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SAN JOSE (KRON) — The San Jose City Council has declared an end to a citywide water supply shortage.
At the same time, homeowners will be able to keep their lawns green too.
Reflecting improved water supply conditions from unusually heavy rains this past winter, the San Jose City council has halted the 20 percent cutbacks on water use imposed last year, which means there are no longer any restrictions on days residents may water their lawns or landscapes.
“Yes, people can water their lawns and plant their vegetable gardens, but be very careful on how you plan your sprinkler systems so it waters early in the morning or later in the evening,” Director of Communications at City of San Jose Dave Vossbrink said.
That means no outdoor irrigation between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. without the use of a bucket, handheld container or hose with a shutoff nozzle.
And there will be more water for city parks.
That means no outdoor irrigation between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. without the use of a bucket, hand-held container, or hose with a shutoff nozzle.
Broken or leaking sprinkler heads, water pipes, and irrigation system must be repaired within five working days.
Later this week, the Governor’s office will provide more details about water restrictions.

Who’s the real April Fool?.
Since joining the programme, participating factories have seen a return on investment of more than 240 percent over three years.
Let’s, as they say, unpack this.
They "saved" water by not using it as if they had some right to use it.
This is not just false but stupid, as these companies sell products to consumers who probably have plenty of clothes.
The disappearance of those companies (and a permanent reduction in consumption) would not go noticed.
Let’s call it 1 billion liters per year and convert that amount into per year per person instead of per day (using their 50 liters/capita/day).
Now we have "enough water" for 54,975 people for a year.
Water services take money and good management.
Their 240 percent return on investment shows that this project is not about helping people get access to drinking water but saving money.

Tasks set for water supply.
– Cuttack to get more than 100 kiosks Cuttack, April 2: The Public Health Engineering Division (PHED) has initiated a slew of measures to ensure undisrupted drinking water supply in the city this summer.
The PHED and the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) have jointly planned to deploy water tankers in dry areas, install new tube wells and repair dysfunctional ones and also set up a control room to monitor distribution of safe drinking water.
Water tankers of the civic body will regularly fill these plastic tanks with drinking water.
The tanks will be placed by the end of this week after a consultation with the councillors of all the 59 wards," executive engineer of PHED, Cuttack, Sushant Ghadei told The Telegraph today.
While 44 of the 59 wards are covered under piped water system, the rest remain partially covered.
So far, the CMC was responsible for supplying drinking water to 29 wards of the city (wards 1 to 29) and PHED the remaining 30 wards (wards 30-59).
Member of CMC’s standing committee for public health, sanitation and water supply Ranjan Kumar Biswal said: "As per the joint agreement with the PHED, we have asked them to place at least two plastic tanks in each of 59 wards to be filled up by tankers.
Biswal said the PHED has also been asked to make functional all the cold water supply units that have been set up across the city with MPLAD or MLALAD funds.
"But taking permission from the municipal authority to set up kiosk has been made mandatory," Biswal said.

DAILY DIGEST, weekend edition: Why Oroville Dam woes could cut into California water supplies; Melting snowpack and sinking land threaten valley communities with flooding; Joint letter pledges to develop the Temperance Flat Reservoir project; and more ….
… ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee here: Why Oroville Dam woes could cut into California water supplies Oroville Dam documents kept secret by the state, federal officials: “Citing potential security risks, state and federal officials are blocking the public’s ability to review documents that could shed light on repair plans and safety issues at crippled Oroville Dam.
The spillway boat launch parking lot was also completely flooded.
… ” Read more from the Fresno Bee here: Melting snowpack and sinking land threaten valley communities with flooding The big melt: Here it comes, most reservoirs will be fine: “Reservoirs are no longer so frighteningly full, rivers are no longer flowing so fiercely, and it appears the threat of serious flooding has diminished in low-lying San Joaquin County.
… ” Read more from the Stockton Record here: The big melt: Here it comes, most reservoirs will be fine Joint letter pledges to develop the Temperance Flat Reservoir project: “A joint letter pledging collaboration to develop the Temperance Flat Reservoir project was signed by four agencies representing water users in the San Joaquin Valley at Fresno City Hall on Friday.
… ” Read more from the Fresno Bee here: Joint letter pledges to develop the Temperance Flat Reservoir project In commentary this weekend … California greets a bleak salmon season: The Santa Rosa Press Democrat writes, “This week’s news included warnings about potential flooding as temperatures rise and the Sierra’s mammoth snowpack begins to melt.
For several years, the district has been working to clean up and alter Almaden Lake.
If the board decides the county should cover that cost — estimated at $6.1 million — that would reverse the position it took back in November, when it agreed to act as lead agency for areas required to do groundwater planning, but only if property owners agreed to cover the costs.
… ” Read more from the San Luis Obispo Tribune here: San Luis Obispo County Supervisors should stay the course How much rain has Southern California received?
Maven’s Notebook where California water news never goes home for the weekend

Aurangabad: Residents of Vishtanti Nagar on Monday staged a dharna on the premises of the civic body’s main administrative building over erratic water supply in their locality.
Thus, the municipal authorities supply water through tankers for which the residents have to shell out Rs 1,100 for every three month.
"The AMC supplies only 200 liter water per family in three days.
On many occasions, we miss our turn and are forced to wait for 5-6 days.
It is very frustrating especially during the summer," said Sukanya Bhonsale, one of the agitators.
"For one of the other reason, the tankers operators skip the supply and people have to buy water from private suppliers," she said.
People will not hesitate to pay more if they get enough water.
But the ground reality is different.
Every time the residents have to spend long hours waiting for water," Suradkar said.
About 40% of the city’s residential area comes under Gunthewari where in the municipal body is supplying water through tankers.

