If California sees its environmental goals get met, does it really matter who contributed to the success?
Among certain environmental groups, the answer can be boiled down to a single word: “It depends.”
California lawmakers representing the state’s Delta area are calling for Gov. Gavin Newsom to cancel his plan for an underground tunnel that would reroute water from Northern to Southern California.
Representatives John Garamendi, Josh Harder, Jerry McNerney and Mike Thompson, all Democrats, released a joint statement in response to the draft environmental impact report for the project.
Will the fifth time be the charm for California’s decades-long effort to replumb the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta so that more Northern California water can be transported to Southern California?
Don’t count on it.
Last week, the state Department of Water Resources released a draft environmental impact report on the latest iteration of the 57-year-long effort to change the Delta’s role in water supply, a 45-mile-long tunnel officially named the “Delta Conveyance.”
Rising river levels? It’s been a surprising sight in recent days for people out along the American River.
California is in year three of a severe drought and people are being asked to conserve, but water releases from Folsom Dam are being dramatically increased this week.
California water officials are poised to release the first environmental review of a controversial project to replumb the Delta — a plan in the works for decades that has alternately been called a water grab or a critical update to shore up state supplies.
Known as the Delta Conveyance Project, a tunnel supported by Gov. Gavin Newsom would take water from the Sacramento River and bypass the vast Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, funneling the flows directly to pumps in the south Delta or straight to Bethany Reservoir at the northern end of the California Aqueduct.
Conditions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and its watershed are changing as droughts become warmer and more intense. But as our new study highlights, California is not doing a good job of tracking these changes. That’s making it even tougher to manage the water that is available for the benefit of the state’s communities, economy and environment.
The struggle over management of water supplied through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta continues as the Biden administration seeks a reversal of rules put in place by agencies under the Trump administration.
Last week, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation sent a letter to federal fisheries agencies and announced it is reinitiating consultation of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service 2019 biological opinions related to the coordinated, long-term operation of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project.
The two water projects are California’s primary water-delivery systems that guide pumping of water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, sending water south to tens of millions of people and to millions of acres of farmland.
The city of Antioch’s water supply has been challenged in recent years by a variety of factors. But the Brackish Water Desalination Project, the first desalination project of its kind in the five-county Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region, is intended to improve the reliability of the city’s water.
The city filed its notice of preparation for the project just over four years ago and then broke ground on the plant in February of this year.
Today’s Why Guy question comes from Todd, who asks, “Why can’t we build just one solar/hydro-powered desalination plant off the coast of California nearest the most drought-ridden city/cities?”
Todd, as we sit squarely in the middle of another drought, adding more seawater desalination facilities has become a louder discussion. Right now, California has 12 desalination facilities in operation, but there are calls for more.
Historic low water levels at Lake Oroville will not impact the Santa Clarita Valley’s water supply this year, according to the Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency.
Dirk Marks, director of water resources for the agency, said that the water from Oroville, located in Northern California, represented 5% of the water the agency is contracted to receive from the State Water Project.
SWP sites include Oroville, Castaic Lake and many other locations and facilities in between that help transport water from Northern California to Southern California.
