A wrap-up of posts published on Maven’s Notebook this week …
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This week’s featured article …
SoCAL WATER DIALOG: SGMA implementation in the San Joaquin Valley
Groundwater is a critical resource, supplying nearly 40% of the state with water to support cities and farms. With droughts increasing in severity and frequency and climate change putting stress on local communities across the state, it has become increasingly clear that California can no longer manage groundwater resources as we have in the past. This recognition led to the passage of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) in 2014 – a law designed to provide statewide guidance for managing California’s precious groundwater resources sustainably. Eight years in, how is the implementation of SGMA going?
In a presentation to the Southern California Water Dialog, Ellen Hanak, vice president and director of the Water Policy Center and a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), gave a status check on SGMA implementation with a focus on the San Joaquin Valley, which is ground zero for SGMA implementation.
In the San Joaquin Valley, bringing groundwater basins in to balance will necessitate significant amount of irrigated lands to come out of production. Ann Hayden, Interim Vice President of Climate Resilient Water Systems for the Environmental Defense Fund, discussed how the state’s Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program hopes to help with the transition.
Click here to read this article.
In California water news this week …
California Republicans fighting again to raise the Shasta dam. Will state law prevent it?
“The Shasta reservoir, California’s largest, sends water to farmers and families in the Central Valley, where a third of the nation’s produce is grown. It almost reached capacity after years of not filling up. At its peak, Shasta Lake can hold more than 4.5 million acre-feet of water. (An acre-foot is the annual consumption for two average households.) Raising the dam, located on the upper Sacramento River northwest of Redding, to increase Shasta reservoir’s capacity has long been on the list of some federal lawmakers. The 18.5-foot rise would provide 634,000 more acre-feet of water per year, legislators say, and help ensure Central Valley farmers have a steadier and fuller supply. But that assumes there will always be enough precipitation to fill Lake Shasta, which historically has not been the case. … ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee. | Read via Yahoo News.
State Water Board extends deadline for protest period for proposed Sites Reservoir to Aug. 31
“The State Water Resources Control Board has decided to extend the “protest period” for the proposed Sites Reservoir, opposed by a coalition of fishing groups, Tribes, conservation groups and environmental justice advocates, from August 1st to August 31st at the request of the North Delta Water Agency. The State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Water Rights, issued a Notice of Water Right Application for Sites Project Authority’s application to appropriate water by permit (A025517X01) on June 2, 2023. On June 26, 2023, North Delta Water Agency requested additional time for potentially affected parties to review the application and, if necessary, file protests. … ” Read more from the Daily Kos.
Legal brief: EIR for relicensing of Oroville Dam adequately evaluated environmental impacts
“An environmental impact report need not discuss impacts that are too speculative in nature for proper evaluation or assess economic costs not linked to a physical change in the environment. County of Butte v. Dept. of Water Resources, 90 Cal.App.5th 147 (2023). In 2008, three local government entities challenged the California Department of Water Resources’ EIR prepared in connection with the licensure of hydropower activities for the Oroville Dam and have been litigating this issue for the past 15 years. In this latest case, plaintiffs argued that the EIR: (1) failed adequately to consider climate change; (2) failed to properly evaluate economic and public health impacts; (3) wrongly assumed that the Oroville Dam facilities complied with water quality standards; and (4) did not account for potential changes to the State Water Project that could affect the Oroville facilities. … ” Read more from the California Land Use & Development Report.
Yolo County files lawsuit alleging state CEQA violations
“Yolo County officials announced Tuesday its filing of a lawsuit against the California Department of Water Resources in connection with certain undisclosed aspects of the Yolo Bypass Salmonid Habitat Restoration and Fish Passage Project. Filed in Yolo Superior Court, the action asserts that DWR violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) by failing to disclose the conveyance capacity of operable gates at the Fremont Weir. County officials called the lawsuit “necessary to safeguard the interests of Yolo County residents, protect agriculture and maintain transparency throughout important projects,” according to a news release. … ” Read more from the Davis Enterprise.
