DAILY DIGEST: Farm vs. City: Landmark water sharing deal may be crumbling; How climate change is affecting California’s climate; Local clean-up efforts find fewer plastic bags one year after California’s ban; and more …

In California water news today, Farm vs. City: Landmark water sharing deal may be crumbling; How climate change is affecting California’s climate; Local clean-up efforts find fewer plastic bags one year after California’s ban; Jose Ramirez fighting for a title shot and a cause; Proposed tunnel would move water out of Lake Nacimiento. Residents are fighting back; As Lake Casitas shrinks, a search is on for untapped water supplies; Kern River: Our fickle beauty reduced to a trickle; Disneyland shuts down cooling towers after Legionnaire’s cases; and more …

On the calendar today …

In the news today …

Farm vs. City:  Landmark water sharing deal may be crumbling:  “One of the nation’s most successful partnerships between farm and urban water agencies has lately run into serious turbulence, potentially threatening an important Colorado River water-sharing deal.  Twelve years ago, the Palo Verde Irrigation District in Blythe, California, signed an agreement with the powerful Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. It allowed the latter to pay Palo Verde farmers to fallow up to 35 percent of their acreage in times of water scarcity, and take delivery of the unused irrigation water, via canal, to serve its urban customers in the Los Angeles area, some 200 miles away. ... ”  Read more from Water Deeply here:  Farm vs. City:  Landmark water sharing deal may be crumbling

Will we be wiped out? How climate change is affecting California’s climate:  “California could one day be uninhabitable. Fire. Heat. Floods. Infestation. Disease. Suffering.  Scientists have for years warned about the ravaging consequences of a warming planet. Decamping for the 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Convention on Climate Change, California academics and political leaders were mulling how to better deploy the distressing projections to give unwary citizens a better understanding of what’s at stake and compel them to see the wisdom of embracing sustainability. … ”  Read more from the Sacramento Bee here:  Will we be wiped out? How climate change is affecting California’s climate

DWR details next phase of Oroville Dam spillway repairs:  “There was nearly dead silence at the Oroville Dam Spillway, Sunday, for one of the first times since the erosion formed at the beginning of the year.  But the Department of Water Resources said that doesn’t mean it’s finished yet. The November 1 deadline to complete Phase 1 of repairs to the primary spillway was merely a milestone.  Now, crews have shifted their priority to the emergency spillway. This focus is on the completion of the underground secant pile wall, which would stop any potential erosion from forming in the future. ... ”  Read more from KRCR here:  DWR details next phase of Oroville Dam spillway repairs

Local clean-up efforts find fewer plastic bags one year after California’s ban:  “Each September, thousands of California volunteers clean up trash in their communities. They count and record how many items they find, from pieces of foam to candy wrappers.  You can sift through those results by neighborhood, county or state.  “Going back as far as I can remember, plastic bags were one of the third, fourth, or fifth most common items found on California beaches,” says Mark Murray with Californians Against Waste, an organization that supported the statewide ban. … ”  Read more from Capital Public Radio here:  Local clean-up efforts find fewer plastic bags one year after California’s ban

Jose Ramirez fighting for a title shot and a cause:  “As a boxer and activist for water rights, former U.S. Olympian Jose Ramirez has become a beloved figure in Central California.  Saturday night, the nation will bear witness to that affection as Ramirez attempts to take a significant step toward the World Boxing Council super-lightweight title left vacant by Terence Crawford. ... ”  Read more from the LA Times here:  Jose Ramirez fighting for a title shot and a cause

Proposed tunnel would move water out of Lake Nacimiento Residents are fighting back:  “Saying they want to capture much-needed water that flows over Lake Nacimiento’s spillway, Monterey County officials are planning to build an underground tunnel that would move some of its water to Lake San Antonio farther north.  But that plan has upset residents near Lake Nacimiento, who fear that could hurt water levels — and recreation on the lake — as well as groundwater along the tunnel route.  “We have nothing to gain and everything to lose,” said landowner Bill Capps, who is one of about 50 people in the path of the proposed project. … ”  Read more from the San Luis Obispo Tribune here:  Proposed tunnel would move water out of Lake Nacimiento

