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Protecting Ratepayers from MWD

If you wonder why your water bill keeps rising, look no further than the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. More than half of the cost of our water at the San Diego County Water Authority is for paying MWD, whose water rates have doubled over the past decade. That has forced local water providers such as the Water Authority and its 24 member agencies (including the Padre Dam Municipal Water District) to raise their rates significantly.

How Safe Is Oilfield-Produced Water for Crop Irrigation? A New Study Wants to Find Out

The research institute RTI International, in conjunction with Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, began a three year study in May, thanks to a USDA grant, to determine whether this type of water is safe to use on food crops. Researchers plan to sample water, soils, and crops from the farms that currently use OPW for irrigation, along with samples from farms that don’t use OPW, then assess any potential human or environmental problems through modeling and risk assessment techniques.

Central Basin Water Agency delays Delta Tunnels Project Vote

In a 5 to 2 vote, the Central Basin Water Agency board decided Aug. 28 to postpone a decision on the Delta Tunnels project in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Citing the many unknowns regarding the rate impacts of the project, estimated to cost $25 billion, the Central Basin board members said they needed more information on how it would affect ratepayers in southeast Los Angeles County, which includes Compton, Willowbrook, Carson, and Lynwood.

OPINION: Proposed Tax Not the Way to Provide Safe, Reliable Water

Each day, a vast majority of homes, schools and businesses in California receive a safe and reliable water supply delivered by a responsible public water provider. But some who live in rural, low-income communities experience unreliable service or a water supply that fails to meet state and federal standards for public health. Eastern Municipal Water District (EMWD) fully recognizes the challenges disadvantaged communities face in obtaining access to clean, safe drinking water. In 2016, EMWD and neighboring public agencies completed a years-long process to consolidate a failing private water system in Riverside County.

Record-Breaking Heat Wave to Scorch Southern California

A sweltering heat wave will blanket Southern California through the middle of the week, elevating the fire danger and probably breaking many heat records, according to forecasters. The National Weather Service on Monday issued an excessive-heat warning through Wednesday, saying the high temperatures will create “a dangerous situation” this week. The Antelope Valley and other inland valleys are expected to face the worst heat this week, with triple-digit temperatures. The record books are already being rewritten in places such as Lancaster and Palmdale.

CAP-California Water Deal that Arizona Nixed Provokes Ongoing Conflict

A proposed 2015 sale of Arizona water to California that never happened is now a flash point in a controversy pitting Arizona’s top water agency against the Central Arizona Project. A newly disclosed memo from that year, written by a CAP attorney, characterized the proposal as a sale of some of Arizona’s Colorado River water to the giant, six-county Metropolitan Water District in Southern California. Such a sale would be controversial in Arizona, given the longstanding adversarial relationship over water between the two states.

We Hold Our Convenient Truths to be Self-Evident – Dangerous Ideas in California Water

Success in water management requires broad agreement and coalitions. But people often seem to group themselves into communities of interests and ideology, which see complex water problems differently. Each group tends to hold different truths to be self-evident, as outlined below. These beliefs, when firmly held, do not stand up to scientific scrutiny, appear to other groups as self-serving nonsense, and hinder cooperative discussions on better solutions. The counter-productive aspects of these ideas make them dangerous to policy discussions.

CAP-California Water Deal That Arizona Nixed Provokes Ongoing Conflict

A proposed 2015 sale of Arizona water to California that never happened is now a flash point in a controversy pitting Arizona’s top water agency against the Central Arizona Project. A newly disclosed memo from that year, written by a CAP attorney, characterized the proposal as a sale of some of Arizona’s Colorado River water to the giant, six-county Metropolitan Water District in Southern California. Such a sale would be controversial in Arizona, given the longstanding adversarial relationship over water between the two states.

Restore the Delta joins lawsuit against Delta Tunnels project

A coalition of conservation groups is suing the California Department of Water Resources over its approval of the controversial Delta Tunnels project. “Once again Big Ag in the San Joaquin Valley has come begging for more corporate welfare,” said Adam Keats, a senior attorney at the Center for Food Safety. “Only this time it’s at an obscene scale, with tens of billions of dollars to be pilfered from the people’s pockets, an entire ecosystem driven to collapse, and incredible harm caused to the Delta farming economy and California’s sustainable salmon fishery.”

Fighting Floods — and Using Them?

When last winter’s atmospheric river storms pummeled farmland east of Lodi, a different “river” of water began flowing through the vineyards and down Acampo Road right toward an isolated neighborhood known informally as Cooper’s Corner. Storm drains were overwhelmed. Water backed up into people’s yards and, in some cases, their homes. Water climbed the steps of the Houston School near Acampo Road and Highway 99, and spilled into a convenience store across the street.