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IID OKs Possible Drought Measures, But Reserves Right To Vote Last On 7-State Deal

/in , , /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Janet Wilson and Ian James

The Imperial Irrigation District, which holds some of the oldest and largest rights to Colorado River water, on Monday tentatively agreed to a one-time contribution of up to 250,000 acre-feet of surplus water if needed to stave off shortages in Lake Mead. But they tacked on several last-minute conditions aimed at easing farmers’ fears of permanently losing water, and to force federal and state officials to guarantee funding for clean-up of the Salton Sea.

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7 Southwestern States, Including California, Expected to Miss Deadline on Colorado River Drought Plan

/in , /by /KTLA 5 (Los Angeles)

With drought entering a second decade and reservoirs continuing to shrink, seven Southwestern U.S. states that depend on the overtaxed Colorado River for crop irrigation and drinking water had been expected to ink a crucial share-the-pain contingency plan by the end of 2018. They’re not going to make it — at least not in time for upcoming meetings in Las Vegas involving representatives from Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and the U.S. government, officials say.

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MarketInk: Airport Helps Promote Water Authority’s ‘Brought to You by Water’ Campaign

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Rick Griffin

The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority is donating free digital advertising space at Lindbergh Field to the San Diego County Water Authority. The advertising is valued at tens of thousands of dollars. Starting the day before Thanksgiving, monitors at the airport’s baggage claim carousels in both Terminal 1 and 2 began announcing that San Diego is “Brought to You By Water.” The Water Authority said the ads’ takeaway message is the importance of water reliability to the region’s core industries, including tourism, manufacturing, agriculture and brewing.

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Controversy, Concerns Surround Drought Contingency Plan

/in , /by /Imperial Valley Pressby Richard Montenegro Brown

After four public workshops, the Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors will be asked Monday to approve an agreement that addresses California’s part to save the drought-plagued Colorado River as well as bolster supplies of water to Lake Mead. IID General Manager said staff will recommend the approval of the intra-California drought contingency plan agreement between IID and Metropolitan Water District, but the decision ultimately lies with the board.

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Water Rights Permits Issued for Conjunctive Use Project

/in , /by /Village News (Fallbrook)by Joe Naiman

The State Water Resources Control Board issued updated water rights permits and an updated license which finalizes that part of the Santa Margarita Conjunctive Use Project. The three permits and the license were issued Nov. 20. “It’s a big accomplishment to finally have the underlying permits and water rights for the project,” said Fallbrook Public Utility District general manager Jack Bebee. The Santa Margarita Conjunctive Use Project being pursued by FPUD, Camp Pendleton and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will enhance groundwater recharge and recovery capability within the lower Santa Margarita River basin and develop a program which will increase available water supplies for FPUD and Camp Pendleton.

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Halla Razak, Inland Empire Utilities Agency GM, Announces Resignation Effective Dec. 31

/in , /by /California Water News Daily

Citing family circumstances, Inland Empire Utilities Agency’s (IEUA) General Manager Halla Razak, has tendered her resignation effective Dec. 31. Razak her served as IEUA’s general manager since Dec. 1 of last year. Razak joined IEUA after a 19-year tenure with the city of San Diego. Her last position with the city was as director of the city’s Public Utilities Department. She held the position of director with the Colorado River Program Director for the San Diego County Water Authority position with the city of San Diego. Razak is a registered professional civil engineer in California.

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Big Setback for Gov. Brown’s Twin Tunnels Delta Water Project

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Peter Fimrite

A crucial certification needed to build two tunnels that officials believe would help solve California’s water delivery problems was withdrawn Friday, ensuring that Gov. Jerry Brown’s pet water project won’t be approved before he leaves office in January. The California Department of Water Resources withdrew its petition seeking approval of Brown’s $17 billion twin tunnels plan, known as California WaterFix, which would take water out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and deliver it to users in the south.

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No Longer a ‘Boys Club’: In the World of Water, Women are Increasingly Claiming Center Stage

/in , /by /Water Education Foundation (Sacramento)by Gary Pitzer

The 1992 election to the United States Senate was famously coined the “Year of the Woman” for the record number of women elected to the upper chamber. In the water world, 2018 has been a similar banner year, with noteworthy appointments of women to top leadership posts in California — Karla Nemeth at the California Department of Water Resources and Gloria Gray at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

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OPINION: We’d Prefer a Deal. But We’ll Fight to Protect our Rivers if That’s What it Takes

/in , /by /The Modesto Bee

Five appointed state regulators can do an enormous amount to help salmon and the state’s most-altered water system on Dec. 12. Or they can guarantee that water lawyers will stay busy for decades to come. The State Water Resources Control Board’s five members – including one added Thursday – are scheduled to vote on implementing the Bay-Delta Plan’s Substitute Environmental Document. If unchanged, the SED will require 40 to 50 percent of the Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced rivers to flow unimpaired to the Delta, for the sake of salmon. It would also require vast amounts of water be left in cold storage behind the region’s three dams to help salmon in an ever-warming environment.

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Mudslides Offer A Preview Of What Could Be A Wet Winter In Southern California

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Hannah Fry, Rong-Gong Lin II, Hailey Branson-Potts, Alejandra Reyes-Velarde and Richard Winton

As heavy rain pelted Hollywood Burbank Airport on Thursday morning, the pilot of Southwest Flight 278 out of Oakland came over the intercom with a warning: The runway was short and wet. It was going to be a bumpy landing. Paris Organist, a 31-year-old Oakland resident sitting in the front row, put up his foot to brace himself as the plane rolled off the end of the runway just after 9 a.m., its landing gear plowing into a concrete barrier designed to stop airplanes that overshot their mark. Mud splattered on the plane’s windows.

 

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