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OPINION: Our View: If The State Carries Out Its Plan, Our Region Will Suffer

/in /by /The Modesto Bee

Is the state coming to tear down the arch, or just extinguish some of its lights? For more than 100 years, Modesto’s downtown arch has proclaimed “Water Wealth Contentment Health.” The reasons are obvious – much of what we value is derived from the water flowing through our communities. Without the water, our wealth, health and contentment could disappear. That’s no less true in Turlock, Oakdale and Ceres; or in Merced, Manteca, Ripon, Escalon and even, to some extent, San Francisco.

 

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Stormier Times for California’s Water Expected Under New Law

/in /by /The Associated Press as published by ABC Newsby Ellen Knickmeyer

The first winter storm of 2017 to drop welcome rain over the rivers, pumps, pipes and canals that move California’s water north to south likely will open a new era of tension over how much water goes to fish or farms under a new U.S law. Legislation signed Friday by President Barack Obama dictates that the federal portion of California’s heavily engineered water systems gives agricultural districts and other human users the biggest possible share of the most fought-over resource in a state with a six-year drought.

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In California’s Forests, Removing Small Trees Leaves Water For Bigger Ones And For Dwindling Reservoirs

/in /by /The Economist (San Francisco)

In the early 1900s, an average forested acre in California supported fewer than 50 or so trees. After a century of efforts to fight wildfires, the average has risen to more than 300 (albeit mostly smaller) trees. Some might reckon such growth wonderful, but it is a problem far more serious than, say, the fact that horses can no longer trot through areas where they once could. The extra fuel turns today’s wildfires into infernos hot enough to devastate the landscape, torching even the big older trees that typically survived fires in the old days.

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Delayed Colorado River Deal Will Likely Fall To Trump Administration To Finish

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

Several months ago, managers of water agencies in California, Arizona and Nevada were expressing optimism they could finalize a deal to use less water from the dwindling Colorado River before the end of the Obama administration. Now that Jan. 20 deadline no longer seems achievable and parties to the talks acknowledge they likely won’t be able to finish an agreement until at least several months into President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.

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Leaders, Farmers, Residents Plea Against Delta Water Plan

/in /by /Record Net (Stockton)by Wes Bowers

San Joaquin County residents and public officials alike voiced opposition this week against a state plan to increase flows from the Stanislaus River as well as increase allowable salt in the southern San Joaquin Delta, stating the proposals could have significant negative impacts on the region’s agricultural viability. The State Water Resources Control Board held its second of five public hearings to collect input on the substitute environmental document of its Water Quality Control Plan on Friday at the Stockton Memorial Civic Auditorium.

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Obama Signs Water Bill; What Does It Mean For The Delta?

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Michael Doyle, Dale Kasler and Ryan Sabalow

President Barack Obama on Friday signed a massive infrastructure bill designed to control floods, fund dams and deliver more water to farmers in California’s drought-ravaged Central Valley. Obama signed the $12 billion bill in a distinctly low-key act. Controversial provisions that critics fear could harm fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta were wrapped inside a package stuffed with politically popular projects, ranging from Sacramento-area levees to clean-water aid for beleaguered Flint, Mich.

 

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U.S. and Mexico Push To Extend Accord On Colorado River

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Sandra Dibble Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

With the prospect of reduced Colorado River deliveries as early as 2018, U.S. and Mexican negotiators have been in a race against the clock to forge an agreement that involves sharing any future shortages — and are hoping for a signing before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20th. Water managers on both sides of the border say the accord will be crucial in spelling out how the United States and Mexico would take cuts when a shortage is declared on the river, a lifeline for some 40 million people in both countries.

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Obama Signs California’s Massive Water Bill, But Trump Will Determine Its Future

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Michael Doyle

President Barack Obama on Friday quietly signed and bequeathed to President-elect Donald Trump a massive infrastructure bill designed to control floods, fund dams and deliver more water to farmers in California’s Central Valley. While attempting to mollify critics’ concerns over potential harm to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, Obama signed the $12 billion bill in a distinctly low-key act. The still-controversial California provisions were wrapped inside a package stuffed with politically popular projects, ranging from Sacramento-area levees to clean-water aid for beleaguered Flint, Michigan.

 

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Delayed Colorado River Deal Will Likely Fall To Trump Administration To Finish

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

Several months ago, managers of water agencies in California, Arizona and Nevada were expressing optimism they could finalize a deal to use less water from the dwindling Colorado River before the end of the Obama administration. Now that Jan. 20 deadline no longer seems achievable and parties to the talks acknowledge they likely won’t be able to finish an agreement until at least several months into President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.

 

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OPINION: California WaterFix Is The ‘Grand Compromise’ For The Delta

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Terry Erlewine

Public water agencies throughout California are looking to spend billions of dollars in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to address a fundamental physical reality: The existing water system in the southern Delta poses an intractable environmental problem. The only solution is to construct a new, sufficiently sized conveyance system to move water supplies. State and federal agencies have been working toward a solution for 10 years. Occasionally, one group or another has suggested dramatically constricting the water system by downsizing its capacity.

 

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