SEE ALSO: Yolo County Files Lawsuit Against California Department of Water Resources Challenging Undisclosed and Harmful Features of the Yolo Bypass Salmonid Habitat Restoration and Fish Passage Project, press release from Yolo County, includes a copy of the legal filing
Go with the flow: keeping California wet: How California’s water planners keep taps flowing and farms growing
“Not everyone who works for the U.S. Geological Survey studies rocks or dirt, and that’s especially true for hydrologic technicians. These government workers actually study water, oftentimes from the air using what’s called a streamgage cableway. California has one of the longest cableways on the West Coast: the Bend Streamgage Cableway over the Sacramento River. It’s located near the town of Bend about 45 miles south of Lake Shasta in Tehama County and its sole purpose is for the collection of water flow data. The main function of a streamgage is to record how much and how fast water is moving. The USGS manages more than 11,800 streamgages across the U.S. but if you ask hydrologic technician Brandon Ledbetter, he will tell you the streamgage cableway is a pretty big deal — at least in California. … ” Read more from Channel 10.
Environmentalists push feds to add solar panels over US canals
“Making the push for an unprecedented investment in renewable energy, more than 100 environmentalists sent a letter Thursday urging U.S. officials to consider installing solar panels above nearly 8,000 miles of federally owned and operated open-air canals and aqueducts. “This could potentially generate over 25 gigawatts of renewable energy — enough to power nearly 20 million homes — and reduce water evaporation by tens of billions of gallons,” the letter sent to the Interior Department and Bureau of Reclamation said. The collective, which includes Greenpeace and the Endangered Species Coalition, emphasized that this kind of renewable energy initiative is unique in that it could be done without destroying wildlife habitats, since it would use existing structures. Strapping solar panels on top would not only generate power, the groups said, but reduce evaporative water loss due to droughts caused by climate change. … ” Read more from the Courthouse News Service.
SGMA inadequate subbasins update
“There is intense activity going on right now in the Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) whose plans were deemed “inadequate” by the Department of Water Resources (DWR) this past spring. Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) enforcement for the six inadequate subbasins was transferred to the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB). A SWRCB staff report to the State Board last month had this summary: “the six basins with inadequate GSPs, from north to south, are the Chowchilla, Delta-Mendota, Kaweah, Tulare Lake, Tule, and Kern County subbasins. Deficiencies DWR noted include, but are not limited to, insufficient sustainable management criteria, the potential for dewatering of drinking water wells, impacts of subsidence, and lack of coordination amongst GSAs.” Here is what I am learning from the public meetings I attend about where these subbasins are in addressing the items identified by DWR. … ” Read more from the Milk Producers Council.
Recycled water could recharge aquifers in the Central Valley
“Drawing out too much groundwater, or overdrafting, is a serious problem in California. As a result, groundwater sustainability agencies are considering using recycled municipal wastewater to recharge aquifers. In our study, we employ suitability mapping and the models C2VSimFG and Ichnos to identify appropriate areas for managing aquifer recharge with recycled water in California’s Central Valley. The factors that influence suitability include soil properties, proximity to recycled water sources, and the residence time, or amount of time that recharged water spends underground. There are many suitable areas in the Central Valley that are immediately adjacent to water recycling facilities. However, adequate supply is an issue in most locations. Roughly half of the groundwater sustainability agencies in critically overdrafted basins of the Central Valley have enough potentially suitable locations to meet their recharge goals, but not all of them have access to enough recycled water. The methods demonstrated here can serve as tools for agencies considering using recycled water for aquifer recharge.” Read the full article from UCANR here.
Enough water for 11 million households went into California aquifers this year. Why it’s only a start
“State water authorities estimated that 3.8 million acre-feet of water went into depleted underground reservoirs this year after a record winter of rain and snow. That’s about how much water more than 11 million California households will use annually. The figure released Wednesday was praised by officials as a boon to depleted groundwater basins after decades of overpumping during drought. But it’s going to take years of rain and effort from local water agencies to reach sustainability, said experts and advocates. “We took a pretty creative approach on how to deal with atmospheric rivers,” said Paul Gosselin, deputy director of the Department of Water Resources’ sustainable groundwater management office. “This one year is going to improve conditions but it’s also not the end of the story, and it may only scratch the surface.” … ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee.
