A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
August 10, 2007
2. Supply
AREA WATER SHORTAGE:
Desert area faces water emergency; State impounds three trucks that were supplying water to desert residents - Associated Press
High Desert community receiving water - Riverside Press Enterprise
WATER CONSERVATION CONFERENCE:
Future of SoCal water considered in Ontario - Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Conference eyes wastewater from new homes for irrigation - Riverside Press Enterprise
YUMA
Desalination plan for desert; Mothballed Yuma processing plant could make poor-quality water drinkable - Arizona Republic
AREA WATER SHORTAGE:
Desert area faces water emergency; State impounds three trucks that were supplying water to desert residents
Associated Press – 8/10/07
The governor's office was reviewing the request on Thursday.
The California Highway Patrol and state health officials impounded the trucks because haulers supplying eight desert communities were delivering non-potable water in unlicensed tanker trucks.
"We took action in the
She said the agency was "taking every step available to ensure safe, clean water is available to residents immediately."
Most residents purchased the water to drink but said they didn't mind using it for showers, evaporative coolers and toilet flushing. Some have now shut off swamp coolers and stopped flushing toilets to save water.
"There's nothing wrong with the water. We got it tested years ago and it's good, clean water," said Elsie Wenger, 86, who hasn't showered in a week. "All of us who live out of town depend on these water trucks. I don't know what to do."
The health department took three water tankers off the road during a sting operation last week, citing each for being unlicensed and unsanitary.
Two trucks were impounded by CHP officers because drivers lacked the proper drivers' licenses and permits, and a third tanker was ordered out of service for mechanical reasons.
Schwarzenegger ordered state agencies to send four water tankers to the
Maile said the governor's office was reviewing the local state of emergency declaration sought by the Board of Supervisors.
County fire trucks began delivering non-potable water for livestock on Wednesday. The county Department of Aging and Adult Services also started contacting elderly and disabled adults, delivering bottled water to at least five households. #
Riverside Press
By Imran Ghori, staff writer
The county declared a state of emergency Wednesday and asked Gov. Schwarzenegger to declare one as well.
Some of the 4,000 residents of the rural area have been without a regular source of water since last Friday, when deliveries by truck were halted.
The state Department of Public Health cited three haulers as part of a crackdown on companies operating without proper licensing, spokeswoman Suanne Buggy said. Two more haulers were cited by the California Highway Patrol for vehicle code violations, said David Zook, a spokesman for Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt, whose district includes the
The result is that out of six haulers that made regular water deliveries, only one was in business as of Monday, leaving many residents short on water, Zook said.
Although many in the area have their own wells, some depend on the water deliveries to meet their needs, he said.
On Thursday, the county delivered 1,000 one-gallon water jugs, dispatched five water trucks and made three wells available to help out, Zook said. The
The state Department of Public Health also made water tankers available, Buggy said.
The county's economic development agency will be available to assist haulers with the licensing process, Zook said. Loans may be available to companies that need equipment upgrades to get state approval, he said.
"We want to get them back in business and back serving their customers as soon as possible," Zook said.
Buggy said the state plans to expedite haulers' applications and will allow those who apply to resume deliveries in the interim period before they gain approval.
The investigation was triggered by complaints raised about the quality of water delivered by haulers, Buggy said.
"We took steps to make sure residents were provided with water that met state standards for safe, clean water," she said. #
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_B_bcrisis10.40a8aa1.html
WATER CONSERVATION CONFERENCE:
Future of SoCal water considered in Ontario
By Andrew Silva, staff writer
We already have as much water we're going to get, but
Roughly 800 elected officials, developers and others spent the day Thursday at a conference discussing how the growing region can keep faucets from going dry when water supplies may actually diminish.
Conservation and recycling will be key to keeping millions of new residents from going thirsty.
Expanding the use of recycled water into homes would allow existing supplies to go much further.
John Young, president of Young Homes and the Building Industry Association of Southern California, talked to one developer who is already installing purple pipe in new homes on the expectation that it will one day become mandatory.
Pipe that carries highly treated wastewater is colored purple and could be used for watering landscape and filling toilets.
Installing a dual plumbing system doesn't add much to the cost if it's done when a house is being built.
Australia, which like the western United States is in the middle of a fierce drought, is aggressively recycling water, including building homes that have such dual plumbing, said Mark Gray, director of environmental affairs for the Building Industry Association.
Rainwater is also captured and storm runoff is directed into areas where it can percolate back into the groundwater, he said.