As Lake Casitas shrinks, a search is on for untapped water supplies:  “A reprieve for a drought-stressed Lake Casitas might lie buried in the mountains above the Ojai Valley.  That’s where Jordan Kear said water sits trapped in the fractures of the bedrock.  “No one appears to have tapped into it,” said Kear, of Kear Groundwater. The hydrologist and geologist was hired last year by the Casitas Municipal Water District.  Fed by rain and snowmelt, the water could be enough to fill the lake, but there are still a lot of unknowns. ... ”  Read more from Ventura County Star here:  As Lake Casitas shrinks, a search is on for untapped water supplies

Kern River: Our fickle beauty reduced to a trickle:  “The once-surging Kern River has shriveled into a sad little foot-wide channel. No one at this juncture can say whether it will return anytime soon to the powerful, fast-moving waterway of mid-2017.  But don’t count on it.  This year’s Kern River flow was unusually wide, strong and dangerous. Dana Munn, the Kern River water master, chalks it up two main factors: the deep snowmelt from the mountains and heavy rainfalls in February and March.  And it just kept raining. ... ” Read more from the Bakersfield Californian here:  Kern River: Our fickle beauty reduced to a trickle

Disneyland shuts down cooling towers after Legionnaire’s cases:  “Disneyland has shut down two cooling towers after people who visited the Southern California theme park came down with Legionnaires’ disease.  A dozen cases of the bacterial lung infection were discovered about three weeks ago, the Orange County Health Care Agency announced Friday.  The patients, ranging in age from 52 to 94, lived or had spent time in Anaheim, and nine had visited Disneyland in September. One patient, who hadn’t visited the park, has died, the agency said. … ”  Read more from the AP here:  Disneyland shuts down cooling towers after Legionnaire’s cases

Carlsbad supports switch to salt water for lagoon:  “A plan to restore San Diego County’s only freshwater lagoon to its original saltwater state received unanimous support this week from the Carlsbad City Council.  “Now we finally have light at the end of the tunnel,” said Councilman Keith Blackburn, who praised the regional planning agency, the San Diego Association of Governments, or SANDAG, for taking over the Buena Vista Lagoon restoration project after it stalled under the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife in 2012. ... ”  Read more from the San Diego Union-Tribune here:  Carlsbad supports switch to salt water for lagoon

Instagram crowds may be ruining nature:  “You scroll through your friend’s Instagram feed and see the most beautiful setting, and think: “I want to go there.” And so you do.  According to travel photographer Brent Knepper, you are part of the problem.  In The Outline’s article “Instagram is Loving Nature to Death,” Knepper says that thanks to the photo sharing app, some of the best-kept secrets of the natural world are drawing big crowds and literally altering the landscape.  Knepper tells NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro about some of the idyllic locations that are seemingly being ruined because of exposure on Instagram. … ”  Read more from NOR here: Instagram crowds may be ruining nature

New climate forecasts for watersheds and the water sector:  “Water managers and streamflow forecasters can now access bi-weekly, monthly, and seasonal precipitation and temperature forecasts that are broken down by individual watersheds, thanks to a research partnership between the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder). The project is sponsored by the Climate Test Bed program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).   Operational climate forecasts for subseasonal to seasonal time scales are currently provided by the NOAA Climate Prediction Center and other sources. The forecasts usually take the form of national contour maps (example) and gridded datasets at a relatively coarse geographic resolution. Some forecast products are broken down further, based on state boundaries or on climate divisions, which average two per state; others are summarized for major cities.  ... ”  Read more from NCAR here:  New climate forecasts for watersheds and the water sector

In commentary today …

Lessons learned 25 years after landmark California water reform: Megan Hertel and John McManus write, “California’s most important federal water reform law – the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) – celebrated its 25th anniversary on October 30. The landmark law, signed by President George H.W. Bush, was a historic effort to protect and restore California’s wetlands, rivers, migratory waterbirds, salmon and other fish species, and also to promote more sustainable water supplies for a drought-prone state.  Before the CVPIA’s passage in 1992, Central Valley rivers, wetlands and salmon runs had been severely damaged by the construction and operation of the federal Central Valley Project (CVP), a water system including 20 dams and 500 miles of canals. … ”  Read more from Water Deeply here:  Lessons learned 25 years after landmark California water reform

More news and commentary in the weekend edition …

Precipitation watch …

Also on Maven’s Notebook today …

Today’s announcements …

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About the Daily Digest: The Daily Digest is a collection of selected news articles, commentaries and editorials appearing in the mainstream press. Items are generally selected to follow the focus of the Notebook blog. The Daily Digest is published every weekday with a weekend edition posting on Sundays.

 

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