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Opinion: California Rejects Federal Water Proposal, Lays Out its Vision for Protecting Endangered Species and Meeting State Water Needs

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Wade Crowfoot and Jared Blumenfeld

California’s water policy can be complex, and—let’s be honest—often polarizing.

Water decisions frequently get distilled into unhelpful narratives of fish versus farms, north versus south, or urban versus rural. Climate change-driven droughts and flooding threats, as well as our divided political climate, compound these challenges.

We must rise above these historic conflicts by finding ways to protect our environment and build water security for communities and agriculture. We need to embrace decisions that benefit our entire state. Simply put, we have to become much more innovative, collaborative and adaptive.

 

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California Gov. Newsom Makes Move to Halt Trump Water Grab

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

California’s water wars escalated Thursday, as state leaders vowed to fight the Trump administration over plans to ship more water to Central Valley farms.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and members of his administration announced that they were preparing a lawsuit against the federal government to prevent California’s rivers and wildlife from being cheated out of vital supplies.

State leaders said boosting agricultural deliveries, a longtime campaign promise of the president, could upend fragile watersheds and threaten such protected fish as the iconic chinook salmon and delta smelt

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RSF Irrigation District Joint Facilities Advisory Committee Reviews Projects

/in , /by /The Coast News Group (San Diego)by Alex Wehrung

RANCHO SANTA FE — The Rancho Santa Fe Irrigation District’s Joint Facilities Advisory Committee held a meeting on Nov. 14 at the irrigation district’s office to discuss the current status of the Lake Hodges Dam, the progress of the Joint Facilities Capital Improvement Program and the current status of Joint Facilities operations.

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Can a New Approach to Managing California Reservoirs Save Water and Still Protect Against Floods?

/in , , /by /Water Education Foundation (Sacramento)by Gary Pitzer

Many of California’s watersheds are notoriously flashy – swerving from below-average flows to jarring flood conditions in quick order. The state needs all the water it can get from storms, but current flood management guidelines require reservoirs to dump water each winter to make space for flood flows that may not come. However, new tools and operating methods could lead the way to a redefined system that improves both water supply and flood protection capabilities.

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Buena Park Neighborhood Has Dealt With Yellow Tap Water for Years. New Plan Might Help

/in , /by /Orange County Registerby Ian Wheeler

Rust-colored water is part of Ron Cathcart’s routine.

The Buena Park resident has lived with his family at their Panama Drive home for 20 years. Often, when they’re about to cook or use a washing machine, they open a tap first.

On unlucky days, cloudy water pours out. That’s when they run every faucet in the house, for up to 45 minutes or until the water clears up.

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Oroville Dam: Rebuilt Spillway Recognized for International Engineering Award

/in , /by /The Mercury News (San Jose)

OROVILLE, Calif. — The American Society of Civil Engineers has recognized the Oroville Dam rebuild as one of 10 outstanding civil engineering projects.

Two runners-up and a winner will be chosen at the 2020 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement gala in Washington D.C. on March 13.

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Record Rain In Vegas, Half-Foot Of Snow In Tahoe Mountains

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune by Scott Sonner

Emergency Crews rescued two people from a wash flowing with runoff from record rain in Las Vegas, and up a to half-foot of Sierra snow (15 centimeters) triggered chain controls around Lake Tahoe as a cold front moved across Nevada on Wednesday.

The National Weather Service also issued a winter weather advisory through 4 p.m. Thursday for much of central Nevada, where as much as 6 inches (15 cm) is possible in mountain areas.

The service said 0.35 inch of rain (9 millimeters) fell in Las Vegas through 8 a.m. Wednesday, breaking the old record for the date set in 1963.

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Opinion: Newsom Must Stop the Westlands Water Grab and Save the San Francisco Bay-Delta

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Barbara Barrigan-Parilla

The San Francisco Bay-Delta, the largest estuary on the West Coast, was once the home to fisheries that produced five million pounds of canned salmon a year.

The Delta’s largest city, Stockton, is where children swam, rowed boats, and canoed after school in places made navigable through their parents and grandparents’ labor. Today, our children in Stockton will not enter a river or slough to swim, or fish, or row. Our urban waterways are stagnant, thick with algal scum and toxins.

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Poway Man is Saving Money by Saving Rain

/in , , /by /NBC 7 San Diego by Joe Little Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Bob Raibert loved the green grass growing in his Poway front yard when he bought his home four years ago. The affinity wore off when he got his first water bill.

“For two months it was $600,” he said. “The front yard was all grass; about 5,000 square feet of grass.”

Raipert did some research and spoke to experts.

He redid his entire front and backyard. The grass has been replaced with drought tolerant plants and artificial grass.

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Restoring the River with the Yurok, Hupa, and Karuk

/in , /by /KCET

For the past two centuries, California has relied heavily on the natural resources of the North Coast region, exploiting its pristine watersheds for agriculture and its forests for timber. But today, the environmental costs of timber extraction and damming have reached a tipping point.

Now the Yurok are working with local and state organizations to revitalize the forests, rivers and wildlife, a comprehensive feat requiring collaboration among community leaders up and down the Klamath and Trinity Rivers.

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