In this edition of AQUAFORNIA’S Top of the Scroll:

• New mandatory water conservation rules for lawns, hotels, restaurants
• Overpumping of Central Valley groundwater creating a crisis, experts say
• California drought making wildfires a year-round threat

This week’s Water Plan eNews includes the following topics:

• UWMP guidebook webinar will gather input from water wholesalers
• DWR sets new timeline for IRWM grant program solicitation (final Proposition 84 round)
• Updates on the agenda for next California Water Commission meeting
• Water data collection tool to be highlighted during next week’s webinar
• Forest Service announces dates to listen to land management ideas
• Reclamation assessment report looks at irrigation and reservoir projections
• WestFAST newsletter explores groundwater, climate change, and drought

With much of the state’s water supply originating in the mountains as precipitation on the forested landscape, the health and management of the upper watersheds are critically important to California’s water quality and water supply. At the August meeting of the California Water Commission, George Gentry with the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, and Dr. Martha Conklin and Dr. Roger Bales from UC Merced discussed the relationships between forests and water.  Click here for full article.

“Whether we like it or not, our world is changing,” said Mark Cowin, director of the Department of Water Resources, who was in Chico Friday for the annual meeting of Northern California Water Association.  Click here for full article.

The Union article on the Sierra Nevada Conservancy hosted “Save CA – The Urgency to Restore Our Primary Watershed Summit” held on March 4, 2015 in Sacramento.  Click here for article.

By Maria Finn, onEarth Magazine: In an unexpected twist to California’s drought saga, it turns out that beavers, once reviled as a nuisance, could help ease the water woes that sometimes pit the state’s environmentalists and fishermen against its farmers.  Click here to view article.

Round Valley and New Forests announced the regulatory approval of the first forest carbon offset project developed on Native American trust land for the California carbon market. Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/02/26/round-valley-first-forest-carbon-offset-project-native-trust-land-california-159386

California Water Commission’s PowerPoint Presentation on the Public Benefits Provided by Groundwater Storage, February 2015.

This week’s Water Plan eNews includes:

•  Agency releases draft schedule and guidelines for Prop. 1 grant applications
• Web site changes make it easier to apply for drinking water project funding
• Drought response workshop to be held in Irvine next week
• USGS posts results of study on nation’s groundwater quality
• Independent panel set to focus on water use efficiency in the landscape industry
• Water and climate change sections featured in new California’s Future report
• Roundtable to look at socioeconomic relationship of forests and communities

This report describes Proposition 1, reviews the Governor’s proposals to implement the bond, identifies key implementation principals, and recommends steps for the Legislature to ensure that the bond is implemented effectively.