Posts Tagged ‘drought’
Water Weekly 3: Up, Up and Up Again
What were the three biggest California water stories of the past seven days? Well, the news-heads and policy wonks here at Laer Pearce & Associates have compiled them for you here. You’ll find the Big Three here every Thursday, or you can follow LPAWater on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news and analysis. You can also sign up to receive the Weekly 3 via email here. This week:
Election Round-Up
On Election Day as voters across the country re-defined the American political mainstream, Californians defiantly went up a different creek – whether they did so with or without a paddle remains to be seen. In any case, the election was big news for water wonks.
- At the local level, most water district incumbents did well.
- At the state level, the Brown administration will be gray – the governor-elect has signaled he’ll surround himself with advisors from his first two terms, including water wonk Jerry Merrill. One important water legislator, Anna Caballero (D-Salinas), went under. Prop 23’s defeat will likely raise energy and compliance costs, and therefore rates.
- Nationally, Jim Costa, the pro-water Democrat, lost to his Republican challenger, but all other prominent water folks were re-elected, including George “Fish before Farmers” Miller. Of course, Carly Fiorina, who campaigned hard for water fixes (using messaging prepared by Laer Pearce & Associates) fell to Barbara Boxer, who has never seen a water infrastructure project she likes.
Read Jerry Brown’s water supply plan here
The Water Weekly 3: Trout, Drought and Miscalculating Environmentalists
What were the three biggest California water stories of the past seven days? Well, the news-heads and policy wonks here at Laer Pearce & Associates have compiled them for you here. You’ll find the Big Three here, or you can follow LPAWater on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news and analysis. You can also sign up to receive the Weekly 3 via email here. This week:
Pay-back Time?
We’ve been hip-deep in the Endangered Species Act for 20 years, so this is an ESA case we’re following with great interest: Casitas Municipal Water District, which serves 65,000 Ventura Countians, is asking the Feds to pony up $87.3 million for water the district was forced to divert from its customers to endangered steelhead trout. Last time we checked, the trout were waaay behind on their water bills. In 2008, a three-judge panel ruled the government did indeed take the water, going beyond mere regulation, and this week, the district’s lawyers presented their case.
LP&A Water Weekly 3: Politicians, problems, punch-outs and vampires
What were the three biggest California water stories of the past seven days? Well, the news-heads and policy wonks here at Laer Pearce & Associates have compiled them for you here. You’ll find the Big Three here, or you can follow LPAWater on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news and analysis. You can also sign up to receive the Weekly 3 via email here. This week:
33 Years and Still in the News
Thirty-three years ago, when California’s governor was Jerry Brown (yes it was that long ago!), a fed climatologist warned Californians, “If the drought continues for merely another 30 days, we’ve got a good chance of another Dust Bowl!” That didn’t happen but this week we read an editorial in Water Efficiency Magazine that asks, “Are we looking down the barrel of an entirely new (and unprecedented) future in terms of water resource management?” Nope. Same old barrel, same troubling future. Are we going to let another 33 years go by without fixing the state’s water problems? (more…)
Water Weekly 3: Unacceptable, illogical and tragic
What were the three biggest California water stories of the past seven days? Well, the news-heads and policy wonks here at Laer Pearce & Associates have compiled them for you here. You’ll find the Big Three here every Thursday, or you can follow LPAWater on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news and analysis. You can also sign up to receive the Weekly 3 via email here. This week:
Images of that little Dutch boy …
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers this week said levees in the Sacramento Delta towns of Stockton, Marysville and Lathrop are “unacceptable,” which means they’re vulnerable to failure, and if they fail, the towns can forget about receiving federal repair funds. Sacramento levees also flunked, but the city got a pass on the fund ban. Levees were dinged for trees and other “structural intrusions,” erosion, cracking, and myriad other flaws evidenced throughout the Delta levee system. The economic impact of a collapse of the Delta levees, BTW, is $40 billion. It’s time for a fix!
The Weekly 3: Land Development
August 9, 2010
What are the three biggest stories each week in the world of California land development? You’ll find them right here each Monday, or follow LP&A all week long on Twitter at @LPALand for up-to-the-minute news and analysis. This week:
1. Will the Drought Contingency Plan squeeze future land uses?
The California Department of Water Resources didn’t go so far as to blame your picket-fenced bit of the ‘burbs for causing the state’s ongoing water crisis, but it is looking at limiting future land uses as part of the solution. According to its newly released Drought Contingency Plan, “development intensity has a direct relationship to water supply,” and since the state’s thirst for water outstrips available resources, that means builders best prepare for more regulation and limits on what they can do with their property.
Why the Old Ways of Talking Water No Longer Work
Amidst a recent hectic afternoon, one of our clients called to pick our brain about what LP&A sees as the latest trends in water agency communications. Although it admittedly caught us off guard, 
it’s a great question that couldn’t have been posed at a better time, given the uncertainty of California’s water future and the swirling dynamics of public sentiment. We share our answer below, but the bottom line is that the old ways of doing business no longer work in today’s changing environment. Here’s why:
1. Water is no longer an issue that flies under the radar. These days water providers are asking a lot from their customers: Use less, pay more, vote for this (within the advocacy laws), don’t mind that sinkhole or pipe break. Agencies that foster trusting relationships with their customers through proactive communications will reap the most benefits.
Are your conservation messages in line with today’s decision?
I’m here at the highly anticipated board meeting of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, where they just decided to declare a “Water Supply Allocation Plan Level 2.” This means Met will reduce deliveries to member agencies by 10 percent beginning July 1.
You can hear a collective sigh across the Southland, because this represents a considerable improvement over what water wholesalers and retailers in Met’s service area were anticipating just one month ago.
What Does This Mean For Your Conservation Message and Outreach?
Which is the better conservation messaging strategy: raising fears or relying on trust?
The San Diego County Water Authority’s “Save it or Lose it” campaign takes an aggressive approach to promoting water conservation, as you can see.
The campaign’s dry sand and sun-bleached skull are certainly attention-getters, and that’s a good thing. Commanding attention is a considerable challenge in this era of information overload.
Water and Development Update: A Growth Moratorium Is Never the Answer
Halting development is not a solution to California’s water supply problems.
In recent weeks, the LA Times and LA Daily News have published spurious editorials using the current water shortage as an excuse to call for a halt to development. The papers insist that California simply doesn’t have enough water to support its growth, but both the building and the water industries understand this is not the solution to our water supply issues.
As a dedicated advocate for both of these industries, I wrote letters to the editor rebutting these paper’s claims, which were published and appear below.
Getting the Most out of Your Communications Budget
Since good communications have never been more critical, here’s how to stretch your district’s communications budget.
As governor Schwarzenegger proclaims a statewide drought, educating ratepayers about conservation is more important than ever. But the era of belt-tightening that now permeates our economy simultaneously has many water districts reassessing their budgets. The good news is that there are ways smart districts can stretch their communications dollars to effectively educate the public and change customer behavior.
How can it be done? Below are a few quick thoughts on how to cost-effectively build trust with customers through effective communications.
