The Department of Water Resources is mourning the death of a former director on Saturday.
William Gianelli passed away this week at the age of 101.
California has the opportunity to enter a new era in water management. Unprecedented efforts by leaders at the state and national level have led to the kind of cooperation that will provide valuable benefits to water users and the environment.
I know because that’s what we’ve been doing in the Sacramento Valley for many years. The kinds of success we’ve achieved can be replicated in other parts of the state. By working together, we can accomplish much more than can ever be achieved when competing interests are fighting.
California’s current water regulatory system is completely broken. Farms, towns and cities suffer continued cutbacks and threatened fish species continue to dwindle. The only recourse currently available seems to be an ongoing parade of lawsuits that further paralyze the system and help no one.
Millions of Americans risk losing running water if they fall behind with bill payments in coming months, as mass layoffs triggered by the coronavirus pandemic force families to make impossible tradeoffs on paying household expenses.
Around two-fifths of the country rely on water utilities which have not suspended the policy of shutoffs for non-payment, despite public health warnings that good hygiene – specifically frequent hand washing – is crucial to preventing spread of the highly contagious virus, according to data analysed by Food and Water Watch and the Guardian.
So far, the moratoriums on shutoffs include 12 statewide orders, which apply to private and public water providers, issued by the governors of California, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin.
The shortage of toilet paper is causing some residents to utilize other wiping substances and, when toilets are flushed with some of those alternatives, local sewer lines are impacted.
“The primary issue we have when people do that is backups in the sewer,” Jack Bebee, general manager of Fallbrook Public Utility District, said.
“We’ve seen an increase in our maintenance needs related to dealing with items such as flushable wipes,” Tom Kennedy, general manager of Rainbow Municipal Water District, said.
“Paper towels are not particularly made either to get through the sewer system,” Bebee said.
Scratch paper, wax and other materials have been flushed down toilet drains and into the sewer systems.
“We find all sorts of things in there,” Kennedy said.
“Clogs have been caused by that,” Bebee said.
“We see the flushable wipes more than anything else. They’re not flushable. They might say flushable on the package, but they’re not flushable,” Kennedy said. “It doesn’t degrade. You need things that are biodegradable.”
A new set of water regulations aimed at protecting California’s native fish came down from the state earlier this week to near universal condemnation from both agricultural and environmental water folks.
The regulations are contained in a 143-page “incidental take permit” issued by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife that lays out when — and how much — water can be pumped out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta by the State Water Project.
Agricultural contractors who get water from the project fear they could lose up to 300,000 acre-feet a year under the new permit.
Most Americans take a safe and reliable water supply for granted. Dedicated water and wastewater professionals, including Vallecitos Water District employees, work to provide a secure, plentiful supply of drinking water.
Vallecitos Water District customer Manisha Bambhania has a deeper appreciation. A native of India, Bambhania grew up in a home where running water was only available three hours per day, and sometimes much less.
Bambhania frequently posted favorable comments on Vallecitos Water District Facebook posts.
“She would commonly write words like, ‘We all need to conserve, regardless of the drought,’ or ‘Thank you for all you do. We are so grateful for the services you are providing,’” said Public Information Representative Lisa Urabe.
Most government agencies across the region are no longer providing records to the public as is typically required under a state law known as the California Public Records Act amid the coronavirus pandemic. Even requests for records related to the crisis that exist electronically are being largely denied indefinitely.
Operations at cities, school districts, special districts and county agencies have wound down or gone remote in compliance with public health orders to shelter at home as much as possible to slow the spread of the virus.
President Donald Trump’s decision this week to extend the country’s social distancing guidelines until April 30 was based partly on data from statistical models that predict the peaks and plateaus of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S.
During the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, worried consumers have been snapping up bottled water as soon as it hits grocery store shelves.
More than 50,000 masks are in the hands of people who need them the most, our first responders and medical professionals in the Las Vegas valley.
