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Emergency Repairs Begin Along Feather River Downstream Of Oroville Dam

/in /by /KCRA Sacramentoby Mike Luery

Construction is now underway along the Feather River Parkway where nearly 3 miles of levees need emergency repairs. “We saw some alarming distress. So, this was deemed a critical repair project,” Sutter Butte Flood Control Executive Director Mike Inamine said. The repairs will include filling sinkholes and boils. Water seepage was evident on the levees after increased water was released from the Oroville Dam spillways in February and into Feather River. Officials said the levee damage posed a direct threat to Yuba City and Sutter County.

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Government Claim Filed Against Department Of Water Resources For Damages From Spillway Flooding

/in /by /Gridley Herald

On August 2,2017, Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, a law firm specializing in mass damages, submitted a Government Claim Form to the State of California, Department of General Services, on behalf of JEM Farms and Chandon Ranch. JEM Farms and Chandon Ranch operate a walnut farm on approximately 2,000 acres in Butte County. The farm runs on the East and West sides of the Feather River, downstream from the Oroville Dam spillway.

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VOSD Podcast: The Big SANDAG Report Came Out and Wowzer

/in /by /Voice of San Diego by Adriana Heldiz Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The investigation of the San Diego Association of Governments that came out this week is a doozy. On this week’s podcast, hosts Andrew Keatts and Scott Lewis read excerpts from the independent investigation of the regional transportation agency and break down its most shocking findings. The investigation of SANDAG was spurred by a series of stories by Keatts, who found that the agency knowingly misled voters by using a flawed economic forecasting model.

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Agencies Develop Plan to Take Advantage of Snow Levels and Refill OC Basin

/in /by /Orange County Breeze

The Municipal Water District of Orange County (MWDOC) is facilitating a water agreement that will bring surplus snowmelt and storm runoff from Northern California to Orange County and give the Groundwater Basin a chance to rebound from historic lows after the drought. Known as a cyclic storage agreement, the arrangement between MWDOC, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) and Orange County Water District (OCWD) will recharge the Basin to its highest level since 2007 and ensure the Orange County Basin is healthy enough to stave off another drought.

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Metropolitan Water District Has Paid Almost $88M to Get Out of Risky Swap Deals

/in /by /Voice of San Diego by Ashly McGlone

The agency that supplies water to most of Southern California has paid tens of millions of dollars since 2008 to exit risky and complex financial deals it made before the Great Recession hit. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California entered two dozen interest-rate swap deals, which, in a convoluted way, aimed to stabilize debt interest rates, but amount to bets on the way interest rates will go. If interest rates move one direction, the swap becomes an asset. If they move the other direction, it becomes a liability.

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Documentary On Man’s 116-Mile Walk Around Salton Sea To Be Screened At Oceanside Film Fest

/in /by /KPBSby Brooke Ruth and Maureen Cavanaugh

Randy Brown became the first person to hike the 116-mile perimeter of the Salton Sea in June 2015. Now Brown’s hike, which he completed during 105 to 110-degree weather, and the problems the sea is facing are the subject of a documentary that is set to debut at the Oceanside Film Festival on Monday.The Salton Sea is California’s largest lake. The sea, which is located in both Imperial and Riverside counties, is shrinking and thus exposing the lakebed that turns into dust when the wind blows.

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Governor’s Delta Tunnels Opposed By 3 Million-Member Group

/in /by /Central Valley Business Times (Sacramento)

Recreational Boaters of California (RBOC), a non-profit organization serving the boating community, has come out in opposition to the massive Delta water tunnels project pushed by the governor. The massive construction project could seriously impact boaters’ access to the Delta for years to come, RBOC says. “RBOC has, for decades, been at the forefront of opposing proposals that would impair the ability of boaters to access to the 1,000 miles of waterways in the Delta,” says Peter Robertson, president of the 3 million member organization. “We successfully opposed permanent barriers that would have blocked navigation to popular Delta destinations.”

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BLOG: California’s Biggest Drought Success Story Came With A High Cost

/in /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Mark Grossi

When her well went dry in 2014, Yolanda Serrato had just begun the fight of her life against breast cancer. Her world had already been turned upside down – then it went sideways. Through chemotherapy and radiation, she often carried buckets of water from a 300-gallon tank outside so she could cook food for her family. She heated water on the stove for sponge baths. She even needed a bucket of water to use the toilet.

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OPINION: Legislature, Don’t Mess With California’s Water Umpire

/in /by /Los Angeles Times

As California water becomes an increasingly precious and contentious resource, the state needs an umpire with the power to enforce laws against illegal diversions and protect the rights of the public and others with enforceable claims to state water. That decisionmaker must be both muscular and fair. There is indeed such a water umpire in California.

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Despite Best Efforts, Years Of Drought Leave State Little Room For Error

/in /by /Cronkite News (Phoenix, Ariz.)by Ben Moffat

Arizona’s top water official told a congressional committee Wednesday that even though the state has done a lot right, years of drought still threaten to push the region into a water emergency in the next few years. Tom Buschatzke, the director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, said his office needs better coordination with other states and federal agencies and expressed concern that proposed cuts in federal funding for state could force agencies like his to do “more with less.”

 

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