The State Water Resources Control Board’s five members, all of whom owe their 120,000-plus a year jobs to Gov. Edmund Brown Jr., on Tuesday begin the first part of a two-part, multi-month water right change petition hearing for what is marketed as the “WaterFix Project.”
The project would dig two massive tunnels beneath the California Delta to drain fresh water out of the Sacramento River before it could flow naturally into the Delta.
Still swirling in controversy, Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed $15.5 billion re-engineering of the troubled Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is heading into a critical phase over the next year that could well decide if the project comes to fruition. Crunch time starts Tuesday. The State Water Resources Control Board begins months of grueling public hearings on the details of Brown’s plan to burrow a pair of massive tunnels beneath the heart of the Delta, a grand public works project designed to shore up the reliability of water deliveries to millions of Southern Californians and San Joaquin Valley farmers.
The San Diego Sustainable Landscapes Program, a grant-funded partnership created by the San Diego County Water Authority, the City of San Diego, the County of San Diego, the Surfrider Foundation, the California American Water Company and the Association of Compost Producers, now has a website to help the region’s residents easily find the information they need to transform turf-based urban landscapes to ones that provide multiple environmental benefits, such as increased water-use efficiency and improved stormwater management.
Now that Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has completed its $175 million purchase of four islands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, totaling almost 20,000 acres in size, it is time to engage in a discussion of how Met can be a good Delta neighbor. Delta interests are rightly concerned about the presence of Met in our midst. The overpumping of the Delta by water contractors, led by Met, has had a negative impact on Delta water quality for farms and wildlife.
In many cases, more truly is better. In California, especially as the current punishing drought continues for a fifth year, more definitely would be better in just about every regard when it comes to water. This is true when it comes to water research. And as demonstrated by two separate studies reported on recently by The Desert Sun’s Ian James, more data on groundwater in California would be a good thing indeed. The Desert Sun’s Ian James reported recently on the work done by teams at Stanford University.
San Diego is accelerating construction of its landmark water recycling system and making other changes that will save money, benefit the environment and make pipeline construction less disruptive.
City officials plan to begin recycling 30 million gallons a day of sewage into drinking water by 2021, much quicker than a previous schedule calling for 15 million gallons daily by 2023 and 30 million gallons per day by 2027. The faster schedule is possible primarily because officials have decided to do all of the recycling in Miramar instead of splitting it in half between Miramar and Otay Mesa.
Californians living through a fifth year of historic drought received what seemed like a bit of good news last month: Researchers at Stanford found significantly larger-than-expected groundwater supplies 1,000 to 3,500ft (300 to 1,000m) below the state’s surface, in a first ever assessment of water supplies in California’s deep underground aquifers.
Updated estimates of our precious groundwater supplies are much-needed progress, as some estimates date back to 1989, but it’s critically important to approach these findings with a 21st-century mindset.
California decision makers are at a historic crossroads in the long-standing California water crisis. The outcome will permanently alter the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. Your voice can steer these decisions in the right direction and now is the time to speak up.
On July 26, 2016, the State Water Resources Control Board will begin a series of hearings that will help determine whether the governor’s proposed twin tunnels project will continue to move forward.
Forget about Tesla Motors Inc.’s batteries: The hottest way to store energy in the electricity business today is a century-old technology that involves moving water to stash power.
Known as pumped storage, the giant facilities push large volumes of water uphill when there is surplus electricity, and then let gravity move it back down through turbines to generate hydroelectric power when extra kilowatts are needed.
Diamond Valley Lake returned to its postcard-worthy splendor after Metropolitan Water District pumped in nearly 52 billion gallons of water since spring.
Islands that appeared when water was low are now submerged. Steep, exposed banks are less severe. Mud flats that were between the lake’s edge and its usual shoreline are flooded. The reservoir, where fishing is acclaimed but swimming is forbidden, looks a lot better.
