[Water_news] 1. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS - Top Items for 7/25/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment

 

July 25 2007

 

1.  Top Items

 

Governor pushes water bond measure - San Diego Union Tribune

 

Governor looking to build reservoirs - North County Times

 

 

Governor pushes water bond measure

San Diego Union Tribune – 7/25/07

By Terry Rodgers, staff writer

 

More water storage capacity and a better way to transport water from Northern to Southern California are critically needed to prevent shortages that threaten the state's economy and quality of life, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said yesterday in Spring Valley.

 

“We've waited long enough. Now is the time to rebuild our water system,” Schwarzenegger said. “Let's do it the right way. . . . Let's go all out.”

 

Schwarzenegger was referring to a $5.9 billion bond measure to build more reservoirs, create a new north-to-south aqueduct and handle other water infrastructure projects. The measure is pending in the Legislature.

 

The governor's call for action was his fourth such address on the subject in two weeks. He issued it along the shoreline of Sweetwater Reservoir, which is 48 percent full. During non-drought periods, the reservoir would be 60 percent to 65 percent full at this time of year.

 

A persistent drought, reduced snowfall in the Sierra Nevada and climate changes likely linked to global warming have brought on the state's current water troubles.

 

In addition, deliveries of water to Southern California's 18 million residents have been curtailed to reduce pumping through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River delta. The drop-off is meant to protect an endangered fish, the delta smelt.

 

The governor yesterday recalled a drought that stretched from 1987 to 1991. It culminated in a supply cutback of 31 percent by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the primary water supplier for San Diego County.

 

The crisis ended only after “miracle March” rains in 1991 replenished local reservoirs, Schwarzenegger said.

 

Statewide, that drought resulted in crop losses exceeding $500 million. It also caused more than 5,600 jobs to be lost in the landscape and gardening industries.

 

The past two years have been the driest two-year sequence in San Diego County since the 1860s. Last year was the fourth driest since records have been kept.

 

The latest drought has caused more than $1 million in crop damage in the Central Valley, and the governor has declared a state of emergency in Kings and Riverside counties. Despite the mounting crisis, Schwarzenegger expressed optimism that he can work out a compromise with the Legislature to issue bonds for various water infrastructure improvements.

 

During his speech, Schwarzenegger was flanked by local political and business leaders such as Joe Panetta, president and CEO of Biocom, a life sciences industry group.

 

“We were lucky back in the 1990s, but we can't depend on luck again,” Panetta said.

 

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders also spoke at the news conference.

 

Sanders urged the public to join a campaign launched last month by the County Water Authority. The agency is asking residential water users to voluntarily cut their consumption by 20 gallons a day. #

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070725-9999-7m25water.html

 

 

Governor looking to build reservoirs

North County Times – 7/25/07

By Dave Downey, staff writer

 

 SPRING VALLEY -- Against the backdrop of a half-filled Sweetwater Reservoir Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made a pitch Tuesday for a $5.9 billion blueprint to expand the water supply of a state expected to have 60 million residents by 2050.

The governor's stop in San Diego County was the fourth he has made over the last several days, in a bid to drum up political support for his plan for a pair of new reservoirs bigger than Diamond Valley Lake, several underground storage projects and increased conservation measures. He is trying to negotiate an agreement with legislative leaders, some of whom have traditionally been averse to building dams.

 

Earlier, the governor held news conferences in Long Beach, the Central Valley and at a site overlooking the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, where critical delivery systems that serve Southern California have shut down in recent weeks.

 

"I've been traveling up and down the state to put the spotlight on our water problems," Schwarzenegger said. "We haven't built a reservoir in the last 30 years. ... We don't have enough water storage."

Schwarzenegger cited the Sweetwater Reservoir, fed almost entirely by imported water from the Colorado River and Northern California, as an example of California's dwindling supplies. As a consequence of an eight-year-old drought in the Colorado River basin and exceptionally dry conditions across California, he said the state is in a particularly vulnerable position.

"Throughout most of Southern California, this was the driest year in history," he said. "And all of this was just from one dry winter. If we have another, it will be disastrous."

Schwarzenegger suggested the state needs more and bigger reservoirs to help sustain Californians during dry periods.

His comments were echoed by several local dignitaries who appeared with him. One was Eric Larson, San Diego County Farm Bureau executive director.

"If we are going to survive the dry years, we need to harvest the wet years," Larson said.

Gary Arant, general manager of the Valley Center Municipal Water District, attended the conference. In a brief interview later, he said the drought is stretching North County supplies.

"We're on the edge right now," Arant said. "Our water supply is very tenuous."

The governor's plan calls for setting aside $4.5 billion for boosting the supply; $1 billion for restoring the fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and building a canal around it; $250 million for restoration projects on the Klamath, San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers and the Salton Sea; and $200 million for conservation programs.

The governor acknowledged that a new delta canal could be a tough sell in the San Francisco Bay Area, where such a proposal two decades ago raised suspicions that Southern California was trying to grab Northern California's water.

But, he said, "Times change."

Joe Grindstaff, deputy secretary for water policy in the state Resources Agency in Sacramento, said after the news conference that the governor would like to build two new reservoirs, "either one of which would be bigger than Diamond Valley Lake" in Southwest Riverside County.

Grindstaff said the governor also would like to expand an existing reservoir in Contra Costa County.

The plan would be funded primarily by a $3.9 billion general obligation bond that California voters could face in February.

 

Another $2 billion would come from bonds backed by water customers.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/07/25/news/sandiego/2_45_137_24_07.txt

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