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A California Water Fight Puts Newsom and Trump on a Collision Course

/in , /by /SF Gateby Matt LaFever

For more than a century, PG&E’s Potter Valley Project has funneled water from one Northern California river to another. Now, the century-old system has become the center of a political firestorm, cast by the Trump administration as a battle of “fish over people.”

Earlier this summer, PG&E submitted its final proposal to federal regulators: Dismantle the project’s two dams, drain its reservoir and retire the diversion tunnel that has long carried Eel River water into the Russian River watershed. The company would replace the infrastructure with a smaller facility that sharply curtails diversions in order to restore the Eel River’s struggling salmon populations. Supporters along the Eel see a long, overdue chance to undo generations of ecological damage. On the Russian River side, critics warn of heightened wildfire danger, worsening water shortages and severe economic strain for farms and communities that rely on the supply.

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Newsom’s Push to Fast-Track Delta Water Tunnel Stalls in the California Legislature

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

Gov. Gavin Newsom and some of California’s major water agencies hit a setback this week when a proposal to fast-track plans for a 45-mile water tunnel beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta died in the state Legislature.

Newsom has been trying to streamline legal and environmental review of the proposed water tunnel through budget measures that also would give the state authority to issue bonds to pay for the project.

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Rancho Bernardo Council Supports Raising Lake Hodges Water Level

/in , /by /San Diego Union Tribuneby Elizabeth Himchak Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The Rancho Bernardo Community Council has added its support to a local effort to get the water level in Lake Hodges raised by 13 feet above its current maximum to decrease the potential for wildfire.

A majority of the council agreed at its Sept. 4 meeting to send a letter to the San Diego County Water Authority board expressing strong support for not only restoring the Lake Hodges Dam, but maintaining the lake at a 293-foot operating level “to reduce wildfire risk.”

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Can Texas Avoid a Water Crisis?

/in , /by /Governingby Lana Ferguson

Water is becoming a scarce resource as Texas continues to grow, and it’s prompting concerns among state officials and industry leaders over what happens when the next drought occurs.

The regional economy is expanding, but growth trends are beginning to collide with stark realities about natural resources that are already strained.

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Blowing Up the Water Authority Isn’t Off the Table at LAFCO

/in , /by /Voice of San Diegoby MacKenzie Elmer Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority
Quoted: Dan Denham

Dismantling San Diego’s biggest water broker could be what local boundary referees recommend later this year in the face of ever-rising water rates.

That’s just one of a menu of options that San Diego’s Local Agency Formation Commission, known as LAFCO, will analyze in what’s known as a municipal service review of the San Diego County Water Authority. Reviews like this can inspire further action by the commission, endowed with legislative powers to break up or consolidate cities and government services.

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City of San Diego Offers Optional Warranty Program for Costly Water, Sewer Line Repairs

/in , /by /ABC 10by Marie Coronel

San Diego residents will soon be getting letters in the mail about a program that city officials say could save them thousands of dollars in pipe repair costs.

While the city is responsible for maintaining water and sewage systems in neighborhoods, the actual service lines that run to individual homes are the homeowner’s responsibility — a fact many residents only realize when problems arise.

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Grassroots Group Gathering Support to Raise Lake Hodges, Help Reduce Wildfire Risk

/in , /by /San Diego Union Tribuneby Karen Billing Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The Rancho Santa Fe Association board has added its voice to a growing coalition of North County neighbors seeking answers from the state about the future of Lake Hodges and its 106-year-old dam.

At the board’s Sept. 4 meeting, they heard a presentation from Raise Lake Hodges, a grassroots group that would like to see the lake raised 13 feet, from the state-restricted 280 feet to 293 feet, to refill and cover what is now an exposed, dry lakebed and help keep the region safe from the risk of the wildfire.

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County Flips Its Politics at LAFCO

/in , /by /Voice of San Diegoby MacKenzie Elmer Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Democrats flipped two seats on the eight-member board in charge of making and breaking San Diego’s boundaries, setting up the board for a lot of potential tie votes.

The San Diego Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO, is now split evenly between liberal and conservative members just as it’s about to take on two supremely hot topics in local politics: La Jolla’s secession from San Diego and an audit of the San Diego County Water Authority. If a commission vote ends in a tie, the issue fails.

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The Hunt for Water: A 45-Mile Tunnel, Retired Farmland and Desalination All Loom

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby James Rainey

In the more than four decades since I started at the L.A. Times, we’ve never had a reporter cover water with the depth and persistence of Ian James. California’s story is often the story of water — who’s got it, who doesn’t and who will find our next acre-foot. Ian is a former foreign correspondent who has written about everything from novel water solutions like reclaiming sewage, to the intersection of H2O with wildlife and farms. Essential Cal talked to Ian about his work.

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Palomar College’s Water Technology Program Doused With Handsome Grant

/in , /by /Fox 5 San Diegoby Sharisse Cohee

The Water Technology Education program at Palomar College is receiving a little help from its friends on the national level to support water technician and training programs at the college. The college announced Wednesday that it received a $471,000 Advanced Technological Education (ATE) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), which will go towards its Tomorrow’s Water Technicians Project over the next three years.

The project aims to develop and test new approaches related to water technician education and training.

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