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House Republicans Reopen the Bidding on California Water Bill

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

House Republicans intent on storing more California water and redirecting it to farms have resurrected some familiar and controversial ideas, this time as part of a must-pass spending bill.

The provisions, including a freeze on an ambitious San Joaquin River restoration program and mandated pumping from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, are now folded into a Fiscal 2017 energy and water appropriations bill. It’s a new tactical move, designed for leverage.

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San Diego Facing Another Water Rate Hike

/in /by /NBC 7 (San Diego) Quoted: Jason Foster

Southern California homeowners have seen their water rates go up almost 400 percent in 10 years. Now another increase voted on by the Metropolitan Water District will raise rates on its prices for 2017 and 2018.

Jason Foster with the San Diego Water Authority says those prices will get passed on to retail water agencies in the San Diego region and then come out of the wallet of local residents and businesses. “It’s undoubtedly going to be felt by customers throughout San Diego County,” said Foster.

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OPINION: Big Bad Wolf Has Moved into the Neighborhood

/in /by /Stockton Record by By Michael Fitzgerald

Southern California’s biggest, thirstiest and most powerful water district is buying a big chunk of the Delta, the very estuary that is dying because outfits like them take too much water.The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is going to buy Bouldin, Bacon, Webb and Holland islands in the central Delta, and a chip off Chipps Island near Suisun Bay.The Met’s boss has said this is mostly about repairing Delta habitat. That’s like the Big Bad Wolf buying the Three Little Pigs’ houses and saying he’s into home remodeling.

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VIDEO: Effects of Drought and El Niño on California Landscape

/in /by /KUSI

Effects of drought and El Niño on California landscape.

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Southern California Water Agency Signs $175 Million Deal to Buy Delta Islands

/in /by /The Sacramento Bee

Southern California’s most powerful water agency said Monday it has struck a $175 million deal to buy five islands in the heart of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a move that has sparked accusations throughout the Delta and Northern California of a south-state “water grab.”

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California revealed the details of its agreement to buy the islands from Delta Wetlands Properties, a company controlled by Swiss financial services conglomerate Zurich Insurance Group.

 

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OPINION: MWD Rate Hike Harms Water Authority, San Diegans

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune by The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board Quoted: Mark Weston

It’s been 25 years since the San Diego County Water Authority decided to broadly diversify its supplies. The authority’s experiences dealing with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California during a severe drought led officials to believe they urgently needed additional sources of water to avoid disaster in a future drought. This triggered a harsh response from the giant water wholesaler. Upset that its largest customer was publicly questioning MWD’s trustworthiness, MWD paid $400,000 to a public relations company for what The Los Angeles Times called a “clandestine effort to discredit San Diego County water leaders.”

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OPINION: Met’s Fiscal Practices Underscore the Importance of Local Water Projects

/in /by /Voice of San Diego

On Tuesday, the board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is expected to approve more rate hikes and more illegal rates. The illegal rates alone will overcharge San Diego County water ratepayers more than $135 million over the next two years – not counting the additional and disproportionate costs imposed by MWD’s new scheme for water treatment charges. In addition, MWD will not reduce the property tax rate as prescribed by state law.

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El Niño Slightly Improved the Drought but Didn’t Bust it

/in /by /KPBSby By David Wagner Quoted: Dana Friehauf

For the past few months, we’ve used the KPBS Drought Tracker to tell you how much rain and snow El Niño has been bringing to California. Now that we’ve reached the end of what turned out to be a fairly average wet season, where does California’s drought stand now?

We’ve limited our focus to California’s wettest months, which stretch from October to the beginning of April. We could still see some rain in coming weeks, but California’s traditionally defined wet season is now over.

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This Will Be the Biggest Dam-Removal Project in History

/in /by /National Geographic by By Sarah Gilman

These days, when dams in the U.S. make news, it’s often concrete getting blasted, not bedrock. And last week, the biggest dam-removal project in history got a crucial endorsement.

Federal officials, the states of Oregon and California, and the utility PacifiCorp signed a pair of agreements opening the way for removal of a whopping four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River, which flows from Oregon through Northern California. “It’s certainly the most significant dam removal and restoration project ever undertaken,” says Steve Rothert, California regional director of American Rivers, an environmental advocacy group.

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Weak Storm System Expected to Bring Showers Wednesday, Thursday

/in /by /The Sacramento Bee

April showers that fell over the weekend are likely to occur again in Northern California starting Wednesday night.

A low-pressure system from the Gulf of Alaska is predicted to push a fast-moving cold front southward through the north state, according to the National Weather Service. The return of showers is expected to continue through Thursday.

But the system is likely to deliver only a tenth to two-tenths of an inch of rain to the Sacramento area, said Tom Dang, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

 

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