DWR captures and stores water from record-breaking snowpack
“2023 has demonstrated how quickly California can move from one extreme to another — as severe drought conditions gave way to flooding and one of the largest snowpacks in 70 years. Because of this extreme variability, and in an effort to always be climate ready, DWR and partners proactively worked to take advantage of this year’s record-breaking precipitation and prepare for the next drought. Governor Newsom’s Executive Orders this year allowed DWR to quickly manage snowmelt runoff and leverage it for increased storage in reservoirs, groundwater recharge, and water transfers. … ” Read more from DWR News.
How is demand management developing in SGMA groundwater sustainability plans?
“Demand management will play a critical role in both reaching groundwater sustainability under SGMA and determining the economic costs of groundwater regulation. Here, we provide an update on the approval process of 116 submitted groundwater sustainability plans. We detail demand management proposals and compare how these differ between plans that have been approved and those deemed incomplete or inadequate.” Click here to read article from the Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics.
From drought to deluge: designing groundwater pricing policies to cope with California’s water woes
“Groundwater pricing presents a promising tool for managing groundwater demand under California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. We use data from an agricultural region on the Central Coast to examine how farmers respond to an increase in price over a five-year period. We find that farmers are increasingly responsive to price over time.” Read article from Agricultural and Resource Economics Update.
Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley
“The Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley is a non-profit organization formed in 2019 with the goal of bringing together all the interests impacted by surface and groundwater supplies available to the San Joaquin Valley. It’s a coalition of the willing with participation from the agricultural, labor and agency communities. That community includes anyone who eats food. The Harrison Company’s 100 Mile Circle study shows the Valley is, “. . . less than one percent of the total landmass in the U.S. Yet, it produces 60 percent of the country’s fruits and nuts and over 30 percent of its vegetables.” … ” Continue reading at Water Wrights.
Fox Rothschild LLP secures novel IRS ruling on water rights as ‘real property’
“A Fox Rothschild team secured a favorable private letter ruling, PLR 202309007, from the Internal Revenue Service, which held that certain water rights are “real property,” and therefore qualify for a tax-deferred exchange under Internal Revenue Code Section 1031. Gregory A. Novotny, Co-Chair of the Taxation and Wealth Planning Department, who with Chantal C. Renta, requested the private letter ruling, said the recently released ruling was the first of its kind and could provide greater comfort and clarity to other taxpayers seeking to enter into similar water rights transactions. “This provides some critical guidance in an area where there’s not very much guidance. It could help people who want to exchange all or a portion of their water rights for real property and gives them some comfort that they have the option to utilize a Section 1031 exchange,” Novotny said. … ” Read more from the Northern California Record.
Droughts in Western states drive up emissions and threaten human health
“When drought-stricken rivers and reservoirs run low across the American West, hydropower dries up and utilities fire up hundreds of power plants that burn coal, oil, or natural gas to keep up with demand for electricity. The timing couldn’t be worse, as accompanying heat waves drive up energy use, often to power air conditioners. A new Stanford University study finds these overlooked consequences of drought dramatically increase carbon emissions, methane leakage, and local air pollution and deaths caused by poor air quality. Together, the social and economic cost of these impacts have cost 11 Western states tens of billions of dollars over the past two decades, according to the study, which was published July 6 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. … ” Read more from Stanford News.
SEE ALSO: Drought-driven shift away from hydropower is costing the US West billions of dollars: study, from The Hill
The final content of California’s budget-revised infrastructure and CEQA reform trailer bills
“As stated in Holland & Knight’s recent alert detailing Gov. Gavin Newsom’s package of 11 bills to amend the venerable California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), meaningful reforms to CEQA have eluded all past governors in the state. For the past five decades, CEQA has been finely tuned to protect the status quo even in the face of California’s urgent housing and infrastructure needs. CEQA lawsuits (and lawsuit threats) are the go-to tool for “NIMBYs” (not in my backyard organizations) and anyone with the resources to file a lawsuit who wants to leverage a project approved by elected and appointed officials to further their own special interests. For example, as reported in Part 3 of the “In the Name of the Environment” series authored by Holland & Knight attorneys, examining all CEQA lawsuits filed from 2019 to 2021, local and regional land use plans to allow more than 1 million new homes were targeted by CEQA lawsuits. … ” Read more from Holland Knight.
