Water Bond
From: Norm Groot, Salinas
Californian
Farmers are busy wrapping up
their growing season here in the Salinas Valley ... harvest work continues for
grapes, lettuce, vegetables, and strawberries. We were fortunate to have a mild
summer this year which promoted good, healthy growth of these crops in local
fields. Salinas Valley growers continue to supply our nation with healthy food
choices.
So, does anyone remember the last
time it rained? I mean, really rained? Yes, we picked up a fraction of an inch
on Saturday, but It's been quite a while since the Central Coast had any
significant rainfall, going back to last fall, yes, almost a year ago now. As
you can see locally, this has made everything very dry in the foothills
surrounding the Salinas Valley.
Without more storage facilities
in California, we will continue to see this cycle of boom or bust in water
supplies. California voters need to recognize that water supplies are not
infinite and we must develop our water resources to manage the natural cycles
of rainfall averages. When it comes to passing a water bond in the coming year,
Californians should support building more surface storage facilities to provide
water supplies for the drier years, or in the instance of our current weather
cycle, multiple years of little rainfall.
From: Tim Quinn, ACWA
The Legislature wrapped up its
work for 2013 in the early hours of Sept. 13, capping a legislative year that
saw ACWA and its coalition partners play an effective role on legislation that
could have significant impacts on its member agencies.
While ACWA spent significant time
and energy opposing a move to transfer the state's entire drinking water
program to the State Water Resources Control Board (AB 145) and worked on many
other bills, including California Environmental Quality Act reform, we also
played a leadership role in advancing the dialog on the 2014 water bond.
There are now three distinct
proposals on the table for serious discussion in 2014 and in the months before
the Legislature convenes in January.
Groundwater
From: Editorial Staff, Modesto
Bee
Water does not stand still. It
flows, it seeps and if stagnant for long, it evaporates.
The concerns about groundwater in
Stanislaus County have not evaporated, but they have shifted significantly in
the four years since county officials first asked their Agriculture Advisory
Committee to draft an ordinance to prohibit selling groundwater, aka well water,
outside the county.
Weather
From: Jeff Nicholson,
Marysville Appeal-Democrat
Three quarters of an inch of rain
fell in Marysville over the weekend, something that most walnut farmers will be
happy to see, said Janine Hasey, the University of California Cooperative
Extension's farm adviser.
Water Quality
From: Mark Grossi, Fresno
Beehive
There's big news for seven
northern Tulare County communities that have waited years for healthy drinking
water.
The California Department of
Public Health has agreed to approve funding for a feasibility study on how to
fix the problem.
Delta
From: Maven, Maven's Notebook
On September 19, the Department
of Water Resources held a Delta regional forum as part of the update to the
California Water Plan. Part of the forum was dedicated to updates on some
of the relevant planning processes currently underway involving the Delta. This
post will cover the updates given for the Delta Regional Monitoring Program,
the State Water Board's water diversion reporting, and DWR's Integrated
Regional Water Management Strategic Plan and the Flood Futures Report.
Bay Delta
Conservation Plan
From: Maven, Maven's Notebook
Infographic: The "simple" story of the BDCP: Can the BDCP be
distilled down to one infographic? Apparently so. The Southern California
Water Committee has released an infographic titled "The Simple Story"
of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan.
People
From: Conor Shine, Las Vegas
Sun
Pat Mulroy, one of the most
powerful executives in the state, said Monday she is going to retire as general
manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, where she has worked
aggressively to ensure that Las Vegas doesn't go dry.
Mulroy, who became boss of the
water authority when it was created in 1991, said she hasn't set a date and
will prepare an "orderly transition."
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