We were excited to recently discover the winner of this year’s 2011 Water Is Life Poster contest , Anna Resnick, established a non-profit organization called “Arts2Cure“, which promotes interest in art while raising money and awareness to help the world around us. We couldn’t be prouder of Anna!  

The “2012 Water Is Life Calendar” will prominently feature Anna’s winning artwork from the “Water Is Life Poster Contest” during the month of January.  The calendar highlights artwork from selected poster contest winners throughout Southern California.   Read the rest of this entry »

Earlier this week, Congress passed the Hoover Power Allocation Act of 2011. Once signed by President Obama, the Hoover Power Allocation Act will ensure fifty years of reliable, low-cost, renewable energy to move over 550,000 acre-feet of water annually on the Colorado River Aqueduct. That’s important for those of us in Southern California who depend on imported water because the cheaper it is to move the water from the Colorado River to us, the less expensive the water is.   Read the rest of this entry »

This week, the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) held a public hearing in Carson for Golden State Water Company ratepayers to voice their concerns regarding the retailer’s current and future water rates. Many of the residents in attendance Monday were the same ratepayers who came to our board meeting several months ago asking for our help with this issue.  While Central Basin is not responsible for setting the retail water rates, and while it is not our role to handle the rate case ourselves, we have worked hard to help the residents get the representation they need. The non-profit organization TURN (The Utility Reform Network) is now working with the Bell residents (and other Golden State customers from across California) on this case, pro-bono.  You can read Central Basin’s official statement on Monday’s hearing by clicking here.

You might not think that a meeting of California water officials means much to you, but last week in Anaheim some very important topics were discussed.

The Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) held its fall conference and one of the big topics is paying for new water infrastructure in the state.

As we blogged last week, the water infrastructure in much of California is starting to get a bit old and needs to be replaced.  We were hoping that Congress would pass some infrastructure spending as part of a stimulus bill, but so far it hasn’t. The ACWA meeting attracted about 1,700 water officials from around the state. We learned how California voters are feeling right now about public works spending in today’s tough economy when Mark DiCamillo of the Field Research Corporation shared the results of an opinion poll done on the California economy. Read the rest of this entry »

Folsom Dam

Let’s just say it! California has lots of water right now, even before the rainy season really gets going.

Those of you who read the Water Cooler might be surprised we are telling you this, because we are constantly sharing with you ways to conserve water.

But right now, we have lots of it.

Central Basin’s David Hill reported to a community water roundtable this month that the dams that hold water in Northern California are 120% of normal and that the Colorado River Storage in Lake Powell and Lake Mead is 16% higher than it was last year. Check it out for yourself.

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United States House of Representatives

Like many of you, we have watched with disappointment while Congress is unable to agree on a federal budget deficit program. We continue to recommend that any budget deficit program should include infrastructure spending.

Much of our nation’s urban water infrastructure is getting old and is in need of replacement. And there are many other projects that can developed that would both improve our ability to store and deliver water to you, as well as put people to work.

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Students prepare for Solar Cup 2012

Gray skies and chilly temperatures did not stop local high school students from kicking off their participation in the 10th Annual Solar Cup Competition this past weekend. Students from Warren High School in Downey, Paramount High School West, Firebaugh High School in Lynwood, La Mirada High School, Norwalk High School and the Southeast Regional Occupational Program met in Claremont on Saturday to begin assembling their boats. They may have a long ways to go before they’re

Students work together to build solar powered boats

ready for the races in May; but based on the positive attitudes, enthusiasm and dedication the students showed Saturday, this year’s competition is sure to be a year to remember! 

Haven’t heard of Solar Cup before? More information about the annual event is after the jump.

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Julian Hinds Pumping Plant

Water is coming to the forefront in the news and we couldn’t agree more on its importance. This past weekend an article in the Los Angeles Times highlighted the increasing cost of providing imported water to Southern California. Our region imports nearly half of the water we use and although last year California’s reservoirs and aqueducts received robust water supplies, increasing power costs and the impact of climate change will continue to increase the cost of imported water.

The rising cost of imported water requires that we look at alternatives to ensure that our region’s water supply remains affordable and reliable. This creates a need for the development of groundwater storage plans. It is one of the most cost effective ways to ensure the reliability of water to our region.

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For the Record

November 9, 2011

Working with a vendor, the Central Basin Municipal Water District has been seeking to communicate information across web-based platforms about our programs and policy initiatives in an effort to combat the Water Replenishment District’s cyber spreading of inaccurate information on fake websites designed to purposefully mislead the public. It is important to stress that the information related to the Central Basin Municipal Water District posted on the News Hawks Review website was true and accurate and reflected positive Central Basin announcements and policy initiatives and did not contain information designed to mislead the public about Central Basin’s substantive policies or the policies of other water districts.

Central Basin was not aware of issues related to the backgrounds of the individuals whose names appeared alongside the stories and had no knowledge of their biographies until it was brought to our attention, at which point the News Hawks website lost its Google Certification and Central Basin’s vendor discontinued using the website.

Central Basin is committed to maintaining a strong education and outreach effort and will continue to disseminate information to inform its customers and the public about important water issues.

Here are links to several various misleading online platforms (known as cybersquatting) sponsored by the Water Replenishment District:

www.centralbasin.net

www.central-basin.com

 www.centralbasinreplenishment.org

Did you know about the California water crisis? Population growth is high in California and the aging infrastructure and issues arising from climate change are generating fears about how to keep fresh water flowing.

Recently, it was projected that the population of California will reach 50 million by 2032 and 60 million by 2050. This puts increasing strain on the state’s water resources which were not creating with such a high demand in mind.

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