It is my understanding that the North Coast Basin Plan does not allow the addition of any water during the summer prohibition period. It seems to me that we should be exploring ways of modifying this to allow the addition of water to critical stream flows when it can be justified as a way of […]
Read MoreCategory: Water Conservation Issue
Wine Industry Water Grab?
July 31, 2015 · Will Parrish The AVA California’s slow-mo adoption of groundwater regulations is prompting all sorts of legal maneuvers by the state’s irrigation elite, who are striving for the fewest restrictions on their pumps possible. In the Russian River watershed, from where I write this dispatch, arguably the irrigation elite’s elitist elites are […]
Read MoreActivists see Sonoma County winegrowers’ proposed bill as a ‘water grab’
Environmentalists are mobilizing in protest of a would-be bill backed by the local wine industry that would create an irrigation district intended to protect the water rights of about 1,000 grape growers in the Russian River region. Noting that Sonoma County is facing “urgent water supply” problems unique to the Russian River watershed, the legislation […]
Read MoreWine Industry Impacts: Wine and Water Watch (WWW)
I began sending out my article on the founding of the Wine and Water Watch (WWW) group yesterday. It has already been published in at least the following places, which include India and Virginia. It will likely be published elsewhere in the next few days. If you google the words “wine and water watch” with […]
Read MoreNASA Groundwater Subsidence Report: Drought Causing Valley Land to Sink
August 19, 2015 Maven Maven note: Headline is the one issued with the press release. It should perhaps more properly be: “Groundwater Subsidence Causing Valley Land to Sink” From the Department of Water Resources: As Californians continue pumping groundwater in response to the historic drought, the Department of Water Resources today released a new NASA […]
Read MorePPIC Report: If Drought Continues: Environment and Poor Rural Communities Most Likely to Suffer
August 19, 2015, Maven Urban areas in best shape; Farmers adapting but vulnerable If the California drought continues another two to three years, the state will face increasingly acute challenges in two areas: water supply in some low-income rural communities, where wells are running dry; and ecosystems, where the state’s iconic biodiversity is under severe […]
Read MoreSonoma County Well Ordinance Hearing, July 21, 2 pm
To All, There is a public hearing on a Sonoma County well ordinance that has important ramifications on new well development that will impact water availability. Permit and Resource Management (PRMD), 2550 Ventura Avenue, Santa Rosa CA July 21 2:00 p.m. Item 74- Conduct a Public Hearing and Adopt a Resolution – Adopt a Resolution, […]
Read MoreCalifornia water bill likely to pass U.S. House, then lose steam
BY MICHAEL DOYLE Sacramento Bee, July 7, 2015 An ambitious California water bill will pass a key U.S. House committee this week and soon will sail through the Republican-controlled House of Representatives on a near party-line vote. Then it will crash into the U.S. Senate, where negotiators may or may not be able to craft […]
Read MoreRe: H.R. 2898 (Valadao) “Western Water and American Food Security Act of 2015 ” OPPOSE
United States House of Representatives Washington DC 20515 July 13, 2015 Dear Members of Congress: The undersigned conservation and recreation organizations, outdoor businesses, and Native American Tribes urge you to reject Rep. Valadao’s H.R. 2898. Under the guise of water and food “security,” H.R. 2898 proposes to maximize water exports, and weaken regulations protecting threatened […]
Read MoreCalifornia’s ‘relentless’ drought has taken a dire turn
Fenit Nirappil and Scott Smith, Associated Press Jun. 12, 2015 As California grapples with a relentless drought, state regulators on Friday ordered farmers and others who hold some of the strongest water rights in the state to stop all pumping from three major waterways in one of country’s prime farm regions. The order involving record cuts by […]
Read MoreFederal Probe Into Klamath Irrigator Contracts Ordered
U.S. Special Counsel Directs Interior to Justify Legality and Purpose of Payments Washington, DC — Backing charges by whistleblowers, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel is ordering the Secretary of Interior to explain how funds earmarked to help drought-stressed Klamath Basin fish populations instead ended up in the hands of irrigators, according to a letter […]
Read MoreComment on California’s Drought Response
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 MoreCalifornia 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 […]
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