Just days before the last repair work begins on the Oroville Dam spillway, the federal government is balking at whether or not it will pay for the repairs. Rep. John Garamendi (D-Davis) and Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Oroville) have been speaking with the Federal Emergency Management Agency for months to cover up to 75 percent of the repair costs, but have little to show for it. The agency is conducting a forensics study of the spillway but says it doesn’t have the legal precedent to reimburse repair costs from damage caused by deferred maintenance and design deficiencies.
https://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.png00Andrea Morahttps://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngAndrea Mora2018-05-03 16:55:332018-06-26 17:50:33Congressman: State Put Delta Tunnels Ahead Of Oroville Dam Spillway
The California Water Commission on Thursday put in serious doubt the future of building a reservoir at Temperance Flat in east Fresno County. Meeting in Sacramento, the commission appeared to be headed toward preventing the massive water storage project to move forward. Commission members spent three days reviewing the public benefit portion of all 11 water projects seeking funding. Consideration of Temperance Flat began Wednesday and continued into Thursday evening. Commissioner Armando Quintero sympathized with the project organizers, but he said the project did not meet the technical requirements necessary.
https://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.png00Andrea Morahttps://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngAndrea Mora2018-05-03 16:44:052018-06-26 17:50:33Temperance Flat Reservoir Project Far From Key State Funding Despite Valley Backing
Several years ago, California farmers, including many in the Valley, began receiving threatening letters from the State Water Resources Control Board. The demand? Provide clean drinking water to local residents with nitrate contaminated private wells or face punitive legal action. The logic? Years of fertilizer application by farmers led to excess nitrates in the drinking water supply for some residents in California’s agricultural regions, including our Tulare Lake Basin.
The California Water Commission has been meeting this week to discuss how to invest $2.7 billion in water storage funds approved by voters under Proposition 1. The commission — and all Californians — should bear in mind that water storage doesn’t necessarily mean a dam with water behind it. The commission’s charge is not to fund the biggest new dam but to fund projects with the greatest net benefits to California cities, farms and wildlife.
https://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.png00Andrea Morahttps://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngAndrea Mora2018-05-02 17:21:272018-06-26 17:50:33OPINION: More Water Storage Doesn’t Mean Build More Dams
The scattered showers that slickened roads across San Diego County Wednesday morning, though light as expected, brought the most rain the region has seen since mid March. Next up is a drying and warming trend. Temperatures, well below normal Tuesday and Wednesday, on Thursday should be near normal for early May. By Saturday, building high pressure should raise the highs to around 90 degrees in the inland valleys, the mid 70s at the coast and over 100 in the desert.
https://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.png00Andrea Morahttps://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngAndrea Mora2018-05-02 17:10:482018-06-26 17:50:34Rain Light But It Was Most In San Diego In 6 Weeks
California’s 2014 legislation, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) was significant in that it was the state’s first major groundwater regulation. But Michael Kiparsky the founding director of the Wheeler Water Institute at the University of California Berkeley School of Law, says that it was also significant in another way. “It breaks with what had been decades of a legal fiction that groundwater and surface water were not part of a single hydrologic system,” he says. While rivers, lakes and other surface waters are often thought of – and regulated – separately from the groundwater below, the two are connected.
https://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.png00Andrea Morahttps://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngAndrea Mora2018-05-01 16:53:362018-06-26 17:50:34To Manage California’s Groundwater, Think More About Surface Water
Twenty years and $50 million into the process, officials with desalination plant purveyor Poseidon are optimistic they will get their final two permits — possibly by year’s end. Here are the key steps ahead for the plant in Huntington Beach: Term sheet. This non-binding working agreement lays the groundwork for an eventual contract for Poseidon to sell its water to the Orange County Water District. The district is currently updating its 2015 term sheet and may have a draft to present to the OCWD board in June. Federal financing. A Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan would reduce the cost of loans.
