Does the State Water Project’s largest contractor have enough customers actually willing to pay for the conveyance being contemplated? With that question in mind, let us turn to our report on the California Water Commission meeting on Wednesday afternoon. At the Water Commission, DWR is urging Commissioners to act under the assumption that new conveyance...Read More
An alcoholic has to admit to having a drinking problem before that problem can be solved. And California has to admit to having a water problem – and understand the real nature of that problem – before it goes spending a lot of money on “solutions”. That was one important take-away message from the October...Read More
We keep hearing about outrageous behavior by people acting as agents for the Department of Water Resources in the Delta. This week it was an individual showing up at 8 p.m. and letting himself into the home of an elderly woman to serve her with court papers. Her caregiver, reminded of similar night-time visitations in...Read More
At a recent BDCP meeting, economist Dr. David Sunding estimated that during its seven year construction period, the spending to build a tunnel under the Delta will create between 74,000 and 130,000 jobs, depending on the size of the tunnel. He estimated that each million dollars spent on construction would create 10 jobs, and each...Read More
We were going to include a link to the webcast of the September 27 BDCP meeting so that you could listen to Sunding yourself (at about the 1 hour, 30 minute mark), as well as Restore the Delta’s Brett Baker in an interesting exchange with Jerry Meral (at about 3 hours, 46 minutes). However, getting...Read More
Tom McClintock, Chairman of the House Committee on Water and Power, has announced an oversight hearing on “Questionable Fish Science and Environmental Lawsuits: Jobs and Water Supplies At Risk in The Inland Empire.” The hearing will be held on October 18 in Highland, CA. “Witnesses,” says the announcement, “will be by invitation only.” McClintock...Read More
One of Judge Oliver Wanger’s first appearances since retiring from the bench will be as the keynote speaker at the annual dinner of the Southern California Water Committee on November 17. Of course, he might come and address us, too, if we invited him. We wonder if the Southern California Water Committee has a budget...Read More
Coordinating Flood Response Delta flood response in the past has often been hampered by a lack of coordination among jurisdictions. Now the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Regional Flood Response Project is proposing a series of projects to improve coordination and information sharing among agencies and to improve Delta-wide resource management and flood fight support. Grant funds...Read More
Last week we reported on some of the interactions between Delta landowners and the Department of Water Resources as it tries to collect the geotechnical data needed for preliminary engineering studies for a tunnel. DWR has been somewhat insensitive, to put the matter kindly. We’ve heard from another Delta landowner. She reports that she and...Read More
