A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
June 15, 2007
2. Supply -
WATER WARNING -- THE HEAT'S ON
Sonoma agency implements 15% cut, other Bay Area providers plead for conservation as warmer weather increases demand -
San Francisco Chronicle
Fuller, Parra call on state to release water -
ALL DRIED UP
State's water shortage has cattle ranchers worried -
Nearing crisis state -
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WATER WARNING -- THE HEAT'S ON
Sonoma agency implements 15% cut, other Bay Area providers plead for conservation as warmer weather increases demand
San Francisco Chronicle – 6/15/07
By Michael Cabanatuan, Staff Writer
Turning off faucets, watering lawns in the dark of night and installing low-flow toilets is a way of life in drought-prone
For the first time since the early 1990s, many Bay Area water agencies are issuing calls for conservation. On Thursday, the Sonoma County Water Agency, which supplies water to six Bay Area cities and three water districts, became the first water provider in the state to institute mandatory rationing.
"This is kind of a wake-up call for California,'' said Toby Goddard, water conservation manager for the city of Santa Cruz, which has banned daytime outdoor watering. "We've had a relatively wet period since 1994, and this came on rather suddenly."
Pleas to cut water usage began in the spring after it became evident the Sierra snowpack that yields much of the state's water was much smaller than usual.
Bay Area water users seem to have responded. The San Francisco PUC, for example, reported its customers used 11 percent less water over the past few months than they did in 2004, also a dry year.
But with the arrival of warmer weather in the past couple of weeks, their resolve seems to have weakened, and water consumption has been rising.
EBMUD in April called on its customers to save 10,000 acre-feet of water through the end of September by not watering during the day and by reducing other discretionary water usage. As of last week, they had saved 3,400 acre-feet. That's enough water to meet the annual needs of nearly 7,000 households.
"But the bad news is then it got hot,'' said spokesman Charles Hardy, "and demand went up 20 million gallons a day. If it stays hot, it won't be long before all that (savings) gets wiped out.''
Tony Winnicker, spokesman for
"Can you attribute it to the fact that people are intentionally using less? Or can you attribute it to the fact that we've had a cooler-than-usual spring?" he said.
"It looks like we can avoid mandatory cutbacks this year at least. But if people don't continue to conserve, we could be in the situation where we have to face mandatory restrictions next year."
Some of the water worries can't be blamed on the dry winter alone, and they illustrate the fragile nature of the state's water supply.
The Sonoma County Water Agency was directed by the State Water Resources Control Board on Wednesday to reduce its water diversions from the
While flows in the
In
"To make up for that shortfall, we're relying on our reservoirs and our groundwater basins,'' said spokeswoman Susan Siravo.
The immediate impact of the
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/15/MNG72QFUR51.DTL
Fuller, Parra call on state to release water
BY STEVEN MAYER, Californian staff writer
In a release Thursday, Assemblywoman Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield, blamed the May 31 shutdown of the Delta pumps on "the environmental lobby and some Democrats" in what she said was a badly timed attempt to reduce losses of the endangered Delta smelt.
State water officials, however, said the shutdown was accomplished to protect declining numbers of the small, silvery fish, which are native to the delta. They called it a temporary measure.
Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, also called for the resumption of state water flows. In her letter, she noted the Delta smelt population has migrated away from the pumps as Delta and Bay waters have seasonally warmed.
In Parra's letter to the director of the State Department of Water Resources, she noted she co-signed a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on May 25 requesting his intervention to remedy the smelt problem.
"I signed this letter, in part, due to my belief the governor and members of his administration hold a better position to remedy this situation than to allow a further deterioration of the population that would most likely invite federal court intervention under the auspices of the Endangered Species Act," Parra wrote.
The letter "did not specify what action the governor should initiate," Parra said, "and it certainly did not call for a shutdown of the State Water Project's Banks Pumping Plant."
Fuller also refers to the letter, but in a more critical light.
"On May 25, before the pumps were turned off, Democrat Assemblywoman Lois Wolk and her liberal colleagues on the Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee sent a letter to Gov. Schwarzenegger demanding cutbacks in water exports from the Delta," Fuller wrote. "They were concerned that the pumps were taking in smelt, an endangered fish. Ms. Wolk and the other Democrats on the committee claimed that the Delta smelt population was 'down to a handful.'
"If this was in fact the case," Fuller continued, "Democrats should have known this issue was on the horizon and the pumps should have been shut down only as a last resort."
