News and Features Archives ~ MAVEN'S NOTEBOOK

FEATURE: Water rights 101

June 3, 2020

1061

California water law is complex, governed by both state and federal law, part property law and part environmental law. The system incorporates a traditional water rights riparian system with the appropriative ... Read More...

NOTICE OF PREPARATION: Delta Plan Ecosystem Amendment

Maven

May 26, 2020

169

Project: Preparation of environmental documents for the draft Amendments to Delta Plan, Chapter 4: Protect, Restore, Enhance, the Delta Ecosystem Documents: Notice of Preparation, available here. Draf... Read More...

FEATURE: Predicting and planning for extreme precipitation from atmospheric rivers

Maven

May 20, 2020

240

On Feb. 27, 2019, an atmospheric river 350 miles wide and 1,600 miles long barreled through the sky, funneling moisture from the tropics to Sonoma County and dumping over 21 inches of rain over two days, causin... Read More...

WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT: Developing a water budget

Maven

May 13, 2020

544

With water availability being an important concern, water managers often use water budgets to quantify and manage water resources. A water budget is an accounting of the rates of the inflows, outflows, and cha... Read More...

DELTA CONVEYANCE PROJECT: Why not a western alignment?

Maven

May 6, 2020

476

Congressman Garamendi pushes for consideration of a western alignment for Delta conveyance; DWR responds In his scoping comments for the Notice of Preparation for the reformulated Delta Conveyance Project, Con... Read More...

Restore the Delta webinar on voluntary agreements

Maven

April 30, 2020

332

Delta stakeholder group provides history of Delta water quality planning and expresses their concerns over the voluntary agreements In mid-April of 2020, Restore the Delta hosted a webinar where they discussed... Read More...

SGMA IMPLEMENTATION: Water rights permitting options for groundwater recharge projects

Maven

February 20, 2020

746

ACWA/State Water Board webinar presentation outlines temporary and permanent options, including a new streamlined permitting pathway for standard water rights permits Almost five years ago, in the midst of a h... Read More...

CA WATER LAW SYMPOSIUM: Federalism and Water under the Trump Administration: Has the Long Peace Come to an End?

Maven

February 12, 2020

1202

The California Water Law Symposium is on my short list of not-to-be-missed events on my yearly calendar. The symposium is a collaborative student-run event where students from each law school organize a panel ... Read More...

CEQA 101: Introduction to the Delta Conveyance Project CEQA Process

Maven

February 11, 2020

590

Recently, the Department of Water Resources posted a short video providing an overview of the California Environmental Quality Act and the preparation of environmental documents for the Delta Conveyance Project... Read More...

PERSPECTIVES: DWR Director Karla Nemeth on Oroville Dam, the Governor’s water resilience portfolio, Delta conveyance, the Voluntary Agreements, and more …

Lisa Beutler

October 17, 2019

1205

Sacramento River and Tower Bridge (Photo by DWR) Interview and write-up by Lisa Beutler, Stantec (Sacramento, CA). This article appeared first in The Water Report and is reprinted here with permission. ... Read More...

DAM REMOVAL: Dammed if you do, dammed if you don’t

Maven

October 16, 2019

1765

Matilija Dam; Photo by Zack Abbey San Clemente Dam, Klamath Dams, and Matilija Dam removal spotlighted at ACWA Conference The time, expense, and regulatory uncertainty of providing viable and effective fish ... Read More...

PERSPECTIVES: The SOURCE Interview with Brenda Burman, Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner

Maven

August 7, 2019

287

Finding solutions for shortages on Colorado River This post, written by Lynn Lipinski, first appeared in SOURCE Magazine and is reprinted here with permission. Amid nearly two decades of drought on the Co... Read More...

Draft environmental documents for the long-term operation of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project, plus an update on the biological opinions

Maven

August 6, 2019

691

Aerial view looking East along San Joaquin River in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Photo by Ken James / DWR Explainer post on what these environmental documents are all about and how they interface w... Read More...

THIS JUST IN … Governor Newsom directs state agencies to prepare water resilience portfolio for California

Maven

April 29, 2019

2201

The plan will assess conditions, identify priorities, and emphasize regional approaches This afternoon, Governor Newsom issued an Executive Order directing state agencies to collaborate on developing a water... Read More...

CAL WATER FIX HEARINGS: Protestors write State Water Board, say hearing cannot be finalized

Maven

December 18, 2018

951

Recent developments propose significant changes to project operations that are not reflected in the modeling, they say Several letters were delivered to the California Water Fix hearing team at the State Water... Read More...

BAY DELTA SCIENCE CONFERENCE: Working With Nature Across the Land Use Spectrum: A Holistic Approach to Ecological Resilience

BROWN BAG SEMINAR: Understanding the human dimensions of social agro-ecological systems: What motivates farmer decision-making and policy change?

BROWN BAG SEMINAR: Building Socioecological Resilience by Confronting Environmental Injustice: A Participatory Approach

BROWN BAG SEMINAR: Engaging Diverse Communities around Water, Climate, and the Environment

DELTA SCIENCE NEEDS, PART 2: What do managers need to know to effectively make decisions in the future Delta?

BROWN BAG SEMINAR: Franks Tract Futures: Using map based public surveys to inform a participatory multi-benefit design project

BROWN BAG SEMINAR: From Measurements, Models and Maps to Management

FEATURE: Integrated Hydrologic Model Development and Evaluation for Non-Modelers

TIM QUINN: Forty Years of California Water Policy: What Worked, What Didn’t, and Lessons for the Future

GSA SUMMIT: Lessons learned from the 2020 GSPs: Perspectives from the critically overdrafted basins

FEATURE: The state of California’s environment

GROUNDWATER 101: The basics

CA WATER COMMISSION: Preparing California’s Water System for Climate Extremes

FEATURE: Water rights 101

FEATURE: Water rights 101

NOTICE OF PREPARATION: Delta Plan Ecosystem Amendment

FEATURE: Predicting and planning for extreme precipitation from atmospheric rivers

WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT: Developing a water budget

DELTA CONVEYANCE PROJECT: Why not a western alignment?

Restore the Delta webinar on voluntary agreements

SGMA IMPLEMENTATION: Water rights permitting options for groundwater recharge projects

CA WATER LAW SYMPOSIUM: Federalism and Water under the Trump Administration: Has the Long Peace Come to an End?

CEQA 101: Introduction to the Delta Conveyance Project CEQA Process

PERSPECTIVES: DWR Director Karla Nemeth on Oroville Dam, the Governor’s water resilience portfolio, Delta conveyance, the Voluntary Agreements, and more …

DAM REMOVAL: Dammed if you do, dammed if you don’t

PERSPECTIVES: The SOURCE Interview with Brenda Burman, Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner

Draft environmental documents for the long-term operation of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project, plus an update on the biological opinions

THIS JUST IN … Governor Newsom directs state agencies to prepare water resilience portfolio for California

CAL WATER FIX HEARINGS: Protestors write State Water Board, say hearing cannot be finalized