The Sacramento Bee Archives

Could West Sacramento Be Forced To Pay Up If The River Floods? Mayor And Residents Disagree

West Sacramento’s recent decision to accept greater responsibility for maintaining levees and drainage systems along the Sacramento River has some residents worried that the city could be swamped financially if the area floods. The West Sacramento City Council voted 4-1 last month to begin a process that would convert an independent district in charge of levee management into a subsidiary of West Sacramento, and allow the council to replace the district’s board of directors with appointees or the council members themselves. Reclamation District 900 has operated independently since 1911, managing 13.6 miles of levees that provide flood protection along the Sacramento River.

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They Are Building 11,000 New Homes In Folsom. But Will There Be Enough Water?

June 15, 2018/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler, Ryan Sabalow and Tony Bizjak

It’s like a new city springing to life: 11,000 homes and apartments, seven public schools, a pair of fire stations, a police station, a slew of office and commercial buildings and 1,000 acres of parks, trails and other open space. Expected population: 25,000. But will it have enough water? As construction begins this month on the first model homes at Folsom Ranch, a 3,300-acre development in the city of Folsom south of Highway 50, state regulators continue to have questions about the project’s water supply.

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California Drinking Water Tax Dies In Budget Compromise

June 8, 2018/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler and Adam Ashton

A proposed tax on California’s drinking water, designed to clean up contaminated water for thousands of Californians, was abandoned by Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders Friday as part of the compromise on the state budget. Lawmakers and Brown’s office scrapped the “Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Act,” which would have taxed residents 95 cents a month to raise millions for cleaning toxic wells. Instead, legislative leaders agreed to spend $5 million from the general fund to deal with lead in drinking water at child care centers.

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Why Southern California Is Calling For A Do-Over On Its Vote To Bankroll The Delta Tunnels

June 7, 2018/in Media Coverage, San Diego County /by Andrea Mora /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler and Ryan Sabalow Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

A historic vote on the Delta tunnels project is getting a do-over. Southern California’s powerful water agency — the Metropolitan Water District — said Thursday its board will vote again in July on whether to pay for the lion’s share of the project, known officially as California WaterFix. The announcement comes after environmentalists and an open government group complained that Metropolitan directors violated the Brown Act before voting in April to support the tunnels. The Brown Act sets rules intended to prevent government boards from making decisions behind closed doors.

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OPINION: Why Should California Tax Drinking Water?

June 7, 2018/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /The Sacramento Beeby Jay Obernolte

Most Californians agree that clean drinking water is a human right, and that it is a fundamental function of state government to ensure access to safe drinking water. However, there is disagreement in the Legislature on how to pay for it. Some members believe that a new water tax should be passed to fund this effort, as supported by the Bee’s editorial board.

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No, Californians, You Won’t Be Fined $1,000 If You Shower And Do Laundry The Same Day

June 6, 2018/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Andrea Mora /The Sacramento Beeby Ryan Sabalow and Dale Kasler

No, Californians, it’s not against the law to shower and do laundry on the same day — even though loud voices in the conservative blogosphere are claiming it is. Taking aim at two water-conservation laws signed last week by Gov. Jerry Brown, a conspiratorial far-right financial blog called Zero Hedge reported Sunday that Californians could be fined $1,000 a day if they bathe and wash their clothes on the same day. “If you don’t plan to comply it’s going to be way cheaper to move,” the blog post stated.

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These Fish Are At The Heart Of California’s Water Debate. But Extinction Could Be Close

June 1, 2018/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Andrea Mora /The Sacramento Beeby Ryan Sabalow and Dale Kasler

As a young biologist in the 1970s, Peter Moyle remembers towing nets behind boats in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and catching 50 to 100 translucent, finger-length smelt in a matter of minutes. Moyle doesn’t see those days coming back. “I think extinction is imminent the way things are going,” said Moyle, a prominent UC Davis fisheries biologist. State biologists have found hardly any Delta smelt in their sampling nets in the past two years. Consecutive surveys in late April and early May found no smelt at all. Those results don’t mean the smelt have completely vanished.

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360,000 Californians Have Unsafe Drinking Water. Are You One Of Them?

June 1, 2018/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Andrea Mora /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler, Phillip Reese, and Ryan Sabalow

At the Shiloh elementary school near Modesto, drinking fountains sit abandoned, covered in clear plastic. At Mom and Pop’s Diner, a fixture in the Merced County town of Dos Palos, regulars ask for bottled water because they know better than to consume what comes out of the tap. And in rural Alpaugh, a few miles west of Highway 99 in Tulare County, residents such as Sandra Meraz have spent more than four decades worrying about what flows from their faucets. “You drink the water at your own risk,” said Meraz, 77. “And that shouldn’t be. We have families here with young children.”

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Get Ready To Save Water: Permanent California Restrictions Approved By Gov. Jerry Brown

May 31, 2018/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Andrea Mora /The Sacramento Beeby Taryn Luna and Alexi Koseff

The drought may be over, but California residents should prepare themselves for new and more permanent restrictions on water use. Gov. Jerry Brown signed a pair of bills Thursday to set permanent overall targets for indoor and outdoor water consumption. Assembly Bill 1668 by Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, D-Glendale, and Senate Bill 606 from state Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Los Angeles, give water districts more flexibility than the strict cuts mandated under Brown’s emergency drought order and will eventually allow state regulators to assess thousands of dollars in fines against jurisdictions that do not meet the goals.

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OPINION: Opponents Of Delta Tunnels Deserve Their Day In Court

May 22, 2018/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Andrea Mora /The Sacramento Bee

It’s one thing to streamline environmental reviews for a major project, which happened for the Golden 1 Center in downtown Sacramento. It’s entirely another to dismiss any environmental lawsuits and prevent others from being filed. That’s what a Southern California congressman is trying to do, to clear the path for the highly contentious $17 billion Delta tunnels project. It’s an outrageous overreach on a slippery legal slope. Congress should reject it.

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