Transfers
From: Heather Hacking, Chico
Enterprise-Record
A transfer from a lesser-known small
reservoir in Butte County to one of the largest agricultural water districts in
the state is moving ahead this year.
The plan would transfer up to
2,500 acre-feet of water to Westlands Water District in the western San Joaquin
Valley through the remainder of the summer.
Coalition response...This transfer of water to farmers south of the Delta will be used to
help them stay in business and grow the food that consumers in California
enjoy, even people in Butte County. Deliveries to these farmers have already
been cut by 80 percent, due mainly to government regulations that took nearly a
million acre-feet of water away from users earlier this year and instead let it
flow out the Delta to the ocean for fish purposes. This action repeated the
pattern of agencies taking water without any proof of intended benefits.
The California Department of
Water Resources approves water transfers only after it is proven they will not
cause harm to the local environment. This one-time transfer meets those
standards and the money received by Thermalito Water and Sewer District will
assist in funding their local efforts.
Water Supply
From: Patrick Cavanaugh,
Pacific Nut Producer
Reeling from a water allocation
reduced to 20 percent delivered through the Westlands Water District in western
Fresno and Kings County, and the prospects of zero water next season, many
almond growers are facing what could be their next-to-last production year.
"The short term future is
completely unknown and very dire," said Curtis Stubblefield, plant manager
with Silver Creek Almond Company near Firebaugh, Calif. "I do not
see anything positive on the water standpoint out here. There is nothing
politically that sounds like it's going to get done," he noted.
Coalition response...The water supply system in California is working in the manner it was
designed by storing water for later use. But government regulations interrupted
delivery operations earlier this year by taking nearly a million acre-feet that
could have been stored south of the Delta and instead sending it through the
Delta to the ocean. This action was taken to protect fish but agencies have
failed to provide any results that the fish benefited. As a result, farmers are
scrambling to save their crops.
Even if next winter's supply of
rain and snow is above average, there is no guarantee that water will again be
taken away from farmers and other users for unproven benefits to fish.
Lawmakers and regulators must acknowledge that changes must be made in
regulations that restrict the ability of farmers to grow a food supply that we
all depend upon.
Trinity River
From: San Luis &
Delta-Mendota Water Authority & Westlands Water District
Dear Mr. Reck:
The San Luis & Delta-Mendota
Water Authority ("Authority") and Westlands Water District
("Westlands") write to express significant concerns with the Bureau
of Reclamation's ("Reclamation") July 17, 2013 Draft Environmental
Assessment ("Draft EA") and Finding of No Significant Impact
("Draft FONSI") for the supplemental release of Trinity Reservoir
water to the lower Klamath River in August and September 2013. The proposed
action will harm Reclamation's ability to satisfy Central Valley Project
purposes, including Reclamation's ability to protect, restore, and enhance fish
and associated habitats in the Central Valley and serve agricultural, municipal,
and industrial users. That harm will result with no reasonable assurance the
proposed action will actually benefit fish in the lower Klamath River.
From: Amy Gittelsohn, Trinity
Journal
Two entities that provide Central
Valley Project water to agricultural and municipal water users say the federal
Bureau of Reclamation's plan to increase Trinity River flows to protect fish in
the lower Klamath River violates the federal Endangered Species Act.
Attorneys for the San Luis &
Delta-Mendota Water Authority and the Westlands Water District have delivered
to Reclamation officials a 60-day notice of violations of the ESA, which could
be followed by a lawsuit.
Water Supply
From: Antoine Abou-Diwan,
Imperial Valley Press
The Imperial Irrigation
District's recently adopted water apportionment plan is being challenged in
court.
Alleging that the district is
relegating to farmers water that remains after other users, like municipal
customers, have received their share, El Centro farmer Mike Abatti seeks to
halt the implementation of the IID's Equitable Distribution Plan.
Transfers
From: Ian James, Desert Sun
A judge has upheld the biggest
farmland-to-urban water transfer deal in the nation, clearing the way for the
Coachella Valley and San Diego to receive more water from the Colorado River
while Imperial Valley farmers and the shrinking Salton Sea gradually receive
less.
From: Press Release, USBR
The Bureau of Reclamation today
released draft environmental documents regarding the temporary transfer of up
to 8,000 acre-feet of Central Valley Project water from Bella Vista Water
District to the Glide and Colusa County water districts, which are served by
the Tehama-Colusa Canal, from August through October 2013.
From: Tony Perry, Los Angeles
Times
A judge has approved a complex
water deal between the farmers of the Imperial Valley and the cities of San
Diego County -- hailed as the largest sale of water from farms to cities in the
nation.
From: Associated Press, San Jose Mercury News
From: Associated Press, KERO-TV 23
A California judge has approved
the nation's largest farm-to-city water transfer that ends a decade-long
dispute over how to divide the state's share of water from the Colorado River.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge
Lloyd Connelly on Wednesday affirmed his tentative ruling in June that upheld a
2003 agreement between the Imperial Irrigation District and the San Diego
County Water Authority.
Fracking
From: Patrick Cavanaugh and
Laurie Greene, Pacific Nut Producer
The oil industry is snapping up
speculative mineral leases across what's known as the Monterey Shale, an area
that includes vast agricultural, yet water-scarce regions in the San Joaquin
Valley, offshore the central coast, the coastal range and areas in Los Angeles
County.
Yet, California is reeling from
droughts and environmental pressures that resulted in the biological
opinion-derived diversion of 1 million acre-feet of water from the Delta to
protect fish species. The resulting water deficit has severely impacted Central
Valley farmers, stressing their ground water supplies already hurting from this
year's 80 percent water-delivery deficit, and requiring supplemental pumping
that over-drafts wells. Furthermore, Bureau of Reclamation officials warn that
Westlands Water District farmers may face a zero allocation next year.
People
From: Alex Breitler, Stockton
Record
By the age of 18, Scot Moody had
ventured outside of his home state of Nebraska just once.
He'd never been on an airplane.
He'd never seen the ocean.
But in the next 20 years, Moody
saw more of the world than most of us will in a lifetime.
Meetings
From: Mark Grossi, Fresno Bee
Water leaders, lawmakers and
bureaucrats are primed to answer the public's questions Saturday at Fresno
State about the plan to revive the troubled crossroads of California's water
supply.
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