Tucson: Commercial Projects Must Recycle Rainwater

The AP says Tucson is the first city in the country to require new commercial projects to recycle rainwater. Under a new municipal ordinance, commercial projects must supply half their landscaping water needs with recycled rainwater.

Climate Change May Force New Ways of Allocating Water Rights

LA Times reports on the impact the drought. The Central Valley - in particular the part depending on the Westlands Water District - has suffered because Westlands "is often last on the long list of groups receiving water from this federal project."

A Pacific Institute researcher predicts that California might ultimately have to develop a new system of water rights: "'We have a new climate reality, and our old structure for allocating water will not work for the future ... Fish are just one sign of an ecosystem that's collapsing.'"

LA Water Cops

NPR airs a story on water cops - the Los Angeles DWP inspectors who respond to reports that property owners are watering during prohibited hours.

Peripheral Canal Moves Forward

Contra Costa Times reports on the steady progress of plans for a 50-mile aquaduct that would cut through the eastern Delta and divert water south without having to pass through the structurally and environmentally unsound channels California now uses.

The story includes interviews with northern Central Valley farmers who claim the canal could threaten their water rights and allow Bay saltwater to seep into their water supply. Says a sixth-generation farmer from Clarksburg: "This is being framed as a fish-versus-people issue, when in actuality it's a people-versus-people issue."

National Water Act

The U.S. House has passed National Water Research and Development Initiative Act. The act, sponsored by Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), would empower NOAA to create a task force that, according to Water World, would "guide federal water research, development, demonstration, data collection and dissemination in order to respond to changes in U.S. water use, supply and demand."

Interview with SD County Water GM

A Q&A with San Diego County Water Authority GM Maureen Stapleton. Among the questions:

• Would California take a hit if the water level at Lake Mead drops below 1,205 and triggers a required water supply renegotiation with Colorado River basin statins?
• Why has San Diego purused desalination rather than, like Orange County, passing on desal and investing in wastewater treatment?
• Should San Diego restrict plant turf like Las Vegas now does?

Drought Politics in CV

GOP launches new Central Valley ads blaming the drought on Democrats. Estimates put the turnout for yesterday's Fresno water march at close to 4,000.

Gleick on Drought Myths

In his SF Chronicle column, Peter Gleick says Interior Secretary Ken Salazar was given some misinformation on his recent trip to Fresno. Gleick says that three water myths have arisen during discussions of the drought:

• "Farmers on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley are receiving "just 10 percent of their allocation this year."
• "Water shortages are causing massive new farm unemployment."
• "Farmers are bearing disproportional impacts of water shortfalls because of court rulings in favor of fish."

Stimulus Funds to Long Beach Desal

The Interior Department has awarded $134 million of economic stimulus grants to water reclamation and reuse projects, including $3 million for the Long Beach Water Department's desalination plant.

The grants are a portion off the $1 billion set aside in the stimulus package for water projects across the west.

Carmel River Diversions, Steelhead Salmon

Environmental groups have sought a court order that would force the California American Water Company to reduce its diversions from the Carmel River by as much as twenty-five percent.

The groups argue that diversions, at existing levels, are contributing to the decline of endangered steelhead salmon populations.