California Edging Closer to Regulating Groundwater for the First Time

California’s invisible reservoir, the water that resides in underground aquifers beneath our feet is about to be regulated.  Sen. Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills) puts a trio of water conservation bills before her Natural Resources and Water Committee, the centerpiece of which (SB 1168) is a frontal assault on the management of California’s groundwater, which, compared to other western states, is almost unregulated. Read Here  Read More

Amador County Supes oppose Wild & Scenic, again

The introducti0n of Senator Loni Hancock’s SB 1199 for a “Wild & Scenic” status for a stretch of the Mokelumne River have led the Amador County Board of Supervisors to once again reject the effort. Read Here Note:  The California Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water is holding a hearing next Tuesday, April 29, at 9:00 am on Sen. Loni Hancock’s SB 1199 to designate the Mokelumne River a state Wild and Scenic River.... Read More

Governor Brown issues Executive Order to redouble state drought actions + reactions

This just in: “The driest months are still to come in California and extreme drought conditions will get worse,” said Governor Brown. Read Here  Read More

Tussle over Calaveras Community Plans

By Dana Nichols | Published: April 18, 2014 | Leave a comment People up here like democracy. When Calaveras County leaders seven years ago invited the various towns, hamlets and sprawling rural communities to come up with their own plans for future growth and development, lots of them acted on the offer. Hundreds of people came to meetings. And they drafted plans. Now all that democracy is running into economics and bureaucracy. The idea was to include... Read More

Outsmarting the drought

“The fear of scarce water is really the fear of scarce food.  In its third year, the drought has already forced California growers to leave 800,000 farm acres unplanted this year, says Dave Kranz of the California Farm Bureau. The resulting drop in food production comes with the unavoidable coefficient of higher prices, particularly for lettuce, avocados, broccoli, grapes, tomatoes, melons, peppers, berries and corn.  … “  Read more here:  Views... Read More

Federal and state officials announce increased SWP allocations to 5%, water for refuges, barriers in the Delta, and actions being taken to benefit fish

additional measures being considered for the rest of the year in our continuing effort to balance water supply, water quality, and environmental protection in this very critically dry year. Maven’s Notebook  Read More

Court of Appeals rules in environmentalists favor over water contracts

“An appeals court said Wednesday that federal officials should have consulted wildlife agencies about potential harm to a tiny, threatened fish before issuing contracts for water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. An 11-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation violated the Endangered Species Act when it failed to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the National... Read More

If El Niño Comes This Year, It Could Be a Monster

Attention, weather superfans: El Niño might be coming back. And this time, we could be in for a big one. Read Here from WIRED  Read More

‘Tipping point:’ S.J. River named most endangered stream in nation

By Alex Breitler Record Staff Writer April 10, 2014 12:00 AM San Joaquin County’s namesake river has been named the most endangered stream in America by an environmental group. The concerns raised by Washington, D.C.-based American Rivers are not new. The San Joaquin routinely runs dry upstream of Stockton because of water diversions to San Joaquin Valley farmers, and closer to Stockton the river carries large amounts of polluted runoff from... Read More

Bill introduced to designate section of Mokelumne as Wild and Scenic

Enterprise report | Posted: Friday, April 4, 2014 1:56 pm/ The Calaveras Enterprise On April 4, Sen. Loni Hancock, of Oakland, introduced legislation to designate 37 miles of the North Fork and main Mokelumne River a State Wild and Scenic River. The Mokelumne provides 90 percent of the water for Hancock’s constituents in the East Bay. If the Wild and Scenic River designation is made into law, it will ensure that all current uses of the river between... Read More