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Sen. Bill Monning: We Still Need to Save Water This Summer

/in /by /Santa Cruz Sentinelby Sen. Bill Monning

California has had an uncharacteristically rainy season this year and, after years of severe drought, I know we all welcome this replenishment of California’s water tables. While Governor Brown has lifted the state’s emergency drought order, it is important to remember that water is still a precious resource. On average, Californians use over 190 gallons of water a day. Higher water usage is linked to higher home energy usage, and many Californians suffer from water over usage in individual homes.

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Private Water Panel Meetings Continue Apace, Despite Detractors

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby James DeHaven Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

San Diego County Water Authority directors have met behind closed doors more than three times a week on average since the start of the year, putting the agency on pace to surpass last year’s tally of gatherings that critics say could run afoul of open-meetings laws. U-T Watchdog reviewed payroll records — the only documentation available for the meetings — and found that directors appointed to the 36-member board were paid to attend 55 private meetings through the end of April. That’s 10 more than were held over the same time period in 2016 — a year in which board members held more than 100 meetings out of public view.

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Sites Reservoir: Bond Fund Proposal Must Be Ready In August

/in /by /Oroville Mercury Register

The plans to build a new reservoir near Maxwell have been a long time in coming. At this point, 30 agencies throughout the state are on the list to help pay for planning efforts and later receive a share of an estimated average yield of 500,000 acre-feet of water. The next step is to apply for partial funding through Proposition 1 funds, the statewide water bond approved in 2014. Within the $7.5 bond amount, $2.7 billion is set aside for water storage projects.

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The Challenge of Measuring Groundwater in California’s Central Valley

/in /by /News Deeplyby Ian Evans

During droughts, groundwater pumping is increased to make up for losses from surface water. This is especially true in California’s Central Valley, which stretches roughly 400 miles from Redding to just south of Bakersfield, and is the heart of the state’s $47 billion-a-year agricultural industry. For decades, many parts of the Central Valley aquifer have been overdrafted, but recent work by scientists from the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Houston have attempted to put a more precise number on how much water is being pumped.

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VIDEO: CA Superintendent Talks Water Quality in San Diego

/in /by /NBC 7 San Diego

California’s Superintendent of schools, Tom Torlakson, visited schools in San Diego Thursday to talk about water quality issues and to congratulate a couple of teachers of the year. NBC 7 Investigates uncovered lead contamination in drinking water at some local schools, and now the topic is top of mind for many. NBC 7’s Liberty Zabala reports.

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Debate Continues Over Proposed Huntington Desalination Plant Amid Latest Environmental Report

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ben Brazil Mentioned: Carlsbad Desalination Plant

The long debate over Poseidon Water’s proposed ocean desalination plant in Huntington Beach continued this week as the California State Lands Commission released a draft of a supplemental environmental impact report analyzing planned additions to the facility that are meant to reduce potential harm to marine life and increase the plant’s efficiency. The supplement to a 2010 EIR addresses the possible environmental effects of a screen and diffuser added to the intake and outflow pipes, respectively, that would be used by the $1-billion desalination facility proposed at Newland Street and Pacific Coast Highway.

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Commentary: Desalination Will Not Solve California’s Water Woes

/in /by /The Mercury News‎by Leon Szeptycki and Newsha K. Ajami

In the wake of the recent drought, desalination of ocean water continues to be a central topic in California water debates. Some coastal communities were particularly hard hit by the drought, including a large swath of the central coast that is among the last regions in the state still suffering from drought conditions. Desalination seems to hold the potential for limitless, drought-proof supplies, but the reality is far more complex.

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BLOG: The Hidden Opportunity for Water Storage in California

/in /by /Environmental Defense Fund by Maurice Hall

California’s historic winter ended the drought in many parts of the state and piled up record levels of snowpack in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. With so much precipitation, surface water infrastructure – our network of dams, reservoirs and levees – has been called into action like never before, and in some cases has struggled to handle the influx of flows.

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Oroville Dam Update: Fracture Likely Caused By ‘Multiple Factors’

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler

If you’re expecting a quick and easy answer on what caused the spillway failure at Oroville Dam, think again. The leader of the independent forensics team studying the Oroville crisis said Thursday that the crack in the dam’s main flood-control spillway likely was caused by a combination of problems. “We do anticipate there will be multiple contributory factors, no single factor,” said dam safety consultant John France in a conference call with reporters.

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New Emergency Siren Installed at Dam that Forced Evacuations

/in /by /The Associated Press (As published by ABC10 News)

Officials say they have installed a new emergency siren at a Northern California dam whose damaged spillway forced evacuations earlier this year. The state Department of Water Resources says it will conduct the first test of the new siren at Oroville Dam on Friday. Monthly tests in July and August will follow. The previous siren was lost during water releases in February. Construction crews have begun demolishing the destroyed portion of the main spillway at the dam, which is the nation’s tallest.

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