SCWC’s Annual Dinner is Southern California’s premier event for leaders in water, business, local government, agriculture and more. On October 29, SCWC will host its 31st Annual Dinner at the Sheraton Universal Hotel in Universal City.
Download the event flyer here.
Event Details:
Date: Thursday, October 29, 2015
Location: Sheraton Universal Hotel
333 Universal Hollywood Drive Universal City, CA 91608
5:30pm: Cocktail Reception
7-9:00pm: Dinner Program
Tickets* SCWC Members: $200; Non-members: $225; Table (seats 10 guests): $2,000
*No cancellations or refunds after October 16, 2015
To RSVP for the event, click here.
SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE
Contact Cindy Northcote-Smith at cnorthcote-smith@socalwater.org or (818) 760-2121 for more information about becoming a sponsor.
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Poll Shows Strong Statewide Support for CA WaterFix
Californians for Water Security recently released results from their statewide poll of voters to see what they think of CA WaterFix. The poll, which Timm Herdt of the Ventura County Star reported on, found 55 percent of voters support CA WaterFix, including building two underground tunnels to transport water through the Delta. Voter support for the project is high across political and ideological subgroups and across most regions of the state.
Southern Californians broadly supported the governor’s Delta fix, with 67 percent of voters in Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties initially supporting the plan – which grew to 75 percent after the survey’s back and forth. In the Inland Empire and San Diego County favor was also strong, with 79 and 71 percent ultimately supporting the plan.
In the results of the poll survey, voters identified the top two reasons to support the project:
- “An overwhelming 91% of voters identify ‘improving the ability to move water to storage facilities during wet years’ as a key reason to support the California Water Fix.”
- “Ninety percent (90%) of voters identify ‘making seismic upgrades to the water distribution system’ as a reason to support the project.
The poll also shows that voters are highly concerned about water issues and the drought:
“In an open ended question about the most important problem facing California, 36% of voters volunteered the drought as the top issue facing the state, which is double the percentage of voters mentioning drought in early 2015… In fact, California voters rated water issues as 4 of the top five concerns, ranking even above public schools, immigration, and taxes.”
To read the poll’s findings in full, visit http://watersecurityca.com/poll-results/.
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Water Year 2015 is CA’s “Warmest Ever”
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) calls Water Year 2015 (October 1, 2014 – September 30, 2015) the “warmest ever” in California and marks the fourth year of one of the driest periods in the state’s recorded history.
“Water Year 2015 has been noteworthy for much less precipitation than normal in California, temperatures much warmer than normal and a growing El Niño in the Eastern Pacific that many Californians hope will end the state’s drought. Most of all, Water Year 2015 will be remembered as the fourth year of one of the state’s most severe dry periods on record.”
See below for highlights from DWR’s press release:
- “The statewide snowpack on April 1 held only 5 percent of the average water content on that date in records dating to 1950.”
- “DWR continuously tracks storage in 154 reservoirs around the state, and as Water Year 2015 ends, they hold only 54 percent of their historic average.”
- “According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center, there is about a 95 percent chance of a strong El Niño during the coming winter, meaning the water temperature will be 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit or more warmer than normal.”
Click here to read the press release in full.
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Summer Wrap-Up: CA Exceeds 25 Percent Mandate for Three Consecutive Months
The State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) reported that Californians cut water use by nearly 27 percent in August, exceeding Governor Brown’s 25 percent mandate for a third consecutive month. So far Californians have saved 611,566 acre-feet of water, putting the state halfway in meeting its goal of saving 1.2 million acre-feet by February 2016.
State officials stressed that it will take persistence from the urban water users to meet the goal. Residential water users are urged to keep up their conservation efforts and comply with urban water supplier instructions to switch to fall watering schedules of once a week.
“Millions of Californians stepped up to save water this summer and we must all keep up the good work because no one knows how much longer this historic drought will continue,” said Felicia Marcus, Chair of the State Water Resources Control Board. “With continued heat, the danger of more wildfires, and no way of knowing when the drought will end, every drop of water that remains in our local reservoirs and aquifers is insurance in case of another dry year or more.”
For SWRCB’s press release, as well as more detailed water conservation information, visit: http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/press_room/press_releases/2015/pr100115_aug_conservation.pdf.
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CA WaterFix: Securing Solutions for the Delta’s Native Fish
The California Natural Resources Agency released a new fact sheet that outlines how native fish populations would benefit from CA WaterFix. The project seeks to upgrade and modernize today’s water delivery system with two new pipelines that reliably deliver water and benefit fish. CA WaterFix would allow water project operators to avoid water diversions at locations in the Delta that would harm fish. The project also includes state-of-the-art fish screens that would help to avoid entrainment of fish.
To download the fact sheet, click here.
To learn more about CA WaterFix, click here.
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Save the Date for MWD’s Water Tomorrow Workshop
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is updating its Integrated Water Resources Plan that guides the way water supplies are developed and managed. Water Tomorrow will be a roadmap for securing the Southland’s water supply reliability over the next 25 years. MWD will hold a Water Tomorrow public workshop on Thursday, October 22.
Event Details:
Date: Thursday, October 22, 2015
Location: Metropolitan Water District
700 N. Alameda Street Los Angeles, CA 90012
Time: 9:30am – 3:30pm
Visit the Water Tomorrow website to learn more information at www.mwdwatertomorrow.com.
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Lawn Dude’s Conservation Column: Manscape Your Landscape
Hello water peeps, Lawn Dude at your service. Welcome to my new Conservation Column for SCWC’s newsletter, a place where I can give out water conservation advice – free of charge. With all the buzz on California’s drought, I figured you might be thirsty for a fun, new take. This drought is serious, but that doesn’t mean I have to be!
In this week’s column I wanted to focus on landscaping, an issue all lawns in Southern California can relate to. In my recent grass-kicking campaign, courtesy of Clear Channel Outdoor, I went to great lengths to promote lawn removal…even revealing my bare chest. A drought-tolerant landscape uses native plants, minimal supplemental irrigation and little to no adverse runoff. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found that replacing your lawn with native plants can reduce water consumption by 60 percent. Manscape your landscape today!
Check out Save Our Water’s Landscaping 101 for more information on drought-tolerant landscaping.
For more tips, follow me @Lawn_Dude on Twitter!
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Established in 1984, the Southern California Water Committee is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, public education partnership dedicated to informing Southern Californians about our water needs and our state’s water resources. Spanning Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino, Imperial, Riverside, Ventura and Kern Counties, the SCWC’s members include representatives from business, government, labor, agriculture, water agencies and the general public.