
Valley groundwater may get (small) slice of state’s $15 billion surplus
The Governor’s proposal for how to spend California’s $15 billion surplus includes $60 million in direct grants to help replenish groundwater in the valley’s most depleted basins. The measure specifies the money is to be used in “critically over-drafted basins,” which lie mostly in the San Joaquin Valley. Water managers were pleasantly surprised, but not…
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Funding for the proposed delta tunnel could be slipping
The Metropolitan Water District likely won’t pick up the slack to cover planning costs for the proposed Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta tunnel That’s a huge shift from MWD’s “all in” support of the previous tunnel project. And MWD’s pull back could create a ripple of iffyness among other State Water Contractors about how much of their…
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Kern farmers tapped for $14 million to study delta tunnel
Kern County farmers on Wednesday agreed to chip in $14 million over the next two years to kick off another attempt to move water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta via tunnel. The level of Kern’s participation in the proposed Delta Conveyance Facility was closely watched, particularly by the giant Metropolitan Water District of Southern California,…
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Pricey tunnel sparks talk of water sales
Getting water through a tunnel under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta would be pricey. So pricey, some Kern County water districts were looking for an “off-ramp” by potentially selling their main state water supply out of the county. The request was shot down at a special meeting on Nov. 6 by the Kern County Water Agency,…
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Happy 50th “Kern Riversary!” 1970 vote brought river into public hands
Fifty years ago this week, the Bakersfield City Council committed an audaciously historic act. On Monday evening Sept. 28, 1970, council members decided to sue Tenneco West for a slice of the Kern River. “The shock was great to many, but from that day forward we had their attention and cooperation,” states the “Kern River…
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Proposed $171 million Central Valley groundwater bank faces TCP contamination
A Kern County groundwater bank proposal just at the starting blocks has been hit with 1,2,3-TCP contamination. Irvine Ranch Water District and Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District had just begun the environmental review process for their joint banking project this past April when TCP reared its head. “It doesn’t appear TCP is an existential threat…
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Proposed single delta tunnel could cost $15.9 billion
A single tunnel proposed to take water under the sensitive Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and deliver it to farms and cities in the south could cost $15.9 billion, give or take, according to an initial assessment discussed at the Delta Conveyance Authority meeting on Thursday. This is a scaled down version of a proposal under Gov….
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Valley farmers look to Kern River tributary to replenish groundwater
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May storms give state contractors 5% boost
Department of Water Resources press release: SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The State Water Project (SWP) now expects to deliver 20 percent of requested supplies in 2020 thanks to above-average precipitation in May, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced today. An initial allocation of 10 percent was announced in December and increased to 15 percent…
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Dry year, not politics, behind 15-percent water allocation
Water may be highly political but dry is dry. And California is exceedingly dry this year, Department of Water Resources Director Karla Nemeth told SJV Water in explaining the state’s low 15-percent allocation for farms and cities that rely on water from the State Water Project. Given the results of Thursday’s final snow survey in…
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