In commentary this week …
Flowing downhill to money: How corporate growers are using taxpayer funds to seize California’s water
Tom Stokely, Salmon and Water Policy Consultant for C-WIN, writes, “The Central Valley Project – the sprawling federal complex of dams, reservoirs, and canals that conveys water from the Trinity and Sacramento River watersheds through the San Francisco Bay-Delta to the corporate farmlands of the San Joaquin Valley – is employing massive taxpayer and ratepayer subsidies to support a handful of spectacularly wealthy growers. To enrich the few and the powerful, the CVP has commandeered state water supplies, destroyed California’s once-iconic salmon runs, poisoned hundreds of thousands of acres of land, and contaminated hundreds of miles of waterways, threatening public health, fish, and wildlife. The CVP grew out of the Reclamation Act of 1902, which was established to encourage settlement of the rural western United States. The project’s original subsidies helped family farmers stricken by the Great Depression. But in ensuing decades, a small number of industrial agricultural corporations established control of hundreds of thousands of acres in the San Joaquin Valley, consolidating their grip on the lion’s share of CVP water. … ” Continue reading at C-WIN.
Three bills could upend water rights
Justin Caporusso, Executive Director of the Mountain Counties Water Resources Association, writes, “If California as we know it is to continue to exist, we will need sustainable water sources. However, a trio of bills moving through the Legislature is the wrong approach. Senate Bill 389, introduced by Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, Assembly Bill 1337, introduced by Asm. Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, and Assembly Bill 460, introduced by Asm. Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, D-San Ramon, would upend the water rights system that, while imperfect, has worked in California for more than a century. These bills would strip away due process for water-rights holders and take an aggressive approach to enforcement that is akin to nailing a painting to the wall with a jackhammer. … ” Continue reading at My Mother Lode.
Delta Lead Scientist creates unprecedented conflicts of interest with multi-million dollar UC research grants
Deirdre Des Jardins with California Water Research writes, “The Delta Lead Scientist, Dr. Laurel Larsen, is a hydroecologist at the University of California’s Berkeley campus. She is the first mid-career scientist to hold the position of Delta Lead Scientist, having received tenure in 2018. The Lead Scientist position and the Delta Science Program were first created under the 2000 CALFED Record of Decision, and were continued under the Delta Reform Act of 2009. The Lead Scientist is responsible for “leading, overseeing, and guiding” the state and federally funded Delta Science Program. Dr. Larsen applied for the Delta Lead Scientist position in 2019, when a $1.85 million, five year grant to her UC Berkeley research group was ending. … ” Read more from California Water Research.
State of Calif. Farming? Plenty of challenges – and opportunities.
William Bourdeau, executive vice president of Harris Farms, director of the Westlands Water District, and chairman of the Valley Future Foundation, writes, “The Golden State, California, is renowned for its robust agricultural industry. However, being the nation’s food basket doesn’t come without challenges. From water scarcity to labor shortages, escalating operational costs to regulatory concerns, California’s farmers face an array of hurdles. Yet, every challenge presents an opportunity for innovation, and nowhere is this more apparent than in farming. This is my attempt to delve into the current state of California’s farming industry, with particular emphasis on the challenges, opportunities, and the exciting role of innovation and agricultural technology (AgTech). Agriculture is not just a sector in California; it’s a way of life that defines the state’s identity. … ” Read more from the San Joaquin Valley Sun.
Let’s get the resources the Central Valley needs in the Farm Bill
Representative David Valadao writes, “The Central Valley is home to the most diverse and productive agricultural regions in the world. With less than 1% of our country’s farmland, the Central Valley supplies a quarter of our nation’s food. Right now, one of the biggest items on Congress’ to-do list is the Farm Bill, a package of legislation that governs a wide range of agriculture, forestry and nutrition programs, and is typically reauthorized every five years. Legislation that impacts livelihoods throughout the Valley should not be crafted behind closed doors without your input. That’s why I was glad to host Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Penn., and other bipartisan members of the committee at the World Ag Expo in Tulare for a Farm Bill Listening Session this year. This listening session gave Central Valley producers, growers and food banks a unique opportunity to share their priorities for the Farm Bill with the lawmakers directly responsible for drafting it. … ” Read more from the Bakersfield Californian.
