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East Bay Water Board Backs Delta Tunnels Project

/in /by /East Bay Times

One day after the largest water district in America pulled out of a $17 billion state project to build twin tunnels under the Delta, a water supplier for 220,000 Alameda County residents supported the plan and said it wants to join in. In a 5-2 decision Wednesday night, Alameda County’s Zone 7 Water Agency endorsed the California WaterFix , which proposes to build tunnels under the Delta as a means of making state water supplies more reliable for buyers like Zone 7. The agency also agreed to commit up to $250,000 more toward state planning of the project.

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Main Spillway Reconstruction This Season On Track, DWR Says In Media Call Update

/in /by /Chico Enterprise-Recordby Risa Johnson

State Department of Water Resources officials said Wednesday reconstruction of the spillway is on track to reach the Nov. 1 deadline for a 100,000 cubic-feet per second flow capacity. “Nov. 1 is a major milestone but it is by no means the finish line,” said Jeanne Kuttel, chief engineer for DWR, in a press conference call. Contractor Kiewit Infrastructure West Co. has demolished most of the spillway for reconstruction this season, leaving just the top 730 feet intact and making patch repairs there, representatives reported.

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Spanish Revival Fixer-Upper Now Rocks The Neighborhood

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Lilia Valeeva’s Spanish revival bungalow in Mission Hills was purchased as a fixer-upper in 2013. The landscaping was also in need of an overhaul. The front yard was mostly Bermuda grass, with bushes on the perimeter and an oak tree that was causing problems with the home’s foundation. She envisioned a front yard that suited the historically designated house and wanted the landscape to be drought-tolerant, too. To get ideas, Valeeva did online research, visited parks and the zoo, and walked around the neighborhoods of Mission Hills.

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Sierra Snow Possible On Last Day Of Summer

/in /by /The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa)by Susan Steade

The last day of summer could bring snow to the Sierra, weather forecasters say. Thursday morning will see near-freezing temperatures and a 20 to 30 percent chance of precipitation in Sierra locales including Truckee, South Lake Tahoe, Reno and the higher elevations of Yosemite. Friday morning will be a little colder, under clear skies. Closer to the coast, a frost advisory has been issued for 3 to 8 a.m. Thursday in parts of Trinity and Mendocino counties, including Weaverville and Willits, the National Weather Service said. Temperatures there are expected to be in the low 30s.

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What’s Next For Brown’s Delta Tunnels Now That A Big Chunk Of Funding Has Disappeared?

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler and Ryan Sabalow

Shellshocked by an influential farm irrigation district’s refusal to help pay for the Delta tunnels, advocates of the $17.1 billion project were scrambling Wednesday to salvage it or conjure up a Plan B. Three possible options were floated by California water policymakers for reviving the proposal. All of them face substantial hurdles of their own. Can the tunnels go forward? Here’s a look at the current state – and the immediate future – of the project dubbed California WaterFix by Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration.

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Water Fix

/in /by /Agoura Hills Acorn by Ian Bradley

Customers in the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District who have already been hit with a series of annual rate increases could see their bills on the rise again as agencies across the state figure out how to pay for the $17-billion Delta tunnels. The LVMWD board of directors met Sept. 12 to endorse Gov. Jerry Brown’s California WaterFix project that will use a pair of 30-mile-long tunnels in a way that changes the how Northern California water moves through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and into the state’s Central Valley and points south.

 

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More Local Water for Los Angeles Could Mean a Drier Los Angeles River

/in /by /Phys.Org

Local leaders are working to make greater Los Angeles more reliant on local water in order to prepare for a hotter and more crowded future. A UCLA study published today is a reminder that achieving water independence would require a delicate balancing act—in particular for how the region manages the Los Angeles River.

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California Pensioners: Your COLAs Are Safe, For Now

/in /by /The Sacramento Bee

The state’s largest pension fund on Tuesday shot down a pitch from a Republican lawmaker who wants it to study how much money it could save by cutting benefits for retired public workers. Sen. John Moorlach of Orange County in July wrote letters to CalPERS board members – Richard Costigan and Dana Hollinger – making two touchy requests for the pension fund. In one, Moorlach wanted CalPERS to estimate how much money it could save by temporarily suspending cost-of-living adjustments for retirees. CalPERS has different retirement plans that allow cost-of-living adjustments of 2 to 5 percent for its pensioners.

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The West’s Wildfires Are Taking a Toll on Reservoirs

/in /by /Water Deeply (New York)

Around California, the country and the world, reservoirs are silently filling with sediment, and only a few people are thinking about it. Among them is Tim Randle, a civil engineer with the United States Bureau of Reclamation’s Sedimentation and River Hydraulics Group. “We used to be gaining water storage capacity with dam building,” said Randle, who is based in Denver. “Now, around the world, the pace is slowing down as sediment builds up. This is true in the U.S., too.”

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Denmark Makes Deal On Water With California

/in /by /The Local DK (Stockholm, Sweden)

The west coast state will spend millions of dollars over the coming years on improving water quality and reducing waste. The deal signed with the Danish Ministry for Food and the Environment will provide the opportunity for Danish business to be involved in that development, the ministry said in a press statement. Minister Esben Lunde Larsen, who signed the agreement, said the Californian market was ideal for Danish water technology.

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