ACWA eNews for November 4, 2015

PBS NewsHour on Nov. 3 ran a story on water storage in California which featured ACWA Executive Director Timothy Quinn explaining the value of storage projects, particularly conjunctive use projects.

“We do need to build more dams, but we also need to connect them with more underground storage,” Quinn said in the piece.

The story is titled – To Build or Not to Build, That’s the Dam Question in Dry California. It explores varying perspectives on the value and impacts of new water storage projects in the state.

Regions 6 & 7 jointly hosted their annual San Joaquin Valley Water Forum in Visalia on Oct. 16.  The event garnered 70 attendees from throughout the Valley who heard updates from the Capitol and learned critical details about the current issues facing the San Joaquin Valley. Region 6 Chair Matt Hurley provides more details in his blog here.

ACWA and more than 100 agriculture-related associations in the West sent Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee leaders a letter Oct. 27 urging passage of “compromise” legislation to bring drought relief to the Western States.

The letter, addressed to Senate Chairwoman Lisa Murkowskiand ranking Committee Member Maria Cantwell, asked committee members to “put aside partisan differences and work together to produce compromise legislation that can be passed by both the Senate and the House, and signed into law by the president this year.”

Citing the worst epidemic of tree mortality in modern history, Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday declared a state of emergency and requested federal action to protect against unprecedented tree die-off.

Californians exceeded the statewide 25% conservation mandate in September, according to numbers released Friday by the State Water Resources Control Board.

Urban residents reduced water use by an average of 26.1% statewide in September, bringing total cumulative savings for June through September to 28.1% over 2013 levels. It marked the fourth consecutive month that Californians have exceeded the 25% mandate laid out in emergency regulations adopted by the State Water Board in May. The regulations are set to remain in place through February 2016.

ACWA Region 5 hosted an event in Buellton titled, “The Lake Cachuma Project – Past, Present, Future” on October 25 & 26. The event, which focused on one of Santa Barbara County’s major surface water supplies, attracted more than 70 attendees.

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.