[Water_news] 2. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: SUPPLY - 4/10/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment 

 

April 10, 2007

 

2. Supply

 

GROUNDWATER SUPPLY:

Valley a victim of battle of the bulge - Pasadena Star News

 

INFRASTRUCTURE REPAIR:

Inland area asked to curb water use during repairs; Residents of eastern Los Angeles and western San Bernardino counties will be affected by the work on a pipeline - Los Angeles Times

 

CLIMATE ISSUES:

Editorial: We can't ignore impact of warming on our water - Modesto Bee

 

 

GROUNDWATER SUPPLY:

Valley a victim of battle of the bulge

Pasadena Star News – 4/9/07

By Fred Ortega, staff writer

 

The aquifer beneath the San Gabriel Valley is so engorged with water that it has stretched and expanded by almost 2 inches in a matter of months, according to a recent U.S. Geological Survey study.

 

The study's results, announced last week, showed the San Gabriel Valley rose almost 2 inches in less than four months in 2005, and that the margins of the basin expanded by almost a half-inch.

 

Researchers believe the expansion was due to groundwater recharge caused by the near-record rainfall of 2004-05. The San Gabriel Basin can hold upward of 2.8 trillion gallons of fresh water - more than two times the amount of water used by all of Southern California each year - according to the San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority.

 

The USGS measurements are an unexpected bright spot in an otherwise bleak water forecast for the Southland. Scientists say the Southwest is in the middle of a prolonged drought expected to last for years and major Western reservoirs such as Lake Mead and Lake Powell are approaching the half-empty mark.

 

The expansion of the Valley was discovered by accident using instruments designed to measure earthquake fault movements, said Nancy King, a geophysicist with the USGS' Southern California Earthquake Hazards Program and lead author of the study.

 

"It is a case of scientific serendipity," said King. "It means that to study earthquakes we are going to have to learn more about hydrology, to disentangle hydrology from faulting."

 

The study showed the surface motion observed in the Valley due to groundwater recharge temporarily exceeded that caused by the movement of earthquake faults, King said.

 

But she added that the pressure of so much water actually bowing out the surface of the Valley does not necessarily translate to increased earthquake activity.

 

"We examined that possibility and we couldn't rule it out, but it didn't seem to increase any of the seismicity," said King, who was one of 14 co-authors of the study.

 

The swelling of the aquifer is good news, said Bill Patzert, an oceanographer and climatologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Ca ada Flintridge.

 

"We have some great aquifers in the San Gabriel Valley and we get pretty good recharge if we have a pretty good soaking every year," said Patzert, noting that the Valley gets 90 percent to 92 percent of its water from the San Gabriel Basin aquifer.

 

But he said the West is in the middle of a natural drought cycle such as the one experienced in the 1950s, and he expects dry years to continue for at least another dozen years. Many scientists believe that global warming could even extend the drought period, Patzert said.

 

This season is already shaping up to be the driest on record, with only about 2.47 inches of rainfall - about 17 percent of normal. The driest season on record in Southern California was 2001-02, when only about 4.42 inches of rain fell.

 

"But we can go very dry for a number of years before we need to start drawing down our aquifers and reservoirs," said Patzert, adding that the most pressing problem with the current drought can be seen in the surrounding urban forests, where dry conditions have extended the fire season through the winter.

 

There is a reason why the basin's 2.8 trillion gallons can only provide about 90 percent of the San Gabriel Valley's water: pollution.

 

About $500 million has been spent so far cleaning up rocket fuel, dry cleaning solvents and other contaminants from the basin's water. The total cost to clean up the basin is estimated at $1.2 billion over the next 10 to 30 years.

 

"If we can increase our usage we can get up to 100 percent and probably help other parts of the county with our water," said Gabriel Monares, resource development director for the San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority. "But we have to be able to fund the treatment plants."  #

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_5631680

 

 

INFRASTRUCTURE REPAIR:

Inland area asked to curb water use during repairs; Residents of eastern Los Angeles and western San Bernardino counties will be affected by the work on a pipeline

Los Angeles Times – 4/10/07

By Jonathan Abrams, staff writer

 

More than 1 million residents in western San Bernardino and eastern Los Angeles counties are asked to limit water use starting Monday while crews repair a damaged pipeline.

