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Local environmental groups, including the Butte Environmental Council, AquAlliance, the Sacramento River Preservation Trust, Chico Conservation Voters and Friends of Butte Creek have come out against the proposition. So, too, have fishing groups and others worried about the impacts on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the state’s fishery.

BEC officials note Prop. 1 includes some worthwhile components, such as water conservation and funding for restoring watersheds, but the bond promotes north-to-south water transfers via purchase at a time when existing water rights exceed the actual supply of water by a 5-to-1 ratio. The bond, as BEC points out, does not create more water.

Perkins studied the potential impacts the proposition, including the construction of Sites Reservoir, would have on Northern California groundwater resources.

Nani Teves says it’s not too late to do something about Gov. Jerry Brown’s new plan to send North State water south, and she and other local water activists have a plan of their own to inform residents on what’s at stake. Teves, water outreach coordinator for Butte Environmental Council, was referring in a recent interview to BEC’s Code Blue 2013 water outreach campaign, which kicked off on Feb. 5 with a free forum at Chico State called “Ethical Issues and water: An Interfaith Dialogue.” The Code Blue series of no-cost, water-centric educational events—held “so that people are aware of what’s happening regarding local water, and are given the tools to do something about it”—will run throughout the year.

Included on the Code Blue schedule of free events: a talk titled Science and Politics of North State Water (May 1); an educational field trip (June 8) to the Bay Delta, under which two multibillion-dollar, 40-foot-diameter tunnels are planned to be built to send North State Water south; and fall workshops on installing Water-conserving gray-Water and rainWater-catchment systems.

AquAlliance, a water advocacy group in Butte County, has vowed to file a lawsuit to try and stop Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District's plan to drill five new wells in eastern Glenn County. Speakers at a public forum last week in Ord Bend called GCID's plans to pump more groundwater in times of drought "excessively greedy" and potentially harmful to area groundwater levels already taxed to the point that residential wells are running dry.

"Glenn County needs to enact an emergency ordinance just as Colusa County did," said Orland farmer Sharron Ellis, of Save our Water Resources. "Oversight of our resources is the responsibility of our county to protect the public trust."

The project calls for five additional deep-water wells to be drilled along the Glenn-Colusa canal on sites east of Orland and Artois, which would yield 28,500 acre-feet of water taken over approximately eight months during critically dry years, GCID officials said.

I was happy to see the Enterprise-Record's Friday editorial about the proposed delta water tunnels. These tunnels, if built, will drain the water in our north state rivers and aquifers, and will change our landscape and lifestyle forever. Like Lake Oroville and the California Aqueduct, once built there is no going back. It's critical that we, the citizens of the Northern California counties, take action to prevent the construction of these tunnels and the destruction to the north state that they will cause. A great deal of information has already been learned about the impacts of sending more of our water south. That information can be found on the websites of two excellent organizations in Chico. Both have been monitoring water policy in California for years and have been working to protect our water supplies. They are Aqualliance (www.aqualliance.net) and the Butte Environmental Council (www.becnet.org). Aqualliance was formed by local citizens, ranchers and farmers who realized the risk to our water supplies and who have been fighting to protect our water. BEC advocates for our natural resources and is actively working to inform citizens about current water plans and fighting powerful Southern California interests.

Pay attention, learn the facts, find out what you can do, and support the groups that are working very hard for us. A great deal is at stake but by working together, we can

protect our water and our way of life in Northern California. — Nancy Praizler, Chico

This article was published on 02.21.13.

A panel of six local water experts speaking at Chico State Tuesday evening (Feb. 19) discussed everything you ever wanted to know about local groundwater issues. Well, everything but the controversial stuff. Chico State’s Book In Common panel discussion “The Tuscan Aquifer—How It’s Used and What We Know About Our Groundwater Resource” educated the audience on Butte County water sources and practices, but didn’t wade into more controversial matters such as shipping North State water south. That was disappointing to some in attendance because the book in common, Unquenchable: America’s water Crisis and What to Do About It, by Robert Glennon, examines the issue of piping water from relatively wet regions to drier ones.

