Dare we say it? The outlines of a truce in California’s unending water battles began to come into focus last week, though not everyone is willing to sign the treaty. The State Water Board adopted the first phase of a far-reaching revision to the Water Quality Control Plan for the Sacramento‒San Joaquin Delta and its […]
Irrigation districts along three Central California rivers say they will be suing the state of California and—simultaneously, in some cases—negotiating with it, now that the State Water Resources Control Board has voted to redirect significant flows along the rivers in an effort to improve fish populations. The state water board voted 4-1 last week to […]
Water conservation numbers for October were announced last week by the Water Resources Control Board, and the savings were all over the place. Statewide, urban water use was down 13.4 percent compared to October 2013, the pre-drought benchmark year. That was down from 14.6 percent in September, but the conservation rate has been pretty static […]
Jerry Brown, in the last term of his two-part, 16-year governorship, came close to redeeming his environmental faults. Brown deserves a salute for striving to get out the message that climate change is indeed, in his words, a global “existential crisis” and that we are living in the “new abnormal.” He has been doing what […]
The earthquakes hit just days after last year’s near-catastrophe at Oroville Dam, when the spillway cracked amid heavy rains and 188,000 people fled in fear of flooding. The timing of the two small tremors about 75 miles north of Sacramento was curious, and frightening. Were the quakes part of a seismic hot spot that caused the […]
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman has issued an edict to Arizona and the two other lower Colorado basin states: Come up with a drought contingency plan by Jan. 31 or she will step in and do it for us. Burman is right to throw down the gauntlet. The Colorado River is in trouble. A nearly two-decade […]
OPINION: Peace In California’s Water Wars Is Within Grasp
/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /CALmatters (Sacramento)by Jeffrey Mount and Ellen HanakDare we say it? The outlines of a truce in California’s unending water battles began to come into focus last week, though not everyone is willing to sign the treaty. The State Water Board adopted the first phase of a far-reaching revision to the Water Quality Control Plan for the Sacramento‒San Joaquin Delta and its […]
Lawsuits Await After California Water Board Adopts Flows Plan, CFBF Reports
/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Sierra Sun Timesby Christine SouzaIrrigation districts along three Central California rivers say they will be suing the state of California and—simultaneously, in some cases—negotiating with it, now that the State Water Resources Control Board has voted to redirect significant flows along the rivers in an effort to improve fish populations. The state water board voted 4-1 last week to […]
Wide Fluctuation In October Water Conservation Numbers
/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Chico Enterprise-RecordWater conservation numbers for October were announced last week by the Water Resources Control Board, and the savings were all over the place. Statewide, urban water use was down 13.4 percent compared to October 2013, the pre-drought benchmark year. That was down from 14.6 percent in September, but the conservation rate has been pretty static […]
OPINION: Did Jerry Brown Do Enough On Climate Change?
/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Los Angeles Timesby Jacques LeslieJerry Brown, in the last term of his two-part, 16-year governorship, came close to redeeming his environmental faults. Brown deserves a salute for striving to get out the message that climate change is indeed, in his words, a global “existential crisis” and that we are living in the “new abnormal.” He has been doing what […]
What Caused Nearly 20,000 Quakes At Oroville Dam? Scientists Weigh In On Mystery
/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis AlexanderThe earthquakes hit just days after last year’s near-catastrophe at Oroville Dam, when the spillway cracked amid heavy rains and 188,000 people fled in fear of flooding. The timing of the two small tremors about 75 miles north of Sacramento was curious, and frightening. Were the quakes part of a seismic hot spot that caused the […]
OPINION: Arizona Has No Choice But To Act On The Drought Contingency Plan
/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /The Arizona Republic (Phoenix)U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman has issued an edict to Arizona and the two other lower Colorado basin states: Come up with a drought contingency plan by Jan. 31 or she will step in and do it for us. Burman is right to throw down the gauntlet. The Colorado River is in trouble. A nearly two-decade […]