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Proposal Would Allow Oil Companies Keep Injecting Wastewater Into Kern County Aquifers

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

California regulators are negotiating an agreement with two major oil companies that would allow them to keep injecting millions of gallons of wastewater into potential drinking water and irrigation supplies in the Central Valley for three years. The voluntary plan would allow Aera Energy (which was jointly formed by Shell Oil and Exxon Mobil) and California Resources Corp. to continue to inject fluid remnants of oil extraction into 94 wells that discharge into shallow groundwater aquifer zones in Kern County. The negotiations frustrate groups like Clean Water Action, a national environmental organization, which argues that injecting into the aquifers violates the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, and should cease now, not in three years.

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Goleta Water District Updates Permit To Sell Recycled Water To Ag Users

/in , /by /Noozhawk (Santa Barbra, Calif.)by Giana Magnoli

The Goleta Water District has updated its recycled water permitting so it can now sell to agricultural customers, although not many of them are interested in buying. Recycled water, which the district has produced and sold since 1997, cannot be used for groundwater recharge, but was used for landscape irrigation, construction dust control, industrial cooling, and toilet and urinal flushing. State law has allowed more uses in the intervening years, and with a modernized permit, the district can now sell recycled water for agricultural irrigation and industrial and manufacturing uses, said Ryan Drake, the district’s water supply and conservation manager.

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Odor Advisory Issued For Salton Sea Area; Hydrogen Sulfide Leads To Rotten-Egg Smell

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Carlos Lozano

An odor advisory was issued Sunday for the Salton Sea area in Riverside County due to elevated levels of a gas that smells like rotten eggs, according to state air regulators. The advisory was issued for the Coachella Valley and will remain in effect until at least Monday because of winds from the south, with peak concentrations of hydrogen sulfide emissions occurring in the morning hours, the South Coast Air Quality Management District said in a statement. “Hourly average concentrations of hydrogen sulfide peaked [Sunday] morning at 239 parts per billion immediately downwind of the Salton Sea – at a monitor close to the shore, in an area with little population,” the district said.

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Los Angeles, State Officials Discuss Increasing Local Water Supplies

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Daily News

Los Angeles city and county representatives hosted a discussion with state officials to address ways to increase local water supplies and to support a proposed statewide water system. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was joined Friday by the California Secretary of Natural Resources, Wade Crowfoot, and Secretary of Environmental Protection, Jared Blumenfeld, to discuss the city’s maintenance of its water sources. “We are proud to work hand-in-hand with our state leaders to advance an agenda that protects ratepayers, preserves our environment, diversifies our water portfolio and protects our natural resources in the face of intense droughts and the rising tide of climate change,” Garcetti said.

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SDCWA Approves Conjunctive Use Project Subsidy

/in , /by /Valley News (Fallbrook, Calif.)by Joe Naiman Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has a subsidy program for projects which produce local supply, and if MWD approves the agreement Sept. 10 the Fallbrook Public Utility District will receive a subsidy for the Santa Margarita River Conjunctive Use Project. FPUD’s board approved the agreement on a 5-0 vote July 22 and the San Diego County Water Authority board approved the agreement July 25. “It will help further reduce the cost of water for the project, which will help further reduce the cost of water for our ratepayers,” said FPUD general manager Jack Bebee.

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FPUD To Prepare Community Benefit Latent Powers Application

/in , /by /Village News (Fallbrook, Calif.)by Joe Naiman

The Fallbrook Public Utility District will be preparing an application for San Diego County’s Local Agency Formation Commission which would allow FPUD to expand its latent powers to provide for public community facilities. FPUD’s board voted 5-0 July 22 to authorize the preparation of the application to LAFCO, although the application itself will be reviewed prior to a separate FPUD vote. “The board reaffirmed the decision to move forward based on the request of those groups,” said FPUD general manager Jack Bebee. FPUD’s May 2018 meeting included a presentation by the Fallbrook Chamber of C…

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Newsletter: The Uncertain Fate Of The San Fernando Valley’s Last Remaining Commercial Citrus Grove

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Julia Wick

Fifteen thousand acres of citrus groves once blanketed the San Fernando Valley, but now just a single commercial citrus grove remains, a half-mile from the 101 Freeway on the border of Tarzana and Woodland Hills. At 14 acres, Bothwell Ranch represents less than one-thousandth of what once was, before the orchards and ranches of the Valley gave way to tract housing, cul-de-sacs and two-car garages. Citrus production amid the multimillion-dollar homes is far from a viable occupation, and the Bothwell family put the property on the market earlier this summer. The $13.9-million real estate listing boasted of the potential for constructing 26 single-family homes on half-acre lots.

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Water Conservation Garden Awarded SDG&E Environmental Champion Grant

/in , , /by /The Water News Network

The Water Conservation Garden’s Ms. Smarty-Plants program received a $25,000 Environmental Champion Grant in June from SDG&E. The award comes as The Garden, at Cuyamaca College in El Cajon, celebrates its 20th anniversary. “SDG&E has been a long-time supporter of The Garden and its innovative Ms. Smarty-Plants education program,” said Jennifer Pillsbury, executive director/CEO of The Water Conservation Garden. “In fact, SDG&E was one of the first funders to provide seed funding that allowed the program to have the widespread impact it has today. We are grateful for their support.”

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Wet Winter Doesn’t End Climate Change Risk To Colorado River

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Felicia Fonseca

Snow swamped mountains across the U.S. West last winter, leaving enough to thrill skiers into the summer, swelling rivers and streams when it melted, and largely making wildfire restrictions unnecessary. But the wet weather can be misleading.

Climate change means the region is still getting drier and hotter.

“It only demonstrates the wide swings we have to manage going forward,” James Eklund, former director of the Upper Colorado River Commission, an interstate agency that ensures river water is doled out properly, said earlier this year. “You can put an ice cube — even an excellent ice cube — in a cup of hot coffee, but eventually it’s going to disappear.”

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The West Is Trading Water for Cash. The Water Is Running Out

/in , , /by /Bloomberg by Luke McGrath

Desert farmers along the Colorado River are striking lucrative deals with big cities. But not everyone comes out a winner.

When it comes to global warming’s one-two punch of inundation and drought, the presence of too much water has had the most impact on U.S. agriculture this year, with farmers in the Midwest swamped by flooding throughout the Mississippi Basin.

 

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