Westlands Water District got a letter from Congress members George Miller, John Garamendi, Grace F. Napolitano, and Mike Thompson. “We read with great interest,” they write, “that the Westlands Water District has more water at San Luis Reservoir than it can use this year, and is contemplating an exchange with the Metropolitan Water District of...Read More

The California Water Commission (CWC) is one of those State boards and commissions that could have sunsetted ten years ago and hardly anyone would have noticed. But it’s back, thanks to the 2009 Comprehensive Water Package.  The Legislation gave the CWC some responsibilities with respect to the water infrastructure envisioned by the water bond. The...Read More

The most interesting briefing came from Stuart Drown, executive director of the Little Hoover Commission.  The subject was the Little Hoover Commission’s August 2010 report, “Managing for Change: Modernizing California’s Water Governance.” This is a report that hasn’t gotten a lot of attention, which is surprising given what it recommends:  separating the State Water Project...Read More

Under the terms of last year’s legislation, the Delta Protection Commission (DPC) has until July 2011 to come up with an Economic Sustainability Plan for the Delta. The DPC has completed five community meetings to gather public input on the creation of the Sustainability Plan “framework” for the Delta.  The DPC held meetings in Courtland,...Read More

On October 6, the DPC will hold Public Meeting #2 of its Feasibility Study for  a National Heritage Area (NHA) in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.  The meeting will include small group discussion on potential interpretive themes for a Delta NHA. The meeting will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at D. H. White...Read More

In its new video, “Westlands, Salmon, & Reason,” Salmon Water Now (SWN) challenges farmers to meet with fishermen for a meaningful discussion about water, politics, and people.  You can see this new video at  http://www.vimeo.com/14982246 SWN got a lot of reaction, even from national media, to its last video, “Bullies of Westlands.”  Some reactions apparently...Read More

Last week, we reported that a group of congressional representatives and state legislators representing the Delta had written a letter to Lester Snow and Ken Salazar asking for information about the meetings of BDCP “Delta Principals” that have been taking place out of public view. The letter asked for information such as who the principals...Read More

In an interview earlier this week with the Central Valley Business Times, Jonas Minton of the Planning and Conservation League provided some background on this meeting of “principals.” Click here to read. Exporters undertook the BDCP process to secure water supplies.  Minton notes that we now have overwhelming scientific evidence that if the Bay-Delta Estuary...Read More

So what is in this 70-page document? For one thing, it includes material that never had a public hearing. “Although many of the concepts and descriptions within this context document have been discussed in the BDCP Steering Committee, others have not.  Therefore, information within this Document should not be attributed to the Steering Committee.”   The...Read More

By the way, the tunnel being proposed is 45 miles long and so wide in diameter (29 feet) that small planes could fly through it.  Maybe the state could sponsor flight competitions to help pay the cost of building the thing.  They certainly won’t be able to use it full-time for conveying water.  Even Northern...Read More