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Central Coast Project Would Raise Water Bills, Endanger Aquifer, Opponents Say

/in , /by /CalMattersby Kate Cimini

Activists and local government officials across Monterey County have banded together to fight a proposed desalination plant that could double the cost of water for some residents and endanger an aquifer that serves low-income communities.

Opponents say the plant could cause saltwater to seep into the Salinas Valley Groundwater Basin, the aquifer that provides freshwater to much of Monterey County.

California American Water (CalAm), an investor-owned public utility, however, says the plant is needed to fulfill the Monterey Peninsula’s water needs, and that the effects on other communities will be minimal, if any.

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Bipartisan San Diego Water Bill Introduced By Representatives Hunter, Davis, and Peters

/in , , /by /East County Magazine (San Diego, Calif.)

San Diego Congressional members Scott Peters, Duncan Hunter and Susan Davis have introduced bipartisan federal legislation to simplify permit requirements to operate the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plan, with a goal of providing purified, recycled drinking water for the San Diego region and reducing ocean pollution.

The bill, H.R. 4611, the Ocean Pollution Reduction Act II, was introduced in the House on October 4, 2019.

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Imperial County Declares Salton Sea Emergency, Demands California Take Action

/in , , /by /Palm Springs Desert Sunby Janet Wilson

Imperial County has had enough. That was the message from the county board of supervisors on Tuesday as they voted unanimously to declare a local state of emergency at the Salton Sea.

And that may not be all: In addition to the action on the state’s largest lake, supervisors said they will seek another emergency declaration on the badly polluted New River — which flows into the Salton Sea — in two weeks.

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Commentary: Don’t Take Water for Granted On “Imagine a Day Without Water”

/in , /by /Napa Valley Registerby Joy Eldredge and Pat Costello

Millions of Americans take water service for granted every day. Turn on the tap, and clean water flows out. Flush the toilet, and dirty water goes away. With reliable water service, people don’t have to think twice about the infrastructure that brings water to their homes, and then safely recycles it or returns it to the environment – but everyone should be concerned with the future of those systems. Today, October 23, 2019, is the fifth annual Imagine a Day Without Water, a nationwide day of advocacy about the value of water organized by the U.S. Water Alliance.

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California Fights Trump on Everything-Except Water

/in , /by /Politicoby Debra Kahn

MANTECA — California is providing health care to undocumented immigrants while President Donald Trump wants to build a border wall, and Gov. Gavin Newsom circumvented the White House with a side deal on auto emissions standards. But when it comes to water, Trump and California are closer than you might think. About 90 minutes from the deep blue coast, the predictable political fault lines stop at the Central Valley, home to the state’s $70 billion agricultural industry. Environmental laws, droughts and urban growth have led to a three-decade decline in farm water and stoked an acidic political logjam visible to anyone who’s driven down Interstate 5, the backbone of the state’s highway system.

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Climate Havoc Wipes Out Coastal Kelp As S.F. Bay’s Native Fish Species Die Off

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Peter Fimrite

A climate-related catastrophe off the California coast has resulted in the death of 90% of the kelp from San Francisco to Oregon as an explosion of ravenous urchins devours everything in sight. And it’s happening at the same time native fish in San Francisco Bay are dying out, two studies released Monday documented.

The studies, by government, university and scientific institute researchers, offer a disturbing look at an underwater ecosystem suffering more than anyone previously suspected — along the coast, in San Francisco Bay and in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

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Federal Agencies Focused On Improving Water Prediction For Western U.S. With Action Plan

/in , , /by /California Water News Daily

The Western United States has increasing been subject to the whims of Mother Nature regarding the availability of water supplies. Managing in an era of multi-year droughts, deluges and floods, and the need to protect and replenish dwindling groundwater basins is a challenge for any water manager.

Last year President Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum on Promoting the Reliable Supply and Delivery of Water in the West to aid water manager in knowing where, when, and how much precipitation will occur in a certain area. The memo directed the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) and the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) to develop an action plan, in coordination with water experts and resource managers, to improve forecasts of water availability. The Federal Action Plan for Improving Forecasts of Water Availability (Action Plan) has now been released.

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Officials Praise New Biological Opinions For The SWP And CVP

/in , /by /AGNet West by Brian German

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service have released new biological opinions that will have a significant impact on the administration of California water supplies.  The new documents relate to salmon, Delta smelt and other native fish species that are affected by the management of the State Water Project (SWP), as well as the Central Valley Project (CVP).

“The new Biological Opinions mean that for farms, fish, and people, this is the dawn of a new science-based approach to water and ecosystem management,” California Farm Water Coalition Executive Director Mike Wade said in a news release.  “The biological opinions being replaced were based on an arbitrary, calendar-based approach, and have not delivered the successful recovery of salmon and Delta smelt populations.”

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Trump Team Weakens Endangered Species Protections For California Salmon And Delta Smelt

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Times by Bettina Boxall

In a move that would boost water deliveries to San Joaquin Valley agriculture and Southern California cities, federal fishery agencies are weakening decade-old endangered species protections for some of the state’s most imperiled native fish populations.

The rollback — coming a year after President Trump targeted the regulations in a memo — rewards Central Valley agribusiness interests that are some of the president’s strongest California supporters. To critics, it highlights the extent to which the Trump administration has injected politics into federal oversight of the nation’s leading environmental laws.

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Blog: ‘Big Ideas’ Diversify San Diego Region’s Reliable Water Supply

/in , , /by /Water Education Foundation

Ensuring water for future generations requires investing and investigating big ideas, according to Sandy Kerl.

Kerl, acting general manager of the San Diego County Water Authority, shared some of those ideas today in San Diego, as she delivered the opening remarks at the California-Nevada Section of the American Water Works Association annual fall conference, which runs through Thursday at the Town and Country Hotel Convention Center.

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