Timely Water Reading

For those interested in digging into other water news, I’m sharing these articles from the Family Farm Alliance and California Policy Center.
 
Senate ENR Water and Power Subcommittee to Hear Testimony on Western Water Bills
Courtesy of the Family Farm Alliance
 
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) Water and Power Subcommittee yesterday heard testimony on sixteen bills dealing with the impacts of drought across the West, including restoration of fish habitat and permitting new hydropower projects. 

• S. 2161, the “Canal Conveyance Capacity Restoration Act,” from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), that would authorize $653 million to restore three San Joaquin Valley canals impacted by subsidence and old age, and $180 million for the restoration program on the San Joaquin River.
  
• S. 2162, the “Support to Rehydrate the Environment, Agriculture and Municipalities (STREAM) Act,” from Sen. Feinstein, which would increase water supply and modernize water infrastructure across the West.
  
• S. 2202, the “Restore Aging Infrastructure Now Act,” from Sen. Feinstein, would draw from $3.2 billion appropriated to the Bureau of Reclamation in the bipartisan infrastructure law to help pay for upgrades to aging Reclamation-owned canals that provide for additional public benefits, including drinking water for disadvantaged communities.

Continue reading here.
 
What’s Current? California’s Water & Energy Future with Edward Ring
 
A New Way to Safely Harvest Water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
The San Joaquin Valley Blueprint, a collaborative project involving water agencies and community leaders, has come up with a fascinating proposal. Cut channels in a few Delta islands and fill the beds with rocks that cover a huge number of French Drains. During storms, an estimated 30,000 acre feet per day can be harvested from 200 acres without pumps harming fish, and the water can be stored in the valley’s capacious aquifers. A pilot project is being developed to further evaluate this concept.
 
How Much Water Does California Agriculture Consume?
A thought provoking new study from the California Farm Bureau offers a new perspective on water use by agriculture. Taking into account so-called “uncaptured water,” which is typically not counted even though it benefits the environment, in an average year, agriculture in California only uses 15 percent, the urban share is only 4.5 percent, and all of the rest is reserved for the environment.
 
How Do You Solve a Problem Like CEQA?
Despite plenty of other environmental safeguards, the California Environmental Quality Act has morphed into a beast that stops more good projects than bad, making everything in California cost more, including energy, water, and housing. Want to get rid of CEQA? Here’s one idea – a ballot initiative with brevity only matched by its power: “Section 1. Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code is repealed.”