The California State Assembly has approved a bill that would spend up to $130 million a year to improve drinking water.
About a million people in California don’t have access to clean drinking water. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed a tax on residential water bills to fix that. But lawmakers rejected it.
South Coast Water District General Manager Rick Shintaku recalls the California drought from 1987 to 1992 as a pivotal moment in his career in water resources. “Where was I in 1991? I was back in college sharing a house with four other guys. We weren’t flushing our toilets and we weren’t washing our clothes very much,” Shintaku said at a SCWD public hearing for the Doheny Desalination project on June 27. Shintaku reflected on the major changes in the water world and the conservation mandates that rolled out.
California is a leader in renewable energy, and the state has pledged to use only clean sources for electricity, including wind and solar power, by 2045. One hurdle is energy storage, but an old solution involving water may help the state reach its goal of zero emissions. The solution is “pumped storage,” which uses water in reservoirs at different elevations to smooth the fluctuations of intermittent power from the wind and sun, and makes electricity available when it is needed. California has mandated 60% renewable energy sources for its power generation by 2030, and all zero-emission sources by 2045, which could include nuclear generation along with renewables.
A soon-to-be-created citizens advisory committee will provide the Sweetwater Authority governing board with input on issues related to the operations of the South Bay water agency. The goal is for the seven-member governing board to be in a position to “make better, more informed and well-rounded decisions” by allowing ratepayers to be involved in the decision-making, said Steve Castaneda, chair of the board. “It’s something that I think will enhance the process and hopefully make us more responsive to the needs of the folks we serve,” Castaneda said. The board last week instructed staff to draft a policy to govern the composition and work of the committee.
Based on two weeks of research into the probable future of water supplies in the American West, it’s pretty clear that no water expert or journalist truly believes Colorado is likely to become a lifeless, waterless desert, within the lifetime of anyone currently alive.
California’s political leaders have made the long-overdue decision to clean up the Central Valley’s contaminated drinking water, and help cash-strapped rural water districts.
The catch: rather than assess a fee on water users or tapping into the state’s budget surplus, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature relied on cap-and-trade money to pay for a portion of the operation.
Several major developments have altered the course of water management in California this year. First, Governor Newsom significantly modified the plan to bring water to the southern region through the Delta. Second, California forged a historic agreement with seven other states to cooperate in times of drought. And not least, industry veteran Gloria Gray took the helm at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. In this interview, Gray shares how she plans to steer the largest water supplier in the nation through changing political priorities and climate conditions to continue safeguarding the future of California’s water.
A new bill is moving through the California Legislature that may make it easier for veterans to get jobs within the state’s water industry. Assemblymember Todd Gloria helped introduce AB 1588 to stem the phenomenon called the “silver tsunami” in which thousands of water workers are expected to retire from the water industry in the coming years. AB 1588 is aimed at helping water employers fill civilian water and wastewater operator roles with military veterans.
A catastrophic forest die-off in California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range in 2015-2016 was caused by the inability of trees to reach diminishing supplies of subsurface water following years of severe drought and abnormally warm temperatures. That’s the conclusion by researchers from the University of California, Irvine and UC Merced outlined in a study published today in Nature Geoscience.
