A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
August 27, 2007
2. Supply
URBAN DEVELOPMENT:
Growth heightens need to get most out of water - San Bernardino Sun
WATER CONSERVATION:
Palmdale faces water rationing; Voluntary program fails to result in necessary saving during drought - Los Angeles Daily News
WATER BANKING:
Rosamond water banking impacts discussed by RMAC; Info still sought from AVEK - Mojave Desert News
WATER BOTTLING PLANT:
Nestle bottler seeks more public input - Redding Record Searchlight
WATER SUPPLY PLANNING:
Editorial: Pipeline’s payoff: security; Agreeing to spend $175 million now will mean fewer hardships for us later, when the next drought comes along -
State pressed on water deal; Tribe, weary of inaction, holds court-decision trump card - Arizona Republic
URBAN DEVELOPMENT:
Growth heightens need to get most out of water
By Andrew Edwards, staff writer
YUCAIPA - The
Joseph Zoba, general manager of the Yucaipa Valley Water District, said the agency's water sources have been overextended since the 1950s.
The prospect of thousands of new homes - filled with thirsty people and surrounded by lawns and gardens - means that water has to come from new sources, or that people will have to get smarter about the way they use it.
Zoba said the people at his agency are trying to do both. To those ends, the agency last month started using a $44 million microfiltration system to use water flowing from
The district's microfiltration system is housed in a northern
The filters, tiny tubes housed in six-foot cylinders, are designed to clean water by allowing the liquid to flow into the thousands of tubes while impurities are kept out.
"Anything bigger than the size of one-one-thousandth of a human hair can't get through these," Zoba said.
After traveling through the microfiltration system, water passes through nanofiltration technology designed to clean organic compounds from drinking water.
The filtration technology allows the water district to minimize the amount of chemicals needed to clean drinking water, Zoba said.
The water district hired Carlsbad-based Separation Processes Inc. to design the filtration system. James Vickers, the company's vice president, said the firm has designed more than 20 such treatment facilities for
To see the junk that gets filtered out of drinking water, one can step outside of the building that houses the filtration system and take a look at a machine that isolates contaminants from water that instead of going to someone's drinking glass, is destined for the district's recycled water system.
The machine employs a chemical process to coagulate impurities so they can be skimmed from the water's surface. The stuff looks like a mass of greenish gunk and gets sent to the sewers.
Much of the water people use is not for drinking. With that in mind, Zoba said the district made a deal with a developer planning a large neighborhood in Calimesa that requires all houses to have dual- plumbing systems, with one set of pipes for drinking water, the other for recycled water used to nourish grass and plants.
Zoba's district provides water to
"We'll use that agreement as the template for all future development coming in," Zoba said.
That would mean Mesa Verde Estates, a 3,450-home project yet to be approved in Calimesa, and Heritage Oaks, a 45-home project that is on tap to be built in the northeastern part of the city, will also be required to use recycled water.
Zoba said as much as 60 percent of the water used at a house isn't for human consumption. Nonpotable water, continually recycled, could give homeowners a steady supply of water that would make it possible to water lawns even when droughts strike the
Peter Johnson, a senior project manager for SunCal, said Friday that his company is planning to design the houses in large projects that are in the works for Hesperia and
"We think it's the right thing to do," Johnson said. #
http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_6715361
WATER CONSERVATION:
Palmdale faces water rationing; Voluntary program fails to result in necessary saving during drought
By Karen Maeshiro, staff writer
PALMDALE - Residents could face mandatory water rationing after a voluntary conservation plan failed to result in cutbacks that Palmdale Water District officials said were needed.
Because a record dry year and a water shortage, the district had asked its 115,000 customers in May to voluntarily cut water use by 15 percent. Consumption has dipped only 5 percent, prompting discussion of more drastic steps.
"At the time when we came out asking people to voluntarily cut back, we were 4,000 acre-feet short of meeting projected demand," General Manager Dennis LaMoreaux said. "That hasn't happened as far as customers responding. We are going to have to go to stricter measures to make sure demand meets what's available."
The board will hold a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday to consider a resolution declaring a water shortage emergency - a step that would allow the district to impose mandatory water rationing and penalties for overuse.
The district previously adopted voluntary conservation plans in 1991 and 2001 and avoided having to adopt mandatory conservation measures.
