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Drone Video Shows Repairs Progressing at Oroville Dam

/in /by /SF Gateby Alix Martichoux

Drone video released by the California Department of Water Resources shows how repairs are moving along at the Oroville Dam’s main spillway, which crumbled during the extremely wet winter and forced the evacuation of 180,000 people. The video of crews laying down and compacting concrete (set to soothing music) was posted to the department’s YouTube page, where it regularly shares updates on the construction progress.   Reconstruction of the main spillway is on track to be completed by Nov. 1, 2017, in time for California’s rainiest months. Since the spillway’s erosion in February, crews have been working to remove and rebuild 2,270 feet of the spillway.

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Water Authority to Take Rate Dispute to State High Court

/in /by /Fox 5 San Diego Quoted: Mark Muir

The San Diego County Water Authority announced Monday that it will take a long-running legal dispute over rates to the state Supreme Court. The decision comes just over a month after an appellate court issued what amounted to a split decision in the Water Authority’s case against the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. The SDCWA has sued the MWD multiple times over rates, with the largest issue being how much the MWD was allowed to charge for transporting Colorado River water to San Diego.

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More Reasons Why City Will Pay for Water Projects

/in /by /San Diego Readerby Marty Graham

Half of a $3.2 million fine levied against San Diego for city construction inspectors’ past failure to require efforts to keep construction sediment out of storm drains will go to restoration efforts at Los Peñasquitos, Chollas Creek and San Diego River, according to settlement documents. The water board investigation arose out of a private citizen’s report in May 2015 that a city inspector was allowing a city contractor to let mud run down Trumbull Street in Point Loma — with the mud ending up in a storm drain. The contractor was replacing concrete pavement on the hill above Shelter Island.

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Trump Rolled Back This Environmental Rule. California May Replace It With A Stronger One

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

President Donald Trump’s administration gave California land developers and farmers a reason to cheer when the White House last month rolled back controversial regulations for wetlands imposed during the Obama presidency. They may want to hold off on the celebration. A powerful California water agency is poised to adopt its own regulations that could protect more of the state’s wetlands from being plowed, paved over or otherwise damaged. Environmental groups are pressuring the State Water Resources Control Board to push back against Trump’s decision and adopt a wetlands policy that’s even stricter than former President Barack Obama’s.

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More San Diego Schools Testing for Lead in Drinking Water Than Elsewhere in California

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune

Significantly more schools in San Diego are having their water tested for toxic lead than elsewhere in California, prompting local water officials to begin pressing for state reimbursement of steep testing costs. Since California began in January requiring water agencies to conduct lead tests for free at all schools that submit requests, 507 out of 1,259 schools tested statewide have been in San Diego County. That number dwarfs second-place Los Angeles County, with 100 schools tested, third-place Orange County, with 85 schools tested, and every other county in the state.

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Delta Tunnel Project Passes Next Test

/in /by /The Tracy Press

The California Department of Water Resources announced Friday that it has certified the environmental analysis of the California WaterFix, which has as its core the “twin-tunnels” project through the Delta. DWR Acting Director Cindy Messer said the certification is “an important benchmark in moving California towards a more reliable water supply.” “With this certification, our state is now closer to modernizing our aging water-delivery system in a way that improves reliability and protects the environment,” she added.

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OPINION: Sites Reservoir is a good idea coming to pass

/in /by /Chico Enterprise-Record

Today’s news that Sites Reservoir is likely to be built is proof you can’t keep a good idea down, although clearly you can delay it a heck of a long time. Work on the current version of the reservoir west of Maxwell began more than 20 years ago, when the federal government realized it needed more water to meet the requirements of the Endangered Species Act in California. There was only one large untapped source of surface water in the state, and that was the Sacramento Valley downstream from Shasta Dam.

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OPINION: There’s Light at the End of the Delta Tunnels, So What’s Next for California Water Policy?

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby William Kahrl

Deciding how to give people water to drink and grow food — and to do so without damaging the state’s economy or the environment — shouldn’t have been this hard. For the last dozen years and more, California has been entangled in heated debate over updating the state’s water system. But now we’re closing in on a resolution to that question. That, in turn, opens the way to considering future water policy in a very different political landscape.

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OPINION: Editorial: Twin Tunnel Plan Ignores Delta Reality

/in /by /Chico Enterprise-Record

Gov. Jerry Brown’s cheerleading squad was in high-spirited form Friday with the latest news that his twin tunnels project in the delta inched a step closer to reality. The state Department of Water Resources gave its approval to the tunnels by certifying the environmental reviews for the project. And really, what did you expect? The DWR answers to Brown, and Brown wants to build those four-story tunnels to funnel north state water from the Sacramento River, under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, to farmers and cities in the south.

 

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Oroville, Other Flood-Safety Projects Would Be Fast-Tracked Under New Bill

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Jim Miller

Work to strengthen Oroville Dam, shore up downstream levees and other types of flood-prevention projects would be eligible for fast-tracked state approval under new California legislation lawmakers will consider when they return from summer recess next month. The measure by state Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, whose district suffered heavy flood damage in February, would require state agencies to speed up permit processing and approval for certain types of flood-control projects. Current law already allows authorities to exempt or delay permit requirements during emergencies. Yet other high-priority projects still have to go through the normal permitting process.

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