To All, There are many facets that must be considered if were are to find solution(s) to our water supply and drought issues. Of course, bottom line, we all must conserve. That means every person, business, or industry. Agriculture is not living up to their responsibility in the area of conservation. Agriculture, via the California […]
Read MoreCategory: Water Conservation Issue
California Cuts Farmers’ Share of Scant Water
By JENNIFER MEDINA, JUNE 12, 2015 LOS ANGELES — Farmers with rights to California water dating back more than a century will face sharp cutbacks, the first reduction in their water use since 1977, state officials announced Friday. The officials said that rights dating to 1903 would be restricted, and that such restrictions would grow as […]
Read MoreSome addresses may be hidden as California well reports become public
By Ryan Sabalow rsabalow@sacbee.com After more than six decades of secrecy, the reports that water well drillers file with the state are set to become public under a bill signed into law this week. But because of privacy concerns, it’s still not clear whether the public will get to see the precise locations of the […]
Read MoreCalifornia Is Literally Sinking Into the Ground
And it’s going to cost taxpayers big time. Nathan Halverson Jun. 10, 2015 This story was originally published by Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting and is republished here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. California is sinking—and fast. While the state’s drought-induced sinking is well known, new details highlight just how severe it has become and how little […]
Read MoreWine Empire Compared to Coal Industry
Various people challenging the Wine Empire have described it as an extractive industry. It uses a lot of water and land in industrializing, urbanizing, and commercializing ways. Most of its benefits leave the North Coast into the hands of investors, increasingly from China and elsewhere. Most of the costs are paid by locals, especially those […]
Read MoreCalifornia looks Down Under for Drought Advice
Desperate for solutions, California looks Down Under for advice on surviving the drought. By Kristen Gelineau and Ellen Knickmeyer, Associated Press May 25, 2015 FILE – In this July 13, 2002, file photo, sheep wander parched land near a dry reservoir on a Condobolin property, 460 kilometers (285 miles) northwest of Sydney. On the world’s […]
Read MoreCrystal Geyser to tap Siskiyou County groundwater
By Peter Fimrite May 9, 2015 Updated: May 12, 2015 Shara Fish of Mount Shasta carries bottles filled with spring water from the headwaters of the Sacramento River in Mount Shasta, Calif., on Tues. April 28, 2015. Crystal Geyser is opening a bottling plant nearby without any environmental review or limits at a time when […]
Read MoreStatus on Attack on the Clean Water Rule, HR 1732
Last night the House of Representatives voted on H.R. 1732, a bill which would require the EPA to withdraw their proposed clean water rule and essentially start the process over from scratch. With the Republican majority in the House, the bill passed by a vote of 261-155. 24 Democrats voted the wrong way, but the […]
Read MoreLawsuit Seeks to Halt Illegal Dumping of Toxic Oil Waste Into California’s Imperiled Water Supplies
Will Rostov Staff Attorney, Earthjustice May 7, 2015 San Francisco, CA Environmental groups challenge ‘emergency’ rules permitting unlawful contamination of protected aquifers This is DOGGR outrageously re-writing the law to allow needless and unlawful contamination of drinking water during a severe drought for the benefit of the oil industry. A lawsuit filed today by environmental […]
Read MoreTell Congress to Protect our Nation’s Water
To All, Tell Congress to Protect our Nation’s Water Congress is yet again attempting to weaken our environmental laws by interfering with proposed new safeguards for water—one of our most important resources. Take action to protect our water now! The EPA has received more than 1 million public comments on its proposed Clean Water Rule, […]
Read MoreThirsty crops should require state regulation
George Skelton, Los Angeles Times This is what the Brown administration isn’t talking about as it tightens the spigot on landscaping: Urban use accounts for only 20% of California’s developed water. Agriculture sucks up 80%. Some calculate it a little differently: 10% urban, 40% agriculture and 50% environment — meaning every drop in the rivers […]
Read MoreWater and wine
April 06, 2015 – Dan Berger John Williams, the visionary Frog’s Leap Winery owner from Rutherford in the Napa Valley, was the most logical go-to person when an idle comment from a shop owner suggested that the wine industry could face water-shortage problems very soon. Williams, ever his contentious self on the topic of vine […]
Read MoreComment on the Problem of CA Water and Drought
There are many facets that must be considered if were are to find solution(s) to our water supply and drought issues. Of course, bottom line, we all must conserve. That means every person, business, or industry. Agriculture is not living up to their responsibility in the area of conservation. Agriculture, via the California Farm Bureau […]
Read MoreGuzzlers In California’s Drought
Leif Parsons for NPR California is parched. Wells are running dry. Vegetable fields have been left fallow and lawns are dying. There must be some villain behind all this, right? Of course there is. In fact, have your pick. As a public service, The Salt is bringing you several of the leading candidates. They have […]
Read MoreMercury News editorial: Jerry Brown’s lame response to California’s drought
Mercury News Editorial March 23, 2015 California is in a drought of historic proportions with no end in sight. Scientists and political leaders, including Gov. Jerry Brown, agree. The governor called an official state of emergency way back in January 2014 — but you wouldn’t know it from his actions since. Lame doesn’t begin to […]
