May 17, 2016 Assume the best prepare for the worst

When citizens and local agencies take the bull by the horns, the state doesn’t need to engage in mandatory requirements. Felicia Marcus, State Water Resources Control Board is messaging this very thing. Assume the best and prepare for the worst. Continuing water conservation practices is an action that builds strength and brings communities together through the resourcefulness created from these actions.  Get the message out. We will always have water working together and working together means responding to the uncertain water conditions of the future now.

May 10, 2016 Groundwater management is important to everyone!

Groundwater management is important for everyone. Find out how much interest your groundwater users have in monitoring their water conditions and solving their groundwater problems. A high level of public engagement yields staying on target. Low public participation sets your groundwater management efforts up to become dysfunctional in design and implementation. Public buy-in is critically important.

Encourage an activate public. This creates opportunity when building a Groundwater Sustainability Agency and is especially good for the long run.  And yes, you guessed it, the Operation Unite® Relationship Building program gets it done! Give us a call.

May 3, 2016 Yes, the state will step in if people don't manage their groundwater!

Everyone has been wondering. Will the State of California really take over groundwater management in regions that communities are inactive or ineffective? The State doesn’t want to see failures however actions will be taken.

Assistant Chief Council, Andrew Sawyer, of the State Water Resources Control Board announced at a recent American Groundwater Trust conference on California Groundwater Law that the state is prepared and staffed to manage non-compliant medium or high priority water basins. He also pointed out state implementation comes at a much greater cost than locally implemented programs.
 
The state will exercise the highest degree of care. This translates into a high cost. Come on. Let’s keep local control.

April 26, 2016 India population of 1/2 million in jeopardy because of drought!

It really isn’t farfetched to think that drought can completely erase a water supply for large cities.  A 50-wagon train is traveling 212 miles every week to deliver water to a population of a half a million people right now in Latur, India. They are out of water after four years of drought!  When you know something like this can happen, it is best to correct your behavior before catastrophe develops.  California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act offers an approach that balances water demand with surface and groundwater availability, every year. It's all about adjusting to the available water resource not the other way around.

April 19, 2016 Effectively manage your groundwater resources

Groundwater knows physical boundaries and hydrogeologic conditions. Other boundaries, like political districts and property boundaries are simply invisible to groundwater. So, how can we effectively manage a groundwater resource in the world we live?
 
Whenever we try to manage groundwater exclusively from our own corner of the world, we sidestep success in the aquifer by building unintended dysfunction in behavior between our neighbors and ourselves. Independent decision making alone builds a tragedy of the commons. Today’s challenge is to manage groundwater basins by working together. Operation Unite® brings people together to solve water problems. We can make your job easier. Let us help!

April 12, 2016 Not all groundwater basins are the same

Presentations at the recent UC Davis Climate Change conference in California and Pat Mulroy’scomments at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento have a lot in common. “Not all groundwater basins are the same.” Look for opportunities and create partnerships. The opportunity that overdrafted groundwater basins provide is enormous. A good healthy mix of conjunctive use and a strong collaborative effort will yield health for the watershed and a practical solution to our overused aquifers.

April 5, 2015 Leadership and Action

Leadership and individual actions are paramount this year. California is in an exceptional drought that would take 200% to 270% of the average precipitation to catch up from the last three years of drought. Steve talks about some of the priorities that our state is focusing on and the value of resiliency. Everyone needs to do their part. Build resiliency to thrive. We can do this.

April 21, 2015 "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts."

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. This is a quote shared by Pat Mulroy, Senior Fellow at Brookings Institute, at a recent UC Davis conference in California. Steve discusses his gained new insight and a hopeful direction for California as demonstrated through thirty years of work that Pat Mulroy accomplished while General Manager at both the Southern Nevada Water Authority and Las Vegas Water District. Las Vegas was able to reduce within six years their water demand by a third and gain 400,000 people. This was accomplished by improving water efficiency, water reuse and water recycling. The practical goal was to remove as much evaporative loss as possible, recycle and reuse as much as possible and maintain a high quality of life and economic stability, even during serious drought.

April 27, 2015 Let's Talk!

So, what do you want to talk about?

You have an influence on what Operation Unite discusses. Let us know what topics are of interest to you and Operation Unite will make a strong effort to satisfy your request. Groundwater management, fracking, the California Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, rural water supplies, permit exempt well issues in Washington, Montana and Colorado and groundwater contamination are only a few categories. You tell us!
 

Email: stevebaker@operationunite.co

April 28, 2015 Saving Water

California is trying to save 1.3 million acre-feet of water (the amount currently stored in Lake Oroville) in 2015. Curtailment of1,611 junior water right holders in the San Joaquin River watershed and Scott River were issued and a statewide urban water restriction was announced.  A lot of water districts and water agencies consider these requests unfair and a misuse of authority. Attempting to prioritize critical water demand from water uses that are not a fundamental need is where the angst is occurring. Reducing outdoor watering like lawns is a contentious issue.

