Urban Water Institute, Inc.

Save the Date

suzette — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 23:14:19 +0000

9th Annual Clean Water Conference
October 13-14, 2010
Irvine Marriott Hotel

Little Hoover Commission recommends water project management change

suzette — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 23:13:08 +0000

The Little Hoover Commission has released a report, Managing for Change: Modernizing California’s Water Governance, urging the governor and the Legislature to restructure the state’s water administration to better coordinate key supply management and planning roles, and separate them from the operation of the State Water Project.”

“The Commission concluded that the state’s current water management and planning structure, in place since 1969, is obsolete and leaves the state ill-prepared to handle unpredictable precipitation, growing population and the need to better balance environmental needs with urban and agricultural demand. California’s current Department of Water Resources was created in 1956 to launch the State Water Project. A half century later, the project is complete. Today, the department’s mission of operating the project is at odds with its separate mission of managing existing water resources and planning for future needs.”

For more information: Press Release ; Executive Summary; Full Report

DWR Issues Draft Drought Contingency Plan

suzette — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 23:09:44 +0000

Noting that climate change will likely increase the frequency and intensity of droughts, a new state report says conservation and preparedness will be key to future water management in California.

Released for public review by the Department of Water Resources, the draft California Drought Contingency Plan identifies strategies and actions state agencies should take to prepare for and respond to future droughts or other water shortage events.

http://www.acwa.com/news/conservation/dwr-issues-draft-drought-contingency-plan

Delaying the $11 Billion Water Bond: What Does it Mean for the Delta?

suzette — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 23:08:48 +0000

On August 10, 2010, Governor Schwarzenegger signed AB 1265, removing the $11 billion bond measure passed as part of the “comprehensive” water package in 2009 from the November 2010 ballot, delaying the bond vote until 2012. In addition to many other projects that would be funded by the Bond, $2.25 billion in appropriations were identified for Delta sustainability, including funding for activities contemplated by the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) and implementation of other projects consistent with the Delta Legislation enacted last year. While there has been much discussion of the affordability of the Bond and the likelihood of its passage, there has not been a great deal of discussion of the potential implications of delaying the Bond.

http://somachlaw.com/alerts.php?id=86

Trim the pork from water bond

suzette — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 23:07:32 +0000

By George Skelton Commentary

The governor and the Legislature did the smart thing politically by removing their pork-stuffed water bond proposal from the voters’ grasp in November.

Next, they should do the prudent thing, both politically and fiscally, by tossing out the pork. That would make the bond much more digestible to voters if, indeed, it does wind up on the 2012 ballot as now scheduled.

If not, the voters — the taxpayers — are very likely to do the right thing for themselves and bury the bloated $11.1-billion bond.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cap-20100812,0,5534630.column

Strange politics coalesce around water bond’s delay

suzette — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 23:06:24 +0000

There is no issue more complicated, more emotional and more fundamental to California politics than water. So perhaps it was only fitting that a simple procedural vote to delay a vote on the state’s $11 billion water bond was embroiled in political fights that pitted the Assembly Speaker against the governor, the Assembly against the Senate, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger against the strident conservative wing of his own party – a conservative group that had banded with environmentalists and Central Valley Democrats to fight against the governor. Nothing, it seems, is easy in Sacramento these days.

http://www.capitolweekly.net/article.php?_c=z1wkbe2w59p7u3&xid=z1vzu9zmod1lpo&done=.z1wkbe2w5ad7u3

Lake Mead at 54-year low, stirring rationing fear

suzette — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 23:05:18 +0000

Drought-stricken Lake Mead has dropped an additional 10 feet since last summer, and now Arizona and other Colorado River users are scrambling to keep the reservoir full enough to avoid water rationing. Before year’s end, the lake will likely sink to within 9 feet of the level that would trigger the first round of restrictions — and the first such restrictions ever on the river.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2010/08/12/20100812lake-mead-low-water-level.html

Hoover Dam never could solve all Colorado River conflicts

suzette — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 23:04:08 +0000

The most striking sight greeting visitors to the Colorado River gorge known as Black Canyon used to be the great wedge of alabaster concrete spanning the canyon wall to wall. But in recent years, Hoover Dam, that enduring symbol of mankind’s ingenuity, has been upstaged by another sight signifying nature’s power to resist even the most determined effort to bring it under control: a broad white band stretching along the edge of Lake Mead like a bathtub ring, marking how far the reservoir has fallen below its maximum level.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/viewpoints/articles/2010/08/22/20100822hoover-dam-promise.html

Something’s not right about this water deal

suzette — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 23:03:16 +0000

Students of California’s history of gold and oil rushes know it’s filled with examples of profiteering, conspiracy, influence-peddling and other chicanery. So there’s no reason the story should be any different with that liquid gold of the 21st century, water.

That’s the theme of a lawsuit filed a few weeks ago alleging there’s something smelly about how a group of private interests — notably a huge agribusiness owned by the wealthy Southern California couple Stewart and Lynda Resnick — got control of an underground water storage project the state had already spent $75 million to develop.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20100818-1,0,381499.column

The August 2010 issue of Science News is now available exclusively online

admin — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 18:27:59 +0000

The August 2010 issue of Science News is now available exclusively online. Click here to read.