The Soquel Creek Water District is reporting that it pumped 18% less water out of the ground last month than it pumped in July 2013. That is good news! Because the Soquel Creek Water District relies on groundwater, rather than on surface water, the “immediate” impact of the current drought on Soquel Creek is somewhat different from the impact that is felt by a water agency like the City of Santa Cruz Water Department, which relies on surface water sources. If you rely on surface water, a drought absolutely means less water now. If you rely on groundwater, a drought means longer-term problems, not immediate problems. In the Soquel Creek District, groundwater overdraft and groundwater pumping beyond the “safe yield” of the aquifer, will lead to seawater intrusion and water quality degradation that can contaminate the groundwater aquifer. This is the problem being addressed by the Soquel Creek Water District.

The District is launching a “Conservation Plus” program, and you are invited to learn more, and to provide comments, at a public hearing tomorrow. The proposed program is designed to save over eighty million gallons of water per year in what the District believes is a fair, equitable, and cost-effective way.

Think about attending the hearing tomorrow night, August 12th, at 7:00 p.m., at the New Brighton Middle School, located at 250 Washburn Avenue in Capitola.

More Information

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• Soquel Creek Water District News And Updates

The Soquel Creek Water District has a meeting tonight, at 7:00 p.m., at the New Brighton Middle School, to discuss the District’s new “Conservation Plus” program. The Agriculture Water Quality Alliance, or AWQA, is holding a meeting tomorrow, Wednesday, to promote what it calls “Unusual Water Conservation Efforts.” The meeting tomorrow, sponsored by AWQA, is about water conservation in the context of agricultural operations. Obviously important in our region.

The AWQA event will be held from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. tomorrow, at the University of California Continuing Education Auditorium, 1432 Abbott Street, in Salinas. This meeting will be an opportunity to learn about ways to conserve, store, and save water through increasing soil organic matter, and through the use of other water conservation practices, like cover cropping, mulching, rainwater harvesting, and biochar. The presenters will include local expert Rich Casale (of the Natural Resources Conservation Service), Jocelyn Gretz (of Rio Farm), and Brittani Bohlke (from the Resources Conservation District in San Mateo County). They will review a case study of composting and cover cropping to increase soil organic matter on a farm.

There is more information below, including some information that answers the question, “What is Biochar?”

More Information:

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• Soquel Creek Water District News And Updates
• AWQA Website
• Upcoming AWQA Events
• NRCS Website
• San Mateo County RCD Website
• What Is Biochar?
• For more information on the AWQA Event contact Pam Krone-Davis

The California Coastal Commission has a four-day meeting this month. The Commission began meeting on Tuesday, in San Diego; it meets today, and it will meet again tomorrow, and Friday. As usual, interested persons can actually watch the Commission live, through a webcast, so you don’t need to travel to San Diego to see the Commission in action.

Items relating to the Central Coast Region are scheduled on the Commission’s agenda for Friday. Here is a sampler of some of the less controversial items:

• In Agenda Item #12, the Commission’s Deputy Director will report on permit waivers, emergency permits, immaterial amendments and extensions, and Local Coastal Program matters not requiring public hearings. That will specifically include proposed new hotel regulations, adopted by the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, and a Local Coastal Program amendment adopted in Monterey County that will eliminate the Minor and Standard Subdivision Committees, and transfer their former responsibilities to the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors.

• In Agenda Item #15, the Commission is expected to approve the City of Monterey Custom House Plaza Embankment Repair, which would permit the City to repair ninety linear feet of an existing retaining wall at the Custom House Plaza, between Fisherman's Wharf and Wharf II at Monterey Harbor.

There is more information on these items below.

More Information:

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• Coastal Commission Website
• Coastal Commission Agenda
• Santa Cruz County Hotel Regulations
• Monterey County Minor and Standard Subdivision Committees
• City of Monterey Custom House Plaza Embankment Repair

As reported yesterday, the California Coastal Commission will be addressing issues in the Central Coast Region during its meeting in San Diego tomorrow. There are some rather noncontroversial items on the agenda, but there is also what might legitimately be called the biggest project approval in our region, in the coastal zone, during the last ten years or more. Here is the agenda description, which pretty much identifies why this item is a “big deal” for the future of our coast:

Agenda Item 16a - Consideration of findings for [the] Commission's April 9, 2014 approval of [a] permit to subdivide [a] 39.04-acre parcel into 3 parcels and [to] construct 1,337,909 square feet of mixed-use residential and visitor-serving development, including 184 hotel rooms, 184 condominium units … restaurants, conference center, hotel and residential courtyards, garden, spa, three swimming pools, and surface and underground parking (for 947 vehicles). [The] project includes 680,000 cubic yards of grading and 385,000 cubic yards of sand disposal, [all to be located in] sand dunes seaward of Highway One, [in] Sand City.

You can get lots more information about this project below.

More Information:

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• Coastal Commission Website
• Coastal Commission Agenda
• Santa Cruz County Hotel Regulations
• Monterey County Minor and Standard Subdivision Committees
• City of Monterey Custom House Plaza Embankment Repair
• August 15, 2014 Agenda Report - Monterey Bay Shores Resort
• April 9, 2014 Agenda Report – Monterey Bay Shores Resort (Including Addendum 1& 2)
• April 9, 2014 Agenda Addendum 3

Let me share an email I recently received:

The California Department of Conservation is sending you this email on behalf of the California Air Resources Board (ARB) because [of] your interest in the regulation of oil and gas production in California. ARB staff invites the public to participate in a public workshop regarding ARB's proposed regulatory activities for oil and natural gas production, processing, and storage operations, including well stimulation ...

What this means, in plain language, is that the California State Air Resources Board is going to be reviewing its regulations governing fracking. I know that many KUSP listeners are following fracking issues in the Central Coast Region, and I imagine that we will hear a lot more about fracking during the upcoming months, since the voters of San Benito County will have an opportunity to vote in November on an initiative measure that would ban fracking in that County.

If you care about fracking, you might want to think about attending the ARB workshop. It will be held on Monday, August 25th, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the Coastal Hearing Room, located on the Second Floor of the Cal/EPA Headquarters Building, 1001 "I" Street in Sacramento. A webcast and remote participation will be available. Get more information below.

More Information:

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• San Benito County Initiative Ordinance on Fracking
• ARB Website on Oil And Gas Production, Processing and Storage
• Workshop Notice and Agenda
• Cal EPA Live Webcasts

You may participate in the August 25th workshop by teleconference by dialing 1-800-857-1778, give the participant code: 9649516 and leader name: Ms. Elizabeth Scheehle. If you have any questions regarding this workshop, please contact Ms. Johanna Levine, Air Pollution Specialist, Emerging Technology Section at (916) 322-3499 or via email at jlevine@arb.ca.gov.