[Water_news] 2. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: SUPPLY - 6/27/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment 

 

June 27, 2007

 

2. Supply

 

WATER BANK:

Residents vociferously fight water bank location - Antelope Valley Press

 

WATER SUPPLY CONDITIONS:

Drought boosts fire danger; Firefighters pushing flexibility, resident help to get handle on potential problems - Associated Press

 

DEVELOPMENT ISSUES:

City water savings exceed state order - Santa Rosa press Democrat

 

COLORADO RIVER:

Drought plan: Hope for managing the Colorado River - Salt Lake Tribune

 

DELTA INFRASTRUCTURE:

Editorial: Governor calls it right - Bakersfield Californian

 

WATER CONSERVATION:

Editorial: Time to save water is now - Stockton Record

 

 

WATER BANK:

Residents vociferously fight water bank location

Antelope Valley Press – 6/25/07

By Alisha Semchuck, staff writer

 

ROSAMOND - Emotions flared at a Rosamond Municipal Advisory Council meeting Thursday as residents protested the location of a water bank project that the Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency plans to develop at 60th Street West and Gaskell Road.

 

Roughly 60 residents attended the meeting, where AVEK General Manager Russ Fuller reviewed the Valley's hydrologic history. He discussed water issues that have plagued California in the past and present, including problems faced at the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, where pumps for the California aqueduct had been turned off for 10 days, then restored to a fraction of their pumping capacity. Fuller also talked about the need for water banking in the Valley, something he said should have been done years ago.

 

"In the southwestern United States, we do not have water," Fuller said, showing the crowd a few regional maps, including a Colorado River water map. All the areas have a hydrological tie, he noted, "with either natural or man-made systems. The demand for water has way, way outstripped the water that was there.

 

"The Colorado River has way less water than there is demand on it," Fuller said. The 30-year projections were completed during extremely wet years, when the river was elevated. Now water levels have dropped significantly. Meanwhile, water from Northern California has supplied Southern California for years.

 

Back in the 1930s and 1940s, Fuller said, the Sacramento area had two good rivers - the Sacramento and the Feather. Because they would flood surrounding communities, an engineer designed a dam. The Shasta Dam, on the Sacramento River, was constructed by the federal government.

 

The state then built the Oroville Dam on the Feather River to provide flood protection, and in the '60s, State Water Contractors - including AVEK, Palmdale Water District and Littlerock Creek Irrigation District - signed an agreement to financially support that project and, in exchange, to be entitled to some of that water.

 

Now the folks up north want to keep all that water, but AVEK and the other agencies who signed that financial agreement must still pay their share of the bill, Fuller said.

 

Had all Valley residents supported water banking proposals in the '90s, the current dilemma wouldn't even be a topic of discussion, according to Fuller.

 

"The State Water Project does not work without local banking," he said.

 

This year, because of the drought, the Department of Water Resources allocated 60% of the entitlement to State Water Contractors, including AVEK, PWD and Littlerock. But with half a year to go, Fuller said he wasn't certain that the state will even deliver that much.

 

And next year will be worse, he speculated, with possibly as low as a 30% allocation.

 

So AVEK purchased roughly 1,400 acres at 60th Street West and Gaskell Road owned by longtime Valley onion and carrot farmer John Calandri to pursue the banking project. At this time, an environmental impact report of the area is underway to determine the effects of such a project on area residents. Kern County Planning Department insisted on an EIR.

 

"Now it's more critical than ever to move ahead," Fuller said.

 

"I don't think there's anybody in the room that denies there is a water problem," said Dennis Shoffner, the council chairman.

 

"The question that comes to my mind (is), 'is that the best place to do it?' "

 

Shoffner asked about the ability of water to percolate into the ground in that area. If it can't, or if it doesn't seep in quick enough, standing water will attract birds.

 

And that brings about two potential hazards. The first is presented to aircraft flying low in the area as pilots prepare to land or take off.

 

Second, standing water also provides a breeding ground for mosquitoes, some carrying West Nile virus, a health risk to people who live or work in the area.

 

Fuller said the EIR findings should be able to answer those questions.

 

"You've done a wonderful job explaining the problems and the need," Shoffner said.

 

But, said Rosamond resident Randy Scott, who lives near 77th Street West, "We haven't heard your proposal of what you intend to do. We're concerned about major adverse impact to local homeowners. Apparently, the study was based on many false assumptions - incorrect assumptions AVEK was using to purchase that land.

 

"You're going ahead for expediency," Scott said.

 

"That land is the nucleus to start the water bank," Fuller said. "It's a good area."

 

Rosamond Community Service District agrees it's a good area, he added.

 

"You've given us the big picture of the whole project. We're homeowners in this particular area. We want to know what the small picture is," said Christina Scott, no relation to Randy Scott.

