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California Backing Away From Strict Water-Saving Standards

/in /by /The Sacramento Bee by By Phillip Reese and Ryan Sabalow

Just a year ago, California regulators ordered cities and suburbs across the state to make drastic cuts in water use, telling residents the time had come to make longstanding lifestyle and landscaping changes consistent with a state with limited water.

One modestly rainy season later, the State Water Resources Control Board has backed off its sweeping mandate, issuing draft revisions to its conservation regulations that would allow individual water agencies to propose their own standards for water use.

 

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MWH Announces New Global Dams Practice Leader

/in /by /San Diego Business Journal by By Katie Callahan

MWH Global, an engineering, consulting and construction firm, announced that San Diego-based Michael Rogers will be its new global dams practice leader.

Rogers replaces Glenn Tarbox and will lead planning, design and construction management for structures designed to store, regulate and deliver water. A news release from the company stated that Tarbox will serve as a senior technical adviser in Washington state.

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Governor Jerry Brown Signs Permanent Water Conservation Mandate

/in /by /San Diego 6 Quoted: Sandy Kerl

San Diego County residents will need to permanently curtail their water use under an order issued Monday by Gov. Jerry Brown that bans activities such as hosing off sidewalks and requires urban suppliers to continuing producing monthly reports on water reduction efforts.

The order calls for long-term implementation of temporary water conservation measures put in place to combat the ongoing statewide drought, with Brown pointing to some parts of the state that are still dealing with dry conditions and the likelihood of continued water shortages.

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Gov. Brown Orders Californians to Permanently Curtail Water Use

/in /by /KUSI Quoted: Sandy Kerl

San Diego County residents will need to permanently curtail their water use under an order issued Monday by Gov. Jerry Brown that bans activities such as hosing off sidewalks and requires urban suppliers to continuing producing monthly reports on water-reduction efforts.

The order calls for long-term implementation of temporary water conservation measures put in place to combat the ongoing statewide drought, with Brown pointing to some parts of the state that are still dealing with dry conditions and the likelihood of continued water shortages.

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Everything We Know About the Climate Action Plan Could Be Wrong

/in /by /Voice of San Diegoby By Andrew Keatts

San Diego’s mayor and City Council have been getting national attention for their landmark Climate Action Plan, precisely for one simple characteristic of it: It is legally enforceable.

But Mara Elliott, a city attorney candidate who as a chief deputy city attorney oversaw the vetting of the policy, says that’s just not true. “The entire policy right now is, frankly, a dream until they find ways to implement it,” she said.

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Gov. Brown Extends State Drought Restrictions

/in /by /Fox 5 (San Diego) Quoted: Sandy Kerl

San Diego County residents will need to permanently curtail their water use under an order issued today by Gov. Jerry Brown that bans activities such as hosing off sidewalks and requires urban suppliers to continuing producing monthly reports on water-reduction efforts.

The order calls for long-term implementation of temporary water conservation measures put in place to combat the ongoing statewide drought, with Brown pointing to some parts of the state that are still dealing with dry conditions and the likelihood of continued water shortages.

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CALIFORNIA DROUGHT: Crisis Isn’t Over, But Water Restrictions May Be Eased

/in /by /The Press-Enterprise (Riverside) by By David Downey

Inland water officials may finally get what they wanted: the opportunity to set their own conservation targets. And that could bring relief to thousands of homeowners who have struggled to cut back and still keep lawns and gardens alive.

After a year of enforcing a 25 percent reduction statewide and some sharper cuts locally, state officials Monday proposed setting aside mandated targets and letting agencies develop their own goals for this summer and fall, citing the wet winter up north that refilled crucial reservoirs. The State Water Resources Control Board is scheduled to take up the plan May 18.

 

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State Moves to Revise its Water Conservation

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune by By Matt Stevens and Bettina Boxall

Gov. Jerry Brown and top water regulators on Monday laid out a revised game plan for dealing with California’s persistent drought, making some conservation rules permanent while also moving to give communities more of a say in deciding how much water they must save.

Brown issued an executive order enshrining a conservation ethic in state regulations — banning permanently some wasteful water practices and ordering regulators to develop new water-efficiency standards designed to drive down long-term urban use.

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OPINION: Water Rights Will Be Next Big California Fight

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby By Dan Walters

After years of drought, winter’s rain and snow storms generated close to a normal supply of water for California. As winter turned to spring, the Bureau of Reclamation announced allocations to farmers.

Rice growers and other farmers in the Sacramento Valley north of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta were pleased to learn that they would receive 100 percent of their contracted water supplies. However, it was bad news for farmers south of the Delta, who were told they would get, at most, just 5 percent of contract water this year.

 

 

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Water Recycling Deal Stalls at National Level

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby By Joshua Emerson Smith

With broad local support for San Diego’s envisioned water recycling program, Mayor Kevin Faulconer touted the plan again last week — this time as one of his top-funded efforts to fight climate change.

However, his strategy for pulling off the so-called Pure Water program isn’t a done deal. An agreement between local green groups and government officials that threaded the way for the project’s approval has hit a snag in recent months — one that could unravel regional backing for the program or end up costing residents billions of additional dollars.

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