Friday’s Top of the Scroll: Calif. Council Adopts Delta Management Plan

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 17, 2013 at 9:00 am

From the Associated Press:

A California agency has unanimously adopted a broad, long-range plan to manage the ailing Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

The Delta Stewardship Council voted 7-0 on Thursday to approve the final version of the Delta Plan, a blueprint for restoring the delta’s ecosystem and improving water supply reliability.

The plan does not call for specific construction projects, but contains policies and recommendations for managing growth in the delta, reducing reliance on delta water and habitat restoration, among others.

Read more from the Associated Press

 

Federal Money Benefits San Joaquin Refuge

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 17, 2013 at 8:59 am

From the Modesto Bee:

Waterfowl that visit a refuge west of Modesto could benefit from about $3.5 million in federal spending announced this week.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to use the money to buy conservation easements on 367 privately owned acres in the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge.

Read more from the Modesto Bee

 

Stockton: Cortopassi Loses Long Fight Against State

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 17, 2013 at 8:58 am

From the Stockton Record:

against prominent Delta landowner Dino Cortopassi in his five-year quest to force state officials to dredge the Mokelumne River along his Canal Ranch property.

Cortopassi had argued that California’s vast water delivery system was to blame for bringing decades worth of mud and silt into the Delta, material that then settled onto the bottom of waterways, diminishing their capacity to carry high flows.

Read more from the Stockton Record

 

State Officials Vet $11.1-billion Water Bond, Regional Water Solutions in Malibu

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 17, 2013 at 8:57 am

From the Malibu Times:

State officials met Friday in Malibu to discuss a possible $11.1 billion state water bond measure that could help fund water projects at the state and local level, including a proposal by Gov. Jerry Brown to build two massive pipelines to pump river water from Northern California to Southern California.

Read more from the Malibu Times

 

Long Beach Water Rate Boost Recommended

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 17, 2013 at 8:56 am

From the Long Beach Press Telegram:

Long Beach Water Department staff on Thursday recommended a four percent water rate hike next year and the same increase in each of the following four years.

The recommendation, made at the Board of Water Commissioners meeting on Thursday, is part of a five-year plan to spend down an operating reserve while keeping pace with the rising cost of imported water, officials said.

Read more from the Long Beach Press Telegram

 

City of Visalia, Residents Oppose Water Rate Hike

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 17, 2013 at 8:55 am

From the Fresno Bee:

Residents of Visalia said loudly and clearly Wednesday that they oppose higher water bills proposed by California Water Service.

About 250 people turned out for a public hearing before an administrative law judge for the California Public Utilities Commission to speak their minds about a proposed water rate hike of 28.3% over three years.

Read more from the Fresno Bee

 

State Proposes Regulation Tightening of County’s Most-used Fumigant

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 17, 2013 at 8:53 am

From the Santa Cruz Sentinel:

 State pesticide regulators are proposing to tighten regulations on the use of chloropicrin, a fumigant widely used in California’s $2 billion strawberry industry.

The proposed rules, released Wednesday by the state Department of Pesticide Regulation, are in response to a study of health risks completed by regulators in 2010.

The department will accept public comment until July 31.

Read more from the Santa Cruz Sentinel

 

Dry Farming Draws Interest of Small Growers in Central Valley

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 17, 2013 at 8:52 am

From the Sacramento Bee:

A centuries-old farming technique called dry farming – once the order of the day in the Central Valley – is once again drawing the interest of some of the region’s farmers.

Read more from the Sacramento Bee

 

Agua Caliente Tribe Water Lawsuit Called a Money Grab

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 17, 2013 at 8:51 am

From the Palm Desert Sun:

Two Coachella Valley water agencies named in a surprise lawsuit over water rights are challenging the claim from the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians that water quality is getting worse.

Read more from the Palm Desert Sun

 

Pre-Applications for Safe Drinking Water SRF Due July 8

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 17, 2013 at 8:50 am

From the Association of California Water Agencies:

California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is accepting pre-applications through July 8 for funding disbursed through the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and other state programs.

The 2013 submission period is seeking applicants with projects that correct problems in public water systems. According to CDPH, eligible applicants include community water systems, schools that are public water systems and non-community water systems operated by not-for-profits.

Read more from ACWA

 

Editorial: State Must Pay Enough to Keep Water Workers

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 17, 2013 at 8:49 am

From the Sacramento Bee:

State pay rates are 65 percent lower than industry standards and dangerously restrict the state’s ability to recruit and retain the best talent available. As soon as the state trains new hydro plant workers at an average cost of $300,000 or $400,000, public and private utilities lure the recruits away with higher paying jobs.

