Trager Water Report

A Celebration of Life for Susan Trager

Trager Water Report — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 19:11:48 +0000

Hosted by the Laguna Beach Water District, a Celebration of Life for Susan Trager Announcement is presented below.

Link to the Celebration of Life Announcement Flyer or click on the above image.

Filed under: Uncategorized

A Tribute, Resolution, and Other News

Trager Water Report — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 18:31:55 +0000

The following is a transcript of the comments made in the Superior Court of the State of California – for the County of Los Angeles – Department 316 – Hon. Jack Komar presiding. We thank Judge Komar and the attorneys present in the court who acknowledged the passing of one of their colleagues.

March 24, 2011 – In Solemn Memory of Susan Trager

The following is Resolution 2011-5 adopted during the April Board of Directors Meeting of the San Luis Rey Municipal Water District. We thank Vic Pankey, Bill Pankey and Directors Veysey, Fritz, and Yarger for their kind words of appreciation in remembering their District Legal Counsel of 30 years.

Resolution 2011-5 Commemorating the Late Susan Trager

The following is a modified page of the Orange County Water Association April 2011 Newsletter Water Matters.

April 2011 OCWA Water Matters

The following is a modified page of the Association of California Water Agencies April 2011 Newsletter ACWA News.

April 2011 ACWA News

The following is a modified page of The Little Guild Spring 2011 Newsletter. The Little Guild of West Cornwall, CT is one of Susan’s favorite charities. We thank everyone who made a donation in the name of Susan Trager.

Spring 2011 Newsletter of The Little Guild

The following is a news article commenting on the “brilliant and tenacious water rights attorney Suasn Trager” in the selection of a new General Counsel for the Phelan Pinon Hills Community Services District.

CSD Selects New Legal Counsel

Filed under: Uncategorized

In Memory of Susan M. Trager

Trager Water Report — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 19:10:50 +0000

Please scroll below the photo to access links to all published online articles on the passing of Susan. Links will be added if we discover additional tributes and/or news articles.

Susan M. Trager

1947 – 2011

A Message from the Trager Family
Members of the Trager Family wish to extend their sincere appreciation for the outpouring of support and kind words of condolences we have received from the many friends and colleagues of Susan.
Our Family wishes to let everyone know that we are coordinating with the Laguna Beach County Water District in the planning of a Celebration of Life for Susan which will be held at a later date.
We wish to thank you all for your patience at this difficult time for us.
Laurie Trager, Frank Trager, Phil Trager, and Nettie Trager-Fuellenkemper

Private family services will be held in Connecticut.

Susan M. Trager – Obituary (with Guest/Memory Book)
The Orange County Register

Susan M. Trager – Obituary (with Guest/Memory Book)
Los Angeles Times

Water expert was first woman on Laguna Beach water commission
Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot

Property Rights Attorney Trager Dies
CalWatchDog

Water-Rights Attorney Dies
San Bernardino County Sun

Longtime Local Water Attorney and LB Water District Commissioner, Dies
Stu News Laguna

Susan Trager, noted water rights attorney, dies
The Orange County Register

Images, credentials, and notices from the extraordinary life of Susan Trager.

Click on SMT’s Card to launch a visual slideshow.

So, you want to be a big time Water Lawyer?
Compare your resume to this 1974 version from the personal files of SMT.

1974 SMT Resume

Filed under: Uncategorized

Supreme Court’s Murky Clean Water Act Ruling Created Legal Quagmire

Trager Water Report — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 22:44:58 +0000

Lawyers rarely agree on anything, but here’s an exception: They all say the Supreme Court bungled Rapanos v. United States, a major wetlands case, almost five years ago.

Attorneys representing all interested parties say lower court judges, regulators, the business community and individual landowners continue to suffer as a result of the confusion sown by the justices whose main job is to provide clarity in the law.

The case concerned the efforts of Michigan landowner John Rapanos to develop a property that, much to his dismay, was designated as a wetland. He hadn’t applied for a permit and was subsequently the target of U.S. EPA civil and criminal enforcement actions.

Filed under: Federal involvement

Rep. Jeff Denham named to the Subcommittee on Water and Power

Trager Water Report — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 17:38:25 +0000

Rep. Jeff Denham today expands his influence over the House debate on water issues and his ability to address California’s water crisis by joining the Subcommittee on Water and Power in the House Committee on Natural Resources. With a seat on the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee in the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure as well, Rep. Denham now has jurisdiction over many programs including the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Bureau of Reclamation.

