News, Articles and Links from August 1, 2014

Water Supply

BLOG: How Conservation and Groundwater Management Can Gird California for a Drier Era From: Andrew Revkin, New York Times It's way past time for California to come to grips with the possibility that its extraordinary water woes are the new normal - and essentially the return of the old normal given the state's climate history, in which drought has been the rule and the verdant 20th century the exception. In the weekly update to the U.S. Drought Monitor site yesterday, nearly 80 percent of the state was in extreme or exceptional drought conditions.

Bay Delta Conservation Plan

OPINION: Status quo in Delta isn't working for California From: Mark Cowin, Sacramento Bee  The California Department of Water Resources and its federal and state partners on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan have a legal responsibility to protect threatened species and supply water to millions of Californians. It is important to correct serious misrepresentations of facts around those responsibilities. Natural Resources Defense Council staff attorney Doug Obegi and Defenders of Wildlife program director Kim Delfino assert that DWR "has lost sight of the bigger picture and ignored the need for long-term solutions that work within real fiscal and environmental limits," ("  'Tunnel vision would worsen health of the Delta, California's fish stocks," Viewpoints, July 29).

Groundwater

OPINION: Groundwater can't be regulated without increasing surface supplies From: Dan Nelson, Sacramento Bee Increased groundwater pumping is under growing scrutiny. The devastating consequences of a third year of drought, coupled with over-regulation of surface supplies, have increased momentum in Sacramento for state intervention in local groundwater management. The governor, legislators and others are calling for potentially far-reaching changes in the use and management of groundwater - new fees, new requirements and new bureaucracy to administer it all. Protecting California's groundwater is vitally important for everyone. However, we cannot legislate new approaches to groundwater management in isolation; the surface supply shortages driving the overdraft of groundwater supplies must also be addressed if we are to successfully protect and restore our precious groundwater basins.

OPINION: Groundwater can't be regulated without increasing surface supplies From: Dan Nelson, Sacramento Bee Increased groundwater pumping is under growing scrutiny. The devastating consequences of a third year of drought, coupled with over-regulation of surface supplies, have increased momentum in Sacramento for state intervention in local groundwater management. The governor, legislators and others are calling for potentially far-reaching changes in the use and management of groundwater - new fees, new requirements and new bureaucracy to administer it all. Protecting California's groundwater is vitally important for everyone. However, we cannot legislate new approaches to groundwater management in isolation; the surface supply shortages driving the overdraft of groundwater supplies must also be addressed if we are to successfully protect and restore our precious groundwater basins.

OPINION: Increasing concern over valley water From: Tony St. Amant, Red Bluff Daily News There is increasing concern in the Northern Sacramento Valley that the dwindling well water supply that irrigates the valley's vast fruit and nut orchards and provides water to the large majority of homes and businesses is at risk of being drained beyond recovery. The threat comes from the agribusinesses of the western San Joaquin Valley where farmers no longer have enough local water.

OPINION: Selling Valley's water to hedge funds won't help us From: Neil Hudson, Modesto Bee Last week, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack visited the drought-stricken town of Farmerville in Tulare County. Many homeowners' wells there have gone dry due to overpumping of the groundwater basin. In other parts of Tulare County, the land is subsiding from overpumping and the aquifer has disappeared forever. It was reported that Vilsack described an "extraordinary" demand from communities in rural America for capital to invest in wastewater systems, energy projects and infrastructure development.

Colorado River

$11M deal struck to conserve Colorado River basin From: Staff, Associated Press Water providers from four western states and the federal government announced an $11 million agreement Thursday to fund projects meant to counteract critically low water levels in the Colorado River basin, which supplies water to about 40 million people in seven states. The Interior Department said Thursday that local water providers in Arizona, California, Nevada and Colorado will take part in the deal.

Water Use

OPINION: Water czar is key to California's survival From: Denny Freidenrich, Long Beach Press-Telegram  The broken water main that flooded UCLA Tuesday with millions of gallons of water was no comedy of errors. When you combine that one-time event with the state's recent water usage report, well, it's hard to know whether we should laugh or cry. Not only did California fail to meet its projected statewide reduction goal, overall water usage actually increased! Talk about playing with fire (no pun intended). We are on the verge of a catastrophe and no one seems to care.

Transfers

Federal agency determines Merced County groundwater sale has 'no significant impact' From: Ramona Giwargis, Modesto Bee The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Thursday approved the environmental report for a multimillion-dollar proposal to allow the transfer and sale of Merced County groundwater to buyers in Stanislaus County. The federal agency issued a "Finding of No Significant Impact" report, which occurs when an environmental analysis determines that a project has no major impacts on the quality of the environment.