“In a room where people unanimously maintain a conspiracy of silence, one word of truth sounds like a pistol shot.” – Czeslaw Milosz Articles [—ATOC—] [—TAG:h2—] Water poker Without at all minimizing the hardships that many Californians may experience if drought projections for 2014 are borne out, we want to note that as of December...Read More

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold . . . “  – William Butler Yeats, “The Second Coming” Dr. Meral moves on In Sunday’s Sacramento Bee, reporter David Siders announced that Resources Deputy Secretary Dr. Jerry Meral will retire at the end of the month.  Of course, we are speculating about whom Governor Brown will...Read More

“All fantasy should have a solid base in reality.” – Max Beerbohm The Pole Barn and other earthquake fantasies Those of you who listened to the entire November 18 presentation to the Redding City Council by Dr. Jerry Meral will have heard about the Pole Barn with the Floating Poles. Aha! you may have said...Read More

“Much of this is based on engineering science rather than experience.” – Dr. Jerry Meral on the subject of earthquakes in the Delta Boring financial details The Department of Water Resources (DWR) told Westlands Water District that it would need $162 million from them over the next three years for pre-construction planning for the Bay...Read More

The best-laid schemes o’ mice and men Gang aft a-gley. (Often go wrong.) – Robert Burns Playing favorites at the Water Board? The Central Delta Water Agency (CDWA) is calling on the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) to enforce the same water quality standards against the State and federal water projects as it would...Read More

History is a distillation of rumor. – Thomas Carlyle California Water 101: Flaws in the curriculum Those of use who have been following the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) process are waiting with interest to see whether, and for how long, the federal government shutdown may have delayed release of the environmental documents for the...Read More

“Endless money forms the sinews of war.”             – Marcus Tullius Cicero Mixing oil and water The end-of-session approval by the legislature of SB 4, Senator Pavley’s watered-down (sorry) attempt to regulate fracking that is now going to the Governor for his promised signature, made us curious about the connection between water exported from the Delta...Read More

“There are no compacts between lions and men, and wolves and lambs have no concord.” -Homer, The Illiad “We’ll have to get back to you about that” The Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) has held the first of their In-Delta Office Hours to provide additional information or take input about their Peripheral Tunnel and their...Read More

“A little neglect may breed great mischief . . . for want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost.” — Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanac Correction An astute reader noted that in our recent article on...Read More

“You don’t have to do things. Maybe by avoiding doing things you accomplish quite a lot. Maybe if Kennedy had avoided the Bay of Pigs or Vietnam, that would have been quite an accomplishment.” – Governor Jerry Brown, Thoughts (1976) Senate hearing looks at BDCP governance and financing At a Joint Informational Hearing of the...Read More