SAN FRANCISCO – Developers, agribusiness and construction interests would benefit from the water bond on this fall’s ballot, while public services—such as education and public health programs—could suffer, according to a new analysis from consumer organization Food & Water Watch. As California’s legislators return to Sacramento this week to decide the fate of Proposition 18,...Read More

The State Water Resources Control Board this week adopted the report on flow criteria that was required by last November’s SBX7 1 on Delta Governance and the Delta Plan. Based on the best available science, the report affirms what people in the Delta have known for decades: You can’t have a healthy Delta when you...Read More

Of more immediate interest to people in the Delta is the new Watermaster, Craig Wilson, who was introduced at this week’s Water Board hearing. The Watermaster position was created by the Delta Reform Act of 2009. According to the Water Board’s press release, “The Delta Watermaster will act with a high degree of independence within...Read More

By Mike Taugher Contra Costa Times SACRAMENTO — A powerful state board on Tuesday for the first time adopted criteria defining how much water must flow through the Delta to the Bay to maintain a healthy ecosystem. The criteria, while nonbinding, are based on findings that showed the state’s farms and cities are using far...Read More

By Brett Baker The Sacramento Bee My family has been farming in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta since 1851. The Sierra’s Gold Rush lured my ancestors to California – but the Delta made them stay. Gold played out in a few years, but the resources of the Delta have sustained our region of the state...Read More

SACRAMENTO – The No on 18 Campaign today announced its release of a public service announcement against Proposition 18, the $11.14 billion pork-laden water bond that remains on this November’s ballot. The PSA features such actors as David DeLuise, from “Wizards of Waverly Place” and son of Dom DeLuise; Justine Bateman, from “Family Ties,” “Californication”...Read More

This week a Courtland landowner caught a couple of trespassers in a pick-up full of BDCP maps. After the landowner pressed for identification, one of the trespassers provided a card listing AECOM as his employer. According to its website, AECOM “is a global provider of professional technical and management support services to a broad range...Read More

Ongoing efforts to tie Delta water quality problems to urban discharges continued at the NAS committee briefings last week. Fortunately, there were public comments to supplement the scheduled briefings. Deirdre Des Jardins (see brief bio at the end of this newsletter) gave the committee a bibliography of major studies on the effect of other stressors...Read More

This week, the California Water Resources Control Board released a draft report identifying increased water flows needed to protect fisheries and water quality in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary. According to Mike Taugher of the Bay Area News Group, “The key finding is that of all the snowmelt and rain that falls into the Delta’s...Read More

Will the Water Board get it right this time? Mike Taugher quotes Roger Patterson, assistant general manager for the Metropolitan Water District. Meeting the 75 percent target “would obviously devastate water supplies,” Patterson said. He speculates that if pollution, invasive species, and other issues in the Delta are addressed, more water could be taken out....Read More