A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
March 21, 2007
2. Supply
DESALINATION:
Desalination debate rages on; Monterey County: No action taken; lawyers will study report - Monterey Herald
LOCAL WATER SUPPLY PLANNING:
Massive water plan posed; Complex reservoir, pipeline system to serve Sonoma County agriculturists - Santa Rosa Press Democrat
WATER TRANSFER:
Judge sets hearing date for Lemmon Valley water import case - Reno Gazette Journal
DESALINATION:
Desalination debate rages on;
By Kevin Howe, staff writer
Whether the Monterey County Board of Supervisors allows private development of a regional desalination plant or not, California American Water's pilot desal project remains on track, company officials say.
The supervisors Tuesday accepted a report on the issues involved in changing the county's 1989 ordinance requiring that desalination plants be publicly owned to allow private agencies with sufficient financial resources and technical expertise to build them.
No decision to amend the ordinance happened Tuesday, County Administrative Officer Lew Bauman told the board, because it had not been listed as an action item in the meeting agenda. Instead, the board accepted the report and ordered the county's legal staff to submit proposals at an undetermined date.
The county Health Department has primary oversight of water systems, Bauman said, though other departments, including public works and planning, could become involved.
The Health Department's concern, he said, is assuring a permanent, sufficient, healthy water supply provided by an agency that has the technical expertise and financial resources to do so.
Cal Am holds permits from the county and the state Coastal Commission to set up and operate an experimental, small-scale desalination plant at Moss Landing to determine whether removing the salt from seawater is the answer to meeting the
The ordinance does not apply to that pilot project as far as Cal Am is concerned because the water it would process won't be made available for human consumption, said company spokeswoman Catherine Bowie following Tuesday's hearing in Salinas.
Cal Am Vice President Kevin Tilden told supervisors the company is not opposed to a publicly owned desalination project, but wants the county to keep options open for private development of such a plant and provide more flexibility for the eventual development of desalination in
"The regulatory and legal environment" concerning desalination and water supply "has changed over the 18 years since the ordinance," he said.
Aaron
In August, supervisors approved a permit for Cal Am's pilot seawater desalination plant at Moss Landing, where the company ultimately proposes a full-scale plant to provide water throughout its service area.
In December, the state Coastal Commission also approved a coastal development permit for the experimental desalination plant.
In January, George Riley and Manuel Fierro, advocates of publicly owned water services organized as Friends of Locally Owned Water, filed suit in Monterey County Superior Court seeking to overturn those permits, contending the plant's authorization is at odds with the 1989 ordinance.
Riley told supervisors Tuesday that he considered the county's position that desalination was a public health issue "a charade," adding that public health arguments were not raised during desalination talks between the county and Cal Am in 2003.
"The public health argument doesn't relate to public-private ownership," he said. "Water is a public trust issue," and government has a role in regulating it.
Attorney Barbara May, representing FLOW at the
She cited a decision in January by the 2nd District of the U.S. Court of Appeal that ruled the Environmental Protection Agency cannot allow power plants to kill fish through their cooling water intakes. Cal Am's proposed pilot plant would use Moss Landing Power Plant's cooling water intake and outfall system as its water source.
"That ruling," May said, "was not ambiguous."
Marc Del Piero, general counsel for the Pajaro/Sunny Mesa Community Services District, which has its own desalination plant project in the works, argued that the 1989 ordinance is clear: Desalination plants must be public.
Sarah Corbin,
That would have allowed "anyone with the money" to build a desalination system on the coast, she said. Surfrider is concerned about whether intake and discharge of such home plants would be monitored and regulated, and the effect on coastal development in remote areas if the home plants became widespread.
But another county resident said Tuesday that county officials should consider their own track record before excluding private ownership of desalination plants.
"Why are we even considering public ownership of desal?" said Nelson Vega, who said the county's record of managing public property -- including Natividad Medical Center, the county jail, the Salinas Courthouse and Juvenile Hall -- has been "terrible."
"We have a very bad track record."
The county, he said, "shouldn't deny Cal Am the right to produce a product that's already sold on store shelves." #
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/local/16944821.htm
LOCAL WATER SUPPLY PLANNING:
Massive water plan posed; Complex reservoir, pipeline system to serve
Santa Rosa Press Democrat – 3/21/07
By Bleys W. Rose, staff writer
The Sonoma County Water Agency is proposing a massive web of 19 reservoirs and 112 miles of pipeline to provide treated wastewater to agriculture in the Alexander, Dry Creek and
At $375 million, the North Sonoma County Agricultural Reuse Project would be almost 20 percent more expensive than the Highway 101 widening project now under way.
Vineyards operated by some of
"Recycled water is a resource that can be used," said David Cuneo, the Water Agency's senior environmental specialist. "It can be used by agriculture so that other water could be used for drinking or for maintaining in-stream flows."
The huge water reuse project is part of the Water Agency's effort to convince state regulators that the county is doing its utmost to make the best use of the current supply and therefore gain approval for more releases from
Under the proposal, most of the treated wastewater would come from
Funding would come from a combination of state grants, loans, bonds, local funds and federal government money.
The environmental impact report, about three years in the works, has been anticipated by environmentalists, by farmers and grape growers in northern
Water Agency officials said increasing urban and agricultural demands on finite water supplies are prompting water recycling and reuse projects that are commonplace elsewhere in California. Currently, about 250 wastewater treatment plants in the state provide recycled water to irrigate crops, vineyards and pasture land, feed animals, supply nurseries and sprinkle parks and schoolyards.
Last fall, the Water Agency unveiled a water reuse and recycling plan for
"Both projects are tailored to their location,"
During the past three years, several community meetings addressed proposals being considered for inclusion in the report released Tuesday.
Pipelines would generally be buried along or under pavement on existing roadways, which the report acknowledges will result in traffic disruptions. Those routes include Westside and Eastside roads, Dry Creek and West Dry Creek roads, Healdsburg and Geyserville avenues, as well as
http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070321/NEWS/703210327/1033/NEWS01
WATER TRANSFER:
Judge sets hearing date for
By Susan Voyles, staff writer
While construction of the Vidler Water Co. pipeline continues between the Fish Springs Ranch to
U.S. District Judge Lloyd George in
In the lawsuit filed last fall, the tribe said it opposes any water being imported from the
And that includes treated wastewater, Tribal Chairman Mervin Wright Jr. said.
He said the environmental impact statement did not specify what would happen with the wastewater, which would contain a higher amount of dissolved solids than river water.
On March 29, the judge could decide that the environmental impact statement should be supplemented or schedule a trial about the issue, said Steve Hartman, Vidler's vice president and a lawyer. He attended the hearing Monday.
Wright, elected tribal chairman March 8, said he is pleased the judge stopped water from being pumped from the
"We were successful in stopping the project," Wright said, calling the injunction was "a victory for the tribe."
Vidler President Dorothy Timian-Palmer said there is no intent for wastewater to flow into the river.
She expects the issue to be resolved before the project is completed at the end of the year, and the water would start to flow.
For the 28-mile pipeline, she said nearly eight miles have been finished and another 10 miles of open trench have been dug. A power substation also is under way. Vidler intends to sell 8,000 acre-feet of water, enough to build
16,000 urban homes.
The environmental study didn't address the wastewater in detail, leaving it to federal jurisdiction, Hartman said.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would become involved if the Fish Springs Ranch water added dissolved solids to the river that violated discharge standards for the river, Hartman said. #
http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070320/NEWS10/703200337/1016/NEWS
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