[Water_news] 5. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: AGENCIES, PROGRAMS, PEOPLE - 5/29/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

May 29, 2007

 

5. Agencies, Programs, People

 

GLEN CANYON DAM:

At age 50, dam still generates love, hate - Arizona Republic

 

PROFILE OF PRESIDENT OF ACWA:

Opinion: This man is doing something about state's water problems - Modesto Bee

 

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WATER MASTERS:

Water masters must gain farmers’ trust - Imperial Valley Press

 

LEGAL ISSUES:

Yucca Valley water board members face recall amid investigation - Associated Press

 

 

GLEN CANYON DAM:

At age 50, dam still generates love, hate

Arizona Republic – 5/28/07

By Shaun McKinnon, staff writer

 

If Glen Canyon Dam were a person, it would surely suffer from low self-esteem.

It was born of a compromise, the second choice as a storage site for Colorado River water. It lacks the art deco flair and iconic stature of downstream sibling Hoover Dam. Edward Abbey imagined blowing it up in his classic eco-novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, and environmentalists still clamor for its removal. Arizona's Sen. Barry Goldwater, once a staunch ally, said before he died he wished he'd never voted to build it.

That's a lot of angst for a 710-foot-tall hunk of concrete.

Fifty years after construction started at a remote site on the Arizona-Utah border, Glen Canyon Dam inspires an almost unexplainable mix of respect and hatred, all the while providing water and keeping the lights on for millions of Westerners from Wyoming to California.

On Friday, residents of Page will mark the 50th anniversary of their community, a true company town that sprang from dusty Manson Mesa for the sole purpose of housing workers on the nearby dam project. Their celebration will acknowledge none of the controversy and sing only the praises of a structure whose departure would take most of Page with it.

Glen Canyon Dam was built to store water for Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico, which seems odd given its location downstream on the Colorado River system of all four states. The lower-river states - Arizona, Nevada and California - actually use the water kept behind the dam in Lake Powell, which allows the upper-river states to divert more water directly from the Colorado at certain times of the year.

Not many people had heard of Glen Canyon when site studies began in the late 1940s and early 1950s. No roads led to it, and the only inhabitants were Navajos, whose land included the present Page town site.

"Back in 1948, before anything was there, National Geographic explored Glen Canyon and sent an expedition into what is now Lake Powell," said Barry Wirth, regional spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in Salt Lake City. "They reported on the absolute barren desolation and wrote about seeing only a few hogans and Navajos herding sheep. They said it was the most remote spot in the United States, that if it wasn't the end of the world, you could see it from there."

Remote as it was, it offered for engineers a good location for a dam and for water managers the deep canyon walls needed to form a reservoir.

Government officials scouted locations for a town and found a good water source on the Utah side. Arizona officials couldn't offer water, but they did have powerful Sen. Carl Hayden.

"Page is where it is because of Carl Hayden," said W.L. "Bud" Rusho, a historian who worked for the bureau during the dam's construction. "In 1969, I heard him speak and say, 'I'm proud to say Page was on the Arizona side because I insisted on it.' "

The town was laid out atop a dusty mesa, one so thick in sand the bureau had to mix in tons of peat moss just to plant grass and trees. Rusho lived in one of the government-issue cinderblock houses and remembers wind blowing sand through cracks around the window, under the door, through electrical outlets.

Construction continued for another nine years. In 1966, Lady Bird Johnson, the president's wife, dedicated the dam and, after touring it, decided it fit into her campaign to beautify America. At her request, the bureau planted grass at the dam's base. It remains today and helps control dust.

The goodwill ended sometime after the grass started growing. Environmental groups never wanted the dam built there, insisting it would destroy a priceless ecosystem in Glen Canyon.

As years passed, they seized on another consequence: The water released from the dam back into the Colorado River was cool and clear, not the warm, muddy habitat needed by native species.

A series of lawsuits forced the government to conduct environmental studies and find a way to blunt some ill effects.

By the 1990s, several environmental groups began agitating for the removal of Glen Canyon Dam. In 1997, a reflective Goldwater stunned people with this admission:

"I have to be honest with you. I'd be happier if we didn't have the lake," the former senator said in a PBS miniseries based on the book Cadillac Desert. "I'd vote against it. I've become convinced that, while water is important, particularly for those of us who live in the desert, it's not that important."  #

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0528dam-anniversary0528.html

 

 

PROFILE OF PRESIDENT OF ACWA:

Opinion: This man is doing something about state's water problems

Modesto Bee – 5/27/07

By Mike Dunbar, associate editor of The Bee

 

Deteriorating levees. Dying fish in a dying delta. Dismantling dams or building new ones. Climate change. Peripheral canal. Drought. Welcome to Randy Fiorini's world.

 

The Turlock farmer is at the forefront of dealing with the state's water issues. And that's just some of them.

 

Since becoming president of the Association of California Water Agencies in 2004, Fiorini has become a leading figure in developing California water policy. Say the acronym ACWA out loud and you get the point; and lately, a lot of folks have been saying ACWA out loud. The organization has helped come up with solutions, and it has been up to Fiorini to articulate them.

