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OPINION: California Needs WaterFix More Than Ever

/in , /by /The Orange County Registerby Brett R Barbre

Water is more critical than ever in California. That’s why we need the Twin Tunnels project, called the California Water Fix and Eco Restore, WaterFix for short. It would bring 9,000 cubic feet per second of water from Northern California to Southern California while solving ecological problems. Building only one tunnel would bring south just one-third the water. Yet Gov. Gavin Newsom in an April 29 executive order summarily called for only “a new single tunnel project.” It’s obvious that the O.J. jury spent more time considering the evidence than the governor when considering Twin Tunnels.

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OPINION: Editorial: Governor Sets Welcome New Course On Delta Water Issues

/in , /by /The Mercury News (San Jose)

Gov. Gavin Newsom set a welcome new course on California water issues Thursday when he officially killed the $19 billion Delta twin tunnels project. What a relief. One of the state’s biggest long-term challenge is securing a reliable source of water for residents, businesses and farmers without destroying the environment. The problem is further exacerbated by the anticipated impacts of climate change. We never understood former Gov. Jerry Brown’s stubborn support of the twin-tunnels effort, which involved digging the equivalent of a 10-lane freeway, 150 feet underground. Nor could we fathom why the Santa Clara Valley Water District board voted to support the project, knowing that the governor had essentially turned the boondoggle over to Southern California’s Metropolitan Water District to run.

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Bureau Of Reclamation Projects Lake Mead To Stay Above Shortage Trigger

/in , /by /Mohave Valleys Daily Newsby Saul A. Flores

The Bureau of Reclamation has updated its 24-month study projections for the reservoirs throughout the Colorado River Basin which includes Lake Powell and Hoover Dam-Lake Mead. According to the BOR, the snowpack in the Upper Basin is nearly 140% above average as of April 15 and it forecasts that seasonal inflow to Lake Powell will be at 128% of average. “We are pleased to see the above average snowpack conditions in the Upper Basin and the improvement in the inflow forecast for Lake Powell,” said Brent Rhees, BOR’s Upper Colorado regional director.

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Toxic Water In California Prisons: Sickening Inmates And Costing Taxpayers Millions

/in , , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Ryan Sabalow

An inmate’s death in Stockton from Legionnaires’ disease marks the third time in four years the rare form of pneumonia has struck California’s state prisons – and has laid bare a history of contamination and other problems plaguing water supplies in the corrections system. Incidents of tainted water have spawned inmate lawsuits, expensive repairs, hefty bills for bottled water and fines, putting a multimillion-dollar burden on the taxpayer-funded corrections system, according to documents and court records reviewed by McClatchy. Now the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which oversees a network of 76 prisons, youth lockups and inmate firefighter camps, is dealing with a death.

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Snow Survey Finds California Water Nearly Doubled

/in , /by /AP News

California cities and farms can expect ample water supplies this summer after winter storms blanketed the Sierra Nevada, nearly doubling the snowpack average for this time of year, state water officials said Thursday. The fifth and final survey of the season at Phillips Station recorded 47 inches (119 centimeters) of snow depth and a snow water equivalent of 27.5 inches (70 centimeters), the Department of Water Resources said. That’s 188% of average for the location near Lake Tahoe. Just four years ago, then-Gov. Jerry Brown found a field at Phillips Station barren of any measureable snow amid an historic drought.

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A Healthy Late-Spring Snowpack

/in , /by /Appeal-Democrat (Marysville, Calif.)

The Department of Water Resources said California’s snowpack is healthy as the state prepares for peak runoff months. Following the final survey of the year at Phillips Station on Thursday, DWR found the snowpack was 188 percent of its average for that location. Statewide, the results showed the snowpack contained 31 inches of snow water equivalent (144 percent of its average for this time of year), which is the depth of water that would result if the entire snowpack melted instantaneously. The information will help water managers across the state plan for spring and summer snowmelt runoff into rivers and reservoirs.

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Newsom Says He Has A Fresh Approach To California’s Longtime Water Woes

/in , /by /The Los Angeles Timesby George Skelton

At first blush, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest action on water seems fanciful and naive. But it has logic and conceivably could work. Newsom wants to reexamine practically everything the state has been working on   meaning what former Gov. Jerry Brown was doing and piece together a grand plan for California’s future that can draw the support of longtime water warriors.

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Cancer Water? Unsafe Drinking Water Puts 15,000 Californians At Risk, Study Says

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Hannah Wiley

Federal regulations won’t necessarily protect you from cancer-causing water in California. In a new Environmental Working Group study published on Tuesday, researchers determined that toxic drinking water could lead to more than 15,000 lifetime cancer cases throughout the state. The report included first-time research on how the presence of multiple carcinogens in drinking water increases cancer risks. Regulators currently assess individual hazards instead of evaluating combinations of multiple pollutants found in drinking water.

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Gavin Newsom Officially Kills Twin Delta Tunnels, Eyes Downsized Calif. Water Project

/in , /by /Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler and Ryan Sabalow

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration officially pulled the plug Thursday on the twin Delta tunnels, fulfilling Newsom’s pledge to downsize the project to a single pipe as he attempts to chart a new course for California’s troubled water-delivery system.

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Blueprint To Battle Bay Area Sea Level Rise Focuses On Natural Solutions

/in , /by /The San Francisco Chronicle by Peter Fimrite

A blueprint outlining how San Francisco Bay communities should combat sea level rise was released early Thursday by ecosystem scientists and urban planners who envision a ring of man made reefs, rocky beaches and graded marshlands around the largest estuary on the Pacific coast. The carefully designed features, outlined in the 255-page San Francisco Bay Shoreline Adaptation Atlas, would in many cases replace or bury seawalls, rip rap, culverts and other crude fortifications that experts say won’t hold up as the climate warms and water rises.

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