In California water news today, Delta Stewardship Council holds hearing on draft Delta Plan amendment on conveyance, storage; Delta residents leave DSC meeting unable to speak; Repairs Begin On Damaged Oroville Dam Spillway with little room for error; Reclamation courts private investment; and more …
In the news today …
Also on Maven’s Notebook today …
Delta Stewardship Council holds hearing on draft Delta Plan amendment on conveyance, storage: “The Delta Stewardship Council held an informational hearing today where scientists, landowners and others weighed in on the council’s draft Delta Plan amendment on conveyance, storage and their joint operations in the Delta. During the lengthy informational hearing, DSC staff outlined some of the recent revisions to the draft amendment on conveyance, storage and operations. A staff report on the amendment states that the CSO amendment’s “intent is to promote a dual-conveyance system that can make use of a combination of existing and new intake facilities.” ... ” Read more from ACWA’s Water News here: Delta Stewardship Council holds hearing on draft Delta Plan amendment on conveyance, storage
Delta residents leave DSC meeting unable to speak: “Discovery Bay residents traveled by bus to Thursday’s DSC meeting in Sacramento, but did not get a chance to speak in public comment before the bus left at 5 p.m. back to the Delta.” Read more from the Delta Confluence here: Delta residents leave DSC meeting unable to speak
Repairs Begin On Damaged Oroville Dam Spillway With Little Room For Error: “After the crumbled Oroville Dam spillway sent thousands fleeing from Oroville, now comes the rebuild. The gates at the damaged Oroville Dam spillway are now permanently closed and repair work is underway. Crews are using jackhammers and explosives to demolish what’s left of the crumbled concrete chute. The work marks the beginning of a new rebuilding phase for the spillway, following a wet winter that caused a lot of damage. Explosives are ripping apart the rocks and the mountain on which the spillway sits. … ” Read more from CBS Sacramento here: Repairs Begin On Damaged Oroville Dam Spillway With Little Room For Error
Reclamation courts private investment: “In early May, Bureau of Reclamation officials gathered the world’s top builders and bankers for a meeting at the Sheraton West hotel conference room in Lakewood, Colorado, a Denver suburb that abuts Rocky Mountain foothills. Reclamation faces a conundrum. The assets of the federal agency that operates many of the largest dams and canals in the American West are aging. Maintenance costs are rising. Rural water supply systems and other projects authorized by Congress decades ago are tens of billions of dollars away from completion. Reclamation would typically turn to Congress for more money. But David Murillo, Reclamation’s acting commissioner, told attendees what should be obvious to anyone who is paying attention: the Republican-led Congress does not want to increase spending. … ” Read more from the Circle of Blue here: Federal Water Agency, in Course Correction, Courts Private Investment
In commentary today …
California legislature can prove drought lessons were learned, says Kirsten James: She writes, “Be prepared. If the recent drought taught us anything, it’s how important this lesson is going to be to California’s future. So, even as we’re so thankful that our epic and unprecedented drought has been declared “over,” we have to make sure we are prepared because water scarcity is a fact of life in California. It’s not just that climate change is going to keep hitting us with hotter, drier weather. Even before the drought, a gap was emerging between the supply of water we could pull from our rivers and aquifers and the demands of California’s booming economy, rising population, expanding cities and suburbs and the environment. … ” Read more from Water Deeply here: California legislature can prove drought lessons were learned
California needs to stop letting farm water suppliers ignore the law, says the Sacramento Bee: They write, “Agriculture accounts for roughly 80 percent of the water used by people in California. “Roughly” because, unlike urban water districts, farm-water suppliers reveal little about how much of the state’s most precious resource goes into irrigation ditches and fields. That lack of basic public information from a behemoth water consumer was one reason the state passed a 2007 law requiring irrigation districts to start coughing up a modicum of so-called “farm-gate” data. The state form, to be filed with the Department of Water Resources, asks a bare handful of essential questions, on a single page. ... ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee here: California needs to stop letting farm water suppliers ignore the law
