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Delta Islands: Opponents Sue to Stop Sale to Southern California Water District

/in /by /San Jose Mercury News

Two counties and several environmental groups on Thursday sued to challenge the giant Metropolitan Water District’s pending purchase of five Delta islands and tracts along or near the route of the state’s proposed twin water tunnels estimated at $15.5 billion.

Contra Costa and San Joaquin counties filed the suit in San Joaquin County Superior Court along with four other organizations, saying the Los-Angeles based water district erred in claiming that its $175 million purchase is exempt from a state law requiring an analysis of the acquisition’s potential effect on the environment.

 

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Scientists Confirm: El Niño a Disappointment in still-too-dry Southern California

/in /by /Los Angeles Times by By Jason Song

The National Weather Service has confirmed what many Southern Californians suspected during a scorching February: El Niño, and its badly needed rainstorms, are pretty much kaput.

“It’s looking pretty grim,” said Anthony Barnston, the chief climate forecaster for the International Research Institute for Climate and Society in New York. “This winter was really disappointing.” This week, the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center published an El Niño advisory that not only forecast the end of the Pacific Ocean-warming phenomenon, but also warned that El Niño’s drier flip side, La Niña, would replace it by the end of the year.

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FPUD One Step Closer to Changing Election Method

/in /by /Village News (Fallbrook) by By Joe Naiman Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Senate Bill 927, which would allow the Fallbrook Public Utility District to change its method of electing directors from at-large seats to by territorial unit, passed out of the State Senate’s Governance and Finance Committee on a 7-0 vote March 30.

“We were pleased with the support of the committee and look forward to testifying if necessary before the Elections Committee,” said FPUD general manager Brian Brady. The passage out of the Governance and Finance Committee sends the legislation to the State Senate’s Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee, which is expected to hold a hearing on the bill in late April.

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Morning Report: Sycuan Finds Shortcut to Water

/in /by /Voice of San Diego by By Seth Hall

The Sycuan Indian reservation is situated deep in East County, and the tribe would very much like to undertake some new development projects like a hotel and casino expansion. One problem: they just don’t have the water to do it. Ry Rivard reports how the tribe has summoned significant support in the California legislature to bypass the normal processes and give them quick access to Colorado River water, desalinated water, and other water sources used by San Diego.

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Contra Costa County Joins Other Agencies, Groups to Sue L.A. Water District over Delta Islands Purchase

/in /by /Antioch Herald

On Thursday, Contra Costa County, the Planning and Conservation League and Food and Water Watch, as well as two other Delta local agencies, Central Delta Water Agency and San Joaquin County announced they will file a lawsuit against the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (Met) over their plan to purchase several islands in the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary.

On March 14, 2016, Metropolitan Water District had filed a Notice of Exemption under the California Environmental Quality Act for the purchase of the Delta islands, claiming the purchase was for Delta habitat restoration purposes.

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Water Authority Sues MWD for 4th Time

/in /by /KXO Radio (El Centro)by By George Gale Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority
It is the fourth lawsuit filed by the San Diego County Water Authority against the Metropolitan Water District. The latest litigation alleges the Los Angeles based Metropolitan Water District’s newly adopted rates for 2017-2018 violate California Law, The state Constitution and common law that will require rates to be set based upon cost of service. – See more at: http://kxoradio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5696:water-authority-sues-mwd-for-4th-time&catid=8&Itemid=103#sthash.5npMRofZ.dpuf
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Agency Files Another Lawsuit Against Water Wholesaler

/in /by /Ramona Sentinel Quoted: Mark Weston

San Diego County Water Authority has filed another lawsuit over rates charged by the Metropolitan Water District, a Los Angeles-based water wholesaler.

In its complaint filed in Superior Court in Los Angeles, the water authority contends that the rate structure approved Tuesday by the MWD board for 2017 and 2018 used the same methodology as costs from 2011-14 that were previously ruled illegal by a Superior Court judge.

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County and IID will have Salton Sea workshop live-streaming locally

/in /by /Imperial Valley Pressby Edwin Delgado

Locals interested in following the State Water Resources Control Board’s Salton Sea Workshop on Tuesday, will have the opportunity to do so online as the Imperial County and Imperial Irrigation District will be live streaming the workshop at IID’s William Condit Auditorium in El Centro.

“This gives people who don’t have access to the internet or a computer an opportunity and place to come watch it,” said IID spokeswoman Marion Champion.

 

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How Do We Get Our Drinking Water In The U.S.?

/in /by /KPBSby Zhai Yun Tan

Before you take a gulp of water, try to mentally trace where that water that just gushed out of your taps has been: How did it go from that weird-tasting raindrop to the clear, odorless water that is sitting in your glass now?

Safe drinking water is a privilege Americans often take for granted — until a health crisis like the one in Flint, Mich., happens that makes us think about where it comes from and how we get it.

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State Bill Would Bolster Sycuan’s Water Supply — and Possibly a New Hotel

/in /by /Voice of San Diegoby Ry Rivard

About half the Sycuan Indian tribe relies heavily on a single groundwater well for water.

The whole tribe now wants access to the same water most San Diegans enjoy – Colorado River water, Northern California water and desalinated Pacific Ocean water.

Most of San Diego’s state legislative delegation is pushing a bill that could make it happen. The water could secure the tribe’s supply and perhaps fuel future development, including a new 300-room hotel and possible casino expansion.

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