Watershed moments abound for California’s water system. Between this week and the end of June, the governor’s office will write and the Legislature vote on historic groundwater management program budgets for the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) and the Department of Water Resources (DWR). In addition, DWR will designate “high priority” basins in need of immediate monitoring intervention, the SWRCB staff says to expect curtailment notices for post-1914 water right holders, the SWRCB may roll-out its 5-year groundwater plan, and DWR will publish the California Water Plan 2013 Update. To name a few. How to coordinate and rationalize all of these actions is one the questions that we have been posing for weeks.
Yet we watch as 21% of our water supply goes to the ocean as the SF Chronicle points out. We should be capturing more — for all purposes. Enhancing supply and providing more choices are good things. We can’t afford a decades of litigation and further delay. Conserve more, store more, remediate groundwater, and improve best practices. http://bit.ly/1e54vnd
And stay tuned for a continuing broad sweep of developments. The Gualco Group, Inc. keeps you informed — join our California News & Notes weekly listserv (just to your right on this webpage) or follow us on Twitter @gualcogroup, @jrgualco or @robertjgore