The Santa Clara Valley Water District says it voted to support the California WaterFix today. But did it? The Mercury News describes the vote as a rejection of the Fix, because Santa Clara’s board conditioned its approval on “considering an approach” that incorporates one tunnel instead of two tunnels. The Sacramento Bee also describes the vote as a rejection of Brown’s plan, though not prominently in the headline as the Merc did.
An atmospheric river is poised to funnel gigantic amounts of rain and snow to the Northwest over the next few days. As much as 15 inches of rain is forecast in the mountains along with several inches in coastal areas, including Portland and Seattle. It could be Seattle’s wettest weather since February, the National Weather Service said. There is also a risk of flash flooding in western Washington and northwestern Oregon on Thursday as a result of the heavy rainfall, the weather service warned.
A plan has been prepared for flood control operations this rainy season at Oroville Dam, which call for keeping the lake lower and aggressively releasing water if the water level rises above trigger points. Up to now, the dam has been operated under rules drafted by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1970, which set a maximum lake surface elevation target of 848.5 feet above sea level for November through April, and 870.1 feet in May.
The Trump administration has cleared the way for a controversial project that would suck groundwater from under Southern California’s Mojave Desert and sell it to water providers. On Friday, the Bureau of Land Management wrote that Cadiz Inc.’s plan to build a 43-mile pipeline along a railroad right of way did not require the agency’s approval. The letter reverses the Obama administration’s opinion, which said in 2015 that the 1875 law governing the easement required that it be used for railroad purposes. Otherwise, it required federal approval.
For the vast majority of California, the record-breaking, five-year drought is over, but some cities like Ojai in Ventura County are not so lucky. With its human-made reservoir, Lake Casitas, still at levels not seen in half a century, some locals have been asking, “Can the Ojai Valley run out of water?” In a presentation on Sept. 14, Ojai activist and engineer Angelo Spandrio challenged a roomful of local residents to consider the consequences if the Ojai Valley, which has a population of 30,000, ran out of water.
Like just about everything else that involves water, the Cadiz Inc. Mojave Desert aquifer project saga has been one of many ebbs and flows. There were two new developments in this situation recently. The federal government reversed itself this month and gave its blessing to the massive project to transfer as much as 16.3 billion gallons of groundwater per year from beneath the desert floor near ecologically sensitive public lands to thirsty urban communities via a long pipeline.
Development of water projects in California is hard enough without introducing ethnicity into the mix. Rarely, if ever, has a proposed water project been promoted as essential to meet the needs of a particular ethnic group, but that seems to be what some Latino advocacy organizations are claiming in support of a proposed seawater desalination plant in Huntington Beach. Unfortunately, these groups are neglecting the basic fact that Orange County residents and businesses are treated equally by their water suppliers.
The state Department of Water Resources intends to open the spillway boat launch ramp after construction at the dam is complete, but there is a possibility it will stay out of commission, according to a department official. The spillway boat launch is the largest on the lake, with up to 12 lanes when the water is high enough. DWR confirmed the ramp may remain closed indefinitely for the first time in a press call on Oct. 4.
Silicon Valley’s water district Wednesday rejected Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to build twin tunnels beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta but said it would support a smaller, less expensive project. A top state official said the Brown administration is willing to consider such an approach. The Santa Clara Valley Water District’s board voted 7-0 to give the Delta plan “conditional support,” but only if it involves one tunnel instead of two. The board’s vote indicated the district would be willing eventually to commit more than $200 million to the project. That’s well below the $600 million or more in support it had been considering.
In a landmark vote closely watched across California, Silicon Valley’s largest water agency on Tuesday rejected Gov. Jerry Brown’s $17 billion plan to build two giant tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. By a vote of 7-0, the Santa Clara Valley Water District’s board of directors chose instead to adopt a set of principles endorsing a significantly smaller, less costly project — with just one tunnel. “What magnitude of project makes sense?” asked board member Barbara Keegan. “From our perspective that looks to be something less than originally was envisioned.”