The grass has never been greener in California & that’s not a good thing
Dennis Wyatt, editor of the Manteca Bulletin, writes, “It was north of 100 degrees in Manteca last Saturday at 3 p.m. There were at least two homeowners that were having sod installed. You could find a few that were watering lawns in violation of common sense and city rules prohibiting such wanton inefficient use of water between noon and 6 p.m. regardless of the day. And there were many more with dry, brown and dusty front yards that looked like movie sets for a modern remake of “The Grapes of Wrath”. Welcome to the delusional state of water use in not just Manteca, but most of California. … ” Read more from the Manteca Bulletin.
Modesto Irrigation shouldn’t make sweetheart deals with our precious water
Garth Stapley writes, “A dozen years ago, a hot debate raged across Modesto over the idea of selling a relatively small amount of irrigation water to San Francisco. Some saw the proposal as a convenient way to raise $115 million that could be used for much-needed upgrades and repairs to Modesto Irrigation District canals and pipelines. Opponents saw it as giving away Modesto’s lifeblood, a precious and finite community resource — “our water.” They painted proponents as greedy traitors, and ultimately prevailed when then-board members, after nearly a year of arguing, finally agreed to drop it and forget the whole thing. The most vocal opponent, board member Larry Byrd, crowed at the time about having “save(d) the community.” Byrd, the current MID board president, now wants to sell far more water to farmers outside of MID boundaries on the east side of Stanislaus County, near his own ranch, at a price far below market value. … ” Continue reading at the Modesto Bee. | Read via Yahoo News.
Weather what?
Allison Harvey Turner, Chief Executive Officer of the Water Foundation, writes, “Nature wins. If we let it. That is what I observed when I recently visited the Dos Rios Ranch Preserve. Last December the land was dry, with just a small stream moving through it. But a few weeks later nature took over, unleashing a series of storms that transformed the confluence of the Tuolumne and San Joaquin Rivers into a huge, vibrant wetland. It was a sight to behold. … The Dos Rios Ranch Preserve is a public-private floodplain restoration project that was developed to improve habitat for fish and wildlife. What makes it particularly exciting is, in the course of restoring nature, Dos Rios serves other important roles, such as reducing flood risk in downstream communities, conserving fresh water, and providing health and economic benefits to nearby communities. Alongside these functional benefits, this project exemplifies the wisdom of advance planning and investment in multi-benefit water resources management. … ” Continue reading at the Water Foundation.
Dr. Valerisa Gaddy writes, “As a Diné water quality scientist who grew up on the Navajo Nation, which spans Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, the topic of Arizona drought is often discussed in my professional and private life. The beginning of 2023 was the 20th year of continued litigation in which the Navajo Nation is trying to obtain rights to the Colorado River in Arizona v Navajo Nation. The Navajo Nation has never had the infrastructure or support to have reliable access to clean water. In fact, our tribe has as many as 60,000 members who do not have access to running water. In March 2023, the Navajos took their water rights case to the U.S. Supreme Court and argued to have the U.S. determine the Navajos water needs and rights. However, on June 22, 2023 the Supreme Court voted 5-4 that the U.S. owes no “affirmative duty” to the Navajo Nation to secure water, reversing a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. The majority ruled that the 1868 Treaty of Bosque Redondo established no federal obligation to do so. What does this mean for the Navajo tribe? … ” Read more from Environmental Health News.
Golden State natural resources’ biomass boondoggle
Rita Frost, a Forest Advocate with the NRDC, writes, “Golden State Natural Resources’ (GSNR) proposed wood pellet project threatens to create ongoing logging demand in California forests and spread the biomass industry’s harmful legacy—all too familiar in the Southeast—into local communities. If approved, two GSNR facilities would be built in Tuolumne and Lassen counties and produce up to one million tons of wood pellets every year for export to global markets in Europe and Asia. There, they would be burned in industrial power plants to produce electricity. GSNR maintains that its project will help to protect California’s forests and benefit rural communities—as well as combat climate change—but the science and past experience with similar projects elsewhere in the United States and in Canada show this is simply not true. … ” Read more from the NRDC.
