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OPINION: Forest Service Must Get Nestle Action Right This Time

/in /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)

Nestle Waters is pushing back against the U.S. Forest Service’s proposed rules for the five-year permit the agency is considering for the international conglomerate’s water bottling operation in the San Bernardino National Forest.

The Forest Service’s affront? Suggesting a management plan that would require the company – which last year drew 36 million gallons to bottle as Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water from the forest under a $524 annual permit that expired in 1988 – to modify its operation if it was shown that it was affecting the flow of Strawberry Creek.

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Steep Rate Hike Ahead for ‘Excessive’ Residential Use of Water in Delaware County

/in /by /The Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio) by By Dean Narciso

Delaware County residents who saturate their lawns or refill their pools could see a dramatic jump in their water bills this summer.

Del-Co Water Co. announced a new rate structure to begin next month that will target those who use an excessive amount of water during the peak summer months. “Excessive” is defined as more than 25,000 gallons per month. The average homeowner uses about 5,000 gallons per month and will see an increase of less than 2 percent on a typical $35 bill.

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OPINION: Brown Gets It About Conservation

/in /by /Gazette Newspapers (Long Beach)by By Harry Saltzgaver

I just love Gov. Brown, don’t you? Okay, that’s more than a slight exaggeration, but he did endear himself to me with his executive order regarding water conservation.

Those of you who care about such things might recall Jerry (he calls me Harry — yeah, right) standing in a mountain meadow in spring 2015, staring at bare ground where there should have been several feet of snow. It was the photo op to back up his executive order back then to force urban water users to cut the amount of water they used by 25%.

 

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OPINION: El Niño in the Rearview Mirror

/in /by /Santa Cruz Sentinelby By Gary Griggs

I often ask an audience — what’s the difference between climate and weather? And the short answer is climate is what we predict and weather is what we get. This last winter is a good example of the difference.

One of the largest El Niño events in recent history was predicted for this winter, based on the very large and warm body of ocean water moving towards South America from the western Pacific during summer and fall.

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BLOG: Don’t Punish Taxpayers for Smart, Water Efficient Choices

/in /by /The Hill (Washington, D.C.)by By Jared Huffman and Dana Rohrabacher

As Americans across the country scrambled to get their taxes filed before the midnight deadline last month, many homeowners found themselves with a new reason to feel frustrated.

Their complaint: they may have been hit with a higher tax bill just for working with their local water utility to reduce their water footprint over the last year.

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Why Did El Niño Miss SoCal? It’s Complicated, National Weather Service Says

/in /by /Los Angeles Times by By Joseph Serna

A mix of rising global temperatures, mysteriously warmed waters off Baja California and unusually far-reaching storms in the western Pacific Ocean conspired to block this year’s El Niño storms from hitting Southern California, the National Weather Service said this week.

Despite plenty of indicators suggesting that the 2015-16 El Niño rains would be as strong — if not stronger — than previous Southland El Niños, heavy precipitation failed to materialize. Instead, the storms flowed north from the Bay Area to Washington, drenching the Northern Sierra Nevada and refilling some of the state’s biggest reservoirs.

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Drought Causing Challenges in Agriculture, Though Profits Remain High

/in /by /The Ely Times (Ely, Nev.)by By Ben Rowley

With a long-term drought plaguing much of California and Northern Nevada, the agriculture industry is adjusting and innovating. “[The drought] is one of the worst we’ve had in history,” said UC Davis Professor and watershed expert Jay Lund. “In some ways, particularly up in the watersheds, because it’s been extra warm, it’s among the driest in history.” Lund added, “Some would say even the driest we’ve seen in a thousand years.”

In 2015, snowpack was at record lows in the Sierra Nevada and other western mountain ranges. California’s San Joaquin Valley was probably hit worst by the drought.

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Water Mandates May be Ditched

/in /by /Moorpark Acorn (Camarillo)by By Hector Gonzalez

Southern California’s “Godzilla” El Niño never arrived, but the rain that did fall gave the state some relief from the drought, officials said this week.

Although the southern half of the state missed out on much of the rainfall, the northern half got more than average this winter. And the state did a better job of storing water and ensuring it gets to where it’s needed most, officials said. As a result, regulators in Sacramento will recommend this month that the state stop dictating to municipal water agencies how much water they need to save during the drought, Felicia Marcus, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, announced Monday.

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A Question for the Ages: Can Congress Pass a California Water Bill?

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby By Michael Doyle

California’s two Democratic senators remain somewhat out of sync over proposed water legislation, underscoring its ambiguous future on the eve of a big hearing.

Four months after Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s introduction of her latest California water package, Sen. Barbara Boxer is still evaluating the 185-page bill. Her wait-and-see attitude hints at complex undercurrents, as she supports some parts of Feinstein’s bill while seeking more feedback about other parts.

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BLOG: Major Policy Shift By SoCal Water District Signals Receding Drought

/in /by /Water Online

In a potential sign the drought is easing, the massive water wholesaler in Southern California is no longer planning to limit its regional water deliveries.

“Effective immediately, the Southland cities and water districts that make purchases from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California [MWD] will no longer be subjected to so-called allocations or the punitive surcharges that come with exceeding them,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

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