 

"I feel this program isn't going to have impact on all your lives," Fuller responded. "We hope to refill the water that the (U.S. Geological Survey) says has been vacuumed out of this Valley."

 

Jean Harris, who lives near 60th Street West, said she and some neighbors drilled a four-party well in 1986 and "hit water at 110 feet."

 

A couple of new neighbors drilled wells recently, she said. One hit water at 150 feet deep, and the other at 160 feet.

 

"The farmer is sucking up the groundwater," Harris said. "Home growth is sucking up the groundwater."

 

"We weren't told about this until four weeks ago," said Robert Scherer, a onetime superintendent of Southern Kern Unified School District.

 

Several other residents expressed the same concern, believing that they were kept in the dark and have no voice or no input about projects in their community.

 

"Why are you picking an area that is growing to do an experiment?" Matthew White asked. He said harsh winds in the area kicked up dirt in the past, and "with all the construction out there, we've eaten more dirt than two years ago."

 

He feared construction of the water banking project would create even more sand in the air and in residents' homes.

 

Furthermore, White said, there are no assurances the banking project will even work at that location. "If you screw up, you're going to screw up our property values. If it fails, Kern County is stuck with it."

 

"Why experiment in our back yard? Experiment in your own back yard," said John Brown, who lives on the Los Angeles side of the county line.

 

"It's going to impact all of us some way," said Rick Webb, a director on the advisory council. "People want to know. If you don't have all the answers, then we'll invite you back."

 

"In fairness to Russ, a project is not ready until you complete the EIR. So he may not have the answers yet," said Lorelei Oviatt, supervising planner with the Kern County Planning Department. "The EIR will answer all the questions you brought up, a full project description."

 

Then there will be a public hearing for the AVEK board, she added.

 

Asked if Kern County planners could stop the project, Oviatt said, "I have no power to oppose them, except the power of public comment.

 

"The county doesn't have to approve this. They are a state agency. If they buy the land, they can do the project. Water banks are allowed by right."

 

Fuller "knew, when he came out, there were some (hostile) feelings," Shoffner said. "The point here is to be involved in the process. AVEK is trying to solve this." #

http://www.avpress.com/n/25/0625_s9.hts

 

 

WATER SUPPLY CONDITIONS:

Drought boosts fire danger; Firefighters pushing flexibility, resident help to get handle on potential problems

Associated Press – 6/27/07

 

SAN FRANCISCO – With parts of California emerging from one of the driest winters in more than a century, the fire devouring Lake Tahoe's south shore might be a harbinger of what's in store for the western United States during a hot summer ahead, experts said Tuesday.

 

Rainfall in Southern California has dwindled to near record lows, while the little moisture Northern California received is giving way to dry forests and brittle, golden grasses.

 

The tinderbox conditions are obvious on National Weather Services maps, where a red stain indicating a severe, persisting drought covers California, Nevada, Utah and much of the West. The mix of arid weather and vegetation is so explosive that a golfer recently lit a fire near Reno with the friction between his club and the ball.

 

"The picture for fire is pretty bad," National Weather Service hydrologist Gary Barbato said. "You have all this dried-up stuff out there, and any little spark can cause a disaster."

 

Except for a few sections of the green, hilly Central Coast, almost the entire state is at risk of erupting in flames, said Matt Mathes, U.S. Forest Service spokesman. The weather conditions – wind speed, heat – and the availability of fuel – natural and manmade – will determine which fires will be the most disastrous, he said.

 

Much of southern and central California, where residential development has spread into forested foothills, has the same geography and vegetation as the Lake Tahoe Basin and reacts to drought in the same way: brush that grew dense in the past few wet winters sits bone-dry on soil holding little moisture.

 

"We are anticipating a potentially extreme fire season," Mathes said. "Lake Tahoe Basin is probably an extreme example, but very similar conditions exist throughout the Sierra Nevada. It can happen literally anywhere at any moment."

 

Even coastal Southern California, greener than the inland Mojave Desert, has experienced unusually parched conditions in the past 12 months. Santa Ana, for example, had about one-fourth of last year's rainfall and about one-sixth of the city's average amount. Los Angeles received only 3 1/2 inches of rain – the lowest level of precipitation in more than 100 years, said Douglas LeConte, a drought specialist with the National Weather Services Climate Prediction Center.

 

Previous winters left enough snowmelt to fill reservoirs and recharge groundwater, so there is no shortage of water for cities and farm fields, according to the Department of Water Resources. But the wet years also left dense thickets of vegetation that died in the dry months, providing ample fuel for a spreading fire.

 

The 22 parks and recreation areas overseen by the National Park Service in California have been training employees and removing flammable materials all winter, regional spokeswoman Holly Bundock said.

 

The dry spell prompted the federal Bureau of Land Management to impose early restrictions on fires, off-road driving and shooting of firearms in the 15.2 million acres of public land it oversees in California.

