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Plan To Use Reclaimed Tijuana Wastewater In Guadalupe Valley Vineyards Moves Forward

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Sandra Dibbble

A private company’s plan to take Tijuana wastewater, treat it to an advanced level, and pipe it to Baja California’s Guadalupe Valley aims at ending water shortages that confront the celebrated wine-producing region. The proposal is expected to move forward within days as a group of Israeli and Mexican investors finalizes its contract with the state of Baja California to build a sewage treatment plant and a 65-mile aqueduct from southeastern Tijuana to the Guadalupe Valley.

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Behind Most Wildfires, A Person And A Spark: ‘We Bring Fire With Us’

/in , /by /The New York Timesby Tim Arango

In the summer of 1965, Johnny Cash was living in the wilderness of Southern California when — possibly high on drugs — he sparked a wildfire with his overheated truck that blazed through more than 500 acres and threatened the lives of endangered condors. When asked by a judge if he started the fire, he said, “my truck did, and it’s dead, so you can’t question it.” (Mr. Cash ended up settling the case for $82,000, or about a half a million in today’s dollars.)

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California Lawmakers Eye Voluntary Tax To Pay For Central Valley Water Contamination

/in , /by /Capital Public Radio (Sacramento)by Chris Nichols

California lawmakers are considering whether to approve a voluntary tax on water customers across the state. Revenue from the tax would be use to pay for cleaning up contaminated water in rural and low-income communities in the Central Valley. Supporters of Senate Bill 845 contend the tax is necessary to keep safe the one million Californians exposed each year to contaminated drinking water.

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OPINION: Sacramento Is At It Again: The New Water Tax Con Job

/in , /by /Times-Advocate (Escondido)by Greg Thomas and Gary Arant

You have to hand it to Sacramento; they are very creative in figuring out how to take more of your money. You may or may not have heard about the proposed “Water Tax.” It is intended to place a monthly tax on your water bill, from $1.00 to $10.00, depending on your meter size or having multiple meters. The money will be sent to Sacramento and then used to make water system improvements to communities elsewhere in the state. However, this is a tax and will require a 2/3’s vote of the State Assembly and the Senate.

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Why the Environment Is A Big Winner In California’s Groundwater Law

/in , /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Tara Lohan

When California passed its landmark groundwater law in 2014, there was a collective “it’s about time” across the West. But even though California may have been late in issuing a robust groundwater management law, it does set a high bar in at least one key area. “In regards to the environment, it is actually quite progressive in that it actually explicitly mentions that groundwater-dependent ecosystems need to be identified and there can’t be impacts to them,” said Melissa Rohde, a groundwater scientist at The Nature Conservancy. If you’re not quite sure what a groundwater-dependent ecosystem (GDE) is, you’re not alone.

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Carlsbad Investor To Sell Its Stake

/in , /by /Water Desalination Report Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners, a New York-based private equity firm, has reportedly appointed Australia’s Macquarie Capital as financial advisor for a possible sales process of its stake in the 50 MGD (189,250 m3/d) Carlsbad Seawater Desalination Plant. Poseidon Resources partnered with Stonepeak to form Orion Water Partners, the joint venture that built, owns and operates the Carlsbad plant. The project required $922 million in financing, $734 million of which was arranged through the sale of tax exempt bonds issued by the California Pollution Control Financing Authority on behalf of Poseidon and the San Diego County Water Authority.

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Farmers Protest California Water Plan Aimed To Save Salmon

/in , /by /Associated Press (As published by the San Francisco Chronicle)by Kathleen Ronayne

Hundreds of California farmers rallied at the Capitol on Monday to protest state water officials’ proposal to increase water flows in a major California river, a move state and federal politicians called an overreach of power that would mean less water for farms in the Central Valley. “If they vote to take our water, this does not end there,” said Republican state Sen. Anthony Cannella. “We will be in court for 100 years.”

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OPINION: SF, State Must Compromise On Water Restriction Plan

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco has maintained water rights to the Tuolumne River, a pristine source that originates high in the Sierra Nevada, since the early 1900s. Now, those rights are being threatened by a state proposal to rescue the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The state’s plan, which was first proposed in October 2016 and released as a final draft last month, would increase water flows to the Tuolumne and other rivers that support the delta.

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Why San Francisco Is Joining Valley Farmers In A Fight Over Precious California Water

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

Originating in a glacier at the eastern edge of Yosemite, the Tuolumne River runs into a man-made roadblock in the towering granite cliffs of the Hetch Hetchy Valley. A massive concrete dam captures its icy water and ships much of it through pipes and tunnels to the residents of San Francisco. Farther downstream, the Tuolumne is halted again, this time by a dam in the oak-covered Sierra foothills. From there, a network of canals spreads the Tuolumne’s waters over mile after mile of rich San Joaquin Valley vineyards, orchards and dairy farms.

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California Water Wars: State Plans To Cut SF’s Sierra Supply To Save Delta

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

The cold, rushing water of the Tuolumne River, piped from the high peaks of Yosemite to the taps of Bay Area residents, is not only among the nation’s most pristine municipal water sources but extraordinarily plentiful. This point of pride for San Francisco, which has maintained rights to the cherished Sierra supply since the early 1900s, is being threatened, however. Under a far-reaching state plan to bump up flows in California’s rivers, the city would be forced to limit its draws from the Tuolumne for the first time in recent memory.

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