The district now needs a 30 percent reduction to be able to meet demand through the rest of the year. One acre-foot of water is enough to supply a family of four for a year.
The district also is considering actively enforcing a policy, first enacted during the drought of 1991, that would fine customers who waste water.
"We mostly act on that based on complaints. Rather than wait on complaints, we might go out and look for violations," La Moreaux said. "The policy provides an opportunity for warning and correcting the problem."
Water waste policy violations include runoff by over-irrigation, misusing water by washing sidewalks or driveways, wasting water through leaking or broken plumbing, or watering in the middle of the day and on windy days.
Customer Patricia Jones, 45, said she has tried to cut back on water use by timing water sprinklers and not letting the water run and has no problem with rationing rules.
"If they let us know how to do it the correct way, I have no problem with that. Anything to have a lesser bill is fine with me. I think I spend too much on water anyway," Jones said.
But Rosetta Byrd, 52, disagreed. She has reduced her grass-watering time and saves energy by using the dishwasher and washing machine late at night.
"Personally I don't think it's a good idea. They shouldn't make it mandatory. If people can afford to pay their bill, they should be able to use water any way they want," Byrd said.
The city of
It's planted drought-tolerant landscaping and waters plants briefly in the afternoon in hot weather to cool them down so they don't require more water throughout the day.
And, since 1995, it's used a central irrigation system that measures moisture in the air and soil to allow adjustments in water usage.
With the water district looking at rationing, city staff has been directed to find further ways to reduce consumption, said Leon Swain, director of public works.
Mayor Pro Tem Mike Dispenza said the water predicament drives home the point that action is needed valleywide.
"We have been very slow in this valley doing something about reclaiming and storing water," Dispenza said. "This drives home the point where we need to do something about this and do it quickly and on a reasonable basis. If it's not done, it's going to get worse."
The year ending June 30 was the driest rain season ever in the
The previous driest seasons for both cities occurred in 1960-61, when
This year, the state Water Project, from which the district receives about half of its supply, delivered 60 percent of the amount of water the district had requested.
Littlerock Reservoir, another source of district water, has received no runoff this year. #
http://www.dailynews.com/search/ci_6721608?IADID=Search-www.dailynews.com-www.dailynews.com
WATER BANKING:
Rosamond water banking impacts discussed by RMAC; Info still sought from AVEK
By Bill Deaver, staff writer
ROSAMOND - Although some questions about the Antelope Valley/East Kern Water Agency’s plans to build a water-banking facility near here were answered at last week’s Rosamond Municipal Advisory Council meeting, residents still want more information.
The question voiced by Matthew White of the Sundale Water Company pretty much summed-up months of frustration about the agency’s intentions.
“What is your plan,” White asked AVEK official Tom Barnes, a question that was echoed by others including RMAC Chairman Dennis Shoffner.
Barnes and AVEK board members Keith Dyas of Rosamond and David Rizzo, a
Neufeld emphasized that RCSD “supports water banking,” and spent the first part of his well-organized presentation outlining the reasons for that support.
Neufeld said that much of the water consumed by Southern California residents originates some 600 miles away in the
“We need to develop resources to rely on for water if this supply is interrupted,” Neufeld said.
Alternate sources
The two primary alternate sources are recycling water and storing it beneath the floor of the
Rosamond receives about 60 percent of its municipal and industrial water supply from groundwater, and the rest is imported, Neufeld said.
A new water treatment plant the district is building will treat water to the ‘tertiary’ level making it usable for non-drinking uses and for returning to the groundwater basin.
Neufeld said studies of percolating recycled water into the ground have revealed that it is filtered as it seeps deeper into the earth, eventually becoming clean enough to drink.
“All water is recycled,” Neufeld said, explaining that the water we drink today is the same water consumed millions of years ago. It evaporates and returns to the earth as rain.
RCSD and other water purveyors in the Antelope Valley/East Kern area can also store water from the California Aqueduct in water banks during the winter when water uses is at its lowest. Much of that water is discharged into the Pacific Ocean through the
“By storing this water we can use it in dry years,” he said.
Growth plans
Pointing to graphs showing a steady increase in water use resulting from growth in the region, Neufeld said RCSD can keep up with coming needs and even exceed them by banking recycled and state water.
