water Archives - Page 25 of 26

“Madness and arrogance” blamed for one lawsuit against desert groundwater agency

October 1, 2020

• by Lois Henry

Two lawsuits accusing the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority of ramming through a plan that ignores water rights and, according to one plaintiff, is intended to “destroy agriculture” were filed this week. At issue is a controversial $2,000-per-acre-foot fee approved by the authority last month that would be charged to certain groundwater users over a…

Federal System • Friant-Kern Canal

Dominoes from the massive Creek Fire teetering over San Joaquin Valley farmers

September 29, 2020

• by Lois Henry

When the Creek Fire erupted on Sept. 4 and chewed through the forest toward Southern California Edison’s Big Creek power system, little did anyone know how that might affect grape growers in Delano nearly a month later. But the historic fire has put water managers along the eastern flank of the San Joaquin Valley, who…

Drinking Water

Last minute loan keeps drinking water projects afloat

September 22, 2020

• by Lois Henry

Small, failing drinking water systems got a funding life preserver among a flurry of budget bills at the chaotic end of the California legislative session. Drinking water advocates had fretted the Safe and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resilience (SAFER) program, intended to help struggling water systems in mostly poor, rural areas, would fall victim…

Conservation • Groundwater • Water Markets

Evaporation adds up. How much? Google it – someday

September 17, 2020

• by Lois Henry

There are lots of new water gizmos popping up these days but there’s only one Google. Which makes the massive tech company’s involvement in a proposed water measurement tool both intriguing and slightly suspicious to some agricultural water managers. The same goes for another partner in the effort, the Environmental Defense Fund, a well-known advocacy…

Drinking Water • State System • Water Banking

Proposed $171 million Central Valley groundwater bank faces TCP contamination

September 11, 2020

• by Lois Henry

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…

Drinking Water • Groundwater • Water Banking

Tainted valley groundwater could stymie banking deals

September 3, 2020

• by Lois Henry

The big kahuna of California water — Metropolitan Water District of Southern California — has stopped taking supplies from one Kern County groundwater bank because the water is heavily tainted with a cancer-causing agent that is pervasive in Central Valley’s aquifers. While only one banking program has been affected so far, the emergence of this…

State System

Proposed single delta tunnel could cost $15.9 billion

August 21, 2020

• by Lois Henry

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….

Personalities

THIS JUST IN: New Executive Director named at Water Association of Kern County

August 17, 2020

• by Lois Henry

Expect to see a lot more about water in Kern County on your favorite social media platform in the near future. “The Water Association of Kern County is all about outreach and education and there’s no better way to do that than social media,” said new Executive Director Jenny Bertagna Holtermann. Holtermann was recently named…

Drinking Water

Clean water advocates hoping to safeguard SAFER funding

August 5, 2020

• by Lois Henry

Just when it looked like small drinking water systems in California were finally getting the long-term help they so desperately need, along came COVID-19. The state is peppered with failing small systems, many serving low-income communities without the resources to repair them. At least one-third of those failing systems are in the San Joaquin Valley,…

Federal System • Groundwater

Plans to fix the Friant-Kern Canal moving fast. Funding — not so fast.

June 19, 2020

• by Lois Henry

Planning to fix the Friant-Kern Canal is moving at a lightning clip even as funding to put those plans into action lags. The massive project went from its initial notice on Dec. 3, 2019, to release of the draft environmental impact statement on May 8, 2020 — just five months. Comments on the draft environmental…

NEWS

“Madness and arrogance” blamed for one lawsuit against desert groundwater agency

Dominoes from the massive Creek Fire teetering over San Joaquin Valley farmers

Last minute loan keeps drinking water projects afloat

Evaporation adds up. How much? Google it – someday

Proposed $171 million Central Valley groundwater bank faces TCP contamination

Tainted valley groundwater could stymie banking deals

Proposed single delta tunnel could cost $15.9 billion

THIS JUST IN: New Executive Director named at Water Association of Kern County

Clean water advocates hoping to safeguard SAFER funding

Plans to fix the Friant-Kern Canal moving fast. Funding — not so fast.

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