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OPINION: California’s Can’t-Miss Chance To Provide Safe Drinking Water For All

/in , /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Kirsten James

The clock is ticking to ensure clean drinking water is available to all in California. Legislators have just five days to help an estimated 1 million Californians access safe and affordable drinking water from their faucets. In the world’s fifth-largest economy, there should be no question about voting “yes” for the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund (SB 844 and SB 845). Stories we’ve heard from around the state make the need all the more compelling.

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Statewide November Vote Could Be Key To Solving Borrego Springs Water Woes

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby J. Harry Jones

A major step toward solving the water woes of the desert community of Borrego Springs depends on passage of a statewide $8.8 billion bond initiative in November known as Proposition 3. If it passes, $35 million would go to Borrego, much of which would be used to purchase and fallow farmland in the Borrego Valley. “We are very hopeful,” said Beth Hart, president of the Borrego Water District. “If it goes through then the struggles the community has been facing and will be facing in the future under the Sustainable Ground Management Act (SGMA) will find some significant relief.”

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What Long Beach Is Doing To Stay Green During An Epic Drought

/in , /by /Long Beach Postby Kelly Puente

With its dying trees, sad stumps and crusty brown grass, it’s clear to many drivers that the Traffic Circle has seen better days. “It looks pretty bad right now,” said Councilman Daryl Supernaw, whose 4th District includes the East Long Beach roundabout. “We’ve definitely had lots of emails and phone calls about the conditions.” The local landmark is one of the casualties as Long Beach, like all of California, faces epic drought conditions, and officials say the cost of watering parks and medians and could reach into the several millions of dollars if the region sees another dry season.

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OPINION: If Trump Wants Coal, He Can Have It. But California Must Commit To 100 Percent Clean Energy

/in , /by /The Sacramento Bee

By most measures, California is way ahead of the rest of the country when it comes to fighting climate change. We have some of the strictest environmental regulations, more zero-emission cars on the road than any other state and, as of July, are four years ahead of our self-imposed goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to levels not seen since the 1990s. But if this week has proven anything, it’s that now is not the time to rest on our laurels.

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OPINION: State Water Board Plan Would Require Water Rationing In The Bay Area

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Jim Wunderman

Apart from a famous Mark Twain quote involving whiskey and fighting, no cliché about California water is more abused than the phrase “water wars.” However, in the instance of the State Water Resources Control Board’s plan to restore the San Joaquin River, the label fits. War has been declared on the Bay Area’s largest source of freshwater, with grave implications for residents and businesses that go way beyond letting your lawn go brown. At issue is a proposal to increase freshwater flows on the San Joaquin River.

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OPINION: Sacramento’s New Way To Tax The Water You Drink

/in , /by /The Californianby Susan Shelly

Another new tax is headed for your water bill as if it wasn’t high enough already. Gov. Jerry Brown has been trying to push through a statewide tax on drinking water, the first ever in California history, and as you might imagine, it has been a challenge for him. People are fed up with new taxes. That was demonstrated very convincingly in the June recall of state Sen. Josh Newman, D-Fullerton.

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Is There Water Left To Be Developed In The Colorado River Basin?

/in , /by /KUNC (Greeley, Colo.)by Luke Runyon

The Colorado River is running low on water. The lifeline that slakes the thirst of 40 million southwestern residents is projected to hit a historic low mark within two years, forcing mandatory cuts to water deliveries in Arizona, Nevada and Mexico. Facing exceptional drought conditions, cities throughout the watershed this summer have imposed mandatory water restrictions, ranchers have begun selling off cows they’re unable to feed, and the river’s reservoirs are headed toward levels not seen since they filled decades ago.

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OPINION: Water Deal Will Keep Costs Down

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Mark Muir Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

A historic achievement for the San Diego region passed almost unnoticed when the San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors adopted new wholesale water rates in late June. The rate-setting process highlighted how the water authority’s independent water supplies from the Colorado River are now both less expensive and more reliable than supplies from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. It’s an accomplishment that the region’s water officials started working toward two decades ago, and one that will bear fruit for decades to come.

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‘Exchange Pools’: Los Angeles Provides Innovative Groundwater Strategy

/in , /by /Water Deeply (New York)by William Blomquist, Mark Gold, Stephanie Pincetl, and Kathryn Mika

Across California, Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) are devising plans to reduce long-term overdraft. As part of the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, GSAs will submit plans in 2020–22, which detail strategies to bring groundwater use into balance by 2040. Planning processes must assemble stakeholders and estimate sustainable yields of groundwater, quantify existing pumping, describe future options to limit overdraft and identify funding.

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Lake Mead Water Shortage Could Spell Trouble For Colorado

/in , /by /The Durango Heraldby Marianne Goodland

A new forecast from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation shows signs that water levels at Lake Mead, which supplies water to three southwestern states and northern Mexico, could drop so low by next year that it could eventually result in a demand for more water from the Colorado River and from the upper basin states, including Colorado, that rely on the big river. The ever-increasing shortages in those three southwestern states could eventually mean water shortages in Colorado, too.

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