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Rich Californians Balk at Limits: ‘We’re Not All Equal When It Comes to Water’

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Drought or no drought, Steve Yuhas resents the idea that it is somehow shameful to be a water hog. If you can pay for it, he argues, you should get your water.

People “should not be forced to live on property with brown lawns, golf on brown courses or apologize for wanting their gardens to be beautiful,” Yuhas fumed recently on social media. “We pay significant property taxes based on where we live,” he added in an interview. “And, no, we’re not all equal when it comes to water.”

Yuhas lives in the ultra-wealthy enclave of Rancho Santa Fe, a bucolic Southern California hamlet of ranches, gated communities and country clubs that guzzles five times more water per capita than the statewide average. In April, after Gov. Jerry Brown (D) called for a 25 percent reduction in water use, consumption in Rancho Santa Fe went up by 9 percent.

But a moment of truth is at hand for Yuhas and his neighbors, and all of California will be watching: On July 1, for the first time in its 92-year history, Rancho Santa Fe will be subject to water rationing.

“It’s no longer a ‘You can only water on these days’ ” situation, said Jessica Parks, spokeswoman for the Santa Fe Irrigation District, which provides water service to Rancho Santa Fe and other parts of San Diego County. “It’s now more of a ‘This is the amount of water you get within this billing period. And if you go over that, there will be high penalties.’ ” (Read more from “Rich Californians Balk at Limits: ‘We’re Not All Equal When It Comes to Water'” HERE)

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California Crackdown Unprecedented: State Orders Even Larger Water Cuts for Farmers

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California regulators ordered farmers and others who hold some of the state’s strongest water rights Friday to stop pumping from three major waterways in one of the country’s prime farm regions.

The order involving record cuts by senior water rights holders in the Sacramento, San Joaquin and delta watersheds followed mandatory water curtailment earlier this year to cities and towns and to farmers with less iron-clad water rights . . .

Economists and agriculture experts say growing of some crops will shift in the short-term to regions with more water, so the water cuts are expected to have little immediate impact on food prices.

The order applies to 114 entities that have claims dating back to 1914 or earlier. It will force thousands of water users in the state to tap groundwater, buy water at rising costs, use previously stored water or go dry . . .

It’s the first time since the drought of 1977 that the state has directed a significant number of senior water rights holders to stop pumping because of drought and amounts to the most widespread cuts ever among those with some of the state’s strongest water rights. (Read more from “California Crackdown: State Orders Larger Water Cuts for Farmers” HERE)

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California Assembly Passes Bill to Make Pregnancy Centers Promote Abortions

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Thousands of pregnancy centers across the nation are the counterbalance to the abortion industry by providing women with tangible help and real alternatives to abortion. But pregnancy centers in California may soon find themselves forced to promote abortions under legislation pending in the California legislature.

The state Assembly has passed AB 77, the Pregnancy Counseling Discrimination Rule, would require all pregnancy centers to promote abortions to their clients. There is no conscience clause or opt out for centers that provide pregnant women assistance without abortions or abortion referrals. Failure to comply carries a $500 fine for first offense and $1,000 for each subsequent offense. The bill authorizes the Attorney General, city attorney, or county counsel to impose the civil fines.

Lori Arnold of the California Family Alliance, says pro-life Californians need to speak up against the bill now that it heads to the California Senate.

Despite passionate opposition from pro-life legislators and thousands of concerned citizens, the California Assembly today voted 46-25 to pass AB 775, the so-called “Reproductive FACT ACT.” This highly controversial and anti-free speech bill now advances to the Senate.

“This bill strikes at the heart of free association, free political and religious speech and practice, and the self-evident truth of biology,” said Assemblyman Jim Patterson (R-Fresno). “Privately-funded Pregnancy Resource Centers, and the compassionate women who volunteer at them, have a First Amendment right to Freedom of Speech. And it is our duty as officers of the state of California to protect that right, not to assault it.” (Read more from “California Assembly Passes Bill to Make Pregnancy Centers Promote Abortions” HERE)

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California Prepares for the Next ‘Big One’; Risk Almost 50% Higher than Previously Thought

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earthquakes-todayThe 800-mile San Andreas Fault, which runs from northern California to Mexico, has been the source of the state’s biggest earthquakes. Known as the ‘sleeping giant’, it is one of more than 350 faults that are found across the state.

