[Water_news] 2. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: SUPPLY - 6/6/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment 

 

June 6, 2007

 

2. Supply

 

State changes course on S.J.'s bid for Mokelumne water rights

Stockton Record – 6/6/07

By Alex Breitler, staff writer

 

San Joaquin County may squeeze a straw into the Mokelumne River after all.

 

State water officials have reversed an earlier decision canceling the county's request to take and store some of the Mokelumne's flows during wet years.

 

There's a long way to go before a proposed off-stream reservoir in the rangelands northeast of Linden is built to store those flows. But officials said this was a necessary step toward meeting the future water demands of an ever-growing population.

 

"It's huge," said Mel Lytle, water resources coordinator for the county. "We can't afford to lose a single drop of this water we're fighting to preserve."

 

San Joaquin is expected to grow to nearly 1.8 million people by 2040, county documents say. The area's groundwater each year is diminished by up to 150,000 acre-feet. More water is pumped up in wells for cities and farms than is replenished naturally by rain.

 

The deficit is roughly enough water to supply 150,000 families for one year.

 

Most of the county's other rivers are tapped. While Stockton plans to take water from the Delta in coming years, the Mokelumne is one of the region's last hopes for surface water, officials have said.

 

The Bay Area gets most of the Mokelumne's bounty, but in wet years, some of the water simply dumps into the ocean.

 

To capture those flows, San Joaquin officials must first have water rights from the State Water Resources Control Board. An application filed 17 years ago was canceled in March when the board said the county had failed to submit documents in a timely manner.

 

The county protested, saying it needed more time for a regional analysis of future water supplies. The state board changed its stance in a letter last week, saying the county is making "substantial progress" and should be given more time to build the facilities needed to use the water.

 

"Everyone was smiling when they heard. It's really positive news," said Kevin Kauffman, general manager of the Stockton East Water District. His district is helping seek a solution to the region's groundwater woes.

 

Already more than $1 million has been spent on Mokelumne studies, with $2 million more allocated next year. The federal government has kicked in $3.3 million.

 

Some money and guidance has come from the California Department of Water Resources, a sister agency to the state board.

 

The county has been doing what the state told it to do all along, said Ed Steffani, general manager of the North San Joaquin Water Conservation District.

 

"I think that was the clincher" in the board's reversal, he said.

 

Mokelumne battles are far from over. Steffani's North San Joaquin district goes before the state board later this month in an effort to reinstate its own right to draw water from the river. #

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070606/A_NEWS/706060322

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