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Ventura County Farmers Celebrate The Launch Of California’s First Water Monitoring Program

/in , /by /Ventura County Starby Tyler Hersko

Farmers and public officials celebrated the launch of a historic water monitoring program during a ribbon cutting ceremony Monday afternoon in Oxnard. Monday’s celebration, part of the multi-phase Advanced Metering Infrastructure and Water Market program, installed telemetry hardware on an agricultural well owned by Oxnard farmer Fred Van Wingerden. The technology will precisely monitor the amount of water used by the farm. Previously, farmers would self-report their water usage, which raised questions of accuracy.

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Inspector General: 2 US Dams At Risk Of ‘Insider Threats’

/in , /by /Associated Press by Kathleen Ronayne

Two dams critical to U.S. national security are at high risk for “insider threats” that could impair operations because of poor computer security practices such as too many employees having access to administrator accounts and failures to routinely change passwords, according to a new inspector general report.

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State Adopts Post-Drought Permanent Water Restrictions

/in , /by /KALW (San Francisco)by Angela Johnston

Even though we are entering another summer drought-free, Governor Jerry Brown just signed two new water conservation bills into law. These laws will require permanent water conservation, regardless of whether or not California is in a drought. KALW’s environment reporter Angela Johnston tells us more on AB 1668 and SB 606.

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Californians Turn To U.S. For Money That Environmental Groups Say Doesn’t Do Enough

/in , /by /Politicoby Laura Tsutsui

California is one step closer to getting a cut of $2.5 billion over the next decade for its water needs now that the House has passed a bill aimed at funding water research and infrastructure projects. The drought-stricken state has positioned itself as independent of the federal government — most notably, the Trump administration — on issues ranging from immigration to health care coverage. However, it still turns to federal lawmakers when it needs a financial boost for an issue as central to the state as water.

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Dozens Of Water Systems Consolidate In California’s Farming Heartland

/in , /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Matt Weiser

In California’s San Joaquin Valley, one of the most productive farming regions in the nation, an estimated 150,000 people are stuck living with contaminated drinking water. When they open a tap to fill a cooking pot or take a shower, the water that gushes out is contaminated with nitrates, hexavalent chromium, arsenic and other nasties from polluted wells.

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OPINION: Proposed Drinking Water Tax Is Driving Us Not To Drink

/in , /by /The Orange County Register

A plan to hit Californians with a first-of-its-kind statewide tax on drinking water is on ice, for now. The proposed tax would cost most Californians about $1 per month on their residential water bills. Businesses would pay $4 to $10 per month. Although California voters just approved another $4 billion in bonds including funds for clean water, and the November ballot will ask voters to approve about $8 billion more, Gov. Jerry Brown says it wasn’t enough. He pushed for the  tap-water tax to raise another $140 million per year to clean up contaminated drinking water for 360,000 rural Californians, mostly in the San Joaquin Valley.

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OPINION: No Denial Here: Solving California’s Water Problems Remains A Top Priority

/in , /by /The Fresno Beeby Jim Costa

In a May 10 column on Temperance Flat Reservoir, Bee columnist Marek Warszawski called out local lawmakers who supported the project and said we were in a “state of denial.” Let me be clear: I am not in denial. California’s water issues are complex and not easy to solve. For more than 30 years, I have worked to improve water supply reliability for the San Joaquin Valley and all of California. I take every opportunity to explore solutions to California’s water woes.

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OPINION: Earth’s Dismal Water Future, Mapped

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Jay Famiglietti

Satellite data and images are provocative, even disturbing. They confront us with a global view that can be at once breathtaking, like a piece of art, and yet, in this era of rapidly changing climate, they paint a picture of the demise of the environment. How and if we will respond to what we see is uncertain. That uncertainty lies at the root of our perilous future.

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Drought-Resistant Water Supply Basin Breaks Ground In Templeton

/in , /by /KSBY (San Luis Obispo)

Construction crews broke ground on a new drought-resistant water supply on Friday in Templeton.  The “Upper Salinas River Basin Conjunctive Use Project” will capture existing wastewater that is currently being released outside of the Atascadero Basin and returns the water to the Meadowbrook Wastewater Treatment Plant. Templeton Community Services District officials say this essentially increases the water supply by an additional 242 acre-feet per year.

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California Drinking Water Tax Dies In Budget Compromise

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler and Adam Ashton

A proposed tax on California’s drinking water, designed to clean up contaminated water for thousands of Californians, was abandoned by Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders Friday as part of the compromise on the state budget. Lawmakers and Brown’s office scrapped the “Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Act,” which would have taxed residents 95 cents a month to raise millions for cleaning toxic wells. Instead, legislative leaders agreed to spend $5 million from the general fund to deal with lead in drinking water at child care centers.

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