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Water Authority Offers Help to Regions in Need During Drought

/in , , /by /Water News Network Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors April 22 authorized staff to explore opportunities to help other water districts weather an emerging drought across California. Three decades of investments in supply reliability, along with a continued emphasis on water-use efficiency, mean the San Diego region has sufficient water supplies for multiple dry years. Those investments include high-priority conserved water from the Imperial Valley, seawater desalination, and access to the Semitropic Original Water Bank in Kern County, where the Water Authority has stored about 16,000 acre-feet of water.

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Water Authority Offers Help to Regions in Need During Drought

/in , /by

April 23, 2021 – The San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors yesterday authorized staff to explore opportunities to help other water districts weather an emerging drought across California.

Three decades of investments in supply reliability, along with a continued emphasis on water-use efficiency, mean the San Diego region has sufficient water supplies for multiple dry years. Those investments include high-priority conserved water from the Imperial Valley, seawater desalination, and access to the Semitropic Original Water Bank in Kern County, where the Water Authority has stored about 16,000 acre-feet of water.

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Opinion: The 2021 Drought is Already an Emergency

/in , , /by /Bakersfield Californianby Royce Fast

The 2021 drought is quickly becoming an emergency. Kern County’s supply from the State Water Project has been reduced to just 5 percent of a full allocation. Rainfall is about half of average. And with each passing dry day, the drought gets worse.

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Group Sue Over California County’s Plan to Drill Oil Wells

/in , /by /AP News

Environmental and community groups have sued a California county after the prime oil-drilling region approved a plan to fast-track thousands of new wells in a state that’s positioned itself as a leader in combating climate change.

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Some Irrigators on West Side of Stanislaus County can Expect Only 5% of Federal Water

/in , /by /The Modesto Beeby John Holland

West Side farmers using the federal Central Valley Project can expect 5% to 75% of their contracted supply this year.

Two straight dry winters brought that announcement Tuesday from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. It involves water pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to as far south as Kern County.

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How a Water War on the Kings River Could Alter the Valley as We Know it

/in , , /by /The Sunby Alex Tavlian

Though it doesn’t hold historical contentiousness like its counterpart along the Central Valley Project, the Kings River has its own tale to tell.

Serving as a lifeline of sorts for three of the central San Joaquin Valley’s five major counties, the Kings is filled with its own universe of water agencies run by engineers, lawyers, farmers, and politicos jockeying to manage the state’s most precious resource on one stream.

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Large Energy Storage Project Would Create New Reservoir Above Isabella Lake

/in , /by /Bakersfield.comby John Cox

A $3 billion pumped-water energy storage project has been proposed along Isabella Lake that would help even out power delivery from California solar and wind farms at a volume and longevity dwarfing the large battery installations envisioned for eastern Kern.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is reviewing a Walnut engineering company’s plan to create a new reservoir above the lake then use pumps and underground pipes to turn it into a rechargeable dam and hydroelectric generator putting out a whopping 2,000 megawatts of power for up to 12 hours at a time.

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Congress Appropriations Bill Includes $206 Million for Friant-Kern Canal

/in , /by /The Recorderby Charles Whisnand

Congress presented an early Christmas present that will go a long ways to providing much needed repairs for the Friant-Kern Canal.

Congress signed off on funding for the repair work to be done locally on the 33-mile stretch of the canal. The stretch is from Avenue 208 between Strathmore and Lindsay to north Kern County.

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Temperance Flat Dam Returns $171 Million to State. Still, Backers Swear It’s ‘Not Dead’

/in , /by /The Fresno Beeby Monica Vaughan and Danielle Bergstrom

Backers of a $3 billion project to construct the tallest dam in California swear the project isn’t dead, despite the Temperance Flat Reservoir Authority returning money and canceling applications. After it became clear that the reservoir project on the San Joaquin River west of Auberry would not reach upcoming deadlines for studies and funding, Temperance Flat Reservoir Authority declined $171 million designated by the California Water Commission and withdrew its application for additional funding, according to a resolution signed by the Authority on Oct. 30.

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California’s Oil and Gas Regulator Approved Hundreds of New Wells Without Required Oversight

/in , /by /KQEDby Nina Sparling

The agency responsible for regulating California’s oil and natural gas industry violated state rules by approving hundreds of new wells in 2019 without proper review, according to a recent audit. The state Department of Finance’s review of California’s Geologic Energy Management Division found numerous violations, including inadequate environmental and safety reviews and a failure to follow current guidelines.

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