“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