Customers of one of the state's largest water delivery systems secretly commissioned a study last year to estimate how much it would cost to build a highly controversial peripheral canal to deliver water around the Delta. The $50,000 study, completed in August 2006, shows that contractors of the State Water Project were actively considering a new canal similar to the aqueduct voters killed in 1982. The report, obtained under the California Public Records Act, estimates it would cost from $3.3 billion to $3.7 billion in 2006 dollars to build an unlined, 46-mile canal. CC Times 12/8/07
Santa Cruz city officials announced this week that the New Zealand mud snail, previously thought to have infested a dozen or so waterways closer to the Sierra, has been found in the San Lorenzo. The concern is that the mollusk could outcompete other river life and exhaust food supplies for the already-struggling native steelhead trout and coho salmon. City and county officials hope to launch a campaign to get fishers to wash their gear after casting in the San Lorenzo, but they have yet to get a buy-in from the state Department of Fish and Game, which oversees efforts to control pests in California waterways. CC Times 12/10/07
The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment's Developmental and Reproductive Toxicant Identification Committee will review eight chemicals and decide which need further study for possible listing on the state's Proposition 65 list. But at its hearing, the state may face a tough question about caffeine: Natural sources of caffeine such as coffee or tea won't have to be labeled. But since that is how most caffeine is consumed, will it be enough to put warning labels on soft drinks, high-energy potions and other products that add high doses of caffeine? Sacramento Bee 12/10/07
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's call six months ago for voluntary water conservation in a record dry year has failed to persuade Los Angeles residents and businesses to rein in water use substantially, city records show. Despite the mayor's June 6 plea for a 10% reduction, water use in the city remained largely flat through October, compared with the same period last year, according to records from the city Department of Water and Power. LA Times 12/10/07
Southern California is grappling with one of the worst water shortages in decades, and no one faces a more uncertain future than the region's estimated 3,500 to 4,000 farmers. By January, most of them will be under a mandatory order to reduce their water usage by 30 percent. San Diego Union Tribune 12/10/07
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