California Water Commission: Ex Parte Communication Policy for Water Storage Investment Program.
On June 21, 2017, the Commission adopted an ex parte communications policy, which applies to implementation of the Water Storage Investment Program (WSIP).
The policy can be found at https://cwc.ca.gov/Pages/ExParte.aspx.
The policy relies on four principles to ensure a fair and transparent decision-making process: treat all applicants equally, disclose all ex parte communications, act as a body of State government, and conduct any site visits as public meetings.
The ex parte communication policy applies to applications for WSIP funding submitted to the Commission by August 14, 2017.
It does not apply to the program as a whole or the general business of the Commission.
The Commission’s staff will continue to be available to discuss WSIP applications with applicants, stakeholders, and the public.
The Commission will decide at a future public meeting whether to visit any or all project sites.
There will be opportunities for interested parties to comment on the site visit decision.
For questions or clarification on the ex parte policy please contact, Jennifer Ruffolo at Jennifer.Ruffolo@water.ca.gov.

Severe Drought to Record Rain: Perspective on the Reversal.
Most of Florida was in a drought just one month ago.
But on Thursday, the U.S. Drought Mitigation Center published a report stating there are now no areas with abnormally dry conditions.
He says it’s not uncommon to see a drought improve during Florida’s rainy season.
"But this year, the June rains were so robust and widespread, we actually came out of the drought in three weeks", said Zierden.
"Right now, our statewide average rainfall is right around 11.9 inches, which would rank second greatest of all time."
Pensacola, for example, has had it’s second rainiest June on record, and Gainesville set an ALL-TIME record for the rainiest calendar month in that city’s history.
Other than Tropical Storm Cindy, which largely only affected the panhandle, no major weather system can be attributed to the reversal.
The dissipation of La Nina conditions in the Pacific – which correlated to our dry winter, and the persistent presence of tropical moisture, has been the likely cause of Florida’s wetter-than-normal start to the rainy season.
Near-normal rainfall is expected through the 4th of July holiday across the state, which means some outdoor plans will likely be interrupted by afternoon or evening thunderstorms.

June was drier, warmer than normal, but drought an unlikely threat.
0 June was warmer and drier than normal in the Austin area, as triple-digit temperatures arrived earlier than usual across Central Texas this year, data from the National Weather Service shows.
The hottest day of the year so far in Austin was June 23, when temperatures reached 104 degrees at Camp Mabry and 102 at Austin-Bergstrom, according to the weather service.
The average high temperature for the month as of June 30 came out 2 degrees warmer than usual, clocking in at 94.3 at Camp Mabry.
Meanwhile, June only saw about 3 inches of rainfall, which was about 1.3 inches less than normal.
But Lower Colorado River Authority meteorologist Bob Rose cautioned about reading too much into — well, the readings.
“But we’re going to end the month short (on rain),” he said.
“We’re not anywhere near the situation we were in 2011, when we started hitting 100s in May,” Rose said.
“We’re not really in a drought right now.” He added: “We’ve got a lot of heat ahead of us for the next two months.” But that’s not unusual for Austin or Texas, nor does it appear to be a repeat of 2011’s brutal summer, when Austin had 90 days with triple-digit temperatures.
As the summer wears on and the heat builds, Rose said that folks should keep one eye on the mercury and another on the Gulf of Mexico, where meteorologists have seen indications that the tropics could produce more storms than normal.

A drought in the Dakotas spells trouble for the U.S. wheat harvest..
Farmers in the Upper Midwest got a big dose of bad news Thursday: The extent of the region’s ongoing “extreme” drought has more than tripled in the past week.
Temperatures are expected to reach as high as 107 degrees next week in parts of the Dakotas, more than 20 degrees above normal.
In large swaths of the Dakotas and eastern Montana, spring rains have been less than half of normal.
On Monday, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum declared a statewide fire and drought emergency.
In the longer term, the region’s wheat harvest is in serious jeopardy — and that may have global implications.
This year’s American wheat crop is currently rated the worst in 29 years.
Wheat is humanity’s most important grain food source, and the U.S. is the world’s largest wheat exporter, with the Dakotas and Montana now its most important wheat-growing region.
Wheat prices recently went up more than 10 percent in response to the worsening drought.
For decades, Kansas was America’s wheat state.

