Sending the Wrong Message

Sure it’s embarrassing news that L.A. County actually pays someone to print and place customized labels on bottled water used by supervisors at their meetings.
But there’s a much bigger issue at stake.

Delusional Dubai

While skimming the Sunday Travel section in the Los Angeles Times, an article about a new resort in Dubai called Atlantis, The Palm caught my eye. After all, what could be more of an ocean conservation disaster than the Atlantis Hotel in the Bahamas?  You’d be surprised.

The March for Water

On March 22, local environmental groups Anahuak and Urban Semillas will convene the March for Water as part of International World Water Day.  Environmental leaders Raul Macias and Miguel Luna are behind the effort to bring attention to our local, state and international water supply-crisis.
Given Miguel and Raul’s initiative and drive, I expect thousands of [...]

The Governor Who Cried Drought

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared an emergency on Feb. 27 because of “historic” drought conditions in the state of California.  The declaration led to the usual suspects offering the usual knee-jerk responses. Sen. Dianne Feinstein declared that “California is in one of the worst drought emergencies on record.” Water agencies started issuing releases on the potential [...]

Water Crisis in 60 Seconds

Last Friday afternoon, state Sen. Fran Pavley hosted a Natural Resources and Water Committee hearing at Santa Monica College, accompanied by state Sen. John Benoit and Assemblymember Bob Blumenfield.  The theme of the hearing was “improving water conservation and management in Southern California.”  Speakers included Lester Snow, director of the Department of Water Resources, and [...]

Dorothy’s Law

About 125 people came out to the beach at Santa Monica Pier on a cloudy Sunday to share their favorite Dorothy Green stories. Some people came as far as San Francisco, Sun Valley and Denver to reminisce about Dorothy’s amazing achievements, tireless work ethic, big heart, and sense of humor. The County Lifeguards paid tribute [...]

Bridge Over Troubled Waters

The State Water Board today received a comprehensive water recycling policy for California that the state desperately needs to heed. After five months of intense negotiations, a coalition of water supply agencies, water recyclers, sewage treatment agencies and environmental groups, including Heal the Bay, wrote the policy in response to a draft effort completed by [...]

The Poseidon Misadventure

Remember Shelly Winters swimming through the tunnel of wreckage on the tsunami-flipped ocean liner in the ‘70s cult classic “The Poseidon Adventure”?  Although she tried valiantly to swim through the tunnel of water, she didn’t make it through alive. The proposed Poseidon Resources desalination project in Carlsbad is very similar to the doomed ship.  Instead of [...]

Living Within Our Means

Governor  Schwarzenegger and U.S. Senator Feinstein wrote an op-ed in Thursday’s Los Angeles Times that pitches a $9 billion water bond as the best way to “solve” California’s water crisis.  If this sounds familiar, that’s only because every day is Groundhog Day for California’s water supply.  We heard similar pitches for propositions 13, 40, 50, [...]

Delta Force

More than three hundred farmworkers and a bunch of Central Valley politicians rallied on the steps of the state Capitol Wednesday chanting, “Aqua es vida.”  I couldn’t agree more!!  Why do you think the Chinook salmon population has collapsed? Not enough H2O. That’s what the NRDC, the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations and other groups successfully claimed [...]