Monday, July 1, 2013

News articles and links from July 1, 2013


Salton Sea

From: Imperial Valley Press Staff, Imperial Valley Press Online

It was a good week for the Salton Sea, as Gov. Jerry Brown signed a budget that included more than $30 million meant for restoration efforts.

Meanwhile, restoration at the sea was a hot topic among lawmakers in the state during a state Senate hearing of the Select Committee on California Energy Independence, chaired by state Sen. Ben Hueso, the Imperial Valley's representative.

From: Elizabeth Varin, Imperial Valley Press Online

Salton Sea discussion took center stage at a state hearing held in Sacramento on Thursday.

State and local leaders talked over the potential growth of renewable energy at the Salton Sea and how that would impact restoration efforts at an information hearing of the Senate Select Committee on California's Energy Independence.

Levees

From: Alex Breitler, Stockton Record

Federal flood-control officials are once more calling some local levees "unacceptable" - this time following inspections conducted two years ago in the rural Delta.

Perhaps most notably, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said last week that it found flaws in the levees guarding Stewart Tract, site of the future River Islands development near Lathrop.

River Islands officials have already built their own private levees to protect homes expected to be built starting late this year. For that reason, the developers say the "unacceptable" rating on the separate, public levee will not affect the project.

Water Supply

From: Heather Hacking, Chico ER

Butte County needs to work more closely with the state to protect the county's water rights, the county needs to find a way to use water rights already held through Lake Oroville, and groundwater needs to be studied.  

From: John Holland, Modesto Bee

Happy new year, water users. Let's raise a glass and hope it won't be like the one that just ended.

Sunday was the last day of the precipitation year in California, which runs from July through June.

Blogs

From: Nancy Vogel, BDCP Blog

Californians must get smarter about how we use water.  In decades to come, millions more people will live here.  As those decades unfold, climate change -- its effects already being felt -- will raise temperatures, shift precipitation patterns, and shrink the Sierra Nevada snowpack that melts into one-third of the California water supply.

Storage

From: Staff Report, Chico ER

The 90-day public review period has begun for the draft environmental impact statement for the Shasta Lake Water Resources Investigation.

The proposed project would raise Shasta Dam to increase water storage.

View the report here:  http://goo.gl/SqA1G

Groundwater

From: Vance Kennedy, Modesto Bee

A major problem is developing in the foothills east of the flood-irrigated soils in the valley.

Because almonds are as profitable as they are, and flood- irrigated farmland is so costly, there is an ongoing effort to plant almonds in the foothills east of the flood-irrigated farmland. That has the potential to cause major problems for ranchers, who have long used such land for grazing.

Rivers

From: Abby Taylor-Silva, Salinas Californian

We at the Grower-Shipper Association of Central California, as well as many stakeholders throughout Monterey County and beyond made comments in May to the Monterey County Water Resources Agency regarding its Salinas River Stream Maintenance Program Draft Environmental Impact Report.

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