 

Earlier this month, for instance, Fiorini introduced Gov. Schwarzenegger before his keynote address to the ACWA convention in Sacramento. It wasn't the first time they had shared a stage to talk about water. The governor's talk delighted most ACWA members — build more storage, fix the delta, keep California growing. Those are among the key points ACWA proposed in "No Time to Waste: A Blueprint for California Water" in 2005.

 

It's a good plan, echoed in the governor's plan. The Bee has endorsed several aspects, including more storage above and below ground, better water management plans and flood control.

 

Fiorini worked with ACWA executive director Steve Hall to develop the Blueprint. What's more, Fiorini and Hall transformed ACWA from a group that reacts to change to one that drives debate; people willing to get their feet wet.

 

But being the spokesman for that organization wasn't what Fiorini had in mind. Usually, an executive director is an organization's front man; but shortly before ACWA's blueprint was published, Hall was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. As Hall grew increasingly ill, Fiorini filled the void.

 

After a lifetime of family farming and 14years on the Turlock Irrigation District board, he knows water. He also knows how to lead.

 

"I fell into this position by default," said Fiorini, who has recently been quoted by the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego UnionTribune and others. "It's not something I sought, but I'm doing it; not as effectively as Steve had done it, but we'll get through this."

 

More than getting through it, Fiorini has enlisted some powerful allies, such as state Sen. Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto, who wrote the bill that called for building dams at Temperance Flat near Fresno and west of Sacramento.

 

"He's clearly extremely knowledgable, and a leader," said Erin Guerrero, Sen. Cogdill's deputy chief of staff. "A complete resource; we've worked hand-in-hand with (ACWA) and the governor's office on (the dam) proposal."

 

The legislation has been sidelined at least temporarily by urban Democrats who want to be assured that those who benefit most will help pay for dams. Fair question. Farmers will benefit, getting water to raise food ... that everyone eats. That means consumers benefit, too. And so will the environment. Without stored water, many of the state's most important projects — preserving the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and resurrection of the San Joaquin River — are unlikely to work.

 

In the 1950s, Friant Dam shut off water from about 60miles of the San Joaquin River. Last year, a judge ordered the river be brought back to life — endangering hundreds of south-valley farms in the process. More water storage at Temperance Flat could allow everyone to get the water they need — cities, farmers and fish.

 

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is dying. A court order to shut off the pumps near Tracy would leave 22 million Southern Californians thirsty. Sites Reservoir could store Sacramento River water so that flows could be better managed, perhaps reversing the decline.

 

Fiorini is in the center of such issues, and more. He has the ear of Department of Water Resources Director Lester Snow and the governor. If we're going to solve our water problems, it's going to take the best efforts of a lot of people — not just those willing to point out the problems. Randy Fiorini is one of those who is trying to do something about them. #

http://www.modbee.com/opinion/story/13628321p-14224083c.html

 

 

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WATER MASTERS:

Water masters must gain farmers’ trust

Imperial Valley Press – 5/26/07

By Darren Simon, staff writer

 

To the farmer, the zanjero is the foot soldier of the Imperial Irrigation District — the front line in the effort to deliver farmers their water orders in order for their crops to flourish.

Andy Curiel, a longtime zanjero for the district, said it is critical that there be a sense of trust between the zanjero and the farmer.

The Imperial Valley Press spoke to farmers as to whether they have that trust in the zanjero.

The answer, among those farmers interviewed, was “yes.”

“They are critical,” said local farmer Larry Fleming. “To me they are the face of the district on the water side on a daily basis.”

It was Fleming who referred to the zanjeros as the district’s foot soldiers.

John Benson said the zanjeros he works with are among the best he has ever worked with throughout his three decades as a local farmer.

Like Fleming, Benson said the zanjeros are absolutely critical today and he thinks they will continue to have a critical role in water delivery for decades to come.

“I don’t see us installing automatic gates on every check they have out there,” Benson said. “There are too many gates out there. You’ve got to have people out there. It can’t be automatic.”

There are tree limbs that fall into canals, brush, trash, high winds, all of which can impact the flow of water through the canals.

He said the zanjero is the one that can be depended on to ensure the canal water flows properly and the needs of the farming community are met. #

http://www.ivpressonline.com/articles/2007/05/27/news/news02.txt

 

 

LEGAL ISSUES:

Yucca Valley water board members face recall amid investigation

Associated Press – 5/28/07

 

Three members of a water agency board are facing a recall election as investigators look into why benefits were added to the contract of its general manager after his death.

 

The recall election for Bighorn-Desert View Water Agency panel president Mike Maline, water hauler Sharon Edwards and third member Maryan Barkley was scheduled for Aug. 28 by the county's registrar of voters after the municipal board refused to set a date, said registrar Kari Verjil.

 

Ballots will be mailed out June 30 to voters.

 

The San Bernardino County district attorney's public integrity unit is investigating why the five-member water district board met on the night of Aug. 22 to grant full benefits and a $20,000 life insurance policy to Thomas Shollenberger, its general manager.

 

Shollenberger had died 13 hours earlier after a lengthy bout with throat cancer. #

http://www.fresnobee.com/384/story/50424.html

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