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Water Conservation Rules Could Get a Lot More Complicated Under New Proposal

/in /by /89.3 KPCCby Emily Guerin

Despite a wet start to the fall in Northern California, nearly two-thirds of the state remains wracked by extreme drought. In the future, climate change is likely to make dry periods more frequent, more intense and longer. Competition for water will increase, as will population.

So it’s no surprise Gov. Jerry Brown says we need to “make water conservation a way of life in California.” But what’s the best way to get Californians to keep saving? A new proposal from five state resource agencies aims to re-define water conservation in the state.

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BLOG: Why One Decision Could Decide The Future Of Desalination In California

/in /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Tony Davis

A protracted conflict over whether and how to protect fish from dying at desalination plants is clouding prospects for what would be California’s second large plant of this type – and for the future of desalination along the entire California coastline. For years, a proposed Poseidon Resources desalination plant in Huntington Beach in Orange County has been kept in limbo.

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OPINION: Feinstein Gets It Right In California Water Fight, Finally

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune

California’s House Republicans have been fighting for years with senators, in particular Dianne Feinstein, over how to improve water infrastructure and help farmers in the Golden State. Now, at long last, it appears something will get done. House and Senate leaders have agreed to add a provision crafted by Feinstein, California’s senior Democratic senator, to an omnibus water infrastructure bill that is expected to pass this month.

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OPINION: Stop Feinstein’s Water-Bill Rider

/in /by /San Francisco Chronicle

Sen. Dianne Feinstein calls her rider to a bipartisan water appropriations bill a way to improve efficiencies and capture more supply from “wasted” river flows for California cities, agriculture and the environment. Sen. Barbara Boxer, the author of the bill the rider amends, calls it a “poison pill” and vows to filibuster it to death.

A more temperate read from President Obama’s Department of the Interior: Feinstein’s drought rider would further complicate already very, very complicated federal water operations in California with no clear gains. The department, and the White House, are opposed, and rightly so.

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State Agencies Considering New Water Restrictions

/in /by /CW6 San Diegoby Erika Cervantes

(San Diego) California’s extreme drought has been going on for five years. Water saving measures were put in place but when communities eased up on restrictions, so did people. Several state agencies have come up with a new plan to create more water restrictions. The whole idea is to make conservation efforts from the past couple of years permanent, so there’s enough water to go around. Water is a limited resource in California. It’s gotten so bad, when some people turn on their facets, there’s nothing coming out.

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OPINION: The Barbara Boxer Water Rebellion

/in /by /The Wall Street Journal

Barbara Boxer has torpedoed more legislation than she’s helped pass during her four terms in the Senate. Before retiring for good (literally), the Bay Area Democrat is trying to sink a water bill that could provide modest relief to farmers in California’s parched Central Valley. Congress plans to vote this week on bipartisan legislation that would authorize a variety of water projects including port dredging, reservoirs, fish hatcheries, lake recreation and wetlands restoration. The package also includes $120 million to fix Flint, Michigan’s corroded pipes and other aging municipal water systems.

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Imperial Valley Water Officials Set Ultimatum To Protect Salton Sea

/in /by /KPBSby Maureen Cavanaugh and Brooke Ruth

Imperial Valley’s water district, the Imperial Irrigation District, is demanding state water officials have a 10-year plan for the management of the Salton Sea by the end of the year or it will not agree to a proposed Colorado River drought deal. The Salton Sea is shrinking due to a water transfer deal that sends water to San Diego County and the Coachella Valley. As the lake recedes, wildlife habitat is being lost and playa, the lakebed, is exposed, causing a health hazard due to an increase of dust in the air.

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OPINION: A Plan To Manage California’s Water

/in /by /San Francisco Chronicle

“Boxer slams water bill rider backed by Feinstein” (Dec. 6) is an unfortunate attack on a bill that California desperately needs to ensure its water operations are based on good science and which help construct a new and different water infrastructure. We’re a state of 40 million people relying on a water system built when only 16 million people lived here — that’s not sustainable. The water bill that Congress is now considering puts us on the right path.

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OPINION: One More Try For Federal Fixes To California’s Water Woes

/in /by /The Bakersfield Californianby Lois Henry

Local water folks are hopeful, but not holding their breath, that the latest congressional effort to move a little more water down the pike from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta will actually succeed. Even if it does, I’m sure environmental activists already have their lawyers prepped and ready for launch. But it’s the holidays, so who knows? This legislation may be the Christmas miracle that everyone had hoped El Niño would be last year. (Rotten little boy.) It’s expected to be taken up by the House and Senate over the next week. Anyhow, here’s what all the hubbub is about, at least in water circles.

 

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White House Won’t Support California Water Bill That’s Already Divided Its Senators

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Michael Doyle

The White House on Tuesday voiced doubts about controversial California water legislation that has already caused an unusually public split between the state’s two Democratic senators. Meeting with reporters, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the California provisions that span some 91 pages of often-technical text seemed problematic, though he cautioned that analysis continues. “Based on what we know so far, we don’t support the kinds of proposals that have been put forward to address some of the water resources issues in California right now,” Earnest said.

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