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Tuesday, April 25, 2006 Quote of the Day: "When in doubt, tell the truth." Mark Twain (Another one from Maggi Brooks, Inorganic Chemistry-LBWD Born on this Day: Robert Penn Warren, Aaron Bell, Freddy Scott, Shirley Boone, Shirley MacLaine, Jill Ireland, Sue Grafton, Barbra Streisand, Robert Knigh,t Vince Ferragamo, Aaron Comess, Chipper Jones, and Eric Balfour. On this Day in 1962: MIT sent a TV signal by satellite for the first time. Sent to more than 24,000 readers nationwide... and thousands more via our lineup of online ads like the one above that appears on watertechonline.com Latest postings: City of Santa Maria: Water Resources Manager Otay Water District: Utility Worker I/II MWD. of So. Cal.: Jr. Engineer MWD. of So. Cal.: Engineer MWD. of So. Cal.: Maintenance Mechanic II (Industrial Electrical) MWD. of So. Cal.: Associate Engineer Mil Potrero Mutual Water Company: Water Service Worker III City of Escondido: Water Distribution Technician I/II Monte Vista Water District: Construction Project Coordinator Crescenta Valley Water District: Engineering Assistant Rancho California Water District: Assistant General Manager Valley Center MWD: Meter Services Technician I, II, III San Diego County Water Authority: Operations and Maintenance Manager San Diego County Water Authority: Engineer P.E. (Civil) Coachella Valley Water District: Right of Way Specialist Coachella Valley Water District: Civil Engineer Coachella Valley Water District: Water Management Specialist American Water: Electrician Technician II American Water: Operations Superintendent Want more? See all postings. Today's News —  Southern California Tunnel Prospect of water canal has returned (SD Union Tribune, 4/24) "Thumped at the polls and discarded as politically toxic long ago, the idea of building another canal to send water to Southern California is getting a fresh look in the wake of rising fears that a catastrophic levee break could cut off deliveries through the Sacramento Delta." Water agencies lose clout in tunnel plan (Riverside Press-Enterprise, 4/23) "Testing the soil under the Santa Ana Mountains to see if it will support a tunnel to transport cars and water between Corona and Irvine will continue, but a fledgling agency that has been championing the project will not." —  Other Water Supply How Arizona solved its water future (Victorville Daily Press, 4/24) "Early in the 20th century, the seven states — California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado — that share the Colorado River Basin were wrangling over water. The most populous, California, thought it could outvote the others in Congress. Then California's attention was called to the Constitution's Article One, Section Three, the part that created the Senate, where all states are created equal. Hayden read that part." Northern Calif. plan on short timeline for funds (Chico Enterprise-Record, 4/24) "A regional plan for Northern California water is on the drawing board with a fast-paced schedule in hope to garner funding as soon as next year." Torrential rains have upside (Pasadena Star-News, 4/24) Editorial: "If there is a benefit to the last several weeks of rainstorms, both here and in Northern California, it is more water filling up the underground aquifer in our region. While much storm water rushes unfettered to the ocean, enough soaks in to raise the water table. That should make local water districts breathe a little easier here in our semi-arid region." LaMalfa vows to fight for water storage (Red Bluff Daily News, 4/22) "Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa, Vice-Chair of the Assembly Natural Resources Committee, joined other Central Valley legislators Wednesday to discuss the critical need for the development of new surface water storage in California." Petaluma's water dilemma (Santa Rosa Press Democrat, 4/22) "Because of a looming water shortage, Petaluma must immediately adopt costly conservation programs or bring development to a halt, city officials said." Dealing with the deluge (Sacramento Bee, 4/22) "Sometimes California's water gods give, and sometimes they take away. This spring, they're doing both, as far as Central Valley farmers are concerned." CAP: Arizona's water witch (Sacramento Bee, 4/22) Column: "Water is an odd natural resource. It falls unbidden from the sky and gathers without human help underground. It flows through many jurisdictions, giving rise to the old Western axiom that whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over." —  Levees Funding, repair woes continue for Peninsula levees (Examiner, 4/24) "Redwood Shores’s levees may soon be strengthened, while the fate of eroded levees near the Dumbarton Bridge remains in limbo." Aanestad cheers on levee work (Grass Valley Union, 4/23) "Repairs on a series of 29 levees deemed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to be critical erosion sites will begin in June, according to state Sen. Sam Aanestad." Bush offers little help toward levee repairs (Mercury News , 4/22) "Bush administration on Friday ordered federal officials to streamline environmental permits for repairs to 29 vulnerable Sacramento-area levee sites -- but offered no guarantees when the federal government will pay for its share of the work." Bush OKs a step for repair of levees (San Francisco Chronicle, 