California Senator Dianne Feinstein has been taking flack from the Progressive Left recently about legislation she introduced into the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2012 regarding water transfers in the Central Valley. Critics have charged that the water transfers language was added secretly and will allow a small group of landowners in the Central Valley to make untoward profits from marketing water. One such critique was launched by Patricia Schifferle in the Sacramento Bee this week. Sen. Feinstein has answered critics regarding process, and I will let her handle that, so this post focuses on the substantive language and what it does for water transfers in the Central Valley. (UPDATE: Sen. Feinstein made a substantive response to Ms. Schifferle after my original post.) Continue Reading »
Posted in California, Water markets/transfers | Leave a Comment »
The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has released a new reform proposal for water resources, entitled Water for Life. While we generally think of the UK as a relatively wet place, Defra identified a number of water challenges facing the nation, including over-abstraction from rivers and groundwater basins, point and diffuse source pollution, projected future population growth and climate change. Water for Life collects a number of more specific reform proposals to form an integrated national water policy for approximately the next 20 years. Continue Reading »
Posted in Climate change, Privatization, United Kingdom, Water companies, Water conservation, Water markets/transfers, Water rights | Leave a Comment »
On October 8, 2011, Governor Brown signed into law Assembly Bill No. 849, which amends California Water Code § 14877.3 related to local agency standards for graywater systems. Graywater systems allow reuse of wastewater within residences, primarily through the reuse of bathing and laundry water to flush toilets or irrigate landscapes. The current statute allows a city, county or other local agency to adopt standards for graywater systems that are more restrictive than state standards. The new amendments, which will go into effect on January 1, 2012, require a local agency to find after a public hearing that “local climatic, geological, topographical, or public health conditions … necessitate building standards that are more restrictive” and to limit the restrictions to the area where such conditions exist. AB 849 states the intent of the Legislature to encourage prudent water conservation efforts and use of graywater systems through consistency and uniformity of standards.
While this law is undoubtedly a step in the right direction, it’s a very, very modest step. Couldn’t we ask a little more from the Legislature to promote efficient water use?
Posted in Water conservation, Water recycling/reuse | Leave a Comment »
The National Council for Public-Private Partnerships sent a letter on October 13, 2011 to members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (the so-called “Super Committee”) urging that body to consider opportunities for public-private partnerships (P3s) to meet the United States’ debt reduction and infrastructure needs. P3s have the potential to allow federal, state and local governments to leverage public monies with private funds for design, construction and operation of infrastructure, thus reducing the amount of government debt required to accomplish such projects. P3s have the additional benefits of delivering infrastructure projects more quickly and efficiently than traditional methods of government procurement. Continue Reading »
Posted in Private investment, Public private partnerships | Leave a Comment »
Public-private partnerships (P3s) are a method of alternative procurement for government infrastructure projects. Rather than following the traditional design-bid-build process in which each procurement step is separately contracted for by a government agency, two or more of those steps are combined for improved efficiency and risk transfer. The result is a procurement method that is generally faster and less expensive for delivery of infrastructure projects. Continue Reading »
Posted in Public private partnerships | Leave a Comment »