He said the Western Development facility located on 1,700 acres of contiguous land west of
The company is leasing the land and plans to buy it as soon as ownership and operational details are worked out.
Neufeld also noted that the Western project is on land not deemed to be suitable for future development.
While “RCSD fully supports the water banking concept,” the district “is probably not interested in participating in the AVEK project” at this time, Neufeld said.
That’s because it is “likely several years away from being able to provide a reliable source of water” and “has not been fully designed or planned for development, the environmental review is not complete, and the necessary permits have yet to be issued.”
Another problem with water from AVEK is the agency’s plans to begin treating its water with chloramines, which makes it incompatible with RCSD’s desire to maintain a water supply free of chlorine. AVEK is pushing a plan to treat all of the water it distributes with chloramines.
AVEK project
The AVEK project, in contrast, is on several non-contiguous parcels owned by a large corporate farming operation on soils with questionable percolation qualities and in an area suitable for development and already home to several residents.
AVEK’s Barnes answered several detailed questions about the project by saying that the answers will be revealed when an environmental document is completed.
Despite having to wait to learn if the property is suitable, AVEK board members recently voted to buy it. (Dyas and board member
Although Barnes was able to shed a bit more light on the agency’s proposal in a few minutes than his boss, AVEK General Manager Russ Fuller offered during a marathon presentation in July, residents of the area near the project and others were still dissatisfied with the agency’s seeming inability or unwillingness to share information.
At one point Shoffner, a public affairs specialist by profession, criticized AVEK’s “poor public relations practices.”
“No one would object if they understood what you want to do there,” Shoffner told Barnes.
Another view
The municipal advisory council plans to hear another view of on water issues in the region at its Sept. 20 meeting when it will hear Dr. Eugene Nebeker, an area rancher and expert on the region’s water issues.
RCSD meetings are held on the first and third Thursdays of each month beginning at 7 p.m. in Hummel Hall and are open to the public. #
http://www.desertnews.com/mdn/story6.html
WATER BOTTLING PLANT:
Nestle bottler seeks more public input
Redding Record Searchlight – 8/27/07
By Kimberly Ross, staff writer
An environmental report on a Nestle water-bottling plant proposed for McCloud -- a hefty tome that drew more than 3,000 pages of public comments -- will be set before the public again, although a start date has not been chosen.
Nestle Project Manager Dave Palais said the entire document will be recirculated, giving residents at least another 45 days to read it and reply to the new version.
Palais said he doesn't know yet what would be changed in the project, but some of the public's feedback on the draft environmental impact report (EIR) may warrant modifications to Nestle's plan, he said.
Many of those public responses were form letters, and can be boiled down to a few hundred unique comments, said Mark Teague of Pacific Municipal Consultants, which is preparing the EIR for Siskiyou County.
"It's not unusual for large and visible projects to go through a couple alterations," Teague said. "Many times people (responding to a plan) come up with good ideas, and then the project has to be re-evaluated."
The mass of comments to the project's draft environmental impact report led
Nestle's 2003-signed contract with the McCloud Community Service District allows it to buy up to 1,600 acre-feet of water a year for 50 years -- and residents' opinions on the water-bottling idea run both hot and cold.
Some say the industry-starved town is desperate for the plant that's estimated to employ 60, then 240, people and deliver $400,000 in annual revenue to the services district. Others say losing spring water could harm temperature-sensitive fish and that 600 daily truck trips will pollute the air and clog Highway 89.
Almost 1,100 people signed a petition in support of Nestle's project, said Ron Berryman of McCloud, a forestry consultant and member of the McCloud Grassroots Committee. Economic viability is the top concern in the former sawmill town, now with a high school of just several students, ambulance and fire services slashed by half, and few employers, he said.
"I think the people in the county have a real good idea of the plight of McCloud," he said.
Debra Anderson, president of the McCloud Watershed Council, didn't give much weight to petition signatures.
Her group faults the project's EIR for lacking scientific study on several issues. Those include global warming and economic costs to tourism, traffic, and whether Nestle's presence would prevent other companies from moving to McCloud.
The watershed council and others also think Nestle's 50-year contract, renewable for another 50 years, is too long and sells water too cheaply.