4/22) "President Bush arrived in the Bay Area on Friday with orders to his administration that could allow California to meet an ambitious timetable of repairing 29 eroded levees before year's end." Bush needs to take a closer look (Tracy Press, 4/22) Editorial: "We ask that the Secret Service OK a last-minute detour in President Bush’s itinerary today and Saturday to Northern California so he can see why he should take the unusual move of declaring a federal disaster for the Delta and its crumbling levees." —  TMDL Program California Supreme Court upholds trash case (SWRCB News Release, 4/20) Thanks to Alex Farassati for this one: "The State and L.A. Water Boards gained a major victory in California Supreme Court Wednesday when the justices refused to hear claims by a coalition of 21 cities that challenged the Water Boards’ landmark trash reduction program in the Los Angeles River. The program upheld by the court is the 'TMDL (total maximum daily load) program.'" —  Water Quality Perchlorate: Water-cleanup proposal rejected (Riverside Press-Enterprise, 4/22) "Inland residents and activists, frustrated by what they say is a lack of progress on ridding perchlorate from their groundwater sources, failed Friday to get regional water-quality regulators to adopt a plan they devised to speed the cleanup of the rocket-fuel ingredient." Softening an issue at Ca-Mg symposium (Water Tech Online, 4/22) "Scientists, medical experts and others from around world will gather on Monday to begin a three-day symposium examining the health effects of the hard-water minerals calcium and magnesium in drinking water." —  Surface Water Salinity may be greatest threat to Delta smelt (Contra Costa Times, 4/23) "A new analysis by engineers at the Contra Costa Water District shows that a decision made a decade ago to protect fish by shifting the timing of water deliveries could be at the root of what is causing populations of Delta smelt and other fish to crash." Contra Costa canal becomes federal undertaking (Contra Costa Times, 4/23) Column: "Second in a series: The Contra Costa Water District marks its 70th anniversary this year. Its birth was not an easy one. When saltwater crept further and further up the Delta in the 1920s, industry leaders got together with townspeople from Crockett to Antioch to lobby state and federal officials to come up with a solution." Yellowstone River - second 'most endangered' (Associated Press, 4/22) Thanks to Mark Moss for this one: "A conservation group is calling an 80-mile stretch of the Yellowstone River in Park County, Mont., the second "most endangered river" in the United States because of development and bank stabilization projects." Hetch Hetchy (Fremont Tri City News, 4/18) Thanks to Ron Good for this one: "This is the second part of a continuing a series of articles exploring the origin and present state of the Hetch Hetchy water and power system that runs through the Tri-City area. San Francisco Public Utilities has begun a $3.6 billion capital improvement program to repair and modernize its water supply system." —  Toxic Cleanups Pomona cleanup put on hold (Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, 4/23) "Plans to clean up contaminated soil at Pomona Corporation Yard can't move forward until city and utility company representatives reach an agreement, state officials said Friday." EPA finalizes Buena Vista Mine as Superfund site (YubaNet, 4/22) "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized the Klau/Buena Vista Mine outside Paso Robles, Calif. as a federal Superfund site today, which allows the agency to address the long-term cleanup of mercury contamination." —  Local/Agency News DWR awarded over $70 million in Sempra dispute (dBusiness News Sacramento, 4/24) "Arbitration Panel Rules Sempra Energy Acted in Bad Faith and in Breach of Multiple Aspects of its Long-Term Energy Contract with DWR. The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) has been awarded more than $70 million in damages from Sempra Generation by an independent arbitration panel. The panel ruled that Sempra had acted in bad faith and breached multiple operational aspects of its long-term energy contract with the Department." Felton water group faces hurdle (Santa Cruz Sentinel, 4/23) Thanks to Jim Graham for this one: "San Francisco attorney Edward O'Neill spent about 120 hours during the past two years developing arguments to help people in Felton fight to keep their waterworks out of a merger with Monterey." —  Global Warming Feinstein calls for action on global warming (YubaNet, 4/22) "On Earth Day 2006, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today called for a new commitment for action on global warming." About the California Water News The California Water News is a weekday e-mail with links to current news stories in the California water resources industry.  Subscription is free to qualified persons!  Please go to our subscription page to subscribe.  For more information, you can also see some frequently asked questions. Referrals to new subscribers are welcome, as are suggestions for new links, news stories, opinion pieces, and your agency's press releases.   Any documents you e-mail us may be published on our web site and linked to from the News, subject to editorial discretion. Ken Harlow Brown and Caldwell 400 Exchange, Suite 100 Irvine, CA 92702 714-689-4852