Drought
From: Mark Koba, NBC News
The severe drought parching
states in the Southwest and West is undoubtedly causing hardships: The list
includes higher prices for food and water, water-use restrictions, blazing
wildfires and billions of dollars in lost productivity.
But most people seem to be taking
it in stride-even within drought states. A recent poll by the Los Angeles Times
indicated that only 16 percent of those surveyed in California say it has
personally affected them in a measurable way. That's despite the Golden State being
in its third year of drought and in a state of emergency since January.
From: Staff, Imperial Valley
Press
An aggressive water management
and conservation report by academics and environmental think tanks claims that
14 million acre-feet of water can be recycled, reclaimed or conserved a year, a
figure that is more than double the water deficit California finds itself in at
the moment, if large-scale efficiency projects are put in place across all
sectors.
It's a bold report, that leaves
no area of the water-using public - and private users - unaffected by potential
conservation measures in its best-case scenario, paying particular attention to
farming, which the report states takes up 80 percent of the water used in the
state.
Water Supply
From: Jay Ziegler, Sacramento
Bee
The drought is our wake-up call
that California's water supply system is out of balance. Even in the face of
this drought, conservation efforts have not taken hold. We are talking about
it, but we are failing to act.
A focused water bond is key to
any solution. The billions of dollars that would be raised by a bond could give
California greater flexibility for managing water, and provide a sustainable
path to meet future needs for people and nature.
From: Dan Bacher, Sacramento
Bee
Re "Brown's steady march to an alternative energy future
(Forum, June 1): Tom Hayden is right that nobody calls Gov. Jerry Brown
"Moonbeam" now. He has instead transformed himself into Big Oil
Brown, one of the worst governors for fish, water and the environment in California
history.
Brown signed Senate Bill 4, the
green light for fracking bill that clears the path for the expansion of
fracking in California.
Fisheries
From: Terence Chea, Associated
Press
In drought-stricken California,
young Chinook salmon are hitting the road, not the river, to get to the Pacific
Ocean.Millions of six-month-old smolts are hitching rides in tanker trucks
because California's historic drought has depleted rivers and streams, making
the annual migration to the ocean too dangerous for juvenile salmon.
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