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OPINION: Water Education More Important Than Ever

/in /by /Ventura County Star

With students heading back to classes this month, we want to ask a little favor of teachers, principals and other educators at public and private elementary, middle and high schools alike:

Please spend some time this school year teaching our children about water conservation, if you are not already. Because despite some mixed signals from water regulators lately, a severe drought continues in Southern California, and water education is more important than ever.

 

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Relaxed Conservation Measures Don’t Mean the Drought is Over

/in /by /KALW (San Francisco)by Angela Johnston Mentioned: Carlsbad Desalination Plant

The California drought is now in it’s fifth year, and a recent study says it won’t be over for years to come. The study analyzed California’s mountain snowpack and found that we’d need almost four and a half more years of winter storms to escape drought conditions.  But just few months ago, after a not-so-impressive El Niño winter season, California’s State Water Resources Control Board ended a year of mandatory water restrictions, that had required urban residents to cut their consumption by 25% statewide.

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Out-of-Control California Wildfire Grows, Forces Schools to Close

/in /by /Reutersby Dan Whitcomb

A wildfire burning out of control in mountains and foothills east of Los Angeles mushroomed more than 50 percent overnight, forcing authorities to order three school districts to cancel classes due to heavy smoke and dangerous conditions. More than 900 firefighters were battling the so-called Pilot Fire, which has charred some 7,500 acres of bone-dry tinder and brush in the San Bernardino Mountains since it broke out around noon on Sunday.

 

 

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Study: Public Water Supply is Unsafe for Millions of Americans

/in /by /CNNby Susan Scutti

Millions of Americans may be drinking water with unsafe levels of industrial chemicals, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters. These chemicals, known as polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances or PFASs, have been linked to high cholesterol, obesity, hormone suppression — and even cancer. Introduced more than 60 years ago, PFASs are a category of man-made chemicals that degrade very slowly, if at all, in the environment.

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Drought, Lower Prices Eat Away at Fresno County 2015 Crop Values

/in /by /The Fresno Beeby Bonhia Lee

Fresno County’s overall crop value fell to $6.61 billion last year from a high of $7 billion in 2014 as the region battled drought, lower commodity prices and production issues.

The drop was a disappointment, but not a surprise, as the 2015 Fresno County Crop Report was presented to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. “Still, with all of that, Fresno County farmers and ranchers come together to do something magical,” said Ryan Jacobsen, chief executive officer of the Fresno County Farm Bureau.

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Metropolitan Switches to Solar to Help Offset Power Used for Water Deliveries

/in /by /Yahoo

With the dual goals of cutting carbon emissions and reducing operational costs, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California unveiled its latest investment in solar power today. Metropolitan board Chairman Randy Record joined General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger to flip a ceremonial switch signifying the activation of two separate solar fields with 10,780 large, sun-tracking panels at the district’s F.E. Weymouth Water Treatment Plant in La Verne. The 3-megawatt solar installation covering 15.5 acres will generate about 6.5 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of clean, renewable energy a year, offsetting nearly half of the plant’s energy demands.

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OPINION: Taxpayers Group Doesn’t Seem to Care About Taxpayers When it Comes to the Desal Plant

/in /by /Voice of San Diegoby Marco Gonzalez Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Earlier this summer, the San Diego County Taxpayers Association gave its Golden Watchdog award to the Carlsbad Desalination Project, reflecting the group’s support “every step of the way” for what many in the environmental community consider the region’s biggest boondoggle in recent memory. While much of the fight against the desalination plant has focused on the devastating environmental harm to marine life and huge output of greenhouse gasses, this recognition from the Taxpayers Association really has environmentalists scratching our collective head.

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Metropolitan Water District Saving Money Lost During Drought by Investing in Solar

/in /by / San Gabriel Valley Tribune (Monrovia)by Steve Scauzillo

With conservation cutting into demand, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California used nearly 16 acres of land originally set aside for additional water production for a solar farm at its F.E. Weymouth Water Treatment Plant in La Verne. The $10.5 million solar installation produces 3 megawatts of electricity at capacity, or enough to supply one-half of the treatment plant’s power needs. MWD General Manager Jeff Kightlinger flipped the switch on the renewable energy project Tuesday, marking the ceremonial opening of the solar installation situated in two fields adjacent to the plant’s cleaned-water reservoir and only yards away from tract homes.

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BLOG: Why Passing Climate Legislation Is Good for California’s Water

/in /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Kirsten James

As every Californian knows by now, our state is in the fifth year of a drought, and this persistent imbalance of supply and demand in our water supply is likely the new norm. The good news is that many of our state leaders have woken up to this fact, and in recent years have been clearing some of the logjams around smart water management. The state adopted a historic groundwater bill in 2014 to help ensure our reserves don’t run dry, and the legislature and voters passed a $7.5 billion water bond to help fund the infrastructure to make our state more resilient.

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California’s Regional Electricity Grid Plan on Hold

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Chris Megerian and Ivan Penn

Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan for a regional electricity grid is being put on hold this year, and lawmakers are no longer expected to consider a measure that would allow California to partner with five other states in buying and selling power. The governor and state regulators hope more interstate cooperation would eventually help spread clean energy through the region, increasing the market for renewable sources such as solar and wind.

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