You are now in San Diego County category.

Cadiz executive claims legal victory for Mojave Desert water transfer plan

/in /by /San Bernardino County Sunby Jim Steinberg

The time period for legal challenges to the controversial San Bernardino County Mojave Desert underground water transfer plan has passed, officials for Cadiz Inc. said this week.

“As a result, all challenges to the environmental review and approval of the Cadiz Water Project under the California Environmental Quality Act, the toughest environmental law in the U.S., are now final having withstood scrutiny by state superior and appellate courts,” the company said in a statement.

 

 

Full Story

Water management is a wicked problem, but not an unsolvable one

/in /by /The Christian Science Monitorby Christa Brelsford

Last summer, it was hard to miss news about California’s drought, caused by the four driest years in the state’s history. Its impact on California’s economy in 2015 alone was estimated at $2.7 billion dollars and 21,000 jobs lost. Thanks to El Niño, this drought has eased some, but 42 percent of the state is still in a condition of extreme drought.

In 2007, there was a drought that didn’t garner quite the same national attention: Atlanta, Georgia was in a state of exceptional drought from September to December and came within a few months of running out of water.

Full Story

Denham’s ‘Save Our Salmon’ Act Passes Through Congress

/in /by /Oakdale Leader

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed H.R. 4582, the Save Our Salmon (SOS) Act, introduced by area Congressman Jeff Denham (R-Turlock).

Denham’s bill would remove the fish doubling provision in the 1992 Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) for non-native, predatory striped bass, thereby protecting native salmon and steelhead and reducing nonessential water usage.

“One of the greatest threats facing the Central Valley is drought, and this bipartisan legislation would provide a common sense solution to wasteful fresh water usage,” said Rep. Denham.

Full Story

Low Sierra snow seen as piece of alarming climate picture

/in /by /SFGate (San Francisco)by Kurtis Alexander

A fifth year of disappointing snow in the Sierra is part of a much larger predicament of record-low snow across the Northern Hemisphere, a setback that scientists identified Wednesday as another reminder of the alarming pace of human-caused global warming.

A panel of climate experts organized by SEARCH, or the Study of Environmental Arctic Change, met in Washington, D.C., to draw attention to the historic melt-off of snow and ice during the first six months of 2016 — and the resulting problems.

 

Full Story

House sets stage for post-election showdown over California water

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Michael Doyle

Controversial efforts to steer more water toward California farms advanced Wednesday in the House of Representatives, setting up yet another post-election showdown.

Amid frustration and finger-pointing from all sides, the Republican-controlled House rejected Northern California Democrats’ efforts to strip the California water provisions from a fiscal 2017 funding bill.

The House’s actions, following debate Tuesday night, mean House and Senate negotiators will once again confront technical and highly consequential California water language when they work out a final federal government funding package.

Full Story

OPINION: Brown calls on Bruce Babbitt, as time runs short for water fix

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dan Morain

Working from a bland, windowless office on the 13th floor of the Resources Building, one of California’s newest state employees focuses on the one issue from which all else flows, water. Bruce Babbitt has signed on to help Jerry Brown fix what the governor calls the California WaterFix. They are of a type, Westerners, who understand the precarious balance between being environmental stewards and having millions of people inhabit deserts. And at 78, Babbitt and Brown understand that time is not limitless.

 

Full Story

OPINION: San Diego Lacks Adequate Reservoirs, Victimizes Lake Morena

/in /by /East County Magazineby George Barnett Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

East County Magazine did a recent piece on Lake Morena and whether water levels were maintained too low to be a viable source of water for fire-fighting.  In the article, Billie Jo Jannen is quoted as saying if there’s a safety issue it needs to be examined.  Billie Jo is quite right.

But this is not the first time Lake Morena has been so low.  As an occasional fisherman out there, I’ve seen the shoreline covered with dead fish as the City transferred water down-system to the reservoirs closer in to the City. 

Full Story

Agency’s Decision Could Expand Farmland in the Desert

/in /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Ian James Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Water from the Colorado River could transform several thousand acres of desert into farmland under a change in policy adopted by the Coachella Valley’s largest water district.

The Coachella Valley Water District’s board made the change in a contentious 3-2 vote Tuesday, approving new guidelines that allow for water from the Colorado River to be supplied in a larger zone than in the past. The decision has the potential to open up new areas to agriculture, pushing farmland farther outward along the dry fringes of the eastern Coachella Valley.

Full Story

San Diego County Water Authority, Coastkeeper Trade Barbs Over Conservation

/in /by /KPBSby Maureen Cavanaugh, Michael Lipkin Quoted: Mark Weston

The San Diego City Council on Tuesday loosened some of its water restrictions, including limits on watering lawns, based on projections the city has enough water supply to weather continued drought.

The decision followed a similar move from the San Diego County Water Authority last month, which said it wouldn’t impose mandatory water use cuts through the end of January. The region already has enough water to meet demand through three more years of drought, according to the Water Authority.

Full Story

OPINION: Water Conservation: Mandatory or Way of Life? Guest Commentary

/in /by /Los Angeles Daily Newsby Jeffrey Kightlinger

Southern Californians are conserving water as never before. Yet based on one government formula, we are not conserving at all.

Southland water use is down, the same as if local water agencies were imposing a 30 percent rationing mandate. But the official conservation target by these same agencies, based on a new state reporting requirement, is officially “zero.”

What is going on? California agencies at various times have cajoled, motivated or mandated residents and businesses to use less water. Sometimes conservation mandates take the forefront. At other times, conservation is a way of life.

Full Story