Jeffrey Kightlinger, general manager of the Metropolitan Water
District of Southern California, offered The Sacramento Bee’s
editorial board his view of California’s plumbing system last
week.
If Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers want voters to weigh in this
year on a multibillion-dollar water bond – a big if – they will
need to compromise on what may seem like an arcane point: Who
controls the money earmarked for the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta?
San Joaquin County
supervisors agreed Tuesday to oppose Gov. Jerry Brown’s twin
tunnels project – for the second time – and to send nearly 100
pages of highly critical comments to state and federal
officials.
Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed twin tunnels “will effectively
destroy the Delta as it exists today,” and will forever alter San
Joaquin County’s economy, county officials warn in a new report.
Agencies from San Joaquin and Contra Costa counties to NASA and
the U.S. Department of Agriculture formed an invasive-weed task
force seeking holistic, more comprehensive solutions to free the
Delta from its oppressors.
The California Supreme Court has agreed to decide an epic battle
over whether the state must condemn and acquire parcels on tens
of thousands of acres of private property to conduct preliminary
testing for Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to construct two large
water-conveyance tunnels in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
With the governor’s controversial Delta tunnel project a key part
of the debate, lawmakers on Monday failed to advance a leading
Senate proposal to put a revised water bond on the November
ballot.
As part of a “branding” effort to increase public awareness about
the estuary, the Delta Protection Commission is asking residents
to help decide whether the Delta should be referred to as “The
California Delta” or “The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.”
From the Los Angeles Times, in a commentary by George Skelton:
As lawmakers struggle to craft a water bond proposal for voters,
there’s a huge reservoir of wonderful, non-controversial project
ideas. But practically everyone is suffering from tunnel vision.
Literally.
“Insurance rate hikes, medical malpractice and water tunnels
might not generate the kind of passionate water-cooler debate
you’d find over marijuana, abortion and the death penalty.
“But this fall, California voters will be besieged by arguments
about those weightier issues in the run-up to November’s
general election.”
“Now there’s a new decision looming about the Delta, and
policymakers are as stumped as ever: What to call the place?
… The one-question survey takes only seconds to complete.”
“State officials are beginning to apply herbicide to more than
2,000 acres of Delta waterways in an effort to control a
tentacle-like invasive weed that lies just below the surface.”
“Ten years ago this morning, a levee on Jones Tract west of
Stockton abruptly crumbled, unleashing a flood of water and
worry. The water went away, eventually. The worry never
did.”
“The Bay-Delta watershed has been named a “Critical Conservation
Area” by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a status that will
target federal funding for water quality and habitat improvement
projects.”
“The public has four weeks remaining to submit comments on Gov.
Jerry Brown’s plan to build two giant water diversion tunnels in
the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.”
