By Lloyd G. Carter

When Assembly Member Alyson Huber of El Dorado Hills failed to get an economic feasibility analysis bill on the controversial proposed peripheral canal out of committee recently, she was probably unaware that a similar challenge had been made to the finances of the State Water Project in 1960 by the late George “Elfie” Ballis, a legendary figure in Central California water and farmworker politics.

Huber’s bill (AB 550) would have required express approval of the Legislature for any “conveyance facility, an honest cost-benefit analysis of a peripheral canal or tunnel around the Delta” (which proponents claim would help the Delta) and prohibit any diminishing or negative impact on Delta water supplies, water rights, or water users. It failed to clear the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife on a 7-5 vote. But the vote was not along party lines. It was based on geography. North State legislators, including committee chairman Jared Huffman voted for it. The Southern California Committee members voted against it.  READ MORE »

By Lloyd G. Carter

The Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) has trotted out a Field Research Corporation poll taken in November, claiming it shows that an “overwhelming majority” of those surveyed agree “the state has major water problems and must invest [billions of dollars] in its water infrastructure to ensure reliable water now and in future years.”

Adds Mark DiCamillo, senior vice president with Field Research: “You still have a significant majority saying they are concerned about water, even though there are huge concerns about the economy today. There is also a core base of support for investing public dollars in upgrading and expanding the state’s water system through a water bond. That base is about 40 %, with another 22 % that is sympathetic and inclined to feel that way.” Well now, these are some bold claims – are they not? – for a highly controversial $11 billion water bond that will ultimately cost voters statewide some $22 billion, all drawn from the state’s already stressed out general fund, and undoubtedly forcing further layoffs of nurses, firefighters, police, and teachers, and more cutbacks in programs for the disabled, elderly, and poor.

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Remember the great Westlands Water District protest in the year of 2009 when the western Fresno County farm town of Mendota, with its alleged 40 percent unemployment rate, was made the poster child for the Westlands cry for more water?  Well, now comes word that Westlands planted acreage in 2011, a very good water year, was up 139,000 acres, the highest in a decade.  What was the Mendota unemployment this year, according to the California Empoloyment Development Department?  A record 42.3 percent. Dr. Jeffrey Michael, Director of the Business Forecasting Center at the University of the Pacific, says the Mendota EDD unmployment numbers are just as inaccurate  now as they were in 2009 and Mendota employment is actually around 25 percent this year and was at 30 percent in 2009. Why isn't the mainstream media covering this?  To learn more, check out Dr. Michael's blog HERE.

On November 17, 2011, Federal Judge Oliver Wanger gave his world view of California water politics and litigation in a  speech before a gathering of the Southern California Water Committee. You can watch the videotaped speech at http://www.socalwater.org/whats-new/100-judge-oliver-wanger-delivers-his-keynote-speech-at-scwcs-27th-annual-dinner. 

A Sausalito warehouse still holds the 1950s "Bay Model," the largest working hydraulic model in the United States; Covering 1.5 acres, it replicates the estuary from the Sacramento Delta to the Golden Gate. Although compuer modeling has supplanted it, the free attraction still draws 150,000 people a year. To learn more about it click on this link: http://www.miller-mccune.com/environment/the-fitness-of-physical-models-38084/

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 A new study in Science highlights how climate change is affecting marine life.

           Petaluma, California, USA – To survive, many species respond to changes in climate by adapting - e.g. by altering their timing of breeding, spawning and migrating - or by relocating. A new study published today (4 November 2011) in the journal Science finds that life in the seas is likely to be more affected by climate change as much or more than life on land. The study also provides evidence that some of the most diverse marine ecosystems may be particularly vulnerable to risks from ocean warming.  READ MORE »

EPA Finalizes California’s List of Polluted Waters

Trends Include 170% Increase In Toxicity Listings Since 2006

       SAN FRANCISCO— More of California’s waterways are impaired than previously known, according to a list of polluted waterways submitted by the state to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and finalized by the agency today. Increased water monitoring data shows the number of rivers, streams and lakes in California exhibiting overall toxicity have increased 170 percent from 2006 to 2010. California has some of the most magnificent rivers, lakes and coastal waters in the country. However, of its 3.0 million acres of lakes, bays, wetlands and estuaries, 1.6 million acres are not meeting water quality goals, and 1.4 million acres still need a pollution clean-up plan, known as a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL).  READ MORE »

      San Jose, CA – On Tuesday, Oct. 25, the Santa Clara Valley Water District Board of Directors unanimously adopted a resolution to ban the use of district funds to purchase polystyrene foam service ware. The ban includes contractors and venders that provide food service ware at district facilities or events. The board also voted to encourage all local municipalities in Santa Clara County to reduce and ban the use of expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam food service ware.

      The ban was proposed by district board member Linda LeZotte, a member of the Santa Clara County Recycling and Waste Reduction Commission, which in June, recommended that all of its members work toward a ban of EPS foam food service ware. The commission found that similar bans in San Francisco and Santa Cruz counties resulted in reductions of EPS foam litter of 36 and 61 percent, respectively. “All you have to do to be convinced that Styrofoam is a problem is look at a creek or the Bay shoreline,” said Director LeZotte. “Fighting pollution at the source is the ultimate solution to our litter problems.”  READ MORE »

Rivers and streams in the United States are releasing substantially more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than previously thought. These findings could change the way scientists model the movement of carbon between land, water, and the atmosphere. The findings were recently published in a Nature Geoscience article entitled “Significant efflux of carbon dioxide from streams and rivers in the United States” by David Butman and Professor Peter Raymond of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, as part of David’s Ph.D. thesis. Funding for the study was from NASA, NSF, and the USGS. The article can be found at http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo1294.html. Butman and Raymond found that a significant amount of carbon accumulated by plant growth on land is decomposed, discharged into streams and rivers, and outgassed as carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. It is estimated that streams and rivers release almost 100 million metric tons of carbon each year. This release is equal to a car burning 40 billion gallons of gasoline, enough to drive back and forth to the moon 3.4 million times. Water chemistry data from more than 4,000 rivers and streams throughout the United States were incorporated with detailed geospatial data to model the flux of carbon dioxide from water.