The county boat inspection program seems to be functioning. “By 2 p.m. Saturday, inspectors at Anderson Lake had climbed into and crawled under about 56 boats. They sent about 13 away after finding water in the hull or the motor. Some were also sent back with other problems.”
Barry Nelson, the director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Western Water Project, writes in this essay in the San Diego Union-Tribune, that ” a combination of water-use efficiency, water recycling, improved groundwater management and advanced urban runoff management” constitute a vast “virtual river,” our last untapped water source in California. California’s future depends on [...]
The Sacramento Bee (probably my all-time favorite newspaper name) has run a couple articles lately about rainwater harvesting. Columnist Dan Weintraub is the latest to weigh in on the subject. The previous article is here. Rainwater harvesting, like greywater systems, is the kind of conservation that cities have to encourage through zoning laws. Big, expensive [...]
Assemblymember Paul Krekorian, D-Burbank, is currently carrying AB 2153, which would require new development to mitigate new water use. Krekorian’s measure would require developers to prove their projects have no net gain in water use or pay into a fund to finance conservation projects elsewhere, such as fixing leaky pipes, cleaning up groundwater and recycling. [...]
I haven’t experienced SCVWD budget workshops before, but the ones this week are, by the Board’s report, much more detailed than in the past. So detailed, in fact, that three extra days this past week were not enough to cover everything. Yesterday afternoon, the Board decided to postpone accepting the draft budget and setting the [...]
The Nevada Appeal (I love newspaper names) is running a series of articles on invasive mussels, in particular, their threat to Lake Tahoe. The first article is here. (From Aquafornia.) The SCVWD Board discussed the issue for two hours yesterday (as reported
This morning was National River Cleanup Day, sponsored locally by Hands on Bay Area: I helped out on the Guadalupe River between Woz Way and San Fernando. Nothing makes me hate smoking and plastic shopping bags more than picking them up on creek banks. There were about 30 volunteers, who brought back an impressive pile [...]
The Dutch Embassy has published a booklet outlining the similar delta management challenges faced by the Netherlands (where two-thirds of the country is at or below sea level) and California and Louisiana.
From the Contra Costa Times, an eloquent op-ed about recycled water all over the Bay Area. In the 21st century we need to think in terms of the “soft path” — one which seeks to improve the productivity of water use and match delivery of water to the needs of the users instead of just [...]