Colorado River

During the July 25 board meeting, the CVWD Board of Directors voted to support Proposition 84, a $5.4 billion water and resources bond initiative on the November ballot. If approved by voters, Proposition 84, known formally as the Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection Bond Act of 2006, would provide $5.4 billion in funding for a wide range of water and resource related programs and projects throughout the state. It also would provide funding for local water agencies to carry out critical programs that will benefit all California water users, including $525 million for projects to ensure safe drinking water and improve water quality around the state.

Jerry Lane What is your first destination when you step out of bed each morning? That's right. It's the bathroom. You turn the faucet handle and watch the clean, cool water pour from the tap. You let the water run as you brush your teeth and enjoy a long, luxurious shower. You don't give a thought to the miracle of running water. Here in La Crescenta, at least 75% of the water we splash over ourselves comes from the Crescenta Valley Water District wells.

Rosealma R. “Rose” Loewe was born in Topsham, Maine, in 1919 and passed away Friday, Feb. 22, 2013, in San Luis Obispo. Often calling herself a “Mainiac,” a play on the name of her birth state, Mom greeted each person she encountered with her beautiful smile. Rose married Arthur, the man of her dreams, and raised a family, Ron, Don, and Darlene, in Glendale. The children were Rose's pride and joy, and all three children learned many valuable life lessons from Rose and Arthur.

Students raced balls down a model aqueduct at Fremont Elementary School on Friday morning as part of a musical science assembly to teach children about water conservation and the water cycle. “H20, Where Do You Go?” was the first assembly of the year brought to the school with sponsorship from the PTA. In the program, William Barrett and Michael “Tuba” Heatherton sang about the four stages of the water cycle and told students how water reached dry Southern California from the north and the east.

Jokes, songs and slapstick silliness “rained” down on Dunsmore Elementary on Tuesday as the school hosted “H2O, Where Do You Go?,” an interactive assembly sponsored by Glendale Water and Power. With equal parts Abbott and Costello, Smothers Brothers and the Science Guy, Michael Heatherton and William Barrett explained the earth’s water cycle, how Southern California gets its water and the importance of water conservation. With Heatherton changing in and out of costumes and Barrett backing him on guitar, the duo sang songs about condensation, snow in the mountains, the three states of matter and California’s aqueduct system.

Robert Chacon Crescenta Valley Water District customers might discover they have higher than usual bills beginning next year if they don't clamp down on their tap. The district's board of directors is strongly considering a tiered rate system, charging customers with above average use a higher price for water than customers who practice conservation. In the grip of a seven-year drought, the water district hopes the new rate system will entice single-family homeowners to conserve, General Manger Dennis Erdman said.

Robert Chacon Glendale City Council members will consider Tuesday whether to extend a joint contract with two neighboring cities to continue an investigation into chromium 6 tainted groundwater. The cities of Glendale, Los Angeles and Burbank teamed up in December to pay a consultant who has helped the cash-strapped Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board investigate 250 industrial sites in Glendale and surrounding areas suspected of having used chromium 6. The water board investigates industries that might have contributed to chromium 6 contamination, but budget cuts and staff shortages have made it slow going.

Alex Coolman CITY HALL -- A deal under consideration by the agency that supplies most of Glendale's drinking water could mean higher water rates in years ahead for city consumers. The arrangement would see the Metropolitan Water District, which supplies about 90% of Glendale's drinking water, buying some of its water from a private company. And though the 50-year deal would provide a much-needed supplement to the district's water supplies, it would also mean that the private company, Santa Monica-based Cadiz Land Co., could raise rates to keep pace with the water market.

Robert Chacon "Rain, rain go away" has had some poignant significance for water officials this week in La Crescenta. This week's storms normally would replenish underground water basins in La Crescenta, but instead it headed straight for the Pacific Ocean in a series of storm channels built decades ago by L.A. County. With much of the West Coast gripped in a six-year drought, Crescenta Valley Water District officials consider rain that washes straight to the ocean a major waste.