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Why We Should Stop Calling California’s Water Shortage a Drought

/in /by /Fortuneby Beth Kowitt

This is the new normal. Stop calling California’s ongoing water shortage a drought. It may seem counterintuitive, but that’s the best way to get regulators and consumers to rethink the value of water, says Will Sarni, director and practice leader of water strategy at Deloitte.

“As long as the public sector continues to refer to this as the drought, public policy is not going to change, because everyone is going to wait for a good rain,” he said at Fortune’s Brainstorm E conference on Tuesday in Carlsbad, Calif. “That’s not going to happen.”

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California’s Estimated 29 Million Dead Trees Fueling Increased Wildfire Risks

/in /by /The Orange County Registerby Kurt Snibbe

The Forest Service survey of California shows that the number of dead trees in the state rose from 3.3 million in 2014 to an estimated 29.1 million in 2015. The 2015 surveys covered almost all of the state. Scientists and fire officials are concerned because under normal circumstances forests lose between 1 percent and 1.5 percent of their trees annually, but the state is losing between 7 and 20 percent of its forests.

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OPINION: Governor’s ‘WaterFix’ Fixes Nothing

/in /by /Santa Barbara Independentby By Carolee Krieger

Have we finally learned our lesson? Water in California is a finite resource, and we can’t build our way out of drought. Fortunately, more and more people are realizing this from the bogus promises the State Water proponents told us in 1991: The Promise that State Water would solve our local water demand problem; The Promise that State Water would be relatively cheap; The Promise that State Water was reliable, delivered on time and when needed.

Now, in 2016, we know from independent studies that the state promised more water than ever could be delivered.

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Brown’s Budget Revision Leaves CDFA, Drought Funding Intact

/in /by /Capital Press (Salem, Ore.)

In his annual May budget revision, Gov. Jerry Brown kept the Department of Food and Agriculture’s nearly $80.7 million general-fund allocation intact even though overall revenue has fallen short of expectations.

In addition, the governor still proposes a $2 million boost for the CDFA’s medical marijuana program. just over $1 million to regulate alternative transportation fuels and $436,000 for fairs and expositions, department spokesman Steve Lyle said.

 

 

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BLOG: The Reward for Saving Water…

/in /by /eSanJoaquinby Alex Breitler

Cal Water Stockton customers saved 22 percent from June through February, exceeding their state mandate of 20 percent. Cal Water customers already used less water per capita than most other local providers, making the 22 percent reduction even more impressive.

It took some aggressive new policies to get the job done. For the first time, each Cal Water household was assigned a water “budget” based on previous usage. If you exceeded your budget, you paid a surcharge.

 

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Feinstein Gets Green Light to Proceed on Contentious Water Bill

/in /by /SFGate (San Francisco) by By Carolyn Lochhead

Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s third effort to address California’s drought by expanding the water supply through dams, recycling, desalination and other methods, as well as tinkering with protections for endangered fish, received the go-ahead Tuesday from the federal Bureau of Reclamation at a Senate hearing.

Estevan Lopez, a bureau commissioner, called Feinstein’s bill, S2533, a “measured approach” that would “improve the water supply situation in California” while protecting the environment and endangered salmon. The bureau manages California’s Central Valley Project, a giant plumbing system of dams and canals that moves water from the state’s wet north to the dry

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Drought, Dead Trees Add Up to Big Fire Danger for California

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

Stubborn drought conditions and an epidemic of dead and dying trees mean California is facing a potentially catastrophic fire season, federal officials said Tuesday as they promised to send extra money and personnel to the state.

Similar circumstances contributed to record acreage lost to wildfires in the West last year, including three blazes that laid waste to Lake County, and top officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture said improved rain and snow totals during the winter did little to ease the threat.

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California Water Bill: Here’s Why it’s so Hard for Congress to Pass

/in /by /The Sacramento Bee by By Michael Doyle

Five years into California’s latest drought, a major water bill compromise can seem as far away as ever.

The perennial conflict, often summed up as fish vs. farms, subtly surfaced again Tuesday at a key Senate hearing. A Western growers’ advocate pleaded for relief, a Trout Unlimited leader urged caution and lawmakers insisted on optimism while conceding the tough road ahead. “This bill is the product of two years of work (and) 28 drafts,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., adding that her legislation “can produce real water in a manner consistent with the Endangered Species Act.”

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California Drought: Government Warns ‘This is Just the Beginning’

/in /by /NEWS.com (Sydney, Australia)

IT HAS been in drought for five long years and some fear they are in the grip of a never-ending dry spell. The situation has become so severe that the state’s leader has launched permanent water conservation measures.

Welcome to daily life for people in California who have been subjected to a dry spell many Australian states have experienced first hand many times. The situation in California is beyond severe with around 90 per cent of the state still in drought.

 

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BLOG: A New Data Initiative Is Changing Water Management

/in /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Tara Lohan

The last few years has shown that California is getting serious about policies to combat drought. And now it is getting serious about the role of data in that fight. In 2013 Gov. Jerry Brown mandated that urban water suppliers report monthly average gallons per capita per day to track water conservation. And last week the governor further enshrined that data collection effort in a new executive order.

This information, available online to anyone, is useful. But only to a degree.

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