Scientists now predict that the risk of a mega quake in the next 30 years is higher than was previously thought.

The Third Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast (UCERF3), published in March, includes newly discovered fault zones and accounts for the possibility of an earthquake jumping between them. This could result in multiple faults shaking in a simultaneous mega quake (magnitude-8), releasing enough energy to cause massive destruction.

The report says that, while there is a lower likelihood of moderate-sized earthquakes, the odds of a mega quake occurring in the next 30 years have increased from 4.7 per cent to 7 per cent.

Earthquakes are nothing new for Californians. The state experiences 1,000 quakes a year, but most are too small to be felt. While the San Andreas Fault has experienced massive earthquakes in the central and northern segments — Fort Tejon in 1857 and San Francisco in 1906 — the southern section has not had a large quake for more than 300 years. (Read more from “California Prepares for the Next ‘Big One'” HERE)

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Dry Wells Plague California as Drought Has Water Tables Plunging

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Photo Credit: Bloomberg Business

Photo Credit: Bloomberg Business

Near California’s Success Lake, more than 1,000 water wells have failed. Farmers are spending $750,000 to drill 1,800 feet down to keep fields from going fallow. Makeshift showers have sprouted near the church parking lot.

“The conditions are like a third-world country,” said Andrew Lockman, a manager at the Office of Emergency Services in Tulare County, in the heart of the state’s agricultural Central Valley about 175 miles (282 kilometers) north of Los Angeles.

As California enters the fourth year of a record drought, its residents and $43 billion agriculture industry have drawn groundwater so low that it’s beyond the reach of existing wells. That’s left thousands with dry taps and pushed farmers to dig deeper as Governor Jerry Brown, a 77-year-old Democrat, orders the first mandatory water rationing in state history.

“The demand we’re placing on the aquifer and the deep bedrock drilling, which is going on at an alarmingly fast pace, is really scary,” said Tricia Blattler, executive director of the Tulare County Farm Bureau. “Folks are really concerned we’re not going to be able find water in the groundwater system much longer. We are tapping it way too quickly.”

Nowhere has lack of rain been felt more than in Tulare County, in a valley dotted with dairy farms and walnut orchards at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains. With 458,000 residents, it’s home to 1,013 dry wells, accounting for more than half of those that have failed in the state since January 2014. (Read more from “Dry Wells Plague California as Drought Has Water Tables Plunging” HERE)

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Mystery “Warm Blob” in the Pacific Ocean Could Be Causing California’s Mega-Drought

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BlobA mysterious “warm blob” in the Pacific Ocean could be the reason why US West coast states like California are experiencing their worst ever drought, a new study says.

The blob in the ocean was discovered last year, with temperatures one to four degrees Celsius (two to seven degrees Fahrenheit) above surrounding ‘normal’ water, causing havoc to West Coast marine ecosystem and led species to seek refuge elsewhere.

The blob extends about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) offshore, from Mexico up to Alaska, and was 300 feet (90 meters) deep.

A study by the University of Washington found that a high-pressure ridge could be causing the blob, by trapping heat in the water.

Dr. Nick Bond, a climate scientist at the University of Washington, coined the term ‘the blob’ in June. (Read more from “Mystery “Warm Blob” in the Pacific Ocean Could Be Causing California’s Mega-Drought” HERE)

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Governor Issues Executive Order Imposing Draconian Fines for Long Showers

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Photo Credit: LA Times

Photo Credit: LA Times

By Pam Key. Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) said Californians will face heavy fines for taking long showers.

Brown said, “This executive order is done under emergency power. It has the force of law. Very unusual. It’s requiring action and changes in behavior from the Oregon border all the way to the Mexican border. It affects lawns. It affects people’s — how long they stay in the shower. How businesses use water.”

