there will be at least some water flowing in the Kern River through Bakersfield in perpetuity. Unless, of course, it’s overturned.

Kern County Superior Court Judge Gregory Pulskamp signed an order that requires 40% of the Kern River’s flow to remain in the river to keep fish populations healthy.

This order is the implementation of an injunction granted by Pulskamp October 30 mandating that some amount of water must flow through the river for fish populations.

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Where’s Our Water? A Look at California’s Storage Problem

/in , , /by /Bakersfield Nowby William Silverstein

In 2014, California voters passed a proposition using $7.5 billion dollars in state funds to expand water storage capacity. Nearly 10 years later, people say not much has come from the vote. The main focus on their minds is the failure to expand Shasta Dam.

Kern County Congressman David Valadao (R-CA) has authored legislation that makes it easier for Shasta to receive federal funding.

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