Hoping fossil fuel giants will see the light on climate hasn’t worked. Change only comes with mandates and force
The LA Times editorial board writes, “One of the most demoralizing things about the world’s response to the climate crisis is the fossil fuel industry’s continued success in blocking the pollution-cutting actions that are in the interest of all of humanity. The solution to our predicament couldn’t be clearer: We need to stop burning fossil fuels and pumping pollution into the atmosphere. So much needless human suffering and ecological destruction could be avoided if oil, coal and gas companies saw the existential threat their business model poses and moved quickly to transition into selling safer, less expensive and more reliable renewable energy. Too many powerful people in government, business and civic organizations have clung to the fantasy that some of the most powerful and destructive companies in history would eventually face reality and transform on their own initiative into clean and sustainable operations. … ” Continue reading at the LA Times.
Ever-increasing storms don’t have to be this catastrophic: Piecemeal approach to attacking climate change infrastructure challenges is wrongheaded
Mark Gongloff, a Bloomberg Opinion editor and columnist covering climate change, writes, “Imagine trying to build a boat while it’s already at sea and taking on water. You rush from springing leak to springing leak, haunted by a vague sense that a storm is coming but with no idea how big it will be or how long it will last. This more or less describes how the United States is approaching the growing flood threat posed by a warmer atmosphere that holds more water, subjecting the country to bouts of torrential, catastrophic rainfall. Lives are being lost and property destroyed partly because we’re moving too slowly to embrace proven solutions to bolster our infrastructure against disasters that are becoming increasingly routine. … ” Continue reading at the San Jose Mercury News.
In regional water news this week …
With one down, Klamath dam removal proceeds on schedule
“The first of four hydroelectric dams along the Oregon-California border has been removed from the main stem of the Klamath River. All that remains of the dam known as Copco 2 in Siskiyou County, California, is the headworks of a diversion tunnel adjacent to the now free-flowing river. “As little as a month ago, it was a 35-foot concrete dam that spanned the entire width of the Klamath River right there,” says Mark Bransom, CEO for the Klamath River Renewal Corporation, which is overseeing dam removal. From a nearby overlook of red volcanic rock, an excavator looks like a child’s toy as it chips away at the remnants of the concrete wall that was embedded in the river. … ” Read more from Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Public comments periods open for two changes at PG&E’s Potter Valley Project
“The Potter Valley Project has two deadlines for public comment coming up next month. One is a proposal for a flow variance, which takes into account recent developments with the embattled water diversion facility. The other is garnering statewide interest in PG&E’s request to transfer its non-nuclear generating assets to a subsidiary called Pacific Generation. That includes all its hydropower projects, some of which, like the one in Potter Valley, are running under expired licenses and are slated for decommissioning. Potter Valley has not been able to generate electricity since December of 2021, due to a broken piece of equipment in the powerhouse. … ” Read more from KZYX.
Lake Tahoe report says clarity improving, but microplastic pollution remains an issue
“A recent report by a research center at the University of California, Davis states that microplastic pollution is an issue in Lake Tahoe. In its 2023 Tahoe: State of the Lake Report, UC Davis’s Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC) found that Lake Tahoe’s levels of microplastic pollution are similar to the San Francisco Bay. Another point made in the report dealt with the lake’s improved clarity. According to the report, Lake Tahoe’s clarity is at the best-measured levels since the 1980s. Geoffrey Schladow, TERC director and a professor of civil and environmental engineering, said about microplastics, “What goes into Tahoe, stays in Tahoe.” “It’s a worry for every aquatic system,” he added. … ” Read more from Fox 40.
AT&T to pause prior plans to remove lead cables under Lake Tahoe as it works with regulators
“AT&T Inc. said in a Tuesday court filing that it would hold off on prior plans to remove lead-sheathed cables running underneath California’s Lake Tahoe amid recent reporting on the legacy cables. The company agreed back in 2021 to remove the Lake Tahoe cables, a move that AT&T’s T, -0.59% lawyers said Tuesday was “simply to avoid the expense of litigation” even though the company “has always maintained that its lead-clad telecommunications cables pose no danger to those who work and play in the waters,” according to an attachment to the latest filing with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. However, AT&T said Tuesday that given heightened attention on the cables brought about by recent Wall Street Journal reporting, it has determined that “the responsible course of action” is to allow further independent analysis of the cables rather than remove them, “and work cooperatively with regulators and other stakeholders on a risk assessment.” … ” Continue reading at Market Screener.
