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Finally, California And IID Reach Agreement On Salton Sea Access And Liability

/in , /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Janet Wilson

The Imperial Irrigation District board of directors voted Tuesday to allow access across its lands for critically needed state wetlands projects at the Salton Sea, designed to tamp down dangerous dust storms and give threatened wildlife a boost. In exchange, California will shoulder the maintenance and operations of the projects, and the state’s taxpayers will cover the costs of any lawsuits or regulatory penalties if the work goes awry. Tuesday’s vote clears a key hurdle to constructing 3,700 acres around the heavily polluted New River at the south end of the lake, implementing what’s known as the Species Conservation Habitat plan.

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Policies Earn RMWD A $78K Rebate

/in , /by /Ramona Sentinel by Julie Gallant

Keeping workers’ compensation claims and other staffing liabilities under control earned the Ramona Municipal Water District a $78,330 rebate from the Association of California Water Agencies Joint Powers Insurance Authority, also known as the ACWA JPIA. RMWD Board President Jim Robinson accepted the rebate check on behalf of the district at the board’s April 9 meeting. The JPIA pools risks and premiums from water agencies in California in an effort to get them the best insurance rates for property, liability, workers’ compensation and employee benefits coverage. The JPIA is not an insurance agency or carrier, but a special district that enables water agencies to share the risks associated with purveying water.

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As Two Big Ventura Projects Make Their Way Up, The City Council Will Get A CEQA Primer

/in , /by /Ventura County Starby Arlene Martinez

Ventura policymakers on Monday will get a primer on a law that requires local agencies to consider a project’s environmental impact.  The California Environmental Quality Act — or CEQA, as it’s commonly called — was enacted in 1970. It mandates that a project not be approved if there are ways to lessen the environment effects of a development.  Currently, the city has two significant environmental impact reports, which CEQA requires, making their way through the development process. One is for a plan to build a 7-mile pipeline to tap into Ventura’s long-held investment in state water. The water would wheel through the Calleguas Municipal Water District, which gets water via the Metropolitan Water District in Los Angeles.

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OPINION: SB307 Goes Against California’s Water Needs

/in , /by /The Press-Enterprise (Riverside)

California is finishing one of its rainiest winters in decades, which leaves most of us pining for less water rather than more of it. But it wasn’t long ago the state was facing a devastating and persistent drought. Rain comes and goes, but this mostly arid state still has a growing population. There’s continual need for new water resources. That’s why we’re disappointed that Sen. Richard Roth, D-Riverside, and Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, D-Glendale, have reintroduced legislation designed to cripple a long-planned water project in the Mojave Desert. Senate Bill 307 prohibits water transfers unless two agencies agree that the transfers do not harm state and federal desert lands.

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State Wetlands Policy Returns To Original Intent

/in , /by /Ag Alert (Sacramento)by Christine Souza

More than a decade in the making, a new state definition of wetlands will likely take effect early next year—as will procedures intended to protect them from dredge-and-fill activities. The State Water Resources Control Board adopted final amendments to the state wetland policy last week, after including changes that moved it closer to its original intent of limiting its application to agriculture. The California Farm Bureau Federation and other agricultural groups had opposed earlier drafts of the State Wetland Definition and Procedures for Discharges of Dredged or Fill Material to Waters of the State, because they would have unnecessarily harmed farmers’ and ranchers’ ability to manage their land responsibly.

 

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OPINION: San Diego Is Ready For Some Big Water Solutions

/in , , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Jim Madaffer Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Back in the early 1990s — near the start of my career at San Diego City Hall — the San Diego County Water Authority launched a historic effort to sustain the region’s economy and quality of life by diversifying our water supplies so that we didn’t depend on one source for 95 percent of our water. That effort took many forms, many billions of dollars and more than two decades — but it paid off in spades. Even though we are at the literal end of the pipeline, today we have among the most diversified and secure water supply systems anywhere.

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Water Board Orders Water Prohibition For Cannabis Grows Through October

/in , /by /Ukiah Daily Journal (Ukiah, Calif.)by Jim Shields

On March 29, the State Water Resources Control Board announced that cannabis cultivators with water rights are not allowed to divert surface water for cannabis cultivation activities at any time from April 1 through October 31 of this year unless the water diverted is from storage. The Board’s action is what is known as a “forbearance order” that is a central provision in state marijuana legalization policy. It’s really just common sense because it prohibits using water from surface sources, such as streams, creeks, and rivers during California’s dry season.

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OPINION: California Needs To Explore New Approaches To Water

/in , /by /The Mercury News (San Jose)by Mike Wade

As we launch into the new year there is good news about one of our state’s most persistent problems – water. For as long as most of us can remember, water users have retreated into their corners, demanding their share of water, with all water-users suffering in the stalemate. Status-quo policy hasn’t helped struggling fish populations, farms, or urban users, including residents of Santa Clara Valley and the East Bay.

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Democrats’ House Takeover Could mean Big changes For California Water Policy

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Sarah D. Wire

Among the changes ahead when Democrats take control of the House in January, add this one: The switch will upend the balance of power in California’s water wars. In the two years since Republicans’ 2016 election triumphs, party members from the Central Valley led by the current House majority leader, Rep. Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield, have gotten several water bills for their area through Congress. Those included the first significant California-specific policy in decades, as part of the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act, also called the WIIN Act.

 

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San Joaquin Valley Farmers Hoping Trump’s Water Policy Would End ‘Water Grab’

/in , /by /ABC10 (Sacramento)by Lena Howland

For Don Barton, a fourth-generation walnut farmer and the president of the Gold River Orchards, water is everything. That’s why a President Trump-signed memo last week promoting water delivery has Barton and other farmers across San Joaquin County hoping it may stop the so-called “water grab.” “We view this as clearly a positive, the President has intervened directly on an issue that has really been a big road block for California farmers for a number of years now,” he said.

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