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‘We’re Not Prepared’: Experts Call for Doubling Levee Protections as California Faces Increasing Floods

California water experts and environmental justice advocates are calling for state leaders to mandate that new levees be built with double the federal required protection to withstand the increasingly severe storms caused, in part, by human-caused climate change.

California’s levee protection regulations are not uniform; the state’s seemingly endless dikes and causeways are overseen by a patchwork of widely varying rules. Some communities like Pajaro in Monterey County, which was swamped by floodwaters this year, are protected only against smaller storms that happen every eight years, while levees protecting urban areas of the Central Valley are bolstered against much more powerful storms.

Fewer Than 10% of Levees in the Greater Bay Area Have a Federal Flood Risk Rating

Atmospheric river-fueled storms have hammered the network of hundreds of levees in coastal counties near the San Francisco Bay — from the agricultural fields of Monterey County to urban places like San Leandro, Walnut Creek and Richmond to more rural parts of the North Bay. At least two major levees, in Salinas and Pajaro, have failed since New Year’s Eve.

The levee breach along the Pajaro River, which divides Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, left the entire town of Pajaro in a deluge of water.

Near Miss; Atmospheric River Shifts Toward Southern California

After weeks of atmospheric rivers slamming into Northern California, triggering flooding and landslides, the jet stream has shifted the latest blast of subtropical moisture toward Southern California, forecasters said.

But it won’t be a complete miss on Tuesday. The northern edge of the river will bring moderate rain to parts of the Bay Area and 2 inches or more to the waterlogged Santa Cruz Mountains and the flooded communities in Monterey County.

Thirst for Water: How the Nation’s Largest Desalination Plant is Generating Change

When the nation’s largest desalination plant opened in Carlsbad, California, in 2015, people across the country were watching to see how it increased water supplies as groundwater dwindled, reservoirs dried up, and drought ravaged the Golden State.

Nearly 10 years later, the plant has demonstrated how seawater desalination can play a pivotal role in achieving water security.

Marina, 3 Water Agencies Sue Coastal Commission

Elected officials in Marina have joined forces with three water agencies in a lawsuit against the California Coastal Commission over its tentative permitting in November of California American Water Co.’s desalination project.

The Future of the Peninsula’s Water Supply Comes Before Two State Boards Next Week.

Thursday, Nov. 17 is shaping up to be a momentous day for the future of the Monterey Peninsula’s water supply, as two major state boards – the California Coastal Commission and the California Public Utilities Commission – are set to weigh in on two separate projects that aim to add supply to the local portfolio.

Desalination Can Now Be Owned and Operated by Private Entities in Monterey County

With an extreme drought tightening its grip, drawing concerns about the future of water in Monterey County and throughout California, the county’s Board of Supervisors overturned a 33-year-old law to allow the private ownership and operation of desalination facilities within the county.

Previously, desalination facilities were limited to public ownership, a rule that was criticized as more of a political decision than anything else.

Monterey County Elected Officials to Debate a Change in Desal Law

Desalination projects have always been a contentious issue in Monterey County and a proposal that will be mulled by elected officials Tuesday afternoon is sure to raise the eyebrows of advocates for publicly owned desal projects.

The idea that will be presented to the Board of Supervisors during its afternoon session beginning at 1:30 p.m. is an amendment to an existing ordinance allowing only public ownership of desal plants rather than private ownership.

Monterey County Water Managers Push for $300 Million for Water Storage

Amid California’s prolonged droughts, Central Coast water managers are making a new push to increase water storage capacity in Monterey County.

More specifically they’re making a renewed push for a $300 million project to increase water storage capacity at one of the county’s largest but driest reservoirs; Lake San Antonio.

With Billions in State Surplus, Monterey County Looks to Sacramento for Water Funding Help

California is poised to have a record budget this year and tucked into Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $286.4 billion spending proposal for fiscal year 2022-23 is about $21 billion in extra cash that will be up for grabs. Monterey County is jumping into the scrum, hoping the state can set hundreds of millions of dollars aside to help finance three critical water projects for the Salinas Valley and South County. Brent Buche, general manager of the county’s Water Resources Agency, calls the surplus situation a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to get major funds from the state. The county is not holding back.