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Drought Water Rates End at Contra Costa Water District

/in /by /East Bay Times (Walnut Creek)by By Denis Cuff

Water rates for some 200,000 Central Contra Costa residents will drop in early June after the Contra Costa Water District board agreed Wednesday to end a temporary drought surcharge. With plenty of water this year, the water board decided there is no need to continue collecting the higher drought rate that was passed last summer to encourage saving.

The decision will reduce the typical water bill from $72 to $66 per month — a $6 decrease — for an average household using 320 gallons per day in the district’s treated water service area in Concord, Clayton, Clyde, and parts of Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill and Martinez.

 

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We’re in Year Five of California’s Drought

/in /by /Slate Magazine (New York)by By Eric Holthaus

On Wednesday, California said goodbye to its mandatory statewide water restrictions for urban use, a tip of the umbrella to the relatively wet winter northern parts of the state had, which helped fill reservoirs and brought a relatively normal snowpack to the Sierras.

That decision was probably premature. For Southern California especially, the drought is still just as bad as ever. In much of the Sierra Nevada and Southern California, there’s still two or three entire years of rain missing since this drought began five years ago.

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State lets local water boards set conservation goals

/in /by /Fox5 San Diegoby Bob Ponting

State regulators have approved new water conservation rules that could loosen water restriction imposed by Gov. Jerry Brown last year.

The State Water Resources Control Board voted 4-0 Wednesday to allow local water districts to set their own water savings targets based on the water supply and demand forecasts for their areas, the Los Angeles Times reported. As a result, areas of the state that received a lot of rain this winter and areas that purchase water from suppliers with adequate supplies will be able to relax restrictions this summer.

 

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Judge Finds Fault With “Delta Plan”

/in /by /Stockton Recordby By Alex Breitler

A plan that was supposed to serve as a comprehensive roadmap for the Delta through the year 2100 now must be partially rewritten, after a judge this week ruled on complaints stemming from no fewer than seven lawsuits.The “Delta Plan,” as the document is known, had been challenged by players on multiple sides of California’s water battle — by environmentalists, by Delta farmers, and by Southern California water users who rely on the Delta for a portion of their water supply.

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Groundwater overdrafting facing new regulations

/in /by /Inland Empire News

As a consequence of the drought, state water officials are moving toward regulations preventing overdrafting of groundwater basins.
The California Water Commission approved regulations Wednesday that will guide creation of sustainability plans by local groundwater agencies. For more than a century, groundwater pumping in California has been mostly unregulated.
Groundwater supplies over a third of the water Californians use. Unrestrained pumping in recent years has driven groundwater to lowest recorded levels in parts of the San Joaquin Valley. It has caused overlying land to fall, or subside, in some places. Subsidence threatens bridges, aqueducts, roads, and other infrastructure.

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Inside The Looming Disaster of the Salton Sea

/in /by /ThinkProgressby by Alejandro Davila Fragoso

The lake is drying up, uncounted dead fish line the shore, and the desert town is losing people.

It could be the plot of a post-apocalyptic movie set in the future, but this is actually happening here and it has been going on for years. It wasn’t always like this, of course. There was a time when this town was booming. There was a time when the Salton Sea, California’s largest lake, was the “French Riviera” of the state, and the pride and joy of Imperial County.

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California Water Commission Approves Regulations to Guide the Sustainable Groundwater Management Plans of California Communities

/in /by /YubaNet (Nevada City)

California today moved a big step closer to implementation of an historic law to protect groundwater basins from overdraft, as the California Water Commission approved regulations that will guide creation of sustainability plans by local groundwater agencies. Approval of the regulations advances the implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), enacted by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. in September 2014 after more than a century of largely unregulated groundwater pumping in California. Groundwater supplies over a third of the water Californians use on average. In drought, some regions rely on groundwater for 60 percent or more of their water supplies.

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OPINION: Don’t Build Wastewater Plants Until They’re Needed

/in /by /Merced Sun-Starby By Richard L. Harriman

The State Water Resources Control Board is reconsidering the state’s water supply and conservation regulations. Meanwhile, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014 is being implemented and Valley cities are updating their pre-drought 2010 Urban Water Management Plans.

This convergence of state, regional and local regulatory regimes provides an opportunity to address urban water reuse in the city of Merced and other Valley communities.

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Sierra Madre Excess Water Use Penalties to Increase

/in /by /Pasadena Now

This year’s El Niño rains have had a limited impact on our part of the state. Water conservation remains as critical as ever as California enters into its fifth year of drought. Sierra Madre City Council approved a measure earlier this month that would increase the penalty rate assessed on excess water use.

The City of Sierra Madre would like to thank its water-wise customers for doing their part to make every drop count. The latest water billing numbers for May show 75% of Sierra Madre customers met, or outperformed, their water conservation targets.

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