The unemployment rates are consistently above the national average in the Central Valley. As a long time farmer in the area, Rep. Denham understands the immediacy of the water crisis and will remain committed to bringing water back to the Central Valley in order for farmers to grow crops and put people back to work.

Filed under: Congress -- bills

Don Curlee: Agriculture, urban goals are similar in California

Trager Water Report — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 17:16:49 +0000

The powerful Westlands Water District recently withdrew its support for the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan, action that might light a fire under other water organizations in the state.

The bold action by Westlands indicates that it is no longer willing to put up with unwanted and unmerited federal interference in the conscientious efforts by water interests in California to make the best use of water.

Westlands’ concerns regarding political interference by the Department of the Interior and its creation of further water restrictions without scientific basis are well-justified. Among other questionable activities, this department has been criticized recently by federal and state legislators for holding secret meetings on its planning process and for manipulating science to support its drilling ban in the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in the loss of 12,000 jobs.

Filed under: Use of water

Water: Upbeat first assessment of year’s supplies

Trager Water Report — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 17:31:28 +0000

The rainy season isn’t over yet, but California farmers already have reasons to be optimistic about the 2011 harvest.

A torrent of early winter storms and higher-than-expected water left from 2010 prompted federal regulators Tuesday to issue an upbeat first assessment of the year’s water supplies.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the sprawling network of pipes and pumps that bring water to Central Valley farmlands and some urban customers in the Bay Area, expects to deliver as much as 100 percent of the water supplies requested.

“The new year starts with an encouraging water supply forecast, thanks to the precipitation delivered by Mother Nature,” David Hayes, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, said in a statement.

Filed under: Farm water

California water wars focus on Salton Sea, Colorado River pact

Trager Water Report — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 18:32:27 +0000

HOLTVILLE, Calif.

The evaporating Salton Sea is the flashpoint for the latest dispute in California’s water wars, testing an uneasy alliance of farmers and city dwellers to wean the state from reliance on Colorado River water.

California officials agreed in 2003 to stop taking more than its share from the Colorado, ensuring that Arizona and Nevada don’t get shortchanged. The plan’s centerpiece called for shifting enough water from the agricultural Imperial Valley to serve nearly 600,000 San Diego area homes.

The huge farm-to-city water transfer threatened California’s largest lake . More than 200 feet below sea level, the Salton Sea survives on water that seeps through the soil of Imperial Valley farms.

For seven years, the solution has been to pump enough water into the Salton Sea to offset what was lost to San Diego. The 350-square-mile lake is evaporating at a rate of roughly 450 million gallons a year, but the thinking was to prevent the San Diego transfer from hastening its demise.

Filed under: Salton Sea

New Report Targets Unreasonable Water Use in California

Trager Water Report — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 18:31:19 +0000

Delta Watermaster Craig Wilson will present a highly anticipated report to the State Water Resources Control Board on January 19 suggesting that a particularly contentious area of California water law, the California Constitution’s “Reasonable and Beneficial Use Doctrine,” be applied more broadly.

In his report, Wilson recommends that the State Board employ this doctrine to promote agricultural water use efficiency. The doctrine states a water right does not include the right to waste water and mandates that “the water resources of the state be put to beneficial use,” according to the Planning and Conservation League Insider (http://www.pcl.org).

A small percentage of increased agricultural water use efficiency adds up to significant water savings in California, according to Wilson. The report recommends that the State Board convene a “Reasonable Use Summit” to develop specific actions to improve efficiency and create a “Reasonable Use Unit” within the Division of Water Rights.

Filed under: Use of water

Cold water cracks aging water pipes in downtown Sacramento

Trager Water Report — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 17:48:52 +0000

Two downtown office buildings were closed and hundreds of workers were sent home Wednesday because a nearly 100-year-old water main cracked in the cold weather.

It was at least the 15th broken water main that the city Department of Utilities has responded to in downtown Sacramento in the past week, department spokeswoman Jessica Hess said.

Stretches of cold like the one the city has experienced over the past week put a strain on aging pipes in the downtown and midtown areas, Hess said.

“It’s pretty typical that we have a week or so where we’ve got an increased number of main breaks,” she said.

“It’s just the age of the pipes combined with the type of material and the cold that led to this.”

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Comment: So much for “global warming,” just as the state government begins imposing AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. The state government is more out of touch than usual.

Filed under: AB 32 (Global Warming Law)