Back in April, Restore the Delta reported that Delta Stewardship Council Staff recommended that CH2MHill provide the primary support for developing the Delta Plan, as mandated by the legislature. CH2MHill was already heavily involved in the historic Cal-Fed process and developing the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, which the Delta Stewardship Council is set to either...Read More

After its impressive show of backbone in adopting the report on flow criteria, the SWRCB reverted to its usual equivocation when it was time to talk to the BDCP Steering Committee on July 29.   According to the DSC staff report, the Water Board representative told the Steering Committee that they would weigh other factors,...Read More

The Delta Stewardship Council wants “to hear from a variety of Californians about how best to communicate with them.” They’ve got a survey. Question #4 asks “In your opinion, what are the three most important water issues to address?”  There are plenty of boxes to choose from, but none for “conservation,” “regional water self-sufficiency,” or...Read More

Restore the Delta has been asked by several supporters whether it was worth their time to participate in the dialogues on California Water and the Delta being held in the five Delta counties. RTD did not jump on covering these events as we have been stretched a bit over the last several months. Debbie Davis...Read More

Five years ago at the end of August, Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on lives and property along the Gulf Coast. Almost immediately, the members of  California’s Reclamation Board voted to review all urban development plans proposed for Central Valley flood plains.  This was a rarely-used power given the Reclamation Board by state law. At the...Read More

We owe today’s opening quote to Brigadier General Scott F. “Rock” Donahue, commander of the South Pacific (Pacific Southwest) Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), who was in San Joaquin County this week to be briefed on county emergency services, flood protection, and integrated regional water management. Since two-thirds of the Delta...Read More

Fresno Bee-8/10/10 By Robin Hindery (Associated Press) Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday completed the process of removing an $11.1 billion water bond from California’s November ballot and delaying it for two years. The governor signed two bills, one of which postponed the water bond vote until November 2012. The other delayed the terms of...Read More

L.A. Times-8/11/10And then there were nine. The water bond known as Proposition 18, which was to be the first of 10 measures on the Nov. 2 ballot, has been put off for two years, leaving voters with slightly less campaign material crowding their mailboxes, fewer words in the ballot pamphlet to read and understand, and...Read More

Sacramento Bee-8/11/10By Dan WaltersCommentary When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature enacted a sweeping package of water bills that included a $11.1 billion bond issue last year, they ignored a powerful – albeit unwritten – rule of Capitol life. That rule says any major policy decree must have virtually unanimous support from every stakeholder group...Read More

We are still unpacking all that happened with the vote on AB 1265.  One item worth mentioning is that Assembly Member Jared Huffman not only voted to stop the delay of the water bond (against AB 1265) as we had requested, he worked quite hard trying to persuade colleagues to redo the water bond, rather...Read More