Merced County received more than 400 applications for well permits in seven months after passing its groundwater ordinance in March. The ordinance was passed during California’s fourth year of drought in order to protect groundwater resources from being moved outside the county’s basins, to protect water rights and to decrease the rate of subsidence. The
Gov. Jerry Brown is picking a fight over a two-decade-old law that can make it difficult to increase water rates, raising the possibility of a new battle over the issue at the ballot box next year. He’s turning his attention to the issue as he seeks more flexibility to fund infrastructure improvements and use financial
Denver Post Commentary What if someone suggested to you a new policy, one that would result in less food production, a loss of states' rights and more federal control, less water for your household, for migratory birds and economic activity, and also would spawn endless lawsuits? What if this new policy governed water in a
Toilet-to-tap technology is already here. Two water districts in the Bay Area — the Dublin San Ramon Services District and the Santa Clara Valley Water District — are testing systems that filter sewer water and purify it to the point that it can be consumed by the public. Orange County has a system in place
In the mountains north of Santa Cruz, water is managed, as they say, "the old-school" way. Bills are written out every two months and volunteers stuff envelopes at mailing parties. Chlorine levels are checked by hand and well pressure is calculated by a 21-year-old who got the job responding to a newspaper ad. Residents fought
The Eastside Water District board voted to ask its farmers for $6 million for a groundwater recharge project. The system would eliminate no more than 10 percent of the overdraft in the 61,000-acre district, which straddles Stanislaus and Merced counties southwest of Turlock Lake in the San Joaquin Valley, but backers said it would be a
Southern California’s water wholesaler is considering building a water recycling plant modeled after Orange County’s world-acclaimed facility to replenish groundwater supplies in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Initial plans call for building a recycling plant in Carson that would purify 60,000 acre-feet of treated sewer water from the next-door Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County
Gazing out of a turboprop high above his company’s main asset — 34,000 acres in the Mojave Desert with billions of gallons of fresh water locked deep below the sagebrush-dotted land — Scott Slater paints a lush picture that has enticed a hardy band of investors for a quarter-century. Yes, Mr. Slater admits, his company,
Fresno Bee opinion piece by John Laird is California Secretary for Natural Resources and Asm. Henry T. Perea of Fresno. The drought has hit every part of California hard, but the Central Valley has been particularly devastated. A recent Fresno Bee article detailed the tragic case of East Porterville residents whose wells have run dry
Fresno County supervisors want to lead an effort to get bond money to build Temperance Flat Dam on the San Joaquin River when funding becomes available in early 2017. The dam is seen as critical to improving water supplies and reliability in the central San Joaquin Valley. The county is being pressed into action after