“Everybody in Vanity Fair must have remarked how well those live who are comfortably and thoroughly in debt; how they deny themselves nothing . . . .” — William Makepeace Thackeray Calling the water shots Behind the scenes planning by the water contractors who want the twin tunnels is bearing fruit with the formation of two new Offices in the Department of Water Resources (DWR). One of them, a new Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) Office in the Executive Division of DWR, will be responsible for that third of the plan that is actually supposed to help the ecosystem – Conservation Measures 2-22. It will be headed initially by Chief Deputy Director Laura King Moon, known to us for her [...]
DWR
News from Restore the Delta: 4/7/2014
April 7, 2014
“Tyranny is Tyranny, let it come from whom it may.” – Howard Zinn Articles What did they know? And When did they know it? Old news worth another look And independent scientists say…. And environmental groups across the board agree… What did they know? And When did they know it? In retrospect, state and federal water managers may wish they had sent less water out of upstream reservoirs last year. Even in an average water year, it’s a challenge to meet the needs of all the water users above and below the Delta and the needs of several runs of migrating and spawning fish as well. And what’s an “average” water year? Probably it is much dryer than anyone thought [...]
The Bakersfield Californian: While D.C. plays politics, real water issues await
January 30, 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, January 30, 2014Contact: Steve Hopcraft 916/457-5546; [email protected]; Twitter: @shopcraft; @MrSandHillCrane; Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla 209/479-2053 [email protected]; Twitter: @RestoretheDeltaIn case you missed it…The Bakersfield CalifornianTuesday, Jan 28 2014 10:00 PMLOIS HENRY: While D.C. plays politics, real water issues awaitBy Lois HenryThere are real issues to be discussed involving California’s water troubles. Tough issues.Such as, whether we’ve overplanted with crops that simply cannot be accommodated long term given regulatory changes in the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta.Oh yeah, I went there. Let the howling begin.Can our water system sustain the explosion in almonds, pistachios, grapes and other permanent crops we’ve seen in Kern and other valley counties?I don’t know.But I do know that’s a question being mulled, even among those in the [...]
Delta Flows: January 30, 2014
January 30, 2014
“The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” – Milan Kundera Taking advantage of a crisis Most people except some overwrought San Joaquin Valley congressmen and the Speaker of the US House of Representatives realize by now that there’s no water for farming right now because THERE’S NO WATER. Even if we had twin tunnels today, there would be no water to put in them. Reservoirs serving agricultural users were in good shape earlier this year (and those serving Southern California urban users still are). But the Department of Water Resources and the Bureau of Reclamation pumped a lot of water out of reservoirs north of the Tehachapis this past summer, gambling that we would [...]
