This is the summer that California’s relationship with water – often wasteful – will undergo permanent change. That was the message delivered Thursday by the state’s top water officials, days after Gov. Jerry Brown ordered the first-ever mandatory statewide cutbacks in urban water use. Faced with an epic water crisis prompted by years of drought,
The agency that regulates the oil industry in California is — by its own admission — in disarray. After a series of embarrassing disclosures about regulatory lapses that allowed drilling in protected aquifers, officials at the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources are trying to untangle years of chaotic operation. But the fixes aren’t
The worsening drought is spurring the East Bay's largest water supplier to consider slapping a 25 percent surcharge on customers' bills -- on top of an 8 percent general rate increase. The East Bay Municipal Utility District proposed the 8 percent permanent increase Tuesday largely to cover the cost of accelerating replacement of aging pipes.
Wall Street Journal op ed excerpt While the recent rains in California are welcome, they’ve barely made a dent in the enduring drought, now in its fourth year. Solving the state’s water problem will take radical solutions, and they can begin with “virtual water.” This concept describes water that is used to produce food or
Governor's media release: http://www.gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=18906 The California Assembly approved a $1 billion plan Thursday to bring immediate relief for communities hit hardest by the drought and to move long-term water projects along more quickly. Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders announced the plan last week, and it now heads to the governor for final approval. The
A state agency has lowered the Public Health Goal for perchlorate, a dangerous pollutant found in many underground water basins across the Southland – including the Rialto-Colton area and the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys. While the PHG, set by the state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, is not an enforceable number, it
A long anticipated El Nino has finally arrived. But for drought-struck California, it's too little, too late, meteorologists say. The National Weather Service on Thursday proclaimed the phenomenon is now in place. It's a warming of a certain patch of the central Pacific that changes weather patterns worldwide, associated with flooding in some places, droughts elsewhere,
Merced County’s proposed groundwater ordinance is one step closer to becoming law. The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the first reading of the ordinance, setting a second reading and possible adoption for March 17. The ordinance would regulate groundwater transfers out of Merced County basins through a permitting process, allowing county officials to scrutinize each water
In drought-ridden California, many water bills are calculated using a basic principle: The more water a customer uses, the higher the rate. It's a strategy water districts employ to boost conservation. But this long-standing practice is now under attack in the courts. A group of San Juan Capistrano taxpayers sued their local water provider, arguing
Longer, drier droughts may be ahead for the Southwest and Central Plains if greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated, according to study released this month that included NASA-sponsored projections. The longer droughts could be similar to drought experienced in the 1930s and current drought in the Midwest, but it will be as much as 30 to