John Scott, a local water advocate and board member of the Butte Environmental Council, said he enjoyed the talk overall but felt “it didn’t go deep enough.” He said he wanted more emphasis on the best economic uses of local water, whether that be keeping it local or transferring it south. “In Northern California it takes one unit of water to make one unit of food,” he said. “Whereas south of the Delta, it takes eight units of water to make one unit of food.”

Nani Teves, Butte Environmental Council’s water-outreach coordinator, sent me a press release announcing “phase two of the Code Blue water engagement campaign.” As some readers may recall, BEC’s 2013 Code Blue water-outreach campaign kicked off on Feb. 5 with a free educational forum at Chico State called “Ethical Issues and water: An Interfaith Dialogue”; the ongoing series of no-cost, water-centric events will run throughout the year. Phase two—the “action” phase, which will begin Sept. 19—will include gray-water and rainwater-catchment installation workshops, and “actions related to statewide strategies to solving some of the more controversial and political water issues.” Thus, next Thursday (Sept. 19), a free action workshop related to the proposed Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta twin-tunnels project will be held at the Blue Oak Charter School community room (450 W. East Ave.), from 6-7 p.m.

Put a hold on water transfers out of the area. That's the proposal being made by Tony St. Amant, a citizen who follows Sacramento Valley water closely. He's bringing the idea to the newly formed Northern Sacramento Valley Integrated Regional water Management Group (www.nsvwaterplan.org). The regional water planning board, with members from six counties, has no authority to make rules on water transfers, St. Amant states in his letter. But it could ask water districts, including two planning transfers this year, to halt those deals until regional guidelines for water transfers are developed.

Already, the Butte Environmental Council has drafted a letter (http://goo.gl/gFU5r) to the regional planning group, urging the members to adopt St. Amant's plan.

CHICO — The next round of the Code Blue water series, hosted by the Butte Environmental Council, begins tonight with a one-hour "action" meeting about the Bay Delta Conservation Plan. The Code Blue series kicked off in February, and six events remain after its summer break. Several additional events are planned through November, including a rain barrel workshop and delta tour.

Better alternatives exist, DiFalco said, than the concept to use tunnels to transfer water from the Sacramento River to the Southern Central Valley. "Let's not let Gov. Brown's tunnels be the only things being considered," she said.

The Oct. 17 discussion will feature fracking, which is fracturing of rock to extract gas and oil. "We are gathering details about fracking in Butte County, and citizens are getting ready for a (statewide ballot provision) for 2014," DiFalco said. Sutter and Glenn counties have the largest amount of fracking activity in the area, primarily natural gas, she said.

There's a plan for water transfers could move up to 511,000 acre-feet of water each year for the next 10 years from the Sacramento Valley to the San Joaquin Valley and the Bay Area.

The Bureau of Reclamation received a very clear message Tuesday night that people in the Sacramento Valley don't like that.

More than 100 people attended Tuesday's meeting in Chico.

Butte County is working with other water leaders in the county toward the state-mandated Sustainable Groundwater Management planning effort, http://www.water.ca.gov/groundwater/sgm. This involves agencies that manage water creating plans that maintain water supply and water quality.

So far, several water agencies that provide surface water within the county have attended meetings, with a goal of identifying who will govern which areas of the groundwater basins. Mapping out jurisdictions needs to be finished by June of next year.

What will happen with private pumpers in Butte County is still up for discussion. At a recent GSA meeting, Carol Perkins from the Butte Environmental Council, told the Enterprise-Record that her groups hoped private pumpers would be given an active role.

The Environmental Water Caucus, a group of more than 20 environmental organizations, has filed a lengthy list of objections to Gov. Edmund Gerald Brown Jr.’s plan to drain fresh Water out of the Sacramento River before it could flow into the California Delta.