While Gov. Jerry Brown seeks to hold down pay, a laudable goal, skimping on pay for highly skilled, hard-to-retain workers makes no sense in this specific case.

Read more from the Sacramento Bee

 

Editorial: The Story Behind the $31 Million Fee

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 17, 2013 at 8:48 am

Read more from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat:

Did we hear that right? Thirty-one million dollars?
Wow. The estimated water and sewer permit fee for a new factory in Santa Rosa sounds as if ought to pay for an entire factory. Well, almost. When Amy’s Kitchen announced its expansion plans in March, the estimated cost of the new facility was $40 million to $50 million.

Read more from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat

 

Water Trapped For 1.5 Billion Years Could Hold Ancient Life

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 17, 2013 at 8:47 am

From KQED:

Scientists have discovered water that has been trapped in rock for more than a billion years. The water might contain microbes that evolved independently from the surface world, and it’s a finding that gives new hope to the search for life on other planets.

Read more from KQED

 

Who Would Kill a Monk Seal?

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 17, 2013 at 8:46 am

From the New York Times Magazine:

Since the passage of the Endangered Species Act 40 years ago, so much wildlife conservation has been defensive at its core, striving only to keep animals from disappearing forever. But now that we’ve recovered many of those species, we don’t quite know how to coexist with them. We suddenly remember why many of us didn’t want them around in the first place.

Read more from the New York Times Magazine

 

Commentary: Making Storage Work

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 17, 2013 at 8:45 am

From the BDCP Blog:

In the last generation, an amount of water storage roughly equivalent to twice the capacity of Lake Shasta, California’s biggest reservoir, has been developed south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. That includes nearly five million acre-feet of groundwater storage in Kern County and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s 810,000 acre-foot Diamond Valley Lake in Riverside County.

Read more from the BDCP Blog

 

Commentary: Turn Water Conservation Into a Daily Habit

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 17, 2013 at 8:44 am

From the Fresno Bee:

Each month, from January to May, state officials measure the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains. This important “snow survey” helps forecast the abundance of the state’s water supply for the year. The first survey of the year recorded the snowpack water content at 134% of normal for that time of year. Yet on May 2, the survey results were gloomy — the water content in the snowpack had shrunk to only 17% of normal.

Read more from the Fresno Bee commentary

 

Commentary: What Lies in Store for the State Water Bond?

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 17, 2013 at 8:41 am

From the California Water Blog:

Getting the water bond right is an important item on the current policy agenda, but public policy discussions also need to consider a broader range of funding options to address our critical needs.

Read more from the California Water Blog

The 2013 Flood Management Tour Starts Today!

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 16, 2013 at 12:00 pm

The Water Education Foundation’s Flood Management Tour starts today! Check out this interactive map to find out what sites the group will visit May 16-17. The blue points are the locations on Day 1 and the Day 2 sites are marked with red points. For more info about our tours, visit www.watereducation.org/tours.

This tour is sponsored by ATKINS; Brown and Caldwell; CH2M HILL; ESA PWA; GEI Consultants; HDR, Inc.; Kjeldsen, Sinnock, Neudeck, Inc.; MBK Engineers; and Parsons Brinkerhoff.

View 2013 Flood Management Tour in a larger map

Thursday’s Top of the Scroll: California Short on Key State Water Workers, Officials Say

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 16, 2013 at 9:00 am

From the Sacramento Bee:

California officials say the state cannot retain enough trained workers to efficiently run and maintain its complex water delivery system, a problem that has consequences for cities and farms statewide.

State pay for some key jobs, they say, has fallen so far behind the industry’s standard that the Department of Water Resources serves as a farm system for private utilities and other government entities.

Read more from the Sacramento Bee

 

Report: Calif. Short on Key State Water Workers

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 16, 2013 at 8:59 am

From the Associated Press:

California is losing key employees at the Department of Water Resources because it can’t pay afford to pay them enough.

Water officials tell the Sacramento Bee ) that state pay for some jobs has fallen so far behind the industry’s standard that trained workers are jumping ship for private utilities and other government entities.

Read more from the Associated Press

 

Senate Overwhelmingly Approves Water Infrastructure Bill

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 16, 2013 at 8:58 am

From the Sacramento Bee:

In a rare display of bipartisanship on major legislation, the Senate passed a bill Wednesday to move forward on a variety of water infrastructure projects throughout the country.

