“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 pokerWithout 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 18, 2013, Southern California’s Castaic Lake reservoir is at 88% of capacity, and Southern California’s Pyramid Lake reservoir is at 97% of capacity.Central Valley reservoirs, by contrast – those serving California’s agricultural heartland – are alarmingly low. Most of these reservoirs lie behind dams built on rivers that used to sustain a complex natural environment, rivers on which fish have relied from time immemorial. And aquifers, the [...]

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 find to replace Dr. Meral.  But what we know for sure is that the Governor will not have any difficulty finding someone else willing to push his Peripheral Tunnels agenda.  After all, we’re talking here about the heady cocktail of California water and political power. It is also worth remembering that Governor Brown is responsible ultimately for pushing the BDCP boondoggle onto Californians, as part [...]

“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 to yourself. Proof of liquefaction after all! Dr. Meral said . . . The truth is . . . There are thousands of miles of levees protecting Delta islands. According to the Delta Protection Commission’s Economic Sustainability Plan, there are fewer than a thousand miles of Delta levees currently being maintained. “Unfortunately, those levees are built on a very poor foundation.,They are built on,peat soils, and [...]

“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 Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) Peripheral Tunnels, according to an 11/21/13 posting on Lloyd Carter’s blog, Chronicles of the Hydraulic Brotherhood. BDCP planners have admitted that the engineering design for this massive boondoggle is only 10% complete, after over six years and close to $200 million dollars.  DWR Director Mark Cowin put total pre-construction planning costs at $500 million over the next three years.  DWR wants [...]

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 against other diverters of Delta water. At issue is the SWRCB decision this year to relax water quality standards in the Delta for exporters while holding extra water at Shasta Dam for later cold water releases to benefit migrating fish. The SWRCB “rebalanced” exports in anticipation of a critically dry year. But the CDWA notes that under Water Right Decision 1641 (D-1641), the agreement that [...]