The Environmental Water Caucus includes the following organizations: AquAlliance; Butte Environmental Council; California Coastkeeper Alliance; California Save Our Streams Council; California Sportfishing Protection Alliance; California Striped Bass Association; California Water Impact Network (C-WIN); California Water Research Associates; Center for Biological Diversity; Citizens Water Watch; Clean Water Action; Desal Response Group; Earth Law Center; Environmental Justice Coalition for Water; Environmental Protection Information Center; Environmental Working Group; Food & Water Watch; Foothill Conservancy; Friends of the River; Karuk Tribe; Klamath Riverkeeper; North Coast Stream Flow Coalition; Northern California Council Federation of Fly Fishers; Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations; Planning and Conservation League; Restore the Delta; Sacramento River Preservation Trust; San Mateo County Democracy for America; Save the American River Association; Save the Bay Association; Sierra Club, California; Sierra Nevada Alliance; Southern California Watershed Alliance; the Bay Institute, and, Winnemem Wintu Tribe.

But in the northern half of the Central Valley, most people want the tunnels stopped. They say it will suck the Delta dry, destroy farming business in the Delta and the Sacramento Valley, devastate the river’s ecosystem and lead to overuse of groundwater supplies. “This is one of the rare times when farmers and environmentalists can agree that a project is going to be devastating for both their interests,” said Robyn DiFalco, executive director of the Butte Environmental Council. DiFalco notes that the tunnels will not only increase Southern California’s dependence on Northern California’s water, but “they will also make it easier for [Southern California] to get it.”

Many critics of the BDCP have described the tunnels as a means of transferring away the wealth of Northern California to powerful water agencies to the south, which will be paying for a great deal of their enormous cost.

John Merz, executive director of the Chico-based Sacramento River Preservation Trust, says he has little faith in the components of the BDCP intended to restore the Delta’s health. He recognizes that there will be legal limits to how much water the tunnels can remove from the river. “But we don’t think those limits will be enough to protect the river,” Merz said. He added, “Frankly, when it comes to restoring the health of the Sacramento River, we just don’t trust the Brown administration to do the right thing.”

The northern Sacramento Valley faces a serious threat. Gov. Jerry Brown continues to push his twin tunnels project, under the guise of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan. The plan proposes a pair of massive tunnels with design capacity sufficient to drain the Sacramento River in a dry year.

As Butte Environmental Council’s (BEC) water policy analyst representing North State communities, I reviewed and analyzed more than 40,000 pages of the plan’s description and environmental review documents. An increased, uncompromised water supply for south of Delta interests is the desire. Big Ag and Big Oil will get more water, you get the bill.

Proponents failed to disclose the true source of water (the Sacramento Valley), but water transfers are written all over this plan. In fact, 34 separate documents reference water transfers. Proponents failed to acknowledge the potential for environmental and social impacts to the areas of origin, but removing up to 1 million acre-feet of water surely would have significant impacts. And, proponents failed to disclose the amount of groundwater that will increase water flow through the tunnels.

CHICO — Water exports and the Sacramento Valley will be the topic of a discussion tonight, 5:30-7 p.m. at the Chico Branch Library, 1103 Sherman Ave. Guest presenters include: * Ashley Indrieri, executive director of the Family Water Alliance, in Maxwell, a coalition that focuses on private property rights, agriculture, and "a balance between man and nature." * Carol Perkins, Water policy advocate for Butte Environmental Council, whose mission is "to protect and defend the land, air and Water of Butte County and the surrounding region."

The event is part of Code Blue, a series organized by the Butte Environmental Council to generate discussion about water issues developing in Northern California.

