The California State Board of Food and Agriculture will discuss drought planning, groundwater management, implementation of the California Water Action Plan and other issues of concern to California agriculture at its Nov. 4 meeting in Sacramento.

Californians will soon cast their votes on Proposition 1, a $7.5 billion water bond that reflects what could be a major turning point in California water, ACWA Executive Director Timothy Quinn writes in the latest entry in the Voices on Water blog.

Read the complete blog post here.

Fresno City Council Members Lee Brand and Paul Caprioglio have announced plans to present what they are calling the Water Conservation Act to the Fresno City Council on Nov. 6. The act would expand water conservation rebate programs and propose new strategic watering practices in an effort to save water while preserving public areas.

With California in the midst of one of its worst droughts in years, ACWA members will hear lessons from the most severe drought in Australia’s history from Dr. Stuart White during the Dec. 3 opening breakfast keynote address at ACWA’s Fall Conference & Exhibition in San Diego.

White, director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures (Institute) at the University of Technology Sydney, will provide insights from Australia’s “Millennium Drought” which spanned from 1995 to 2009 and left agricultural, urban, and rural areas devastated.

California will need to take an “all-of-the-above” strategy to meet the challenges of drought and water supply reliability, including increased conservation, bolstered water storage and implementation of Gov. Jerry Brown’s statewide water action plan.

That was the overarching message delivered Oct. 28 to reporters by Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior Michael Connor in comments made following his keynote address at the Bay-Delta Science Conference in Sacramento.

California’s drought is having a visible impact on lawns throughout the state as homeowners reduce their outdoor watering. Lawns can be brought back to life relatively quickly, but once a tree dies, its loss is irreversible.

As the amount of sunlight falling on trees is reduced with the change in the seasons, trees go into dormancy and require less water than during the hot summer months. But in exceptionally dry conditions, a tree may not have enough stored moisture to survive California’s drought.

From groundwater management to the 2014 water bond, ACWA members discussed major developments in California water at the Regions 6 & 7 San Joaquin Valley Water Forum on Oct. 17, Region 7 Chair William Taube writes in the latest entry in the Voices on Water blog.

Read the blog post here.

The Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District declared a water supply emergency Oct. 22 in response to record-low groundwater levels.

A solid majority – 56% — of likely voters say they will support Proposition 1 – the water bond – at the ballot box this November, while 92% of likely voters say they are following news of the drought very or fairly closely, according to a newly released by the Public Policy Institute of California.

The Bureau of Reclamation has released a report that finds that silicone foul release coatings are the most promising for deterring mussel attachment in flowing and static water.

The report summarizes six years of testing coatings to control the attachment of quagga and zebra mussels to water and power facilities. Since the study began in 2008, Reclamation has tested more than 100 coatings and materials, according to the Reclamation press release.

The State Water Resources Control Board will sponsor a series of workshops throughout the state in coming weeks to present an overview of the draft Safe Drinking Water Plan for California. Members of the public are invited to comment on the document by noon on Dec. 15.

A quorum of State Board members may be present at the workshop and may provide input, pose questions, or provide direction to staff, but will not take action.