A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
April 13, 2007
2. Supply
BAY AREA WATER SUPPLY CONDITIONS:
Berryessa's bounty; Bay Area water shy; Solano OK - Vacaville Reporter
County may face water woes; Water agency urges immediate conservation efforts - Sonoma Index Tribune
Lake may be nearly empty by fall - Ukiah Daily Journal
WATER CONSERVATION:
Editorial: Rates rising faster than supplies - North
WESTERN WATER ISSUES:
A Flaming Gorge pipeline?; Project would pump water to
BAY AREA WATER SUPPLY CONDITIONS:
Berryessa's bounty; Bay Area water shy; Solano OK
By Jennifer Gentile and Danny Bernardini, staff writers
For the first time in 15 years, the Bay Area has entered into a drought, according to an assessment released Thursday by national climate experts.
But the announcement isn't causing panic in
Thursday's assessment looks at the spread and severity of the dry spell affecting the Southwest. In it, drought experts say most of
And a wide swath of southern
Despite Wednesday's stormy weather, rainfall totals across the Bay Area remain at about half what they should be, and the Sierra Nevada snowpack - the source of much of
Still, most state officials are avoiding the "D" word, for now.
Even as some local cities and water districts begin to call for conservation, we are nowhere near a crisis point, said experts with the state's Department of Water Resources.
"We call it a dry year at this point. Not that some people won't be short" on water, said Maury Roos, the agency's chief hydrologist.
State officials use a different yardstick from the national experts to determine whether a drought is present, placing much more stock in the levels of the state's biggest reservoirs. Thanks to an unusually wet winter one year ago, the reservoirs are still reasonably full. Which is why the rainfall picture is nothing to panic about, the state says. "One bad year," Roos said, "is not really going to make it a drought."
That was the sentiment echoed Thursday by
Solano Irrigation District General Manager Suzanne Butterfield said that although the water supply is adequate for this year, water conservation always should be practiced.
"The efficient use of water is a top priority. We never know if we're entering year one of a drought," Butterfield said. "Water users should treat every year as year one of a multi-year drought."
Still, she noted that 95 percent of the district's water supply comes from
The last time the SID had to enforce restrictions on water use was 1991, something she doesn't expect to be necessary this year.
"Berryessa is at a nice, high level," she said. "We've all got to take this very seriously, but this year we're fine."
Also relying on the water supply from
Like Butterfield, Okita said there would be problems if the dry spell were to drag on for years.
"Since this is the first dry year, it won't result in rationing or cutbacks," he said. "A single dry year is no big deal. When you have four or five dry years, you have a problem."
He said areas that may suffer are those not in water districts, such as the Montezuma Hills near Rio Vista. Areas like these that depend on wells or precipitation will suffer without rain, he said.
In
"When you look at all of the sources, we have more than enough to meet demand," Tompkins said.
He said that one acre-foot of water is roughly the annual consumption of two four-person households. He said the city is expecting a demand of about 18,000 acre feet and, accounting for the state cutback, a supply of about 30,000 acre feet.
Even in the event of a protracted drought, he said, "I don't see it (being a problem) in the next few years. Our supply of water is pretty well stocked."
Elsewhere in the Bay Area, water districts have grown increasingly anxious about the dearth of rainfall this year saying if they don't ration water now, they might regret it later on.
Wednesday, more than 2 million Bay Area residents were being asked to cut their water use by 10 percent by June - or face mandatory water restrictions. That order affects customers of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which serves 2.4 million customers from North San Jose to
And officials at the East Bay Municipal Utility District say they are considering requesting voluntary cutbacks, with a decision expected in the next two weeks. #
http://www.thereporter.com/news/ci_5659391
County may face water woes; Water agency urges immediate conservation efforts
By Sandi Hansen, staff writer
The Sonoma County Water Agency has announced projections that water sources used by portions of
According to agency officials, water levels in
The water agency wants to educate the public and agricultural community about the low water supply projections, according to Agency Director and Sonoma County Supervisor Tim Smith.
"Now is the time for everyone to step up water conservation efforts," Smith said at a news conference Thursday on
"The projections are alarming to us," said Pam Jeane, the water agency's deputy chief engineer of operations. "We have looked at a similar type of climate year in 2002 and taken information on
"The unusually dry springs we have experienced in recent years have made it difficult to fill
Rainfall in the agency's service area is about 60 percent of normal this year. There has also been a reduction in water flows from PG&E's Potter Valley Project on the
Protecting the chinook salmon is also a major priority of the agency. In 2006, nearly 4,500 chinook were in the upper
Regardless of where one lives in Sonoma County or what the overall water usage has been in the past, county officials are asking everyone to make an effort to conserve between 10 and 15 percent beginning immediately. "While cutting back 15 percent may seem small, it is significant at the end of the season, and it's a lot better than having nothing left," said White.
County officials think people are generally listening more to the message of water conservation.
Meanwhile, the City of
In its recent renovation of the Plaza duck pond, Bandur said that part of the rehabilitation program was installing recirculating water in both the City Hall fish fountain and the duck pond. "We're saving 876,000 gallons a year with these new systems," said Bandur.
He added that a typical
Valley of the Moon Water District General Manager Krishna Kumar said he thinks that people should be keeping conservation in their minds no matter what the season. "Water conservation is a prudent policy at all times." The district has a list of 30 smart ways to save on summer water bills if any customers are interested. It also has a list of five ongoing water conservation tips that will save water, money and energy immediately. Kumar added. "These ideas are painless to implement and require some minor changes to our water-use habits." #
http://www.sonomanews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1868&Itemid=2
Ukiah Daily Journal – 4/13/07
By Ben Brown, staff writer
Water levels in
"That's about 9 percent of capacity," said SCWA programs specialist Brad Sherwood. "It's never gotten that low."