https://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.png00Andrea Morahttps://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngAndrea Mora2018-05-01 16:50:552018-06-26 17:50:34Here Are Poseidon’s Final Steps To Building A Desalination Plant
The day of reckoning is drawing near for Huntington Beach’s long-planned desalination plant, which would help quench Orange County’s thirst with sea water and free up imported water for the rest of the Southern California. Twenty years and $50 million into the process, officials with plant purveyor Poseidon are optimistic they will get their final two permits — possibly by year’s end. They tout the project as a drought-proof source of water that will provide a stable supplement to the more volatile groundwater and imported sources in a future filled with aquatic uncertainties.
https://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.png00Andrea Morahttps://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngAndrea Mora2018-05-01 16:43:142018-06-26 17:50:34What To Know About The Poseidon Desalination Plant And Its Pros And Cons For Southern California Water
Arizona’s largest water provider tried Tuesday to defuse a multi-state dispute over the Colorado River, saying it regretted the belligerent-sounding words it used to describe its management strategy for the critical, over-used waterway. The Central Arizona Project, which provides water to about 5 million people, pledged to be more cooperative with other river users and promised “to have a more respectful and transparent dialogue in the future.” The river serves 40 million people in seven U.S. states and Mexico, and consumption is tightly regulated and closely monitored.
https://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.png00Andrea Morahttps://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngAndrea Mora2018-05-01 16:39:522018-06-26 17:50:34Arizona Utility Tries To End Multi-State Colorado River Feud
From her first day on the job at Vallecitos Water District in 1988, Dawn McDougle knew that she wanted to finish her career at the San Marcos-based water agency.
Her dedication, innovation, and commitment to the community have paid off in many ways over the decades. In January, they brought McDougle to the forefront of the region’s water industry when the California Water Environment Association of San Diego recognized her as Supervisor of the Year for her career of excellence, safety and protecting the environment.
McDougle started at Vallecitos as an industrial waste technician at a time when few women performed this work. She advanced her career by taking classes and earning certifications – and she helped others by mentoring and coaching them along the way. In 2002, McDougle was promoted to wastewater treatment plant supervisor.
Career Accomplishments Benefit the Community
Over the past 16 years, McDougle played a major role in the operation and management of the Meadowlark Reclamation Facility – recognized in 2009 with an Award of Excellence from the American Society of Civil Engineers.
“It’s been an awesome road with the Vallecitos Water District, and I am always going to be grateful to say I spent my career here and achieved all the goals I wanted to achieve,” said MdDougle.
McDougle’s tenure at Meadowlark included the recent completion of a $30 million expansion to an important part of Vallecitos’ water supply program that reduces demand on imported water supplies for northern San Diego County. The facility produces recycled water for golf courses at La Costa and the Four Seasons Resort Aviara in Carlsbad, several school sites, Legoland and the Carlsbad Flower Fields.
McDougle masterminded the use of new process units that extended the useful life of the Meadowlark plant well beyond 2030. With many constraints along the way, she kept the existing plant operating while constructing a new plant and meeting the plant expansion output goal of 5 million gallons per day.
McDougle’s staff at Meadowlark praise her extensive knowledge, her leadership, and her generosity in passing on her knowledge to others. “Dawn gave me an opportunity … She’s been great, she shows me what I have to do in order to be a successful operator. She’s top notch in this industry,” said Fernando Mata, Plant Operator.
The Meadowlark facility is visited frequently by students and ratepayers, because it provides an excellent opportunity to see how wastewater is converted to a valuable resource. Vallecitos developed successful outreach programs with McDougle’s guidance, including the California Water Environment Association “Wake up to Wastewater” tour, and the district’s award-winning Water Academy tour.
During the Water Academy tour, McDougle highlights how the district plays an integral role in protecting the environment through water reuse. It showcases an industry leader, who has spent her career making sure the district’s facilities live up to their promise.
https://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/McDougle-Story-Photo-Dawn.jpg13332000Gayle Falkenthalhttps://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngGayle Falkenthal2018-04-01 23:18:002018-06-26 17:50:37Vallecitos Supervisor Honored for 28 Years of Environmental Protection
