San Joaquin
River
From: Joe Moore, Valley Public
Radio
California is on course for what
could be its driest year on record. Those were the sobering words from
scientists with the National Weather Service in Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle.
And after two dry years, the relative lack of rain and snow is putting a great
strain on the state's precious water resources.
But there's another big water
story in our backyard - the restoration of the San Joaquin River.
Coalition response...Introducing salmon to the waters below Friant Dam and then hoping that
they make it down the San Joaquin River to the confluence of the Merced River
seems risky. Despite over a $100 million spent on the restoration
program, no infrastructure projects have been built that would protect adjacent
landowners and also enable the fish to travel the river. Barring a flood
year in 2014, the only likely way fish will make it to the Merced River
confluence is in the back of a tanker truck.
The chance of the salmon
surviving their trek is minimal without the construction of the necessary
infrastructure projects.
Water Supply
From: Erik Rosales, KMPH-26 TV
The man who helps to determine
how much water valley growers are allocated each year paid a visit to Fresno.
California Secretary for Natural
Resources' John Laird met with members of the California Latino Water
Coalition.
Coalition members set up the meeting
because they are concerned with the current predictions of yet another dry
winter, and no new water storage facilities built.
From: Staff, KMJ Radio
San Joaquin Valley farmers are
bracing for zero percent water allocation at the beginning of the year.
Weather
From: Darla Givens, News 10-ABC
Going into the second week of
November, Sacramento has yet to see rain.
The dry start to the month came
on the heels of no rain for the month of October.
From: Dennis Shanahan, Fox 40
TV
After two dryer-than-average
winters in Northern California, a third dry season would have noticeable
impacts.
"If next year is dry, we
expect that water agencies across the state will start asking their customers
for voluntary conservation measures," said Jeanine Jones, Interstate
Resources Manager at the California Department of Water Resources, in a Tuesday
conversation with FOX40.
From: Mark Grossi, Fresno
Beehive
How dry is it in Fresno this
year? The National Weather Service in Hanford shows the city has 2.32 inches of
rainfall since Jan. 1.
It's possible this could be the
driest calendar year on record. I scanned the list dating back to 1878 and
found 1917 with 3.91 inches. That's the lowest one I saw.
Bay Delta
Conservation Plan
From: Staff, Fresno Business
Journal
During a visit to Fresno on
Tuesday, California Secretary for Natural Resources John Laird reported that
progress is being made on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan that will be released
for public review on Dec. 13.
He said that although there are
no specifics yet on downstream water capture and storage, it will be considered
as part of the plan. Laird said that once the plan and environmental impact
report are released, the public would have 120 days to comment on the
documents.
From: Richard Stapler,
BDCP
The Department of Water Resources
has revised its estimate of the cost to construct a 3,000
cubic-feet-per-second, single bore tunnel that some stakeholders have proposed
be incorporated into proposals to restore the ecosystem and water supply
reliability in the Delta. In 2012 dollars, that capital cost of such a facility
is estimated at $8.6 billion. This cost also reflects the change in tunnel alignment
to reduce impacts on local communities in the Delta announced in August of
2013. The California Natural Resources Agency will use this information to
better understand the potential costs and benefits of combining a facility of
this size and specification with other investments in water reliability as a
means to secure California's water future. For comparison purposes, the revised
construction cost estimate for the 3,000 cubic-feet-per-second, dual bore
tunnel is $10.8 billion in 2012 dollars. The updated capital cost estimate for
the 9,000 cubic-feet-per-second dual bore tunnel is $14.5 billion, also in 2012
dollars.
From: Friends of the San
Francisco Estuary
Friends of the San Francisco
Estuary has sent letters to the State Water Resources Control Board and key
leaders of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan to comment on the need for increased
freshwater flows to the San Francisco Estuary in their planning processes.
From: Joe Moore, Valley Public
Radio
Peter Gleick is one of
California's leading water experts. In an op-ed piece recently published in the
Sacramento Bee, Gleick criticized the draft of the Bay Delta Conservation
Plan for what he calls a lack of specificity.
Gleick, who is the president of
the Pacific Institute and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, joined
us on Valley Edition to talk about the plan, and his thoughts on the best way
to improve the delta ecosystem, and provide reliable water supplies to
agriculture and urban users.
Delta
From: Sarah Rothbard, Zocalo
The California Delta is connected
to everything in the state, Lois Kazakoff, the deputy editorial page editor of
the San Francisco Chronicle, told a crowd at the Fort Mason Center in San
Francisco. It also forms a large part of the state's water supply. But in a
recent survey of Californians, 78 percent of respondents said they didn't know
what the Delta was and had never heard of it.
Groundwater
From: Heather Hacking, Chico
Enterprise-Record
Digging into groundwater, local
water leaders will host a forum from 6-9 p.m. Thursday at the Chico City
Council Chambers, 421 Main St. in Chico.
Meetings
From: Press Release, USBR
Tuesday, Nov. 19 - Public
Meeting: 10 a.m. to Noon
Technical Workshop: 12:30-3:30
p.m.
Federal Building, 2800 Cottage
Way
Cafeteria Conference Rooms C1001-C1002
Sacramento, CA 95825
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