Today’s news in brief

It’s been a slow couple of days for water news!

But a few things have been happening, mostly regional issues. Here’s a smattering of them:

Hetch Hetchy: Congress has done away with President Bush’s $7 million proposal to further study draining Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. Bush had included the money in his proposed budget for the 2008 fiscal year. The decision to ax the funding came as no surprise to leaders of Restore Hetch Hetchy, a Sonora-based group pushing to tear down the 312-foot O’Shaughnessy Dam. “We really didn’t think that it had much of a chance,” said Sonoran Jerry Cadagan, chairman of Restore Hetch Hetchy’s board of directors. For the full text of the story from the Union Democrat, click here.

Salton Sea Authority running tight on funds: The group has a roughly $5 million annual program and operations budget. But an audit presented to the authority during a meeting Thursday in Thermal shows the agency has dipped into its cash savings and investments to cover expenses. It had $37,709 in net assets at the end of fiscal year 2006. If nothing changes, next year’s numbers are “not going to be good,” Executive Director Rick Daniels said. “That’s how thin this has gotten,” he said. “I’m scared to death by it.” To read the full text of this story from the Desert Sun, click here.

San Diego residents could see their water bills rise if rate hike is approved: Water consumers in San Diego can expect an increase in their water rates in the coming year if local water districts decide to pass an 8 percent wholesale rate hike to their customers. The hike was approved Thursday by the board of the San Diego County Water Authority, which sells water to local utilities. The new rates, effective Jan. 1, are likely to increase average monthly water bills by up to an average of $2.25 per household. For the full text of this article from the North County Times, click here.

Castaic Lake Water Agency enters into agreement with local water purveyors for the Santa Clarita Valley to develop a long term strategy for reaching conservation goals: “It’s basically to work up a long-term program to try to achieve 10 percent conservation that we set forth in the Urban Water Management Plan,” said Dan Masnada, CLWA’s general manager. “We’ve got the consultant on board and the purveyors and the agency will be working to come up with a long-term strategic plan.” He said the plan could result in suggested ordinances for the county and the city to adopt that will help the Santa Clarita Valley utilize water more efficiently. He said it could include restrictions for certain types of landscaping. For the full text of the story from the Signal, click here.

Ex-Department of the Interior employee now working for the Westlands Irrigation District is raising eyebrows: Jason Peltier left his job as a top water policy adviser at the Interior Department on Friday to take a management post at the Westlands Water District, a coalition of giant agribusinesses that is the department’s biggest water customer. Westlands is currently discussing a settlement with the government that would give farmers a stake in a massive reservoir, millions of dollars in pumps and pipes and permanent water rights in exchange for cleaning up cropland tainted by toxic runoff in a botched federal project. The department must ensure that those negotiations and other water discussions with the Westlands district aren’t affected by Peltier switching sides, Committee Chairman Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., said in a letter to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. For the full text of this article from the Associated Press & San Jose Mercury News, click here.

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