"You will see the lake level drop much faster than in previous years," said Roland Sanford, general manager of the Mendocino County Water Agency.
The total storage of
Sherwood said the SCWA is encouraging its customers to begin voluntarily conserving water.
"That's probably going to get ratcheted up as the year goes on," he said.
Sherwood said he was not sure if it will even be possible to draw water out of the lake if the level drops to 8,000 acre-feet.
Lower than average rainfall this year, combined with a decision by PG&E to reduce flows through the Potter Valley Project, which feeds into
Sherwood said the reduced flows are translating into 400 acre/feet less water flowing into the lake every day.
"Those
PG&E has said it is complying with its license as written by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
"This is the exact reason people around here who follow this are so concerned,"
In addition to the reduced flows, a statewide shortage of rain has reduced the water in the lake even further. The dry year also means more water will be required for irrigation.
"It's basically going to be a two-month longer irrigation season," Sherwood said.
The announcement comes following a report from the U.S. Forest Service that snow levels and water content in the Mendocino National Forest are less than half what they normally are this time of year.
Sherwood said there is still a month left in the rain year, but added it's unlikely a late storm will move in and fill the lake.
"We're not optimistic," he said. #
http://ukiahdailyjournal.com/ci_5659647
WATER CONSERVATION:
Editorial: Rates rising faster than supplies
Our view: Water, electricity price hikes are worth the cost if they spark conservation
This week the Metropolitan Water District, the agency that sells water to
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The 5.8 percent increase in water rates will probably cost the average
It doesn't help our wallets that the Olivenhain Municipal Water District, Vista Irrigation District, Valley Center Municipal Water District, the Rainbow Municipal Water District, and
But let's put this in perspective.
The
According to the Western Municipal Water District in
The good news is that
Small, smart changes can also help us grapple with rising electricity costs. On Thursday, the state Public Utilities Commission gave permission to San Diego Gas & Electric Co. to install digital meters. These so-called "smart" meters will be able to communicate with appliances and users to provide tips on how to reduce electricity bills, including giving real-time information about demand and prices on the regional energy grid.
The new meters are expected to cost residential users between $1 and $1.50 a month, but SDG&E also has plans for rebates that will reward consumers who use less electricity during peak hours. Even without such incentives, the new technology should allow people to reduce their electricity bills by using power more efficiently.
Our region is also thirsting for ever-more energy. Californians conserved at record levels during the 2000-01 energy crisis, but our demand for electricity has since been surging. Meanwhile, SDG&E's controversial effort to build a Sunrise Powerlink through the desert and some
Concerns over environmental impacts have made the creation and transmission of power ever more difficult. Water, too, has a murky future, especially if we take seriously climate change's threat to our water supply and the regulatory hurdles awaiting desalination of the salt water to the west. The most obvious answer in both cases is to reduce demand.
All of us should use the latest water hikes, and the pending electricity bump, as an opportunity to re-evaluate how we use water and electricity. #
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/04/13/opinion/editorials/18_14_554_12_07.txt
WESTERN WATER ISSUES:
A Flaming Gorge pipeline?; Project would pump water to
Desert News (
By Joe Bauman, staff writer
A
The idea of Aaron Million,
Flaming Gorge Reservoir, operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, sprawls across the Utah-Wyoming border, backed up behind the dam near Dutch
Currently, the dam holds back more than 3 million acre-feet of water from the
News reports from
At one point, project supporters said they were interested in more than 400,000 acre-feet from the reservoir, but the number has dropped. One official said the latest estimate is for 165,000 acre-feet.
"There's a significant need for water on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains from
Proposals to use
"Mr. Million has begun planning for a project that would apparently avoid much of that," he said. He "has come up with a proposal to take water out of the
"It has its own set of issues that people are just beginning to look at, in terms of how the
Million has been working with the Bureau of Reclamation to obtain a contract to use water stored in the reservoir. "And of course the water would be charged to the state of
The pipeline's water might be withdrawn from a site outside the state of
"Right now this project is just in the feasibility stage," Ostler added.
It would be privately funded, which would make it unusual or unique among large Western water projects.
"It raises lots of political questions with regards to the people who would buy the water," he said. "And there are just a lot of angles and twists that need to be looked at."
The project's latest proposal, about 165,000 acre-feet, might be the most Flaming Gorge could provide, "given all the other uses the reservoir has to support," he added.
Other concerns are whether drawing down the reservoir would impact the operation of the dam, including power generation. But Ostler does not believe the project would have dire environmental impacts such as killing endangered fish of the
One of the reservoir's purposes is to "provide storage so people could use the water." It also needs to supply water for endangered fish and generate power, he added.
Jerry Olds,
What would
If the water were diverted in
"Each state is entitled to use their (water) apportionment under the Colorado River Compact," he said.
The project potentially could affect
"But, again, I think we would try and work" with
"It will be a very expensive project," Olds said. "I think there's some uncertainty at this point just as to the size of the project, the amount of water, and I think they're trying to work with those issues."
Dennis J. Strong, director of the Utah Division of Water Resources, said he has met a couple of times with Million and his supporters. "I think they're going about it appropriately," contacting people to discuss the ideas, he said.
The plan is to be discussed at the meeting of the Upper Colorado River Commission in June, according to Strong.
Meanwhile,
"We're concerned with what happens under a full-development scenario, that's when
Flaming Gorge reservoir's level would drop, but the reservoir was built to allow managers to handle a fluctuating water supply. What
If the project won't impact
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660211414,00.html
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