SEE ALSO:
- AT&T Says Less Than 10% of Its Network Has Lead Covered Cables, from Yahoo Finance
- AT&T Pushes Back on Lead Contamination Allegations, from Telecompetitor
Changes coming to prevent misuse and abuse of Tahoe beaches
“Recent international news stories showed shocking images of volunteers and nonprofits removing thousands of pounds of litter from one Lake Tahoe beach following the July 4th holiday. The media coverage caused public outrage and drew widespread attention to the challenge of preventing litter at the iconic Sierra Nevada destination. Those same stories largely overlooked the good news: the vast majority of sites cleaned as part of the “Keep Tahoe Red, White & Blue” July 5th Beach Cleanup, hosted annually by the League to Save Lake Tahoe, were far less impacted. … ” Read more from YubaNet.
A new proposed Butte County Water District; groundwater a key concern
“The group Groundwater for Butte is a new committee going against the Butte County District in moving forward with water sustainability issues. Groundwater for Butte is concerned about water overdraft, drawing more water from wells than is flowing into the aquifer. The proposed landowner-based Tuscan Water District could be a better idea. State-regulated groundwater must have groundwater sustainability agencies to prevent water overdrafts. This is because we’re using more groundwater than is naturally recharging yearly throughout the state. Groundwater for Butte says this is taking away public control of groundwater and that they don’t have any plans to pay for it. … ” Read more from Action News Now.
Underwater Junkyard: dozens of vehicles sit below the surface of the San Joaquin River in Stockton
“An underwater junkyard of sorts lies beneath the San Joaquin River in Stockton. Dozens of vehicles have been dumped or accidentally driven into the river, and the sheriff’s office says they don’t have the resources to get them out. The San Joaquin River is one of the hardest working rivers in California, generating hydropower for millions of homes and providing drinking water for even more. It’s a 330-mile highway for endangered fish like trout and salmon starting in the Sierra and ending in the San Francisco Bay, but the middle of it takes an unfortunate turn. “We get probably like three to four cars in the water every month, but this year it’s been significantly more. I would probably say about double,” said Deputy John Canepa with the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office Boating Unit. …” Read more from ABC 10.
From litigation to collaboration on the San Joaquin River
“The San Joaquin Valley is one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world, and much of its success comes from the waters of the San Joaquin River. Historically, the big challenge in managing this river was how to harness its waters for irrigation while also reducing the impacts of floods. Today, another big challenge has been added to the mix: how to undo some of the damage done to the environment and to reconnect the river to its many communities. The San Joaquin River and its tributaries—including the Merced, Tuolumne, and Stanislaus rivers—drain the west slope of the Sierra Nevada, flowing north into the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. Before colonization, the waters fanned out across the floodplains of the valley, feeding wetlands, creating vast underground reserves of water, and fueling one of the state’s most productive freshwater ecosystems, which supported numerous tribes, including the Yokuts and Miwoks. … ” Read more from the PPIC.
You’ve never seen Friant Dam spill like this: GV Wire exclusive
“Wanting to give readers a view of the water spilling over the top of Friant Dam, I asked the Bureau of Reclamation if GV Wire could utilize drone video there. The Bureau granted our request, and the result is spectacular footage that you can view by clicking the video above or below. In addition, we received an interview with Bureau engineer Rufino Gonzalez, who is in charge of water operations at Friant Dam, as well as Bradbury Dam near Santa Barbara. In the video, he says that the amount of water released from the dam this season would be enough to fill Millerton Lake nine times.” Watch video at GV Wire.
Announcements, notices, and funding opportunities …
WORKBOOK NOW AVAILABLE: Adapting to Weather Extremes: How the State Can Prepare for Drought in a Non-Drought Year
NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULEMAKING: Direct Potable Reuse Regulations (SBDDW-23-001)
