Today the California Supreme Court denied a request by the San Diego County Water Authority (CWA) to reverse a Court of Appeals decision in June that allows the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) to include its State Water Project costs in rates it charges to transport CWA’s independent Colorado River supplies through MWD’s pipeline and aqueduct.
Southern California’s mammoth water agency appeared ready to plow ahead with the Delta tunnels project Tuesday, despite a “no” vote by a giant bloc of San Joaquin Valley farmers that could doom the $17 billion proposal. The Metropolitan Water District’s board of directors signaled that it’s ready to vote Oct. 10 on whether to pay for about one-fourth of the tunnels project, a $4 billion commitment. Metropolitan’s general manager, Jeff Kightlinger, urged directors to proceed with a vote as a way of determining whether the controversial project can be salvaged.
The nation’s largest municipal water provider attempted to illegally divert water toward Southern California cities by buying up and throttling water use on thousands of acres of farmland, according to a lawsuit filed last week in Riverside County Superior Court. The suit was brought by the Palo Verde Irrigation District, which serves parts of Imperial County and Riverside County. It accuses the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California of violating a 2004 agreement that paid farmers not to grow crops on their land, freeing up water for thirsty coastal cities serviced by Metropolitan.
The state’s water users will find out soon if they will be paying for the $17 billion tunnel project called the California WaterFix. The controversial plan proposes building tunnels under the Sacramento Delta to secure the supply of water being sent south. But the plan is already finding itself in rough waters. The $17 billion project has the backing of California Gov. Jerry Brown and Southern California’s largest water wholesaler, the Metropolitan Water District. But farmers in the Westland’s Water District have decided the project is too expensive.
A proposal to build giant water tunnels under the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta suffered a setback last week when a key partner that was expected to help fund a big slice of the $17 billion project voted to pull out. That leaves the Metropolitan Water District — which supplies imported water for 19 million Southern Californians — to decide whether it should fund its $4 billion share of the project known as the California Water Fix.
What Gov. Jerry Brown has been pitching as his California WaterFix is seen by many San Joaquin Valley farmers as a checkbook buster. History may be repeating itself. Hang around long enough and comets return. Brown is having the same problem he had 35 years ago trying to update the waterworks created in the 1960s by his father, Gov. Pat Brown.
In the next couple weeks, we’ll likely know if California water agencies will bite the bullet and spend $17 billion to shore up the water system that brings water south from the rivers of Northern California. The project involves the construction of two 35-mile underground tunnels to keep water coming south through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta.
In part one of our report on rethinking drought and water,” (“Out of the woods?” Sept. 23, 2017) California State Climatologist Michael Anderson and University of California Riverside Professor of Environmental Economics and Policy Kurt Schwabe discussed the changing nature of drought in our region. But to merely focus on droughts may be shortsighted. According to both experts, the key to navigating the next drought will likely lie in how well we plan for change.
Poseidon Water announced this week that its proposed ocean desalination plant in Huntington Beach would employ an environmental protection and energy efficiency plan. But that didn’t halt criticism of the controversial facility. Poseidon said the plan includes several tactics aimed at reducing the environmental footprint of the $1-billion plant proposed at Newland Street and Pacific Coast Highway, including installing as many solar panels and purchasing as much “green” power as allowed by law.
Lilia Valeeva’s Spanish revival bungalow in Mission Hills was purchased as a fixer-upper in 2013. The landscaping was also in need of an overhaul. The front yard was mostly Bermuda grass, with bushes on the perimeter and an oak tree that was causing problems with the home’s foundation. She envisioned a front yard that suited the historically designated house and wanted the landscape to be drought-tolerant, too. To get ideas, Valeeva did online research, visited parks and the zoo, and walked around the neighborhoods of Mission Hills.
