Category Archives: General

California’s “Treading Water” Bond

The California Legislature will recess today without achieving a long-standing and urgent objective: find a substitute for the $11.14 billion water bond on this November’s ballot.  In a July 1st interview with Capitol Public Radio, Assembly Speaker Atkins (D-San Diego) said that a water bond deal can be reached in August if interest groups accept less money than they want.

Given California’s tradition of state funding of water, this is a tall order:

Can California’s water establishment reinvent themselves in a few weeks? Continue reading →

Solutions Part II: Cleaning up Produced Drilling Wastewater

In my last post, I discussed the solutions that innovative drilling and technology companies are using to reduce water consumption for fracking projects. These technologies are easier to build economies of scale because almost all fracking sites across the country can use similar technologies, once and if it is proven. However, in my research, it was interesting to learn that the wastewater treatment for drilling projects is a much tougher issue to tackle. There is no universal solution to treat drilling wastewater because the geology and chemical makeup of the produced water varies widely across sites and formations. But that has not stopped savvy businesses from creating innovative technologies to address this issue. Continue reading →

Rethinking California’s Water Industry: Part 1—a Zero State Water Project Allocation World

California’s State Water Project is the backbone of the California economy.  The recent declaration of a zero water allocation for 2014 has exposed the California economy’s vulnerability to decades of political gridlock and ineffective water agency action.  Last Friday’s announced allocations for the federal Central Valley Project piled on.  Unless changes are made promptly to California’s “water culture”, look for California growth to come to a screeching halt.  To quote Reverend Wright (admittedly out of context), “California, the chickens have come home to roost.” Continue reading →

What Will Be the Final Allocation for California’s State Water Project in 2014? Redux

Is DWR’s announced zero allocation for California State Water Project (“SWP”) consistent with predictions from Hydrowonk’s study of the historic record of final SWP Allocations?  Yes Continue reading →