Urban Water Bi-Monthly Newsletter
Mid June 2013
Announcements:
Please register for the Urban Water Institute’s Annual Water Policy Conference being held August 14-16, 2013 at the Hilton Mission Bay Resort in San Diego.
Click HERE to view the conference program
Click HERE to register for the conference
Urban Water Institute Newsletter
The Urban Water Institute, Inc. is a nonprofit 501(c) (3) dedicated to providing information about Urban Water Resource and Clean Water Act issues to Professionals and Elected Officials. See www.urbanwater.com for information about the organization and its Program schedule.
The “Urban Water Alert” is issued monthly. Brief articles by members and others may be submitted to julie@urbanwater.com and are subject to editing. Opinions expressed by authors in submitted articles are their own.
Editor: Wayne A. Clark
Links to Member Sites:
ReadinCall 949.679.9676 for Sponsor information.
________________________________
Quick Links
::
Lawsuits hit new Delta Plan from all sides
A plan intended, at least in part, to resolve decades of water conflict in the Delta has instead spawned a flood of lawsuits, with at least five separate suits filed against the plan in recent days.
Proposed water diversion tunnels could increase saltiness of Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta could become saltier if the state builds the two massive diversion tunnels Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed to supply water to the Central Valley and Southern California.
Another water fight means $17 million
The San Diego County Water Authority is once again locked in a financial battle with its major supplier, this time over $17 million worth of rate increases and property taxes.
California tops list of states with water infrastructure needs
California could use $44.5 billion to fix aging water systems over the next two decades, according to an EPA assessment. Texas and New York are next in line. California could use $44.5 billion to fix aging water systems over the next two decades, according to a federal survey that placed the state at the top of a national list of water infrastructure needs.
Gov. Brown’s Bay Delta Conservation Plan Cost $54.1 Billion: Simple Math – It’s Not Worth It
Restore the Delta, opponents of Gov. Jerry Brown’s rush to build Peripheral Tunnels that would drain the Delta and doom salmon and other Pacific fisheries today released its “Simple Math” total of costs.
Water cutbacks, dry year may push San Luis Reservoir to lowest point
Massive San Luis Reservoir will turn into a mud puddle this August on the San Joaquin Valley’s west side – maybe a historic low.
Funding to improve drinking water has come at a slow drip
Officials have been slow to spend state and federal funds to address tainted water, snarling small communities in red tape that has delayed fixes for years, advocates say. A bright metal drinking fountain is mounted on the wall in the community center of this tiny town west of Fresno. No one pays it any mind: The water is drawn from a well that has been contaminated with arsenic for years.
A long cooling-off period for San Onofre nuclear plant
Tearing down San Onofre’s two nuclear reactors will be a technically complex job completed over decades. It’s likely Southern California Edison will first mothball the plant. Southern California Edison built San Onofre’s two nuclear reactors in about nine years, but tearing them down will be a technically complex, multibillion-dollar job completed over decades.
Los Angeles Urges Conservation Due to Low Water Supplies
With record-low water deliveries projected from the Los Angeles Aqueduct, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is reminding its customers to conserve water indoors and outdoors this summer.
The dry winter, below average rainfall and snowpack, and reduced supply from the State Water project has created a “perfect storm” for L.A. residents, said James B. McDaniel, senior assistant general manager of the LADWP Water System. Read more
Single fracking bill remains before California Legislature
The drive to regulate the contentious extraction process called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” has narrowed in focus: lawmakers have winnowed the file of fracking-related bills to a single piece of legislation.