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State Water Resources Control Board Has Released The Proposed NPDES Suction Dredge Mining General Permit For Public Comments, Rural County Representatives Of California Reports

/in , /by /Sierra Sun Times

The State Water Resources Control Board has recently released the proposed NPDES Suction Dredge Mining General Permit for public comments.  A virtual public workshop was held on May 28, 2020 with a virtual Public Hearing originally scheduled for June 17th.  The public hearing has now been rescheduled to August 5th with comments due by August 24th.  No action will be taken at this public hearing.  The State Water Board will schedule a meeting subsequent to the public hearing to consider adoption of the General Permit.

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Water Utility Hero of the Week: Keith Swiatkowski, Otay Water District

/in , , /by /Water News Network

This feature highlights water utility employees in the San Diego region working during the coronavirus pandemic to ensure a safe, reliable and plentiful water supply. The water industry is among the sectors that are classified as essential. Keith Swiatkowski, Otay Water District Water Systems Operator III, is the Water Utility Hero of the Week.

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Opinion: A Social Justice Perspective of the Delta Tunnel Project

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Gary Kremen

As California confronts increasing water challenges, the most equitable statewide solution from a social justice perspective is the single-tunnel project proposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, known as the Delta Conveyance Project.

More than 27 million Californians rely on imported drinking water conveyed through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. This imported water also serves millions of acres of local agricultural lands and vital wildlife refuges.

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Colorado’s Oldest Water Rights get Extra Protection from State Engineer

/in , , /by /The Aspen Timesby Heather Sackett

For the second time, the state’s top water cop has directed the Western Slope’s oldest and most valuable water rights to be left off the once-a-decade abandonment list. That means hundreds of these mostly irrigation water rights have been granted immunity — even though they are no longer being used — from the threat of “use it or lose it,” further enshrining them in the state’s system of water administration and dealing a blow to the validity of the well-known adage.

Every 10 years, engineers and water commissioners from the Colorado Division of Water Resources review every water right — through diversion records and site visits — to see whether it has been used at some point in the previous decade. If it hasn’t, it could end up on the decennial abandonment list, which is scheduled to come out in July.

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Many San Diego County Farmers Excluded from Federal COVID-19 Relief Funds

/in , , /by /inewsourceby Camille von Kaenel

Farmers who grow San Diego County’s most valuable crops may miss out on federal cash for coronavirus-related losses because some of their agriculture products — primarily flowers, nursery plants and exotic fruits — are not included in the relief program.

The growers are pushing to get their specialty crops added to the government’s eligible list, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture appears willing to hear them out. It has asked for more information on nursery plants and cut flowers, and given the farmers a deadline of today to provide more data on their losses.

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A Proud California Dairy Farmer Battles for Survival in Wildly Uncertain Times

/in , , /by /InsideClimate Newsby Evelyn Nieves

After 67 years of living and breathing dairy farming in California’s San Joaquin Valley, Scott Magneson cannot, will not, stop.

Every morning before dawn, when the valley fog is still resting on his fields in thick clouds, he checks the barns. Then he starts on the to-do list, which outlasts the day. In another farm tradition, Magneson rarely leaves his land. He can’t remember the last time he and his wife Pat (who does the bookkeeping) took a vacation.

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Water Sector asks Senate for Aid in Next Relief Package

/in , , /by /Water Finance & Management

The Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies and National Association of Clean Water Agencies, two organizations representing municipally-owned utilities, recently asked Senate leaders to include public sector aid in the next round of COVID-19 relief legislation.

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SB-625 Fallout Continues: Metropolitan Water District Warns of Incompatible Office

/in , /by /Cerritos Community Newsby Brian Hews

Hews Media Group has obtained a letter from Metropolitan Water District of Southern California General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger addressed to California State Senator Sam Bradford (D-Carson) outlining MWD’s position on Bradford’s SB-625, the bill he co-sponsored with Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia that would put Commerce-based Central Basin Municipal Water into receivership and dissolve the board of directors, five of which are elected.

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Federal Judge Considers States’ Bid to Block Trump Water Rule

/in , , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Alexandra Yetter and Ellen M. Gilmer

A California federal judge is weighing whether to block the Trump administration’s controversial water rule, as requested by more than a dozen states suing over the regulation.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California spent three hours Thursday hearing arguments on whether to halt the Navigable Waters Protection Rule from taking effect on June 22, as planned.

A preliminary injunction will “prevent widespread harm to national water quality, and disruption” to water pollution control in cities and states while the claim is litigated, the 17-state coalition led by California and New York argued in a motion filed last month.

The rule “seriously undermines water quality and seriously is contrary” to the Clean Water Act, New York attorney Timothy L. Hoffman, representing the coalition, told Judge Richard Seeborg.

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Study Suggests Extreme Weather Conditions in California are a Result of Atmospheric Rivers

/in , , /by /KUSI San Diegoby Ginger Jeffries

California spent 376 weeks in a drought, from December of 2011 until March of 2019.  That’s the longest duration of drought we’ve ever seen here in the Golden State. Now a study by Scripps Institution of Oceanography suggests wet and dry extremes in California are likely the result of severe storms called Atmospheric Rivers.

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