Read MoreHow Growers Gamed California’s Drought
Consuming 80 percent of California’s developed water but accounting for only 2 percent of the state’s GDP, agriculture thrives while everyone else is parched. “I’ve been smiling all the way to the bank,” said pistachio farmer John Dean at a conference hosted this month by Paramount Farms, the mega-operation owned by Stewart Resnick, a Beverly […]
Read MoreBeneath California Crops, Groundwater Crisis Grows
By JUSTIN GILLIS and MATT RICHTEL APRIL 5, 2015 Even as the worst drought in decades ravages California, and its cities face mandatory cuts in water use, millions of pounds of thirsty crops like oranges, tomatoes and almonds continue to stream out of the state and onto the nation’s grocery shelves. But the way that […]
Read MoreWater Bills, AB91 and AB92 Become Law: Synopsis
Colleagues, These are the two “drought” bills which recently became law. You can read the Legislative Council’s summary and the text of the bills at this link for 91 and this link for 92. You can also find descriptions of provisions related to stream flow below. Both the Mercury News and the LA Times have […]
Read MoreCalifornia’s Drought is a Crisis
To All, California’s drought is a crisis. According to NASA scientist Jay Famiglietti, California has only one year of water left in its reservoirs.1 Incredibly, the state has no plan that even begins to adequately address a crisis of this magnitude. “California has no contingency plan for a persistent drought like this one (let alone […]
Read MoreGroundwater Law Results in Confusion, Futility
By Thomas D. Elias, Los Angeles Daily News March 9, 2015 It’s beginning to look like the hosannas that greeted California’s first-ever groundwater regulation law were a tad premature when it passed late last summer. For after a tantalizing winter of heavy rains but insufficient snowfall to dent the state’s four-year drought, confusion over the groundwater […]
Read MoreTriennial Review for North Coast Regional Water Board, Mar. 12
This is a great opportunity for us to weigh in on the priorities for the North Coast Basin Plan priorities. Vivian
Read MoreFlying Rivers & Mega-Droughts
January 23, 2015 · Will Parrish From WILL PARRISH, TheAVA When it comes to areas of the world being racked by drought, one of the few that has had at least as hard a time as California is central and southern Brazil. Whereas the US’s biggest state has gotten a handful of solid drenchings in the past […]
Read MoreAction: Comment on Clean Water Act
Water Community: Thanks for taking the initiative to write comments. Comment Deadline is February 5, 2015 by 12 noon. See below. The main idea behind listing streams as impaired by low flows is, like you probably already know, that water bodies are currently listed under the Clean Water Act when they are seriously impaired for […]
Read MoreAction: Send Letter to Defend the Clean Water Rule
Hey, I wanted to give you an update on our plan to defend the Clean Water Rule before the February 4th Congressional hearing. As you know, this hearing is meant to set the stage for a vote to kill the rule, and it’s critical that we keep fighting and see that this rule over the […]
Read MoreGroundwater Monitoring in Areas of Oil and Gas
Greetings: WebEx capabilities are now included for the Expert and Public Stakeholder Meeting on Model Criteria for Groundwater Monitoring in Areas of Oil and Gas Production. The meeting is scheduled for December 11, 2014 at 8:00 a.m.. However, due to WebEx audio and attendees limitations we highly recommend that you personally attend the meeting. WebEx […]
Read MoreWebinar: Keeping Our Watersheds Frack Free
Sign up and listen and watch, “Keeping Our Watersheds Frack Free” webinar on Thursday, December 4th, 2014 at 11 am PST. From Pennsylvania to California, from Colorado to Texas, the dirty form of gas drilling known as fracking is contaminating our water and threatening our communities. Join Clean Water Network’s webinar to learn about the […]
Read MoreExpert Public Stakeholder Meeting to Develop Groundwater Monitoring Model Criteria for Oil and Gas Areas
Greetings, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is hosting a public meeting regarding the development of model criteria for groundwater monitoring related to oil and gas well stimulation treatments, as specified in Senate Bill 4 (Pavley, Statutes of 2013). LLNL is the expert that the State Water Board is working with to develop the model criteria […]
Read MoreModernizing drought water allocations
UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences, October 16, 2014 The State Water Resources Control Board recently solicited public comments on how to improve its drought curtailment of water rights. Here is a summary of insights and recommendations from a group of seven California water experts. By Ellen Hanak, Jeffrey Mount, Jay Lund, Greg Gartrell, Brian Gray, Richard […]
Read MoreDunne on Wine: Water used to make wine becomes issue during drought
By Mike Dunne – Special to The Bee October 10, 2014 If you have one of those “Save Water Drink Wine” bumper stickers on your car, you might want to rip it off. And not only because the wit is so lame. The advice is erroneous. In this time of drought, a bumper sticker urging […]
Read MoreCalifornia’s New Groundwater Law: An Interactive Timeline
Hi Folks — This information comes from the Legal Planet website. They put up an interactive timeline, which I have translated into a table. CA Groundwater Law Timeline Jane legal-planet.org California’s New Groundwater Law: An Interactive Timeline What are the major deadlines for local groundwater management agencies, and when can-or must-state agencies act? Posted on […]
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