Brown said to enforce his order, “Each water district that actually delivers waters — water to homes and businesses, they carry it out. We have a state water board that overseas the relationships with the districts. Hundreds of them. If they don’t comply, people can be fined $500 a day. Districts can go to court to get a cease and desist order. The enforcement mechanism is powerful. In a drought of this magnitude, you have to change that behavior and you have to change it substantially.” (Read more from “Governor Jerry Brown to Levy Draconian Fines for Long Showers” HERE)

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California’s Wealthy Lagging in Water Conservation

By Frank Shyong, Hailey Branson-Potts and Matt Stevens. There are few signs of California’s epic drought along a stretch of Maple Drive in Beverly Hills.

Deep green front lawns stretch out, dotted with healthy trees and sculpted foliage. The only brown lawn in sight was at a home under construction.

As California gears up for the first mandatory water restrictions in its history, a long-standing class divide about water use is becoming increasingly apparent.

Beverly Hills and other affluent cities use far more water per capita than less-wealthy communities, prompting some to cast them as villains in California’s water conservation effort. (Read more from this story HERE)

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California Governor Orders Mandatory Water Restrictions

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1-salt-creek-beachCalifornia Gov. Jerry Brown ordered officials Wednesday to impose statewide mandatory water restrictions for the first time in history as surveyors found the lowest snow level in the Sierra Nevada snowpack in 65 years of record-keeping.

Standing in dry, brown grass at a site that normally would be snow-covered this time of year, Brown announced he had signed an executive order requiring the State Water Resources Control Board to implement measures in cities and towns to cut the state’s overall water usage by 25 percent compared with 2013 levels.

The move will affect residents, businesses, farmers and other users.

“We’re in a historic drought and that demands unprecedented action,” Brown said at a news conference at Echo Summit in the Sierra Nevada, where state water officials found no snow on the ground for the first time in their April manual survey of the snowpack. “We have to pull together and save water in every way we can.”

After declaring a drought emergency in January 2014, Brown urged all Californians to cut water use by 20 percent from the previous year. (Read more from “California Governor Orders Mandatory Water Restrictions” HERE)

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California Loosens Sex Offender Residency Restrictions

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ChainsCalifornia will alter its 8-year-old ban preventing all registered sex offenders from living near schools or parks, state officials announced Thursday, instead imposing the restriction only on pedophiles and others whose sex crimes involved children.

The state corrections department said it is changing its policy in response to a state Supreme Court ruling that found the blanket prohibition unconstitutional. The high court ruled this month that restrictions imposed by California voters in 2006 go too far to limit where sex offenders can live.

Parole agents can still force sex offenders to live more than 2,000 feet from schools and parks where children gather, as required by the ballot measure commonly known as Jessica’s Law. But they will have to make the decision for individual cases.

The March 2 ruling applied only to registered sex-offender parolees in San Diego County, but prison officials will apply the ruling statewide. Some local governments outside San Diego County also have begun repealing their local residency restrictions in response to the high court’s ruling. (Read more from “California Loosens Sex Offender Residency Restrictions” HERE)

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California Drought: State OKs Sweeping Restrictions on Water Use

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California officials approved a package of far-reaching water restrictions Tuesday, limiting homes and businesses in much of the Bay Area and elsewhere to just two days of outdoor watering per week while cracking down on the way restaurants and hotels use water.

The rules mark unprecedented territory for the state, which has historically let local water agencies, with their unique supplies and demands, manage how customers use water. But with California poised for a fourth year of drought and conservation lagging, officials opted for statewide action.

The regulations, carrying fines up to $500, add to restrictions put in place last year that rein in outdoor water use — for example, barring people from hosing down driveways. The new terms tread deeper into homes, businesses and the lives of most Californians, and are indicative of the state’s worsening water woes.

“We are not seeing the stepping up and the ringing of alarm bells that the situation warrants,” said Felicia Marcus, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, which voted unanimously for Tuesday’s conservation mandates.

The regulations require local water agencies that don’t already limit outdoor watering to certain days of the week to adopt a two-day-a-week policy. Among the Bay Area agencies that would have to impose the two-day limit are the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, serving the city’s more than 800,000 residents, as well as the Marin Municipal Water District and Contra Costa Water District. Agencies outside San Francisco that buy water from the SFPUC — including on the Peninsula and in parts of the East Bay — are affected only if they do not already impose watering limits. (Read more from “California Drought: State OKs Sweeping Restrictions on Water Use” HERE)

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