The Rialto feeder pipeline, which delivers Northern California water to much of the area, will be closed Monday until April 24. Residents in Chino, Chino Hills, Claremont, Fontana, La Verne, Montclair, Rancho Cucamonga and Upland are asked to stretch water supplies while repairs are made.

"It's critical that residents conserve as much water as possible," said Metropolitan Water District spokesman Bob Muir. "When residents don't decrease their water use, you use up all the reserves, and areas can go short."

A serious water shortage nearly occurred two weeks ago in Orange County after residents didn't initially comply with pleas to cut water use while the Robert B. Diemer treatment plant in Yorba Linda was closed for upgrades. But increased public awareness, helped by stories in the news media and notices posted on Caltrans freeway signs, brought water use down and the problem was averted.

Residents affected by the repairs are asked to run washing machines and dishwashers only with full loads, take showers not exceeding 10 minutes and to shut off the tap while brushing teeth or shaving.

Richard Hansen, general manager of the Inland Empire Utilities Agency, said conservation efforts were essential.

"We all need to do our part to reduce water use while the repairs are made," he said. "Along with following our conservation request, residents also may consider postponing their spring plantings until after the shutdown."

The 30-mile Rialto line, which stretches from the Devil Canyon power plant north of San Bernardino to the San Dimas power plant, showed no sign of damage when it was tested two years ago, officials said.

But a routine inspection this year revealed a weakened section in an 8-foot-diameter pipeline that showed breaks in 85 wires wrapped around the pipeline to strengthen it.

Water officials are not certain what caused the damage, but Muir said it may be the result of construction workers accidentally hitting the pipe while digging.

"We are rather perplexed," he said. "We didn't have any broken wires two years ago; now we have significant damage." #

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-water10apr10,1,3505568.story

 

 

CLIMATE ISSUES:

Editorial: We can't ignore impact of warming on our water

Modesto Bee – 4/10/07

 

Most of California's water supply sits in the Sierra Nevada each year, trapped temporarily in snow. Unfortunately, this year our snowfall was half of normal — and it's melting faster and earlier than usual, meaning less water will flow into our reservoirs.

 

We're not alone. Lake Mead — the largest reservoir on the Colorado River, supplying water to Las Vegas, Los Angeles and other cities — is 80 feet lower than its historic average. Farmers across the Southwest are drilling wells, building pipelines and doing other things to cope with what feels like a drought.

 

Dry years always have alternated with wet. So no one can say if this particular dry year is part of a natural cycle or is caused by global warming. But the scenario creates a worrisome backdrop for the recent release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report.

 

Released on Friday, it concludes that human activity is causing global warming and that the greenhouse effect is changing our habitat.

 

With 90 percent certainty, the report says, the climate is shifting, with more rain falling in areas closer to the world's poles and longer dry spells and hotter temperatures in the middle latitudes.

 

The work of 2,500 of the world's top scientists, the report poses challenges for policy-makers at every level. It projects tragic consequences for impoverished nations, where the brunt of intensified climate change will fall. Though they contribute little to the problem, the heavily populated coastlines of Third World nations will be inundated as sea levels rise; there will be deadly floods, droughts and changes in agriculture.

 

Here in California, many scientists say, global warming is contributing to an ever-earlier melt of the Sierra snowpack. Scientists also see increasing evidence that the Southwest is becoming more arid, resulting in more wildfires and water shortages. A "broad consensus" of climate models shows this region drying significantly in the 21st century; the transition "to a more arid climate should already be under way," said an online report in the journal Science.

 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation and the state need to re-examine how our dams and water projects are operated. The charts that determine how much water should be saved for irrigation, or how much should be released to create space for floods, are based on historical data that are losing their relevance. Utilities that depend on hydropower must brace for a changed future. So must farmers, fishermen, ski resorts and anyone whose livelihood relies on climate patterns.

 

The change could come gradually, but more likely it will come in fits and starts.

 

In the Legislature, it is encouraging to see Republican lawmakers — who last year voted against California's law to reduce greenhouse gases — touting new reservoirs. That's a good idea, but so is any effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We must do all we can to combat what is becoming obvious: Global warming is real. #

http://www.modbee.com/opinion/story/13472701p-14083111c.html

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