Also, the EIR did not address the potential for temperatures in Squaw Valley Creek to rise when cold spring water at its head goes to Nestle instead, said Donna Boyd, a consultant for California Trout.
"If we change the temperature significantly, it changes the actual chemistry of the water," she said. "Here, we've never had this kind of development even attempted, so there's nothing to show what the effect would be," she said.
Nestle spokeswoman Lisa Yarbrough said the county is reviewing whether more studies need to be done. Meanwhile, she hopes to dispel some misinformation about how much water will leave McCloud: Whether drawn from springs, wells or future wells, the EIR limits Nestle's take to 1,600 acre-feet.
"It can purchase less, but not more," she said.
That acre-foot limit includes any water from wells on Nestle's own property, which would have to be approved and owned by the district, but drilled at Nestle's cost, Yarbrough said.
Nestle's property purchase included rights to water from nearby Lakin Dam, but the company does not plan to use it for bottling "because it is surface water and does not meet our strict criteria for spring-water bottling," she said. #
http://www.redding.com/news/2007/aug/27/nestle-bottler-seeks-more-public-input/
WATER SUPPLY PLANNING:
Editorial: Pipeline’s payoff: security; Agreeing to spend $175 million now will mean fewer hardships for us later, when the next drought comes along
What’s a security blanket worth?We think the pipeline from Nacimiento Lake to five local communities was worth the $190 million engineers thought it might cost, so it’s good news that construction bids came in at a total of $175 million, 8 percent lower.
While that’s good news in the short term for government bean counters — and, ultimately, ratepayers—the better news is the long-term payoff in water security.
True, even at the lower-than-estimated cost, $175 million is still a big price tag. But the cost of not building the pipeline would be even higher.
When — not if, but when — the next drought strikes (and it may have already begun), we will be grateful for those who had the foresight to approve this project, to preserve our quality of life and economic health.
We want to be able to flush our toilets and water our gardens.
There’s no denying the cost to ratepayers is high.
The pipeline will serve the cities of Paso Robles and
There are critics of this project, and these are their arguments in opposition. But these arguments don’t hold water.
Allegation: The pipeline will promote growth.
The facts: In San Luis Obispo, the city has in place a 1 percent-per-year growth cap, and it will remain in effect. The Nacimiento project will be the first new water source in
In Paso Robles, water will provide for new residential development, alleviating to some extent the county’s housing crunch. But let’s be clear: These policies are determined by elected officials who are put into office because their policy views align with the values of the majority of voters.
Allegation: When there’s a drought,
The facts: Even during the 1987-1992 drought, the lake was still 11.6 miles long and held 36,000 acre-feet. Engineers decided it was a good time to do some repair work on its outlet and drained it down to about 10,000 acre-feet. Even though it was another drought year, the next winter brought enough rain to raise storage to about 25,000 acre-feet. The next year—still in a drought — it reached about 120,000 acre-feet, largely because the lake’s watershed gets more rainfall than the county average, even during droughts.
Allegation: There’s mercury in the water.
The facts: Because of runoff from abandoned mercury mines, there’s mercury in the lakebed but not in the water. Mercury is a heavy metal that sinks to the lake bottom, where it’s eaten by microorganisms and, eventually, fish. Yes, the fish contain mercury, which is why health officials say no one should eat bass from the lake; other fish may be eaten in moderation, and sensitive individuals — including pregnant women — shouldn’t eat any fish from the lake. Projects are under way to clean up the mines and prevent runoff into the lake.
Here’s what we fear: That people have forgotten the hardships of that drought nearly a generation ago. There was water rationing in San Luis Obispo.Worse consequences were imminent, but fortune came with the “March Miracle” when 13 inches of rain fell and broke the drought 15 years ago.
It’s said that people talk about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. By building the
Now, let’s focus on breaking ground and having the water flowing by the projected completion date of 2010. #
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/editorial/story/126571.html
State pressed on water deal; Tribe, weary of inaction, holds court-decision trump card
Arizona Republic
By Shaun McKinnon, staff writer
Optimism permeated the ballroom at
In the 15 minutes it took to screen a film clip depicting families on the Navajo Reservation hauling water across miles of dirt roads, the mood shifted and a nervous silence fell across the room.
