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Clues to Oroville Dam Spillway Failure ‘Were All There In The Files,’ Top Investigator Says

/in /by /Los Angeles Times

The clues that the main spillway at the Oroville Dam could fail were embedded deep in state records, but officials did not recognize the evidence before the structure broke apart in February, investigators said Tuesday. A history of damage when the spillway was used, cracking in the concrete surface and unexpectedly large amounts of water exiting drains under the deck should have raised suspicions that something was wrong. But annual inspections gave the state false confidence that the spillway could handle a big flood event, investigators found.

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Metropolitan Water District Responds to Compton Herald Editorial

/in /by /Compton Herald

We respectfully disagree with your Aug. 24 editorial, “Water Board: Vote ‘No’ on Billion-dollar Delta Tunnels project,” which was based on erroneous rhetoric and incorrect information. We depend on water imported from Northern California through the Delta for about 30 percent of the supplies we use in the Southland. But that system is aging and less reliable than it should be. We need an updated, modernized and cost-effective water system, and we need it to protect the Delta environment. Scientists tell us California WaterFix, with its new intakes, twin tunnels, and environmental safeguards will help achieve those goals.

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OPINION: Will Lawsuits, High Costs Put End to Brown’s Water Tunnels Plan?

/in /by /Daily Bulletin (Rancho Cucamonga)

The first time Jerry Brown was governor of California, his greatest policy defeat came when resentful Northern Californians voted almost unanimously in 1982 to reverse a legislative vote authorizing a massive ditch around the delta of the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers. This was called the Peripheral Canal; it aimed to bring Northern California river water to the farms of the San Joaquin Valley and cities in Southern California.

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BLOG: Palo Verde Irrigation District Sues Metropolitan Water District Over Colorado River Water

/in /by /Inkstain

One of California’s largest Colorado River farm water districts is suing the state’s largest municipal water agency, charging that efforts to move farm water to cities are threatening the viability of agriculture in one of the oldest farming valleys on the river.

 

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Reasons for Optimism About California WaterFix From a Fish Perspective

/in /by /Water Deeply (New York)

The delta smelt is on a trajectory toward extinction in the wild. Heading into 2017, the spawning adult population was at an all-time low, although this past wet winter has apparently seen a small resurgence. However, increasingly warm summer temperatures in the Delta may dampen any upswing. Given the long-term trajectory of the population and climate predictions for California, maintaining delta smelt in the Delta for the next 20–30 years is not likely to happen without significant improvements to the habitat.

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‘Winter is Coming’: What Do Climate Scientists Predict for Southern California?

/in /by /San Gabriel Valley Tribune

After suffering more than a week under searing, desert-like heat, winter might be the furthest thing from the minds of Southern Californians. However, to borrow a phrase from TV’s “Game of Thrones,” winter is coming. The only question is whether the gods will allow a rerun of last winter which unexpectedly dumped record amounts of rain and snow throughout the state that filled reservoirs and kept skiers on the slopes through August.

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Meet the Megaflood: How ‘The Other Big One’ Could Devastate S.D.

/in /by /Voice of San Diego

You’ve heard of The Big One. Now meet The Other Big One – a massive statewide flooding catastrophe that could cripple California for months or years. Researchers think a megaflood is just as likely to hit the state as a 7.8 magnitude earthquake, and has the potential to cause three times as much damage. San Diego County alone would suffer $25 billion in losses under a doomsday “atmospheric river” scenario created in 2011 by dozens of researchers during which a series of heavy storms would slam the northern and central parts of the state.

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California’s Past and Coming Superstorm: Flooding that Will Make Harvey a Dim Memory

/in /by /Salon Media Group

When the National Weather Service announced that Hurricane Harvey had set a new rainfall record for a tropical storm in the continental United States — with 51.88 inches at Cedar Bayou, Texas — that seemed to epitomize just how massive and unprecedented Harvey was. In terms of sheer volume, Harvey’s rainfall could fill the Great Salt Lake twice over.

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Nine Dams in San Diego County Ranked Below Satisfactory on Safety, Newly Released State Data Reveals

/in /by /East County Magazine (San Diego)

The State of California on Friday released data on dam safety in California which found nine percent of dams statewide fall below satisfactory and could pose potential hazards in severe storms or earthquakes—including nine dams in San Diego County. The data previously, kept secret due to terrorism concerns, was disclosed after the Oroville dam spillway failure triggered concerns raised by the public and media, including East County Magazine, which recently put in a request for dam safety data in San Diego.

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Water Board Urged to Implement Stipulated Order

/in /by /Imperial Valley Press Quoted: Dan Denham

A head of next week’s workshop regarding the draft stipulated order for the Salton Sea, the State Water Resources Control Board has already begun to receive comments urging them to move forward with the plan as early as possible. On Sept. 7, the water board will have a public workshop in which it will review the proposed plan formally called Draft Stipulated Order – which was negotiated between the Imperial Irrigation District, Imperial County, the San Diego County Water Authority, the California Natural resources Agency and others.