It’s important to recognize the real reason for these water restrictions. We don’t want to go bone dry, reach dead pool, or experience anymore dry holes or empty groundwater wells. Running out of water is not an option.  Governor Brown’s request is really fueling a California community concept. The concept is, “I got you covered and I know you have me covered. “ It is dependent on a lot of social and physical factors, that’s for sure but this can be accomplished with local voluntary agreements.

May 1, 2015 Fractured Rock Aquifers Can Be Managed!!

We ought to kno w! Operation Unite conducted a 10-year groundwater study on fractured rock aquifer behavior in rural residential and small agricultural environments in California.

Schedule a 60 Minute Presentation and an Energetic Question and Answer Session.

Designed to aid Groundwater Sustainability Agencies, counties, cities, water agencies, home owners associations, road associations, neighborhoods, NGOs, real estate and banking industriesand the general public.

May 5, 2015 Consequences of our actions

Consequences that benefit some people and cause harm or discomfort to others is an innate outcome when changing how water flows in a natural system. This is certainly true when deciding how California can prevent salt water intrusion from migrating too far inland. Surface water runoff in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta does not have its normal volume of flow this year to hold back the salty ocean water. The proposed construction of salt water barriers may cause a backup of salty water that could impact some Delta farmers.  Exercising tolerance, commitment and responsibility to each other while designing mitigating measures is a mainstay. There will always be a mix of concerns and we always want to remember that our community extends across the state. A realization of minimizing the pain for everyone is a necessity while elimination of the pain for everyone is extremely rare. The ability to hang in there, while having tolerance, commitment and responsibility toward one another is indispensable.

May 12, 2015 Living Water Radio programming

Operation Unite® produces a short segment radio program called, “Water is a Many Splendid Thing”.  These shows identify the many interactions that water has in the physical world. Water relationships are shared with all nations of people, for all types of uses including natural habitats of walking, slithering and flying life that calls their natural landscape home. In most cases, these relationships overlap with one another.

I’d like to share one of these radio segments with you this week. The Paso Robles, California watershed is experiencing a lot of dry wells. What do you do as a community or individual when this happens? Listen up and find out.

Two hundred and fifty radio segments are ready for broadcasting across California and the U.S. Let’s make the connection. Operation Unite® would like to hear from your favorite radio station.

May 19, 2015 Your Backup Plan

GROUNDWATER 
What's your water backup plan? How can working together assure you of a sustainable water supply? What is a Neighborhood Water Alliance? Today's audio answers these questions!!

May 26, 2015 Importance of Water

The importance of water in California is paramount in all activities present in each category of natural and modern civilized society. Such integrated uses and the high water demand that is felt during a drought can turn one Californian against another. Realizing our value for each other, especially during a drought, is fundamental to our success.

Dividing up water in California is a lot like sitting at the kitchen table and serving your favorite pie. Everybody wants a slice. If we find ourselves one slice short, we find a way to make it work. Food, water and habitat sit at this table and each is a part of the same family........ ours. 

June 4, 2015 Learning from others... How about Texas!

California can gain some valuable insight by watching what is happening in Texas. They have been experiencing an extreme drought (similar to California) and now the state has experienced record precipitation and flooding. This summer places all Californians in a state of readiness and action:

Minimize your water demand;

Reduce fire risk on your properties and support all fire response efforts in your community and

Provide your opinion and vote for state and federal levee projects and other flood prevention and response projects in California.

June 4, 2015 Operation Unite 30-day Pilot Public Engagement

Operation Unite has scheduled a 30-day pilot public facilitation program starting June 22 through July 21, 2015. KVMR, KNCO, KAHI, Nevada County TV, local newspapers and Yubanet are working with Operation Unite to provide drought talk that focuses on helping the public understand the realities of drought impacts in their lives and discover that participation by each of us can cause our water vulnerabilities to disappear.

Today's talk begins with an overview of water levels in Shasta, Folsom, Lake Oroville and San Luis reservoirs and the possible meaning of observable water level trends. We will get through this year because groundwater is our buffer.

June 16, 2015 Fire and Water

Satisfy your water supply needs and improve your ability to fight fire by;

Installing a holding tank to your groundwater well system;

Building a rainwater harvesting system and

Monitoring your groundwater levels and water quality through time.  

Steve discusses components for improving water supply strategies for rural residential properties and small farms. The benefits gained by installing a holding tank and the investment in a designed rainwater harvesting system are worth their weight in gold. Be informed and take action now.

June 23, 2015 Let's do what Israel is doing!

If the desert nation of Israel can thrive then a drought stricken California, we can do it too. The key for Israel's success is recycling waste water, building state-of-art desalination plants, improving irrigation efficiency and development of drought-tolerant crops. Israel uses 2.5 times less water per capita than Californians.

June 30, 2015 The California Water Portfolio

Developing the California water portfolio with an increase in water recycling and reuse is a strategy that builds resiliency in California during severe droughts. It will lessen California’s dependency on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and create a cleaner, more healthy environment. The most favorable water supply is a locally-controlled source that is abundant and close-by; recycled water.