The Water Resources Development Act, the first law of its kind in six years, would authorize the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to proceed with flood control efforts, port improvements, wetlands restoration and coastal storm protection.

Read more from the Sacramento Bee

 

Major U.S. Cities Are at Risk for Climate-Related Water Shortage

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 16, 2013 at 8:57 am

From Bloomberg:

Washington, D.C., New York City, Los Angeles, and San Diego are among the cities most likely to face water scarcity as climate change increases drought potential, a study released May 15 found.

Along with the potentially 40 million Americans affected in these cities, several “breadbasket region” states such as Nebraska, Illinois, and Minnesota also made the list of vulnerable areas.

Read more from Bloomberg

For Insurers, No Doubts on Climate Change

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 16, 2013 at 8:56 am

From the New York Times:

If there were one American industry that would be particularly worried about climate change it would have to be insurance, right?

From Hurricane Sandy’s devastating blow to the Northeast to the protracted drought that hit the Midwest Corn Belt, natural catastrophes across the United States pounded insurers last year, generating $35 billion in privately insured property losses, $11 billion more than the average over the last decade.

And the industry expects the situation will get worse.

Read more from the New York Times

 

Carbon and Climate Costs

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 16, 2013 at 8:55 am

From the Sacramento Bee:

 We’re now a few months into California’s experiment with creating a carbon market as mandated by AB 32, and today a select committee on 32 implementation and climate change is parsing the results. Witnesses expected to testify include Secretary of Natural Resources John Laird, Mary Nichols of the California Air Resources Board,Alejandro Becerra of Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Read more from the Sacramento Bee

 

Calif. Council Set to Adopt Delta Management Plan

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 16, 2013 at 8:54 am

From the Associated Press:

A California agency is set to adopt a broad, long-range plan to restore the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and provide a reliable water supply to cities and farms.

The Delta Stewardship Council will vote Thursday on whether to approve the final version of the Delta Plan.

Read more from the Associated Press

Delta Plan to Be adopted Today

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 16, 2013 at 8:54 am

From the Central Valley Business Times:

With the Delta Stewardship Council expected to adopt the final “Delta Plan” at its May 16-17 meeting in Sacramento, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Golden Gate Salmon Association say a new analysis shows that the prized Central Valley salmon fishery is “limping along” at only 20 percent of the population goal required by state and federal law.

Read more from the Central Valley Business Times

Federal Omission in Closing Oyster Farm Broke Law, Court Told

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 16, 2013 at 8:53 am

From the Los Angeles Times:

The firm’s attorneys say U.S. did not do an environmental review. The closing of the farm would lead to the first marine wilderness area on the West Coast.

Read more from the Los Angeles Times

San Diego: Storm Water Permit Brings ‘Sea of Change’

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 16, 2013 at 8:52 am

From the San Diego Union Tribune:

Wiping out the “urban drool” of San Diego’s runoff will demand big adjustments from city residents, the city’s deputy storm water chief told council members Wednesday.

Read more from the San Diego Union Tribune

Calif., Nev. Governors Make Peace Regarding TRPA

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 16, 2013 at 8:51 am

From the Lake Tahoe Daily News:

California and Nevada had decided to play nice and stop with the talk of withdrawing from the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

Near identical press releases were sent out from both governors’ offices Tuesday afternoon saying they have reached a compromise.

Read more from the Lake Tahoe Daily News

Calif Tribe Files Suit in Federal Court Over Water

Posted by: Aquafornia on May 16, 2013 at 8:51 am

From the Associated Press:

The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians has filed a federal lawsuit to assert its water rights in the booming Coachella Valley, which is home to Palm Springs and a number of luxurious golf courses and resorts.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Riverside, alleges that two water districts have for many years overdrawn the supply of groundwater beneath the tribe’s reservation to quench the region’s growing thirst.

Read more from the Associated Press

 

Next Page →

Aquafornia's Information Desk

• “No Drugs Down the Drain” Radio Campaign
• Interview with Water Education Foundation’s Rita Schmidt Sudman on Water Conditions in California
• Where does California’s water come from?
• Where does Southern California’s water come from?
• California’s Water Crisis

All about the Delta

Salinity in the Central Valley: A critical problem

California Watersheds: Our Vital Link

State Water Project Slideshow

Colorado River Slideshow

Other Slideshows & Videos

• Water Conservation Tips
• Research and Publications

Recommended Reading

Aquafornia Calendar

AEC v1.0.4

Credits

Powered by Vertigo & WordPress
WordPress Themes by Brian Gardner