Tag Archive for: Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta

Unstoppable Invasion: How Did Mussels Sneak into California, Despite Decades of State Shipping Rules?

/in , , /by /Cal Mattersby Alastair Bland

After the recent discovery of a destructive mussel in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, some experts say California officials have failed to effectively enforce laws designed to protect waterways from invaders carried in ships’ ballast water.

A state law enacted 20 years ago has required California officials to inspect 25% of incoming ships and sample their ballast water before it’s discharged into waterways. But the tests didn’t begin until two years ago — after standards for conducting them were finally set — and testing remains rare. State officials have sampled the ballast water of only 16 vessels out of the roughly 3,000 likely to have emptied their tanks nearshore.

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How A ‘Death Trap’ For Fish In California’s Water System Is Limiting The Pumping Of Supplies

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

Giant pumps hum inside a warehouse-like building, pushing water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta into the California Aqueduct, where it travels more than 400 miles south to the taps of over half the state’s population.

But lately the powerful motors at the Harvey O. Banks Pumping Plant have been running at reduced capacity, despite a second year of drought-busting snow and rain.

The reason: So many threatened fish have died at the plant’s intake reservoir and pumps that it has triggered federal protections and forced the state to pump less water.

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Sacramento Delta Stewards Eye Climate Change Protection for Levees, Habitats

/in , , /by /Courthouse News Serviceby Natalie Hanson

The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta faces significant challenges affecting the health of its waterways and ecosystem, and stewards say state agencies must accelerate efforts to prepare for the impacts of climate change and a growing urban landscape.

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Newsom’s Delta Pitch: It’s For The Climate

/in , , /by /Politicoby Camille Von Kaenel

Gov. Gavin Newsom has a new sales pitch for a tunnel to move more water south from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta that past governors have tried and failed to build for five decades.

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California Doubles Water Allocation for Most Contractors Following February Storms

/in , , /by /Associated Pressby Adam Beam

State officials on Friday doubled the amount of water California agencies will get this year following some strong storms that increased the snowpack in the mountains.

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Newsom Wants to Build A $16-Billion Water Tunnel. Will It Destroy California’s Delta?

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Haley Smith and Ian James

In the heart of California, at the place where two great rivers converge beneath the Tule fog, lies the linchpin of one of the largest water supply systems in the world.

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Experts Urge California To Avoid Pitfalls In Water Deals In The Delta

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

Some of the thorniest debates over water in California revolve around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, where pumps send water flowing to farms and cities, and where populations of native fish have been declining.

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Environmentalists, Local Agencies File Lawsuits Against California Delta Tunnel Project

/in , , /by /The Modesto Beeby Ari Plachta

A month after California’s water regulator gave its seal of approval to a controversial water infrastructure project that could replumb the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the plan is coming under renewed legal fire.

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Water Wasted | The History of the Delta Water Tunnel Project and Why People Are Against It

/in , , /by /ABC 10by Brenden Mincheff

A battle remains underway in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley Delta.

For decades, Delta residents and the state have been unable to agree on a plan to transport water from the rainy but rural northern part of the state down to the heavily populated, dry southern half.

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‘Improvised, Spotty and Belated’: Will California Reform Its Oversight of Water Rights?

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

California’s complex system of water rights took shape starting in the mid-1800s, when settlers saw the state’s water as abundant and free for the taking — a time when a Gold Rush prospector could stake claim to river flows simply by nailing a notice to a tree.

Today, California’s oldest and most senior water rights — called riparian and pre-1914 rights — have been passed along to thousands of agricultural landowners, irrigation districts and urban water suppliers that claim control of roughly one-third of the water that is diverted from the state’s rivers and streams.

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