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Water Budgets: Numbers Matter
A recent series of articles and blog posts by Jeff Mount and others from the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) proposes a system of “water budgets” for the environment as part of a new system for managing water and rivers in California. These follow on a November 2017 PPIC paper by Mount et al.…
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Delta Stewardship Council Recommends Pause in Delta Tunnels Project
It now appears that there is almost no chance that Delta tunnels will be approved and begin construction before Governor Brown leaves office in January 2019. The roadblock emerged on November 15, 2018 in a proceeding before a state agency that most people don’t know about and even fewer understand: the Delta Stewardship Council. Following…
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State Water Board Postpones Decision on San Joaquin River Flows
“Let’s go.” “We can’t.” “Why not?” “We’re waiting for Godot.” ― Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot In response to a joint written request[1] from Governor Brown and incoming Governor Gavin Newsom, the State Water Resources Control Board on November 7, 2018 postponed a decision on adoption of increased flow requirements for the lower San Joaquin…
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Federal Dam Safety Regulators Describe Need for Big Changes at Oroville Dam
The Division of Dam Safety and Inspections in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a letter to the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) on October 25, 2018 that requires DWR to reclassify the emergency spillway at Oroville Dam as an “auxiliary spillway.” The letter also describes the need for DWR to plan for a…