Going into Valley’s rivers now is suicidal; they should be off limits, says the Modesto Bee: They write, “Those whose job it is to retrieve bodies from our rivers call them “Kmart coffins,” those cheap inflatables some people use to float down lazy rivers. Fine for pools, but not for rivers even during a normal year. This is not a normal year. The rivers are running furiously fast and cold; trusting your life to a flimsy plastic boat or inner tube is a death wish. Even wading into the rivers – with their incredible currents working below a calm surface – can be taking a terrible risk. … ” Read more from the Modesto Bee here: Going into Valley’s rivers now is suicidal; they should be off limits
In regional news and commentary today …
A Memorial Day weekend mess at Lake Shasta: “Sixty-eight-year-old Mark Warnock has been boating at Lake Shasta for about 35 years. But it looked a bit different Wednesday as he prepared to launch his fishing boat at the Centimudi boat ramp. “I haven’t ever seen it this bad,” he said, taking a photo on his cell phone of the large accumulation of driftwood and other debris clogging up the lake cove. With the Memorial Day weekend almost here, it might be a little difficult for some boaters to get through all the floating debris at Lake Shasta. … ” Read more from the Redding Record Searchlight here: A Memorial Day weekend mess at Lake Shasta
Lake Oroville expects busiest season of the year: “State Parks expects a busy Memorial Day weekend at Lake Oroville even with the spillway dominating the news. “It’s going to be the busiest weekend of the year,” said California State Parks Superintendent Aaron Wright. “This will definitely be the test for the summer. Every one of our campsites are already reserved.” ... ” Read more from the Chico Enterprise-Record here: Lake Oroville expects busiest season of the year
Sonoma County: Groundwater Sustainability Agencies ready to work: “The three Sonoma County groundwater agencies set up over the past few months have finalized their ranks, and will begin holding public meetings next month that will include an opportunity for members of the public to speak. The hearings are one item on the agendas of the first meetings of the Santa Rosa Plain, Sonoma Valley and Petaluma Valley groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs). These agencies were formed to meet the requirements of California’s historic Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), which went into effect in 2015. … ” Read more from the Sonoma Index-Tribune here: Sonoma County: Groundwater Sustainability Agencies ready to work
Santa Barbara plonks down $5 million for toilet to tap: “With the drought now officially almost over and the city’s new $70 million desalination plant poised to start, the Santa Barbara City Council just authorized water czar Joshua Haggmark to spend up to $5 million to buy 2.4 acres of land by César Chávez and Quarantina streets for what may one day be the site of a toilet-to-tap water recycling plant. The land in question — owned by the city’s successor to the Redevelopment Agency that was dissolved five years ago by the State Legislature — abuts the railroad tracks and is located across Calle César Chávez from the waste-water treatment plant. As such, the site might prove ideal if and when City Hall were to pursue waste-water recycling as a future water supply. ... ” Read more from the Santa Barbara Independent here: Santa Barbara plonks down $5 million for toilet to tap
Report: Ventura County’s water supplies fragile: “Ventura County may have survived the worst of the state’s drought, but if a severe dry spell returns and lasts more than five years, most local cities will be back in serious trouble. That’s the finding of a report issued this week by the Ventura County grand jury that evaluated plans of the county’s 10 cities to see whether local officials have adequately addressed their water needs now and in the future. Several cities, according to the report, rely too much on imported water and haven’t developed plans for an emergency water shortage. None of the cities have thought out how they would deal with longterm drought, the report said. … ” Read more from the Camarillo Acorn here: Report: Ventura County’s water supplies fragile
Santa Clarita: No wonder LAFCO still opposes water bill: “Last week the Los Angeles County Local Agency Formation Commission – or LAFCO for short – voted to continue to oppose Senate Bill 634, Sen. Scott Wilk’s water merger/takeover of Newhall County Water District. Commissioners were concerned that the bill, promoted by Castaic Lake Water Agency and carried by the Antelope Valley Republican, did not address many of the problems they would normally review as part of their mandate to oversee annexations and reorganizations of local government agencies. Having served as an alternate board member for special districts on LAFCO in the late 1990s, I can attest to the important, although somewhat obscure, service this state agency provides. … ” Read more from The Signal here: Santa Clarita: No wonder LAFCO still opposes water bill
Also on Maven’s Notebook today …
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About the Daily Digest: The Daily Digest is a collection of selected news articles, commentaries and editorials appearing in the mainstream press. Items are generally selected to follow the focus of the Notebook blog. The Daily Digest is published every weekday with a weekend edition posting on Sundays.
