Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
July 27, 2007
5. Agencies, Programs, People
STATEWIDE WATER PLANNING:
Water leaders push for state funding, approve conservation blueprint - North County Times
Levees set to be certified; County effort part of FEMA project - San Bernardino Sun
FUNDING ISSUES:
Water agency considers $35 million bond for funding - Auburn Journal
STATEWIDE WATER PLANNING:
Water leaders push for state funding, approve conservation blueprint
By Gig Conaughton, staff writer
Work on both plans started about a year ago, and San Diego County Water Authority board members approved them with little discussion Thursday. The Water Authority supplies the region with nearly all of its water, buying it and selling it to 24 member cities and water agencies.
The first plan, called the integrated water management plan, marked the first time local officials and agencies that normally work separately created a joint plan to boost water supplies, improve water quality and protect the environment.
State leaders told water agencies across California that they had to create the integrated management plans if they hoped to get a cut of Proposition 50 funding next year ---- money from the $3.44 billion water bond voters approved in 2002. The measure set aside millions of dollars to help pay for plans ranging from buying and restoring wetlands to reducing water pollution and improving water treatment.
The second plan, a water conservation blueprint, grew out of a meeting the Water Authority held in June 2006 with the landscaping industry. Southern California is in the midst of a record drought, as are the region's imported supply sources ---- the Colorado River and
Water officials say they have nearly exhausted people's ability to cut indoor water use with low-flow shower heads and low-flush toilets.
Because of that, Water Authority spokeswoman Toby Roy said the new blueprint would shift the conservation target to outdoor water use through several tactics. One of those would gather water, landscape and other officials together to create a model law that could eventually be adopted by cities and the county.
The law could require builders and landscapers to use more water efficient equipment. The plan also could also create financial incentives for water-efficient equipment; try to convince nurseries, retailers and manufacturers to make more water-efficient plants and irrigation equipment available to the public; and create a certification program for landscapers.
Water Authority spokeswoman Dana Friehauf said that the first plan, the integrated water management plan, could bring $25 million in state grants for a still-undecided number of water projects to the region.
Friehauf said that a committee planned to winnow down a list of more than 160 projects that water agencies had submitted in the hope of getting funding in August. Those that make the cut will be part of the Water Authority's application to the state for funding, which must compete for cash with applications from other regions.
Friehauf said that a number of the projects that have been submitted for consideration could use the entire $25 million maximum annual funding by themselves. But she said the grant money was not intended to completely fund any project and that the Water Authority's application would include a number of projects. The applications will also have to show that the projects have at least 10 percent in matching funds from another source.
"It's seed money," Friehauf said. "The state has told us that several times. It's money that helps us go to that elected official or government and saying, 'We've got some money to work with.'"
Meanwhile, board members at Thursday's meeting were also advised by a special consultant that if they really want to prod the public into conserving water outdoors ---- they should do it with cash.
Jeffrey Jordan, a spokesman for Mindset Research, gave board members a 20 minute presentation on the results of a "focus group" survey designed to figure out if the public and private landscapers knew much about ---- or cared about ---- recent calls for increased water conservation.
Jordan said the surveys, which were done in May with about 40 people ---- two groups of local homeowners and two unlicensed landscaper groups ---- indicated that people had heard the conservation call, and would help.
However,
"Money talks,"
The Water Authority and other suppliers have offered rebates on some irrigation equipment and satellite and weather-based controllers, and even synthetic turf. But the Water Authority and others have not offered cash-back for plants and other landscape items. #
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/07/27/news/top_stories/22_47_197_26_07.txt
Levees set to be certified; County effort part of FEMA project
By Joe Nelson, staff writer
The county has embarked on a two-year project to certify levees across the
The project is part of a five-year, billion-dollar FEMA project to have levees across the country certified. FEMA received a memo from
Hurricane Katrina triggered 53 levee breaches in
"Katrina came along and punctuated all of that," Mansell said.
FEMA's flood-insurance rate maps show flood-prone areas of counties and the cities within them and help to determine flood-insurance rates. In the last three years, the agency has been digitizing all its floodplain maps to upload onto its Web site.
"We were tasked by Congress to update all maps and bring them up to digital standards that could be used by GIS (geographic information system)," Mansell said.
When the project is complete, he said 92 percent of the nation's population will be able to access GIS digital flood maps from FEMA's flood map Web site at www.floodsmart.gov.
But FEMA needs the levee information from the various counties and cities across the nation before it can update its maps.
Thirteen communities across
On Tuesday,
Hired consultants will present to county officials by Wednesday an inventory identifying all the levees requiring certification and a preliminary cost estimate to assess their structural soundness.
Then work will commence on determining if the approximately 80 levees around the county meet federal standards for certification, Fox said.
Soil compaction and levee height are the most important factors engineers will be checking. Fox said soil engineers will bore into the ground near the levees to check the compaction.
A $1 million grant from the state Department of Water Resources will help fund the project, Fox said.
Similar efforts are under way in
Other flood-prone areas of the county that will undergo levee inspection include areas along the
http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_6475663
FUNDING ISSUES:
Water agency considers $35 million bond for funding
Auburn Journal – 7/26/07
By Penne Usher, staff writer
The Placer County Water Agency is considering issuing a $35 million bond to fund water system expansion, renewal and replacement projects over the next three years.
The financing, in the form of certificates of participation, has been under review from several months, officials said.
The board authorized Joseph Parker, director of financials services, to prepare final plans and financial documents to secure the funds. The board will consider approval of Parker's package at its Sept. 6 meeting.
Under Parker's preliminary plan, the certificates of participation would be sold and the funding would become available to PCWA in the fall of 2007.
"One project, for $20 million, is the Auburn Ravine tunnel pump station and the other component is a couple of renewal and replacement projects," Parker said. "Basically we are upgrading the infrastructure."
The water agency plans to use the money to pay for capital improvements necessary to upgrade and add reliability to an aging water system infrastructure.
Revenue received from a "renewal and replacement charge," a line item on water bills, will be used to repay the bonds.
The current renewal and replacement charge is $12 a month for standard 5/8-inch meters. It is possible that an increase will be necessary. The board will consider an increase as part of next year's budget process
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