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OPINION: Water Policy Leaves California Vulnerable

/in /by /The Orange County Registerby Michael Shires

Water is the Central Valley’s economic lifeblood — of that, there is no doubt. The drought of the last five years has put tremendous pressure on the state’s water allocation systems and shown that they are not only broken but incapable of adapting to the realities of a sustained drought cycle. But, why should people in Southern California and Orange County care if water is not available to the Central Valley and agricultural production goes away?

 

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Researchers Map Wells Across The West And Estimate 1 Out Of Every 30 Has Gone Dry

/in /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Ian James

During California’s severe five-year drought, groundwater levels fell to record lows and people in farming communities from Tulare County to Paso Robles saw their wells go dry.  Now researchers have analyzed records for about 2 million wells across 17 western states from Texas to Oregon, and they estimate that one out of every 30 wells was dry between 2013 and 2015.  The researchers also found dry wells were concentrated in farming areas such as California’s Central Valley and the High Plains. In some areas, they estimated that up to one-fifth of wells were dry.

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OPINION: Harmful Water Bills Held Over… A Momentary Flicker of Hope For Water Users

/in /by /Valley Roadrunner (Valley Center)

At some point in the early morning hours of Saturday, September 16, 2017, the California Legislative Session ended with a flicker of hope for there being some sanity, rational thought and common sense about water in the Capital City, Sacramento. Three bills, SB 623, (Monning – Carmel, CA), SB 606 (Hertzberg – Van Nuys, CA) and AB 1668 (Friedman – Glendale, CA) all failed passage and will be held over as two year bills to be taken back up in 2018. So why is this important to you?

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San Luis Rey Water Settlement: Tribes, Cities Are Now ‘Joined At The Hip’

/in /by /Valley Roadrunner (Valley Center) Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

On Monday, one time antagonists of a 50-year battle in the courts over right rights, who eventually became friends and allies, celebrated the San Luis Rey Indian Water Rights Settlement. They included representatives of the Rincon, Pala, Pauma, San Pasqual and La Jolla tribes, the City of Escondido, Vista Irrigation District and the San Luis Rey Indian Water Authority, whose chairman is Bo Mazzetti, chairman of the Rincon tribe.

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The US Has a Vast, Untapped Supply of Renewable Energy That’s Neither Wind, Solar, or Hydropower

/in /by /Quartz (New York)

The value of water as a liquid is obvious. We can drink it, use it to clean ourselves and our things, swim in it to cool off and to play, and build dams across it to harvest its energy. Water as clouds are also essential: they are key for the way they deliver precipitation to cropland and forests. But scientists now say we may have been overlooking the most useful stage of the water cycle.

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Private Water Firms Tap Profit From Struggling Public Utilities

/in /by /Bloomberg BNA

A cash crunch for public water utilities is creating an opportunity for the growing for-profit water companies—but it’s one that might drain customers’ wallets. Companies like American Water Works Co. and Aqua America Inc. are finding the time is right to purchase small, troubled water utilities from local governments that are facing political pressure to keep rates low—often by delaying infrastructure upgrades. Acquisitions like these are helping private water companies grow even while per capita water consumption continues its long-term downward trend.

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Clogged Tunnels? North Delta Towns Stay Guarded After Financial Setback for Twin Tunnels

/in /by /Sacramento News & Reviewby Scott Thomas Anderson

The water project that north Delta communities fear will end their way of life may have met its own ending, after the plan to finance it collapsed unexpectedly in a Central California boardroom last week.

News of the twin tunnels’ setback came September 20, when the Westlands Water District, which serves farms in Fresno and King counties, voted not to participate in financing its share of the $17 billion project. The WWD’s manager told the Sacramento Bee that signing on would cause too much monetary pain. The district was expected to pay roughly $3 billion.

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Mexican Sewage, Toxic Waste Draw Lawsuit Threat From Cities

/in /by /Bloomberg BNA

Toxic waste and sewage continue to flow from the Tijuana River to the Pacific Ocean, and California cities along the U.S.-Mexican border are ready to bring a lawsuit to halt it. Imperial Beach, Chula Vista, and the San Diego Unified Port District Sept. 28 notified the International Boundary and Water Commission and Veolia Water North America-West LLC which operate the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant in San Diego, that they plan to sue over the discharges unless this issue is addressed within 60 days.

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OPINION: Watershed Conservation Key to Solving California’s Water Problems

/in /by /San Francisco Chronicle

The California Water Fix/delta tunnels project is facing new challenges every day, most recently in regard to financing. Whether or not the state’s water suppliers support the plan, an essential piece is missing from the conversation: the potential of the state’s watersheds — the forests, meadows and streams that deliver water to our dams — to help solve California’s water problems.

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With Rats and Frogs in Camp Pendleton Water Supply, Base Agrees to Federal Decree

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune

Camp Pendleton officials swear that the water consumed by 55,000 Marines and their families is safe, despite a pair of scathing state and federal investigations indicating chronic problems in the treatment systems at the sprawling military base. Water safety inspectors visiting Camp Pendleton over several days in late June uncovered rats rotting on a reservoir gate, a desiccated frog clinging to a reservoir ladder and another rodent carcass floating in treated water.

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