Doing that here means policymakers, especially counties and cities, must adopt regulations so projects are designed to capture and use every possible drop of water, most panelists agreed.
"Tell us what to do. Give us meaningful advice," said Randall Lewis, executive vice president of Lewis Operating Co., one of the region's most active developers.
He called for a broad education campaign aimed at both the public and government officials to encourage policies for using water more efficiently.
About 60 percent of domestic potable water is used to water lawns and irrigate landscaping.
That has to change, said Susan Lien Longville, director of the Water Resources Institute at Cal State San Bernardino.
"A growing water source is all the people moving here. They all produce waste water," she said.
That water can be treated and used for most purposes other than drinking, she said.
Morongo Valley already has incentives in place for installing gray water systems, which puts water from sinks and showers into a tank for use in irrigation, said Mike Reynolds, a contractor and president of the Morongo Basin chapter of the Building Industry Association. #
http://www.dailybulletin.com//ci_6587224?IADID=Search-www.dailybulletin.com-www.dailybulletin.com
Conference eyes wastewater from new homes for irrigation
Riverside Press
By Jennifer Bowles, staff writer
"It's the only growing source of water we've got," Susan Lien Longville, director of the Water Resources Institute at Cal State San Bernardino, told the estimated 800 people gathered at the San Bernardino County Water Conference at the Ontario Convention Center.
Longville was referring to using wastewater from homes to irrigate lawns and to use for other nondrinking uses. Recycled water is already used in some areas of the Inland region to irrigate cemeteries, golf courses and parks.
But she and others suggested it become more widespread and that new developments add an extra pipeline to homes that would take shower and sink water, filter it, and use it to irrigate landscaping.
Wyatt Troxel, board president at Chino-based Inland Empire Utilities Agency, said such "purple piping" is being installed in new developments in
The conference was held at a time when water issues are at the forefront: Gov. Schwarzenegger is trying to gain support for a $6 billion investment to increase the supply; Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, is calling for a $5 billion water bond measure on next year's ballot; pumps that send Northern California water to the Inland region and the rest of Southern California were turned off for nine days this summer to prevent a federally protected fish from being chewed up; and the Inland region and much of the West is gripped in severe drought.
Tony Morgan, a hydrogeologist based in
"Folks, that's
With
Kirby Brill, general manager of the Mojave Water Agency, said his agency has thought about helping to finance a desalination plant in a coastal city in exchange for getting some of that city's portion of the State Water Project water.
Troxel said his district is rejiggering storm-water drains so they funnel rainwater to boost supply in local aquifers instead of sending that water down the
Many cities in the
San Bernardino County Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt, who hosted the conference sponsored by the local chapter of the Building Industry Association, said he expected it to be the first of many annual events to come.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/sbcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_C_water10.3e50ac0.html
YUMA
Desalination plan for desert; Mothballed Yuma
Arizona Republic
By Shaun McKinnon, staff writer
Water once discarded as too brackish to use could help stretch the West's dwindling water supplies with help from new and existing desalination technology.
The Yuma Desalting Plant finished a test run earlier this year and earned high marks not only for its near-flawless operation after more than a decade in mothballs but for its potential to produce drinkable water.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, meanwhile, which owns the
Once thought the province of coastal cities, desalination has quickly emerged as an alternative for inland areas with poor groundwater or excess agricultural runoff. Officials see promise in the ability to improve water quality in rural areas or on Indian reservations.
"One thing that surprised me about the test run was the level of interest," said Jim Cherry,
The $280 million
A series of wet years temporarily erased the need for desalted water soon after the plant opened, and it sat unused until
Cherry said the plant, operating at about 10 percent of its capacity, operated for 90 days this spring with few problems. Some of the 2,000 membranes used in the desalting process had sat untouched for 15 years, but they still worked. Crews changed a few gaskets and patched some small leaks, but otherwise the test went smoothly.
In all, the plant produced 4,200 acre-feet of water, more than 1.3 billion gallons. That means the bureau was able to hold the same amount of water in Lake Mead, which stores
Over the 90 days, visitors signed in from as far away as
The bureau is also waiting for results from scientists who monitored the test from the Ciénega de
Results from the monitoring are expected later this year, as are preliminary cost estimates for operating the desalter.
The New Mexico research center, a joint operation of the bureau, Sandia National Laboratories and New Mexico State University, will open next week in Alamogordo, N.M. Researchers there will study new desalting technology that could reduce costs and help small, rural systems. #
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0810b3blog0810.html
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