Kern water officials discussed the Delta problem with Schwarzenegger Thursday. Managers with the Kern County Water Agency have said the county could suffer more than $100 million in economic impacts if water deliveries are not returned to normal by early July.#
http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/165563.html
ALL DRIED UP
State's water shortage has cattle ranchers worried
Longtime cattleman Carl Twisselman wears a hat that says "Beef:
Twisselman's 1,200 head of cattle feed on grass that grows in the
"There's just no feed at all. It's just bare as can be up there," said Twisselman, 67.
With dairy farmers still struggling to cope with losses from last summer's heat wave and a January freeze that devastated the citrus crop, the lack of water this year is the latest in a series of bad weather luck to wreak havoc on
Figures for the McKittrick area weren't available, but Twisselman said just 1 inch of rain fell on his property this year -- the least rainfall since 1910, when his ranching family began keeping records.
In a normal year, rainfall averages 5 inches, he said.
While growers are also feeling the pinch of a statewide water shortage, many can rely on groundwater pumping to irrigate their crops.
But since rangeland isn't irrigated, ranchers -- and to a lesser extent, dairies -- are particularly vulnerable to drought.
"(Ranchers are) even more at the mercy of Mother Nature than other farmers," said David Moore,
The shortfall of feed means Twisselman will have to buy hay and sell some of the herd earlier than usual.
The hay is an added cost for the rancher, driven up by competition for it from dairies. And Twisselman loses money by selling his cattle early.
Many are underweight, and the cows normally would calve before they're sold, guaranteeing a herd next year.
Twisselman also loses value in selling cows that are adapted to the area's climate and know where to find water.
Some help may be available to ranchers through a federal agriculture assistance bill.
Low-interest loans are already available, and additional money to help pay for feed could be on the horizon.
Undoubtedly, it will be a rough year for ranchers,
"It's not just a way to earn a living, it's a way to live a life," he said. "They've weathered disasters before, and they'll weather this one."#
http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/164509.html
Nearing crisis state
BY STACEY SHEPARD, Californian staff writer
"We see ourselves being at a near crisis state for water supplies," said Curtis Creel, water resources manager for the Kern County Water Agency, which contracts for state water on behalf of agricultural, municipal and industrial water districts in
The agency held a special meeting Wednesday to declare an emergency water situation in the county after being told that state water deliveries will drop to about one-third of
The shortage is due to the shutdown of pumps on May 31 that export water from Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to Southern California, the
The pumps were turned on Sunday but only to supply drinking water to some areas in the Bay Area. Meanwhile, the state is diverting water from the San Luis Reservoir to water districts at the southern end of the State Water Project.
But those supplies will be restricted because drawdown in the reservoir could compromise safe operations of the reservoir's earthen dam.
For now, state water officials do not know when the delta pumps will be turned back on, local water officials said.
State water also supplies some of the drinking water in
However, city residents are being encouraged to conserve because any water saved can help offset shortages for ag users and users in other parts of the county.
Groundwater will make up for another one-third of the water needs for farmers, Beck said. But the cutback comes at a critical point because summer is the peak water demand time for growers.
Farmers who don't have access to additional water sources could face crop losses.
"If we're short water, that means crop loss, job loss and less food produced for citizens of
"If the (delta) pumps don't come back on soon, we're going to have damage in
A series of other factors is expected to pose major financial difficulties for farmers. Groundwater pumps require fuel or electricity to operate, driving up their costs.
"It puts a strain on really the whole community and the state at large ... because we're using more fuel or putting more pressure on the grid," said Mike Young, an almond farmer. "It makes our costs go up , which down the line makes the costs of the product go up."
In addition, the shortage comes at a time when more farmers are moving from row crops, like cotton, to permanent crops like grapes, fruit and nut trees, because they bring higher profit margins.
Row crops can be abandoned in bad water years because water in those years costs more than the price the crop would bring in. However, permanent crops can't be abandoned without severe financial consequences for a farmer in future years.
The emergency declaration made Wednesday enables the Kern County Water Agency to:
* suspend water transfers out of the area,
* implement a voluntary conservation campaign among agricultural and urban water users and
* pursue additional measures to mar supply shortages.
The agency also plans to pressure the governor to take action.
"One of our concerns is the lack of seriousness and consideration given to this situation by the state and the governor's office," said Jim Beck, general manager of the Kern County Water Agency. "We think he ought to turn the pumps on immediately."
Beck and other water managers are frustrated by what they see as the State Water Project being solely blamed for the precarious situation of the Delta smelt.
Many believe other factors could affect the smelt's decline, like invasive species, toxic events in the Delta that have led to fishkills and other water pumps that continue to operate. But those factors haven't been scrutinized the way the state pumps have, Beck said.#
http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/164504.html
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