ACWA eNews for October 28, 2015

The California Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee held a special hearing in Van Nuys today to examine flood preparedness in Southern California in the event of flooding from El Niño.

The hearing, titled – Flood Management: Are We Ready for El Niño? – featured weather experts and government officials who described preparations for expected floods. Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, lead the meeting as chair of the Natural Resources and Water Committee.

The U.S. Senate today passed a short-term highway transportation bill that will extend the deadline for railroads to install the automated train navigation system known as positive train control (PTC). The bill, which passed the House on Tuesday, will move the deadline back by a minimum of three years, to the end of 2018.  Many ACWA members have been concerned that railroads unable to implement PTC by January 1 would decide to curtail shipments of vitally important water treatment chemicals.

The California Department of Water Resources today released the guidelines it has developed for local agencies to follow when forming a Groundwater Sustainability Agency.

The guidelines adhere to  SB 13 (Pavley) which, among other things, adds new requirements and clarifications to the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act with regard to GSA completeness reviews and overlapping boundaries.

A two-day course on the fundamental principles of groundwater and watershed hydrology will be offered Nov. 9 – 10 on the UC Davis campus.

Co-sponsored by the Groundwater Resources Association of California and the University of California Cooperative Extension Groundwater Hydrology Program, the program will provide an overview of the fundamental principles of groundwater and watershed​s. It also will examine how to monitor, assess, and​ ​sustainably manage these resources under climate change and variability.

The public comment period ends Oct. 30 on the recirculated draft environmental documents for California WaterFix, a proposed water conveyance improvement plan for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta preferred by state and federal officials.

Specifically, the comment period is closing on the Partially Recirculated Draft Environmental Impact Report/Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (RDEIR/SDEIS) for the Bay Delta Conservation Plan. CA WaterFix is officials’ preferred alternative within the BDCP.

Elections for ACWA president and vice president for the 2016-’17 term are set for Dec. 2 at ACWA’s 2015 Fall Conference & Exhibition in Indian Wells.

The ACWA Nominating Committee, headed by chair Paul Kelley, has announced a slate that recommends current ACWA Vice President Kathleen Tiegs for ACWA president and ACWA Region 2 Board Member Brent Hastey for ACWA vice president.

The vote will take place during the General Session Membership Meeting immediately following the luncheon program. The session is expected to begin at 1 p.m.