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New Suit Seeks Huge Damages for DWR ‘Recklessness’ at Oroville Dam

The California Department of Water Resources is facing a new and potentially very costly lawsuit over the failure of the spillways at Oroville Dam a year ago. A complaint filed in Butte County Superior Court Wednesday outlines approximately $120 million in losses claimed by more than 40 farms, businesses and other property owners along the Feather River downstream from the nation’s tallest dam.

Sierra Nevada Snow Picture Brightens, but is Still Just a Fraction of Normal

The last time California officials conducted their snow survey near Echo Summit, a month ago, the ground was practically barren. This time there was snow. Just not a lot of it. The Department of Water Resources’ monthly snow survey at Phillips Station on Thursday revealed a meager 13.6 inches of snow, or 14 percent of historical average. It was the latest evidence of a dry winter that has conjured up fears of another drought.

OPINION: Water Storage Needed — But Keep Faith with Prop. 1

In the midst of California’s severe drought back in 2014, more than 67-percent of California voters helped to pass Proposition 1, the $7.5 billion water bond to fund water quality, supply, treatment and storage projects. In the nearly four years since the bond’s passage we have seen the last historic drought come to an end, but the reprieve may be short-lived. And one fact remains unchanged: California still desperately needs to develop additional storage to capture runoff in above-average water years.

City Councilmember Calls For Audit Of Water Department Billing

With more water billing complaints being heard and a city council member calling for an official audit of the Public Utilities Department’s billing procedures, NBC 7 Responds is looking into the committee formed years ago that was tasked with oversight of the water department.  “I’m paying $5,000 a year for water, that’s crazy,” Stephen Hanson out of Pacific Beach said about his water bills last year.

Temperance Flat Dam Hits hurdle

While the Temperance Flat Reservoir Project hit a speedbump recently, local officials still have hope the project will get funded and bring more water storage to the Valley. “I hope in 10 years we can all get together and celebrate a new dam,” said Doug Verboon, Kings County supervisor and county representative on the San Joaquin Valley Water Infrastructure Authority.

State Now Facing Cascade Of Litigation Over Oroville Dam

More than 40 farmers and business owners in the Oroville area sued the state Wednesday over the effects of the Oroville Dam crisis, seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. The giant lawsuit against the California Department of Water Resources was filed by the same law firms representing the city of Oroville in a suit it filed in early January against DWR. It accuses DWR of harboring a “culture of corruption and harassment” that compromised dam safety and led to last February’s near-catastrophe.

Jerry Brown’s Science-Based Approach To The Proposed California State Budget

For California Governor Jerry Brown and his administration, 2017 was a water year to remember, and one that would figure into the drafting of the state’s 2018–19 budget, which was released early this month. The $190 billion proposed spending plan names California’s drought and the “extreme natural events of 2017” as determining factors in how the cash was divvied up.

Governor Signs Bill To Provide Tax Savings For Water Conservation

I want to thank Gov. Jerry Brown for signing SB 558, which allows the Secretary of State to place my rainwater recycling measure on the June 2018 ballot. The measure, SCA 9, would allow property owners to install rainwater capture systems without triggering a reassessment of the value of their property and an increase in their property taxes. It is modeled after a similar exclusion that helped the solar industry get off the ground back in the 1980s.

California May Be Returning To Drought Again And Sierra Snow Droughts May Become More Common

Despite a recent blanket of 1 to 2 feet of snow, snow cover in the Sierra is at its lowest point in late January since the peak of the state’s multi-year drought in 2014 and 2015, according to an analysis from NOAA’s National Operational Hyrdologic Remote Sensing Center. Tahoe City, along the north shore of Lake Tahoe, had picked up only 23.5 inches of snow this season through Jan. 30, a season-to-date snowfall deficit of 70.5 inches, or just under 6 feet.

California Drought Returning? Sierra Nevada Snowpack at 30 Percent as Forecast Calls for Two More Weeks of Warm, Dry Weather

Hampered by hot weather and a stubborn high-pressure ridge that has blocked winter storms, California’s Sierra Nevada snowpack — a key source of the state’s water supply — on Tuesday was a paltry 30 percent of normal. The last time there was so little Sierra snow at the end of January was in 2015, when it was 25 percent of its historic average.