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.

News, Articles, and Links from July 23, 2014

Bay Delta Conservation Plan

Property taxes could pay for $25 billion Delta tunnels without public vote From: Paul Rogers, San Jose Mercury News  Major water districts in California are quietly considering using property taxes -- and possibly raising them without a vote of the public -- to help fund Gov. Jerry Brown's $25 billion plan to build two massive tunnels through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.   Most property tax hikes require a two-thirds vote, as required under California's landmark Proposition 13, which voters passed in 1978. But the water agencies contend they are not bound by that requirement.

Water Supply

TID leaders see how Turlock recycles water   From: John Holland, Modesto Bee Leaders of the Turlock Irrigation District, which has provided Tuolumne River water to the area since 1900, got a look Tuesday at another possible source. They toured the city of Turlock's sewage treatment plant, which turns out water fit for use on crops.

Water Use Efficiency

Water initiative goes from annual to multi-year plan From: Antoine Abou-Diwan, Imperial Valley Press The Imperial Irrigation District has expanded its on-farm water conservation initiative from an annual program to a multi-year endeavor. The program pays Imperial Valley farmers to adopt water-efficient irrigation processes in their fields, like sprinklers and tailwater recovery systems. The board's action Tuesday addressed a common criticism of the program: How can farmers recoup their investments in technology like sprinklers and sub-surface drip irrigation, when the IID offers the program on a rigid, year-by-year basis?

Fisheries

State, feds unveil Central Valley salmon restoration plans From: Matt Weiser, Sacramento Bee State and federal wildlife agencies Tuesday unveiled ambitious plans to restore endangered salmon and steelhead fish in California's Central Valley, including returning them to some habitats where they were shut out decades ago by dams and other development. Although the two plans differ somewhat, officials said they both aim to prevent extinction of three species: endangered Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon, threatened Central Valley spring-run Chinook salmon, and threatened Central Valley steelhead.

Groundwater

Merced Irrigation District to pump less groundwater From: J.N. Sbranti, Modesto Bee The Merced Irrigation District expects to pump significantly less groundwater this year than it did last year, in part because the irrigation season will be about eight weeks shorter. "Our projected total is to pump just over 40,000 acre-feet," district General Manager John Sweigard said. His district pumped more than 56,700 acre-feet of groundwater during 2013. By comparison, it pumped 33,465 acre-feet this January through June.

Farmers tap into groundwater reserves From: Dennis Taylor, Salinas Californian Unbridled pumping of well water along the Central Coast and in the Central Valley could have dire consequences for the agricultural economy, according to a new study released by the University of California, Davis. According to the study, titled "Drought Impact Study: California agriculture faces greatest water loss ever seen," Monterey County is faring better than areas around Tulare County and other Central Valley communities. Growers there, after their Water Project was shut down to divert water to people, tapped into ground water basins that are even more perilous than basins here. Groundwater management discussions begin   From: Staff, Porterville Recorder If groundwater management is the wave of the future in California, the Tulare County Supervisors want to make sure they, and local stakeholders, have a say in how it plays out. A proposed state law that would regulate the pumping of groundwater in basins where the water table is being depleted was one of the topics at a 90-minute meeting on water issues Tuesday. The study session was held three years into a severe drought that has curtailed surface water supplies and forced many farmers in the San Joaquin Valley to resort to pumping groundwater for irrigation.

News articles and links from August 29, 2013

August 29, 2013

Bay Delta Conservation Plan

Changes to Delta Plan
From: Patterson Irrigator Staff, Patterson Irrigator

The State Office of Administrative Law (OAL) has approved 14 regulations to help implement the Delta Plan on Sept. 1 this year, according to a news release from the Delta Stewardship Council. The Council adopted the Delta Plan on May 16, and submitted the rules for review shortly after for public consideration.

Coalition response...

Supervisor Jim DeMartini needs to look a little closer at the benefits of the planned tunnels associated with the Bay Delta Conservation Plan. His own supervisorial district is one of the hardest hit areas suffering from an 80 percent water supply cut this year and possibly a zero percent allocation next year. Farmers can’t grow crops without a reliable supply of water and they can’t hire employees or buy goods and services they use in their farming operations.

The tunnels would improve water supply reliability to almost 4,000 farms from Patterson to Bakersfield as well as two-thirds of California’s residents. It is a comprehensive plan that will create 110,000 new jobs, protect over a million jobs during the 50-year life of the permit and generate $84 billion in statewide economic activity. The project provides significant economic benefits to farms and businesses in the Patterson area and throughout California and deserves fair consideration from our elected leaders.  

Bay Delta Conservation Plan

Water, the Delta and prosperity
From: Jerry Meral, Manteca Bulletin 

The latest comprehensive economic analysis of the governor's plan for fixing the state's aging water system and restoring the environmental health of the Delta estimates that the project will yield roughly $5 billion in net benefits for California residents and preserve more than a million additional jobs over the next 50 years.

Many of those jobs will be in San Joaquin County and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.


Groundwater

Growers aim to protect groundwater
From: D.L. Taylor, The Californian 

A Tuesday night presentation on one of the three key desalination projects moving forward on the Monterey Peninsula highlights what all the proposals' proponents understand: They must pass muster with agriculture concerns in the Salinas Valley.