CCWD board postpones this year’s rate hike

Water and sewer rates won’t go up as planned this year, but neither will the increases of the previous two years be rolled back, the Calaveras County Water District board of directors decided Wednesday. Read More  Read More

Copper residents watch Melones water release with concern

Bureau of Rec says it plans to have water through end of irrigation season These days, when dam operators release water from New Melones Reservoir, people in Copperopolis notice. Read More    Read More

Congressmen call for changes in Melones water operations

Letter blames excessive environmental releases for expected shortage Congressmen Tom McClintock, R-Granite Bay, and Jeff Denham, R-Atwater, last week sent a letter to federal water managers urging them to hold more water in New Melones Reservoir in hopes of averting a disastrous water shortage in late summer. Read More  Read More

Protect our county’s historic resources

By Julia G. Costello |  Friday, March 20, 2015 6:00 am Calaveras County’s charming Gold Rush towns, rolling ranch landscapes, picturesque historic homes, mining history, and nearly 10,000 years of American Indian presence are near the top of almost everyone’s list of county assets. Yet Calaveras County is woefully deficient in instituting programs that will help protect and enhance these vulnerable resources. We have no official inventory of... Read More

Calaveras Board supports AB 142

Austen Thibault, The Union Democrat March 19, 2015 03:04 pm The Calaveras County Board of Supervisors narrowly passed a resolution Wednesday in support of Assembly Bill 142 — a controversial bill to establish a study into the effects of designating the Mokelumne River as “Wild and Scenic.” About 30 speakers commented on the issue at the special meeting before the board weighed in. About two-thirds of those were in favor for various reasons. Public... Read More

Setting The Record Straight On River Flows

By Pete Bell I am writing in response to a recently published letter to the editor to set the record straight about some Mokelumne River issues, history and Foothill Conservancy. The East Bay Municipal Utility District and Foothill Conservancy did agree that amendments were needed to Assemblyman Bigelow’s Wild and Scenic Study Bill, AB 142. The assemblyman apparently did, too, because he accepted extensive Assembly Natural Resources Committee amendments... Read More

General Plan Action Alert! Comment Deadline Friday March 20.

The end of the 90-day public review and comment period for the 2014 draft General Plan is this Friday.  Your comments need to be submitted by then to be included in the Planning Department report to the Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission.  All plan documents and maps can be viewed on the County’s General Plan Update page.   All Community Plans have been removed but could be put back in if there is enough community and Supervisor... Read More

Save Calaveras County Community Plans

When Calaveras County Planning Department staff members released the text of the draft general plan for public comment in December of last year, they disappointed many people by not including the community plans prepared by local citizens. To save your community plans, you need to again ask the planning director and the county supervisors to adopt community plans at the same time that they adopt the updated general plan.  Read More  Read More

As the drought worsens, LA water agencies offer cash to Sacramento Valley farmers:

“With the drought stretching into its fourth year, a heavyweight water agency from Los Angeles has come calling on Sacramento Valley rice farmers, offering up to $71 million for some of their water.  The price being offered is so high, some farmers can make more from selling water than from growing their rice. Many are willing to deal: Nine irrigation districts, mainly serving rice growers along the Feather River basin, have made tentative deals... Read More

3200 people risk running out of water in drought:

The Lake Don Pedro community is operating in emergency mode.  For the last several weeks, work crews have drilled well after well, hoping to find groundwater.  “We’re on our sixth test hole, and none of the other test holes yet have produced enough to be worthwhile to develop into permanent groundwater sources,” says Pete Kampa, general manager of Lake Don Pedro Community Services District. … ”  Read more from Capital Public Radio here:  3200... Read More