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality is concerned about the potential for a significant drought in Northern Virginia. A ‘drought watch’ advisory has been issued for all Northern Virginia and the Northern Piedmont. In the Northern Virginia region, the drought watch advisory applies to public or private groundwater supplies or private surface water supplies in Fauquier, Prince William and Loudoun counties. Water systems using the Potomac River or Occoquan Reservoir are not affected at this time, according to Bill Hayden, a department spokesperson. “New record low water levels for March have been recorded in two long-term observation wells in Fauquier and Orange counties,” Hayden…

From the Bureau of Reclamation: The Bureau of Reclamation today announced the 2017 water supply allocation for the remaining Central Valley Project contractors. On Feb. 28, 2017, Reclamation announced the water supply allocation for CVP contractors in the Friant Division (Millerton Reservoir), Eastside Division (New Melones Reservoir), and the American River Division (Folsom Reservoir). The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) reports that as of March 20, the statewide average snow water equivalent in the Sierra Nevada was 44 inches, as compared to 25 inches last year. Precipitation is currently 199 percent of the seasonal average to date for the Sierra Nevada for this point in the water year (which began Oct. 1, 2016). “As previously announced, Reclamation is taking a unique approach to announcing CVP water allocations,” said Acting Mid-Pacific Regional Director Pablo Arroyave. “In February, we notified the Refuge Contractors, San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors, and Sacramento River Settlement Contractors that, since this is not a Shasta Critical Year, they will receive 100 percent of their contract supply. We then provided additional allocations on February 28. Now,…

One year into a two-year study requested by state lawmakers, scientists with the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) report finding evidence of genetic material, like DNA, from viruses and bacteria in water from some of the state’s public water supply wells.
Finding such evidence of microbes in a drinking water system does not necessarily mean that those consuming water from these systems would become ill, but it does indicate the system may be vulnerable to contamination, according to a news release.
Health officials will now work with systems to determine how to reduce potential contamination.
The project has two components: a monitoring study divided into two phases and a community illness study.
In the first phase of the monitoring study, MDH looked at how often microbes were detected in groundwater by sampling source water from the wells of 82 systems.
The second phase of the monitoring study, scheduled to be completed by this summer, includes wells with different characteristics than the wells in the first phase.
However, 37 percent of systems had evidence of human viruses and 89 percent of systems had evidence of microbes (including some that don’t cause human illness) detected at least once during the study period, according to health officials.
In the next several months, MDH and project partners will complete an analysis of all study results including the community illness study.
After completion of the study, MDH will work with systems to determine what recommendations might be warranted to ensure public health.
“Understanding how they get into aquifers and wells may help us find a cost-effective way to predict problems and take preventive action.” MDH recommends that both public and private water systems continue to maintain their wells and conduct routine testing of their water supply, and to follow recommended procedures for operating and maintaining septic systems or other contaminant sources.

No excuses for boil water orders on First Nations reserves – Michael’s essay.
In May of 2000, during a random test of the water supply in the farming town of Walkerton, Ontario, traces of e-coli were found in a shallow water supply well.
This was the result of cattle manure washing into the well.
People in the town started to get sick — with, ultimately, 3,500 residents falling ill.
A formal judicial inquiry was held to determine what had gone wrong with the system.
While all this was going on, thousands of men, women and children in Ontario and across the country were boiling their water for at least a minute because what came out of the tap was toxic, dangerous to drink.
In all of the complicated relationships and seemingly intractable problems between governments and First Nations peoples, clean water has to be one of the simplest to resolve.
Drinking water on reserves is a federal responsibility.
A year before, the number was 139 advisories in 94 communities.
In the 13 years between 1995 and 2008, the federal government, through Aboriginal Affairs, spent $3.5 billion.

Editorial: We need federal action to stop water pollution.
What started with some alarming news about the tainted water supply for the City of Newburgh last year has inspired action at the local and state levels.
Results from the first 370 people tested show a middle level of 16 parts per billion, three times higher than the national figure of 5.2.
More will need to have their blood tested and more work needs to be done to understand the immediate and long-term effects of this increased level and the best options for treatment.
The chemicals in these streams and lakes, in these and many other wells and water supplies all point directly toward the Stewart Air National Guard Base.
Last March, state investigators found alarmingly high levels of PFOS coming from Recreation Pond, the off-base retention pond used by Stewart from which water flowed into nearby streams, eventually ending up in the Newburgh water supply.
Other testing found a variety of levels of contamination in nearby wells, showing that the chemicals had gone into the aquifer and were not contained in surface water.
It has only recently come up with a plan to investigate the source of pollution around the base.
As Sen. Charles Schumer, the DEC and the leaders of Riverkeeper have demanded, the Air National Guard needs to immediately stop continued discharges of contaminated water into Silver Stream.
"The Department of Defense can stop this pollution, and it must do so without further delay," said Dan Shapley, director of Riverkeeper’s water quality program.