Alabama Drought-Free for First Time Since 2016.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) – Alabama and Mississippi are completely free from drought for the first time in more than a year.
A federal assessment released Thursday shows rains have eliminated a dry spell that began in April 2016, the last time Alabama was totally drought-free.
Days of heavy rains from Topical Storm Cindy helped, and now only slivers of northwest Alabama and northeastern Mississippi are considered abnormally dry.
That’s a step below being in a drought.
The worst period of dry weather was last fall, when the entire state of Alabama was in a drought for an eight-week period that began in late October.
Statistics from the National Drought Mitigation Center show conditions have improved steadily since then.
Northeast Georgia still has a small area experiencing drought, and rainfall is considered normal in Louisiana.
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For the first time since April 2016, Alabama and Mississippi are free from drought, but Auburn remains under voluntary water restrictions because of ongoing spillway construction at the city’s main water source.
A federal assessment released Thursday shows rains have eliminated the dry spell that began in 2016.
The worst period of dry weather was last fall when all of Alabama was in a drought for an eight-week period that began in late October.
Statistics from the National Drought Mitigation Center show conditions have improved steadily since then.
Auburn again issued voluntary water restrictions after dry weather toward the end of April, which, despite recent rains from Tropical Storm Cindy, remain in place because of continued construction on a new spillway at Lake Ogletree.
The lake has been drawn down to allow construction to continue, so water from heavy rains is being let out to finish the project.
“The trick now is not really drought so much as Lake Ogletree levels as we finish the spillway project,” said David Dorton, Auburn’s public affairs director.
“When we’re done, we’ll have more reserves to endure future drought.
Until we’re done, lake levels are … lower than we like for this time of year and the high water demand that goes with it.” In light of the construction that is expected to finish in the fall, according to Auburn’s Water Resource management Director Eric Carson, the city is asking for residents’ help to conserve water.
They also encourage even-numbered addresses to water on Monday, Wednesday or Friday and for odd-numbered addresses to water on Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday.

Weather Talk: Drought.
Drought, simply put, is a lack of rain.
But drought is not a simple thing to classify.
Like anything related to weather, it is complicated.
It isn’t a drought just because the yard isn’t as green as one might like.
Crops that are a little stressed, even if it means a reduced yield, are not indicative of a drought.
These sorts of things happen every few years and are to be expected.
An honest-to-goodness drought is when the lawn is brown, the crop might not make it at all, and communities are trying to function in an extreme water shortage.
Here in the Fargo Moorhead area, the last true drought was in the summer of 1989, which followed an even worse drought the summer of 1988.
Before that, a severe drought happened in 1976.

This month’s colossal rainfall wiped out what meteorologists call the "severe conditions" that just weeks ago covered 15 percent of the state, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
The last time so much of Florida was that dry was in June 2012, said 10Weather WTSP meteorologist Grant Gilmore.
Thank June’s drought-busting rains for that.
Gilmore said after the 2015 dry season, the drought lasted through most of the summer.
The drought effects that meteorologists survey range from stream flows to fire danger –– both of which have recovered significantly throughout June’s heavy rains, Oglesby said.
A statewide drought group made up of meteorologists discusses those impacts on a weekly basis, Oglesby said, to determine if they should raise or lower drought levels.
Last week, the drought monitor’s Florida map showed "abnormally dry" conditions from Pinellas County stretching east to the Atlantic coast, crossing Hillsborough, Polk, Osceola and Brevard counties.
Tampa Bay Water, the agency that manages the area’s drinking water supply, said June’s showers dramatically reduced daily water consumption across the region and returned most rivers to normal levels.
The drought also fueled Florida’s furious wildfires: 2,506 fires burned 250,508 across the parched state.
They can still produce fires.

Weather Talk: Droughts are a regular part of your climate.
Drought, simply put, is a lack of rain.
But drought is not a simple thing to classify.
It isn’t a drought just because the yard isn’t as green as one might like.
Crops that are a little stressed, even if it means a reduced yield, are not indicative of a drought.
These sorts of things happen every few years and are to be expected.
An honest-to-goodness drought is when the lawn is brown, the crop might not make it at all, and communities are trying to function in an extreme water shortage.
This kind of severe drought is also a regular part of our climate, but one with much less regularity.
Here in the Fargo Moorhead area, the last true drought was in summer 1989, which followed an even worse drought in summer 1988.
Before that, a severe drought happened in 1976.

Daniels County producers may be eligible for drought assistance Jamie Zumbuhl, executive director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency in Daniels County reminds farmers and ranchers that are affected by the recent drought that disaster assistance programs are available.
Irrigated acres used for grazing or aftermath grazing are not eligible under this program," said Zumbuhl.
Livestock producers may also be eligible for assistance through the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program, which covers the additional cost of transporting water to eligible livestock and losses that are not covered under other disaster assistance programs.
This program is available by producer request.
The LFP application and supporting documentation must be submitted by Jan. 30, 2018.
Supporting documents may include information on grazing leases, federal grazing permits, contract grower agreements, and more.
2, or go online at disaster.fsa.usda.gov.
As such, Perdue is authorizing emergency grazing of CRP for nay county in which any part of its border lies within 150 miles of a county approved for emergency grazing of CRP.
In addition, the USDA will allow CRP contract holders who hay their acreage according to their mid-management conservation plan to donate their hay to livestock producers.
Emergency haying is not authorized at this time.