Water Supply

Our state is in a fight over water policy that could hit all Californians squarely in their grocery carts. If the State Water Board’s unimpaired flow policy is adopted, significant additional amounts of water will be diverted away from farms and others and left in our rivers under the assumption that it will help native fish. Not only does science show this approach doesn’t work, we also know it will cause a variety of new problems.

Saving water saves energy. Simply tracing the origin and following the journey of Ventura County’s water shows the tremendous amount of pumping required to supply local water. Ventura County’s imported water originates in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, is pumped through a series of pipes and flows through canals for hundreds of miles, then is stored in Castaic Lake.

Hemet has filed a federal lawsuit against Dow Chemical and Shell Oil seeking reimbursement for the cost of removing a cancer-causing chemical from the city’s water wells. According to its Sept. 21 suit, the contaminated wells have been tainted by TCP, a “highly toxic substance” used until the 1980s to fumigate soil where crops were grown.

After years of stop-and-go talks, California and two other states that take water from the lower Colorado River are nearing an agreement on how to share delivery cuts if a formal shortage is declared on the drought-plagued waterway. Under the proposed pact, California — the river’s largest user — would reduce diversions earlier in a shortage than it would if the lower-basin states strictly adhered to a water-rights pecking order.

Related Articles:

• Las Vegas Review-Journal: Colorado River states OK tentative plan to slow reservoirs’ decline
• The Colorado Sun: Plan to slow creeping Colorado River crisis could drain more water from Blue Mesa, Flaming Gorge reservoirs

Seven Southwestern U.S. states that depend on the overtaxed Colorado River have reached landmark agreements on how to manage the waterway amid an unprecedented drought, including a commitment by California to bear part of the burden before it is legally required to do so, officials said Tuesday. The agreements are tentative and must be approved by multiple states and agencies as well as the U.S. government.

Related Article:

• Arizona Republic: Western states release proposed Colorado River agreements

The controversial Poseidon desalination plant proposed for Huntington Beach is the least cost-effective option and carries the most fiscal risk of key water projects being pursued in Orange County, according to a newly released draft report.

Nevada Irrigation District this week will host a special meeting to review a request by the South Yuba River Citizens League to stop work on its proposed Centennial Dam project until the district’s Raw Water Master Plan is complete The request will be discussed 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 9, at the Grass Valley Veterans Memorial Building.