 

The increased risks led the U.S. Forest Service to give fire crews more flexibility so they can be positioned in areas where fires are expected and free up their 20-member "hotshot" crews, smoke jumpers, fire engines and helicopters to move around as needed.

 

"We're just going to be more nimble," Mathes said.

 

The flexibility proved useful during a May thunderstorm, when crews from Southern California moved to the northern reaches of the state to put out 70 to 80 spot fires triggered by hundreds of lightning strikes.

 

Orange County sent a strike team of 17 firefighters, a bulldozer and a swamper – who helps maintain equipment – along with five support personnel Sunday and Monday to help stamp out the White fire.

 

In 2003, Orange County sent more than 350 firefighters to fight the fires that ravaged Riverside, San Diego and San Bernardino counties, said Capt. Stephen Miller of the Orange County Fire Authority, which coordinates the county's mutual-aid requests.

 

Mathes said the best firefighting tools are residents, who can contribute by cutting trees and brush from around homes, removing firewood and other fuel, and even sweeping away cobwebs that can catch flying embers. #

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1745175.php

 

 

DEVELOPMENT ISSUES:

City water savings exceed state order

Santa Rosa press Democrat – 6/27/07

By George Lauer, staff writer

 

Rohnert Park is saving twice as much Russian River water as the state ordered, according to a report delivered Tuesday to the City Council.

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But some residents complained that there's no talk of how water shortages could influence new construction.

"The public isn't stupid," former Councilwoman Dawna Gallagher told the City Council. "We know what you're doing, pulling more water out of wells at the same time you're issuing more building permits."

Rohnert Park, one of many North Bay communities that get their water from the Russian River, already was taking measures to conserve before the state ordered mandatory cutbacks earlier this month.

Under the state order, which takes effect Sunday, the Sonoma County Water Agency must reduce its draw from Lake Mendocino over the next four months by 15 percent from the amount taken in 2004.

The reduction is intended to preserve water for the fall run of salmon protected by endangered species laws.

Lake Mendocino, running low now and projected to be even lower by fall, feeds the Russian River.

In a report delivered Tuesday, Rohnert Park's public works director said the city anticipated mandates in the spring and began conservation efforts last month.

Darrin Jenkins, the public works director, said Rohnert Park used 32 percent less Russian River Water in May this year than it did in May 2004.

"We're not only meeting the mandate, we're more than doubling what we've been asked to conserve," Pat Barnes, city engineer, told the council.

Rohnert Park water customers, responding to pleas from the city, used 22 percent less water in May this year than they did in May 2004. The city also increased its use of well water and is relying less on river water, the report said.

In his report, Jenkins also mentioned Sonoma County's large supply of unused water.

"The ultimate irony is that Lake Sonoma -- more than three times the size of Lake Mendocino -- is 95 percent full," Jenkins said.

He urged the council to support a proposal to build a pipeline through the Dry Creek Valley to deliver water to thirsty communities downstream, including Rohnert Park.

"I'm intrigued by the discussion of gaining access to Lake Sonoma," Councilman Tim Smith said.

Councilman Jake Mackenzie said the council's water subcommittee hoped to take the issue up with officials from other cities, the county and the state.

In the meantime, city officials said they plan to monitor water conservation with monthly updates on usage and with continued pleas for voluntary cutbacks.

Some people say city officials should do more, including consider the impacts of growth.

"You ask people to get a low-flow toilet while you're spreading water everywhere," said Gallagher, who said she represented many Rohnert Park citizens with similar views.

"It's a joke to ask the public to conserve when the city isn't doing it itself," she said.

Rohnert Park has experienced relatively slow growth in recent years -- adding about 700 residents since 2000 -- but adopted a general plan that envisions significant residential growth over the next 20 years.

http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20070627/NEWS/706270421/1033/NEWS01

 

 

COLORADO RIVER:

Drought plan: Hope for managing the Colorado River

Salt Lake Tribune – 6/26/07

 

You've probably seen pictures of the bathtub rings in Lake Powell that resulted when a seven-year drought caused water levels to plunge. Utah finally got a reprieve from dry winters in 2006, but in 2007 the Southwest is back in the dry cycle.

So we are happy to read that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which runs Lake Powell and Lake Mead on the Colorado River, is hard at work on a plan to better manage that water in time of shortage.

We are doubly pleased to read that the seven states in the Colorado River basin, including Utah, and environmental groups seem to be near accord on the preferred alternative that will probably become the final plan.

The seven states (California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Wyoming) submitted one plan to the bureau. The environmental groups submitted another. The bureau developed two more. It looks as though the final plan will take elements from both the basin states' and environmental groups' plans.

This is something of a miracle, considering what's at stake.

The Colorado drains about one-twelfth of the continental United States in one of the nation's most arid regions. Much of the water in the basin is exported to quench the thirst of Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Denver and Salt Lake City. The river is life for 30 million people.

