Wednesday, July 3, 2013

News articles and links from July 3, 2013


Delta

From: Pat Snelling, The Union

The California Delta is starving for water, so state officials set up a plan to take more water out of the Delta. How does this make any sense?

California has had a long history of water wars with many battles, and once again the state is gearing up for another fight.

Coalition response... Water in California has generated differing viewpoints throughout our state's history, all the way back to the Gold Rush. Today's discussion focuses on a proposal to provide water to 25 million Californians and almost four thousand farms while restoring the Delta ecosystem, including habitat that will benefit fish species. Pivotal to this discussion are the facts that surround the proposal.

This piece does little to provide factual information on how the Bay Delta Conservation Plan will work for California. The following are some corrections the statements made by Pat Snelling:

Fact #1---The proposed Bay Delta Conservation Plan and its two tunnels are prevented by California law from negatively impacting existing water rights.

Fact #2---Since 2003 San Joaquin Valley farmers have spent more than $2.1 billion upgrading the irrigation systems on more than 1.8 million acres to increase their water use efficiency.

Fact #3---Westlands Water District is a public water agency with a publicly elected board of directors, not a privately owned business.

Fact #4---More than 50 percent of Westlands farmland grows fresh fruits and vegetables.

Fact #5---The average farm size in Westlands Water District is actually less than 900 acres, not 3,000 as the author claims.

Fact #6---Increased water storage is essential to the future of California and also requires an improved conveyance system through the Delta.

Each Californian should seek the facts regarding water issues confronting our state and not rely on emotion expressed by others.

Transfers

From: John Holland, Modesto Bee

Should the water situation worsen for the Modesto and Turlock irrigation districts, they have a neighbor willing to help out.

The board of the Oakdale Irrigation District agreed Tuesday to offer some of its Stanislaus River water for sale to the MID and the TID, which share Don Pedro Reservoir on the Tuolumne River.

Flood Control

From: Ken Carlson, Modesto Bee

After two years of below average rainfall in Modesto, it may come at some surprise that an $869,000 effort is under way to plan for reducing the flood risk in Stanislaus County.

In February, the state Department of Water Resources committed funding for the planning effort to Reclamation District 2092, which has teamed with Stanislaus County to develop a floor management plan for the area.

Water Bond 

From: Erica Felci, Desert Sun

State lawmakers today are renewing a years-long discussion about how to restore California's aging water system and fix major environmental projects such as the Salton Sea.

The Assembly's Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee is meeting this morning in Sacramento to a water bond that's supposed to be on the 2014 ballot

From: Dan Walters, Sacramento Bee Blog

Public discussions of a revised state water bond for the 2014 ballot were launched Tuesday with release of "proposed principles" by the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee.

View the statement of principles here

From: Lisa Lien-Mager, ACWA

Lawmakers got a first look at proposed principles for reshaping the 2014 water bond during a presentation July 2 before the Assembly Water, Parks & Wildlife Committee.

From: Maven, Maven's Notebook

With the budget passed and the Legislature preparing to turn its attention to restructuring a new water bond, Anthony Rendon, Chair of the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife, presented proposed Principles for Developing a Water Bond to Assembly members and the public at the July 2nd committee hearing.

From: Alex Breitler, eSanJoaquin Blogs

The process reworking California's $11.1 billion water bond will apparently be based on this one-page statement of principles.

View the statement of principles here

No comments:

Post a Comment