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.
From the Los Angeles Times, in a commentary by Jon Healey:
As much as Republicans might yearn for deep-blue California to
fall into the deep blue ocean, the GOP-led House Appropriations
Committee agreed this week to provide $5 million to support the
development of an earthquake early warning system that could help
reduce the injuries and damage caused by a big quake.
From the Los Angeles Times, in a column by Patt Morrison:
Lucy Jones is the U.S. Geological Survey seismologist seconded by
Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office to spend a year creating the city’s
first seismic resilience plan. Her grandfather worked for William
Mulholland’s DWP, and her great-great and great grandparents are
buried in a cemetery on the San Andreas fault
A bill to help streamline a project to connect Lake San Antonio
and Lake Nacimiento with an underground pipeline has passed out
of a key state Senate committee. Assembly Bill 155, authored
by Salinas Assemblyman Luis Alejo, cleared the Local Government
and Finance Committee with bipartisan support, Alejo’s office
said Wednesday in a news release.
“A major roadblock to completion of critical levee repairs in
Sacramento’s Natomas basin was cleared Tuesday when President
Barack Obama signed the Water Resources Reform and Development
Act into law.”
“Chile’s government rejected an $8 billion proposal to dam
Patagonian rivers to meet the country’s growing energy demands,
handing a victory to environmentalists who praised Tuesday’s
ruling as a landmark moment.”
“A member of The Bee’s editorial board briefly met Jo-Ellen
Darcy, the assistant secretary of the Army for civil works, last
week after she was dropped off atop Folsom Dam by a Black Hawk
helicopter with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials.”
“Two months ago, community leaders in Hamilton City received news
the J Levee that protects the town from the Sacramento River was
on the federal list for repairs.”
“Last month, after years of delay, Congress approved a bill to
finish $1 billion in levee improvements that federal regulators
say are needed to make Natomas safe.”
“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.”
“As California struggles through a third year of drought, elected
officials from both parties are proposing to spend billions of
dollars in public money on new dams and reservoirs.”
“The
Sacramento Bee’s article on visual simulations of certain
aspects of the BDCP did not fully or accurately depict DWR’s
review of the Delta Protection Commission’s (DPC) visual
simulations of the BDCP proposed CM 1 construction.
“Gov. Jerry Brown presented a robust defense of his record over
the last three-and-a-half years during a speech to California
business leaders Wednesday, promoting his efforts with education,
pension reform, workers’ compensation, criminal justice and the
economy. … Brown did not touch on two massive public works
projects he is pushing …”
“In Congress, seniority still matters. Although lawmakers
can no longer earmark funds for home-state projects, Sen. Barbara
Boxer (D-Calif.) has written into a massive water bill a measure
that promises to bring more money to the ports of Los Angeles and
Long Beach.”
“The House passed the closest thing so far this year to an
infrastructure bill – a $12 billion-plus bipartisan measure
authorizing 34 water projects, ranging from flood protection in
California and North Dakota to deepening the Port of Savannah and
widening a Texas-Louisiana waterway that services the oil
industry.”
“House and Senate negotiators on Thursday unveiled a compromise
bill that authorizes billions of dollars for water projects over
the next decade, from flood protections in California to
deepening Georgia’s rapidly growing Port of Savannah.”
“There’s an old saying in the American West: ‘Water flows uphill
toward money.’ The same holds true in China, where engineers are
building a 1,500-mile network of canals and tunnels to divert
water from the rain-abundant south to Beijing and other wealthy
northern cities.”
