Urban Water Institute, Inc.

Water systems need fixes, badly; customers don’t want to fund them

suzette — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:39:46 +0000

From mountain hamlets to Sacramento City Hall, governments are asking taxpayers to dig deeper into their pockets to improve sewer and water systems. And people are pushing back.

Brown hints at peripheral canal

suzette — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:38:58 +0000

A possible multi-billion dollar canal to siphon water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to users south of the Delta is being hinted at by Gov. Jerry Brown, a long-time supporter of the concept.

Jerry Brown says he’d support delaying water bond

suzette — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:38:20 +0000

Gov. Jerry Brown indicated Thursday that he would support delaying an $11 billion water bond currently on the November ballot, saying a massive overhaul of the state’s water system can begin without voters approving huge borrowing this year.

New flood control plan would change Sacramento’s landscape

suzette — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:37:41 +0000

A massive plan to improve the Central Valley’s flood control system proposes big changes for the landscape of the Sacramento region, from enlarging major floodways such as the Yolo Bypass to improving levees and bridges.

Sacramento given more time to meet sewage standards

suzette — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:36:53 +0000

A judge on Monday granted Sacramento’s regional sewage treatment agency an additional six months to meet stricter filtration requirements for the treated effluent it discharges into the Sacramento River.

Delta Advocates Blast Flaws in Tainted PPIC Report

suzette — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:36:03 +0000

Restore the Delta is challenging the accuracy and value of the Public Policy Institute’s controversial “report” on the Delta, “Transitions for the Delta Economy,” funded by the Stephen Bechtel Foundation, Resources Legacy Fund and David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

Berryhill’s canal alternative; Plan separates SJ, Sacramento river waters

suzette — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:35:21 +0000

Assemblyman Bill Berryhill is championing a Delta solution that could please all water interests at an economic cost significantly less than the latest proposal to resurrect the Peripheral Canal.

Debilitating drought to continue across southern USA

suzette — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:08:36 +0000

The disastrous Southern drought, which led to $10 billion in crop and agricultural losses in 2011, is forecast to continue through at least the next three months, government scientists report.

Hoover Power Allocation Act Signed into Law

suzette — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:07:43 +0000

Southwestern water and power interests are celebrating the federal government’s renewal of the Hoover Power Allocation Act, which authorizes hydropower generated at the Hoover Dam to be distributed for the benefit of more than 29 million residents of California, Nevada and Arizona. For southern California, which receives water from the Colorado River, the legislation ensures that reliable, low-cost, renewable energy will be available to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (Metropolitan) so it can move more than 550,000 acre-feet of water across its Colorado River Aqueduct each year.

Opinion: It’s Time to Repair and Prepare our Water Infrastructure

cpadmin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:39:26 +0000

Commentary by Daniel Curtin, Capitol Weekly

As we look in the rear view mirror at California’s driest December in decades it reminds us of two things.
First, California is essentially an arid state sprinkled with sporadic periods of heavy precipitation. Last rainy season was one of the wettest on record; this year may be one of the driest.

Second, all indications are that impending climate change will make our weather even more extreme, unfortunately much drier and hotter with less, but just as unpredictable, rain and snow.