A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
March 27, 2007
2. Supply
Water 'war' may brew beneath surface; Aquifer control could pit districts vs. state
By Michael Gardner, Copley News Service
Yet, despite the importance of groundwater, this largely arid state lacks an overall plan to take advantage of it. Nor does the state have a firm grasp of how much is squirreled away in underground bowls or where there is room for more.
Instead, aquifers for the most part are the province of local water agencies. Managers armed with protectionist laws can jealously guard supplies. Some aquifers are shrinking as demand outstrips supply.
Pollution caused by farms and industry plagues other basins.
Because it is out of sight, groundwater often tends to be out of mind. Until now.
Democrats have elevated the availability of groundwater to a place alongside traditional arguments – the environment, conservation and desalination – against building additional reservoirs.
“It's much cheaper, faster and more efficient,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Don Perata, D-Oakland, arguing for a greater focus on groundwater.
But is it?
Relying on more subterranean supplies has its own challenges, not the least of which are finding extra water to store and an accessible place to keep it. Contracts over ownership must be negotiated. Miles of plumbing, along with energy contracts to power pumps, have to be put in place. Pollution, whether from farm fertilizers, industrial dumping or seawater intrusion, is a growing headache. Aquifers also cannot match the flood control provided by reservoirs.
“There is the whole realm of legal, institutional, political and economic issues,” said
There is also resistance from local agencies determined to keep the state from moving in on a valuable asset. To many, groundwater rights are akin to property rights.
“It truly could be a holy war,” said David Guy, who represents dozens of water districts north of
However, the state is under increasing pressure to quickly develop new sources of water. Climate changes brought on by global warming threaten to disrupt water supplies and increase the risk of floods. Reservoirs, if approved, would take years to build and fill. At the same time,
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has concentrated on promoting reservoirs. He was in
Nearly half of all Californians use some of the 14.5 million acre-feet pumped out of the ground annually, or about 30 percent of
The figure is much lower in the
The San Diego County Water Authority draws 2 percent of its annual supplies from underground, said Ken Weinberg, the agency's director of water resources. But it buys most of its water – 73 percent – from the Metropolitan Water District, a big user of groundwater.
The
More significant, Weinberg said, is the opportunity to bank water hundreds of miles away as a new emergency reserve.
Metropolitan, the huge Los Angeles-based wholesaler, stores more water under than above ground.
Metropolitan has about 1.23 million acre-feet of water in aquifers stretching from the city of
Jeffrey Kightlinger, Metropolitan's general manager, said developing aquifers has a more immediate payback than reservoirs. But, with the “industrial legacy” of
“The trick is where you store it. Is it productive, clean and accessible?” Kightlinger said.
Comparing prices of water delivered from reservoirs and supplies drawn from the ground is difficult because of a number of cost factors, from treatment to the distance between source and tap.
Managers across the state point out that filling underground basins is more complicated than just running new pipes in and out of a giant cavity.
Under the right circumstances, it can be comparatively cheap to store water underground, said Steve Hall, executive director of a statewide coalition of water agencies. “But there are only so many basins where we can put the water.”
Nevertheless, momentum for new projects is building.
“There is huge potential to do more,” said Ed Winkler, executive director of a Sacramento-area groundwater authority striving to improve management of local aquifers.
To accomplish that, local agencies need help, from funding to technical expertise to streamlining the permitting process, officials say.
“The first principle should be local needs first,” Winkler said.
The Department of Water Resources agrees. “In general, we're looking for locals to make the decisions,” said Mark Cowin, a state water official who works with local agencies on planning and funding projects.
The state from 2000 to 2005 awarded $28 million in grants to 128 local groundwater projects, from drilling wells to monitoring contamination from farms and industry.
But the state does not have a precise accounting of water flowing beneath the surface – primarily because almost all of it is managed by local agencies. “Our information is spotty,” Cowin said.
The state estimates that there is enough empty space underground to store between 143 million acre-feet and 450 million acre-feet.
“It's fair to say there's plenty of room out there,” said Woodling, the state's groundwater specialist.
Some are not convinced there are vast pools of water just waiting to be used. “If they have 1 million acre-feet available, don't you think people already would have accessed it?” said Guy, who represents districts north of
Another concern is increased overdrafting – taking more than is replenished. The statewide overdraft may be as much as 2 million acre-feet a year, according to state estimates.
“How long can that go on?” Woodling asked.
State Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, thinks that question and many others need to be answered before the state looks more deeply.
“We have a don't ask, don't tell approach to groundwater,” complained Steinberg, who is carrying legislation to improve monitoring and data collection.
“You cannot put groundwater into the mix unless we know how much groundwater we're dealing with,” said Steinberg, chairman of the Natural Resources and Water Committee.
Some water managers suspect the state has an ulterior motive: siphoning local water.
“That's in the back of their minds,” Guy said. #
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20070327-9999-1n27water.html
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