So what happens in Lake Mead and Lake Powell is critical to the growing urban West, its people and its agriculture.

The plan the bureau is working to develop would define guidelines for managing the river's storage system during a drought. The guidelines would determine when a shortage exists in the Lower Basin (California, Nevada and Arizona) and how to coordinate operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead. They also would allow Lower Basin states to know when, and by how much, their water deliveries would be reduced.

Lake Mead stores water in the Lower Basin. Lake Powell stores water in the Upper Basin. Powell feeds Mead. The Lower Basin has rights to 7.5 million acre-feet of water a year, roughly half of the supply in a normal year. But in a drought, how much do you draw down each lake? Different answers have various implications for different users, for the environment and for hydropower generation.

We hope the promised accord comes to fruition. #

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_6236272

 

 

DELTA INFRASTRUCTURE:

Editorial: Governor calls it right

Bakersfield Californian – 6/26/07

 

Call it what you want -- a through-Delta facility, a conveyance, the Peripheral Canal -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called it right in Bakersfield last week, saying that it is long overdue.

 

The "it" is a means to get water that is transported from Northern California to Central and Southern California but without mingling it with the marshy waters of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

 

The Delta is a 1,600-square-mile estuary fed by the joining of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, and open to San Francisco Bay on the west. Water flowing through it from the north feeds the California Aqueduct for shipment southward. An intricate set of levees impounds the Delta's marshy water to keep it from flooding.

 

For years, urban and agricultural interests have sought ways to increase the amount and quality of water they import for 23 million people and 5 million acres of farmland that depend on the water.

 

A ballot measure to build such a facility -- then called the Peripheral Canal -- was voted down in a bitter 1982 campaign that saw an unusual alliance of most environmentalists and the state's biggest grower -- Boswell-Salyer -- that was so divisive that politicians have shied away from bringing up the matter ever since.

 

Californians have paid the price ever since for that short-sighted campaign of rhetoric that mixed cynical self-aggrandizing political agendas, lack of foresight and almost no common sense, and that served no purpose except to confuse voters.

 

Every modern study of the situation shows that opponents' charges at the time were wrong: that Southern and Central California cities and growers would grab more water than they are due, and that it would ruin the Delta eco-system.

 

The most prestigious recent study by the Public Policy Institute of California affirms what most proponents have said all along:

 

* Segregating the transferred water from the salty water of the Delta will improve the quality of both.

 

* Less water would be lost to farmers and urban water districts, forestalling the need for importing more water.

 

* Removing the transported water from the Delta will reduce pressure on the dangerously weak and crumbling levee system.

 

* Segregating the water will prevent downstream habitat and environmental damage.

 

We urge Gov. Arnold "The Terminator" Schwarzenegger to not terminate his support for a water transfer mechanism that is so sensible but also so overdue. #

http://www.bakersfield.com/opinion/editorials/story/173738.html

 

 

WATER CONSERVATION:

Editorial: Time to save water is now

Stockton Record – 6/27/07

 

When state and federal water pumps near Tracy stopped going full speed three weeks ago, most of the attention was focused on declining Delta smelt populations and the reduction in water flowing to Southern California.

 

There's an equally significant aspect of this issue that all San Joaquin County and California residents must acknowledge:

 

Conservation.

 

When the pumps stopped, water district officials in Alameda and Santa Clara counties asked customers to reduce their water use by 10 percent.

 

Consumers in the Livermore-Dublin-Pleasanton area are being asked to continue conserving water all summer.

 

Similar requests have been made by officials in Los Angeles, Long Beach and San Diego.

 

San Joaquin County residents should be paying attention.

 

We are one more dry winter away from similar requests to cut back.

 

Californians, no matter where they live, simply can't take water for granted.

 

Record columnist Michael Fitzgerald wrote last Wednesday about ways to alter lawns as a way to reduce water consumption.

 

There are other ways to conserve:

 

» Water lawns only when they really need it.

 

» Repair leaky faucets and plumbing joints.

 

» Don't leave the hose running while washing your vehicle.

 

» Shorten the length of showers; install water-saving shower heads.

 

» Run only full loads in washing machines and dishwashers.

 

» Use a broom instead of a hose to clean driveways and sidewalks.

 

» Don't use toilets as ashtrays or wastebaskets.

 

» While you wait for tap water to get hot, catch the flow to use later.

 

Separately, none of these represent a definitive solution.

 

Together, they represent a potential savings of 4,000 gallons of water per month for an average household. Multiplied by the county's 700,000-plus population, that's a significant savings.

 

Water conservation measures should be standard practice for all Californians.

 

We can't wait for a crisis or for mandatory rationing to be implemented.

 

We need to live now by assuming there will be less water later. #

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070627/A_OPINION01/706270309/-1/A_OPINION

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