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November 17, 2016 – A large upper-level ridge of high pressure dominated the Lower 48 States (CONUS) this USDM week, keeping much of the country warmer and drier than normal. Low pressure troughs moving in the jet stream flow brought precipitation to the Pacific Northwest, northwest California, and the Northern Rockies; parts of Texas and the Gulf of Mexico coast; and the coastal Southeast to Mid-Atlantic States and eastern Great Lakes.

“We need to start a statewide dialogue on water,” said Dave Wenger, the Thursday keynote speaker at the AquAlliance Water Conference, which continues Friday at Sierra Nevada Brewery. California needs high-level discussions about overall water problems, rather than solutions that target only specific areas of the state, he continued. Those solutions are going to cost money, whether that means investing in levees, fish screens, new pumping stations or removal of infrastructure, he said. Wenger worked for 20 years for the Bureau of Reclamation in the early 1970s, as the “token environmentalist,” he told the group of about 60 Thursday afternoon.

Some of the bigger promises made by president-elect Trump will require the cooperation of the Republican-controlled Congress. Promises like a border wall, mass deportations, and repealing Obamacare will take some time. But with a stroke of his presidential pen, Mr. Trump can bring sudden and consequential changes that could reverberate throughout the Central California. One of the biggest changes could be to the distribution of water to farmers in the Valley.

 

 

Today, House committee legislators will be voting to approve or deny a California irrigation bill that would forgive $375 million worth of debt owed by one of the nation’s largest farm-focused irrigation districts, Westlands Water District.

Approving the plan would, essentially, relieve the federal government of its obligation to provide drainage for each farm in the 600,000-acre Westlands district. According to The Sacramento Bee, the estimated overall costs to the federal government of providing these drainage services is $3.5 billion and counting.

Next year, A new California law will revolutionize how the state manages its groundwater. By June 30, 2017, according to the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), many groundwater users must form new agencies and begin drafting plans to “sustainably manage” their aquifers. Three years later, they must begin operating aquifers according to those new plans, which will dramatically change how groundwater is used.