Stop shale oil trains along Feather River watershedLake Oroville provides water for 25,000,000 people and 750,000 acres of farmland in California.When a railroad tank car laden with toxic Bakken shale crude oil derails, ending up in the Feather River, all of the water in Lake Oroville will be poisoned.Bakken fracking oil is contaminated with hundreds of highly carcinogenic, toxic and poisonous chemicals that would instantly mix with the water in Lake Oroville, rendering all of the Lake Oroville water unfit for consumption by people or irrigating crops. The longer this contaminated water is in Lake Oroville the more of it will seep into and destroy our groundwater. If contaminated water in Lake Oroville reaches the Thermalito Afterbay it would seep into the shallow aquifer west of the afterbay. The afterbay actually leaks big time underground into the farmland west of the afterbay.

The oil industry will not allow this highly explosive Bakken oil in their pipelines because it would blow up their pipelines. That is why Bakken oil is being shipped by train. Also, the new reinforced Bakken oil railcars have already been involved in oil spills. The liability from this catastrophic event would bankrupt Union Pacific and force its operation into government receivership. There are alternatives to energy. There are no alternatives for water.Demand that toxic Bakken shale oil trains are not allowed along the Feather River watershed, because your economic future is actually over with the first Bakken shale oil spill into the Lake Oroville watershed.— John Scott, Butte Valley

Forum examines water from a religious view

This article was published on 02.07.13.

New construction, whether of dams, reservoirs, canals or two giant tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, will not solve the state’s water problems. That seemed to be the message issued at a forum on the Chico State campus Tuesday (Jan. 5) that featured five speakers, including a Zen Buddhist, a Muslim, a Christian and an attorney of undetermined religious affiliation. The forum, according to a press release, was a “focus on the spiritual and stewardship issues that surround water, including water as an element to all life, as a human right, and as a contentious public policy in Californian and beyond.” It is time, speakers suggested, to change our collective mindset and respect the Earth and our neighbors.

Posted Nov. 6, 2013 @ 12:01 am Chico, Ca November 14th – The LAND AIR WATER benefit concert series’ third and final show concludes at the Chico Women’s Club on November 14th featuring Funk and Jam group The Bumptet. The Bumptet’s music runs the musical gamete, moving from deep funk grooves to epic rock crescendos in to high energy, improvised jams with jazz caliber execution. Opening up the night will be local music collective Jiving Board with funky horns, rock guitar, and jazz/hip-hop vocals. Plus special guess Brian Rogers will join in the music with an acoustic set. Be sure to join us November 14th at the Chico Women’s Club for a night of funky music to make you move. The Land Air WATER concert series is a benefit to support the Butte Environmental Council’s ongoing advocacy efforts to protect the land, air and WATER of Butte County and the surrounding region. Tickets Available at Chico Natural Foods, Empire Coffee and online at www.becnet.org. Sponsored By KZFR 90.1, The Chico News and Review, Chico Natural Foods Cooperative, and Strange Seed Music.

The rainy season is here, however, California is long from being clear of the drought. It would need to rain for 150 days before the state has recovered from the past several years of drought, said Debbie Davis, rural affairs adviser and drought liaison with Gov. Jerry Brown’s Office of Planning and Research.Davis shared an update at a forum about groundwater last week in Chico, held by the Butte Environmental Council.

The groundwater plans for the future won’t do anything to help with the current drought, said Paul Gosselin, Butte County’s executive director of water and Resource Conservation.

Groundwater has been the state’s water bank, which is appropriate in times of drought, she said. However, there are problems when there is not enough water put back into the ground.O

Oroville >> People are wearing raincoats and watching water run down the gutter. However, the recent rains do not mean the end of California’s four-year drought.Butte County’s water resources scientist Christina Buck said the local rainfall is still only at about 89 percent of average for this time of year. That’s based on rain through last week and beginning Oct. 1, which is the start of the “water year.”

Carol Perkins, a water advocate for Butte Environmental Council, told the members of the water Commission that she hopes when those groundwater jurisdictions are established, they will consider watersheds, rather than existing water use boundaries. Some examples of watersheds are Butte Creek, Big Chico Creek and the Feather River, she said. “This might give groundwater dependent farmers a more prominent voice in this process,” Perkins said.“As it stands right now, our only voice is the county for those areas.”