Estevan Lopez, director of the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission, said he brought the film to remind his river colleagues that not all their work was done. The Navajos still faced a water crisis far worse than the cities worried about keeping up with growth, a plight that turned nearly 40 percent of the people, as many as 80,000 in all, into water haulers.
"It seems odd to be talking about basic water needs in a city of fountains and golf courses and in a hotel with Jacuzzis in the rooms and taps that run like fire hydrants," Lopez said.
The Navajo Nation's need for water has cast a shadow over the
Now, a settlement between the Navajos and
The task is still overwhelming, tangled in a morass of laws, compacts, political interests and a water supply already stretched too thin. But failure would thrust the issue into court and threaten water supplies for millions of people.
"We want to settle the Navajo and Hopi claims to the rivers in
Pacts with
That deal, 30 years and scores of government agencies in the making, was easy compared with a Navajo settlement.
The Navajo Reservation sprawls across
It also straddles a line separating the upper and lower Colorado River basins, a legal distinction that would scuttle agreements that move water across the line.
The Navajos haven't formally asked for a specific amount of water from the
In documents filed earlier this year with the Bureau of Reclamation, Deputy Attorney General Stanley Pollack said the tribe has estimated it would need at least 76,732 acre-feet a year from the
An acre-foot is 325,851 gallons, enough to meet the annual needs of one or two urban households.
The Gila River settlement set aside 6,411 acre-feet for a Navajo settlement, water that would be delivered from the
An additional 67,300 acre-feet was set aside for future tribal claims, but the state also will need water for the Hopi Tribe, which faces a crisis similar to the Navajos, as well as potential claims by the White Mountain Apaches, the Tohono O'odham Nation, the Yavapai Apaches, Tonto Apaches, the Pascua Yaquis and others.
"We've always had the idea they'd drop the lawsuit if they had a settlement," said Greg Houtz, counsel for the state Water Resources Department. He said the state fears the suit could derail the long-sought shortage agreement among the river states.
Disputed deals
What further clouded talks was the agreement reached in 2005 between the Navajos and
"It was a huge accomplishment for the Navajo," said Lena Fowler, vice chairman of the tribe's Water Rights Commission. "We're not meeting our water needs right now. People wonder why we don't have economic development on Navajo. It's because we don't have water infrastructure. It's a constant cycle that we have to live with here."
The tribe won little additional water but secured greater certainty for existing water rights and the promise of a pipeline. The deal also benefits the off-reservation city of
"We wanted to try to obtain greater value for the water we had," said Pollack, the tribe's attorney. "We came up with a deal that works within the limits of the law and the water and made it work for the Navajo."
But the deal hit a wall in Congress, which must authorize terms of the settlement and, more importantly, write a check for nearly $1 billion to pay for the needed infrastructure. At hearings in both the House and the Senate this summer, the Bush administration said the bill was too high and challenged other parts of the agreement.
Lined up with the feds was
"We're not going to allow precedents to be set that would hurt
Seeking allies
The Navajo Nation hopes it can find friends among other northern
A study by the Bureau of Reclamation concluded that the region would face water shortages by 2050. The study examined several solutions, including a pipeline that would import water from
"There are limited resources. The demand is already exceeded in some areas," said Ray Benally, the tribe's water resources director. "There's no way around working together."
The city bought a ranch about 35 miles to the east with the intent of developing the groundwater, but that option will require a pipeline and pumps. Building the pipeline could cost $200 million; operating it would cost millions more.
The bureau study estimated that a pipeline from
To join in a
"I think it does have a chance of happening," he said, "as long as we're able to continue to build on our trust of one another."
Losing patience
Navajo leaders say they are willing to work with the states and the federal government, but it's clear their patience is wearing thin. They are angry that the Interior Department and the seven
Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley warned lawmakers in
"If the settlement were to fail, and the Navajo Nation were forced to pursue the litigation of its claims, the
That is what has motivated states to settle tribal claims over the years. Based on a 1908 Supreme Court decision, tribes hold water rights that date to the creation of their reservations. That would give the Navajos high priority for water in
Guenther said he doesn't want to see
"We have felt for some time that the amount of water they wanted from the (
Fowler, the water rights commissioner, said the Navajos simply want what they're entitled to. She dismissed talk that the tribe wants to lease water to communities off the reservation.
"
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0827water-navajodeal0827.html
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