Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
August 20, 2007
5. Agencies, Programs, People
WATER PLANNING:
County opposes water district master plan - North County Times
WATER POLICY:
Water Wars Over Northern Calif. Supplies Hit Bakersfield ; Leaders Hold Local Talks To Gain Support For SB 59 Reliable Water Supply Bond Act - KERCO Channel 23 (Bakersfield
ELECTION ISSUES:
Elsinore Water vote pits insiders vs. outsiders - Riverside Press Enterprise
Yuba levee program short on cash; If state funds don’t arrive, ‘you’ve got a problem’ - Marysville Appeal Democrat
Editorial: Second thoughts on West Sac's floodplain plan -
SAN LUIS RESERVOIR CELEBRATION:
45th anniversary of ground breaking at San Luis Saturday - Los Banos
DWR WORKSHOP ANNOUNCEMENT:
California Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the Floodplain Management Association (FMA) are pleased to announce a free workshop on the Integration of the California Flood Plan and the California Water Plan
WATER PLANNING:
County opposes water district master plan
By William Finn Bennett, staff writer
FALLBROOK ---- County planners have come out strongly against the San Luis Rey water district's efforts to merge with a neighboring water district so it can build a major water-and-sewer system east of the I-15 along Highway 76, paving the way for eventual construction of thousands of area homes.
In a letter dated April 27, then-planning and land use Director Gary L. Pryor told San Luis Rey Municipal Water District directors that the county isn't about to open the floodgates to rampant development in the area.
"The County opposes (the annexation of San Luis Rey to Valley Center Municipal Water District), as the extension of services to the (San Luis Rey) territory would induce unplanned growth within the County of San Diego's land use jurisdiction by removing barriers to development," Pryor wrote.
The county Department of Planning and Land Use reviews proposed developments to see if they're compatible with the county's general plan for future growth. The agency has the final say over proposed developments, although its decision can be appealed to the
The process
Founded in 1958, the San Luis Rey district covers a 3,000-acre area that stretches east from I-15, and for several miles spreads out along land that follows the meandering channel of the San Luis Rey River, which runs parallel to Highway 76.
The district's board of directors is made up of land owners. However, the district does not import water, relying instead on ground water to satisfy its mainly agricultural needs. That would have to change for it to be able supply water to the thousands of new homes the district expects to serve in the future.
Before that could happen, though, the district would have to be annexed by the Metropolitan Water District, which supplies most of the imported water used in
Two other entities would also have to annex the district: the San Diego County Water Authority, a 24-member agency made up of local water districts and cities that sells water wholesale to local water agencies; and a larger local water district, such as Valley Center Municipal Water District, which says it might be interested in the annexation.
A water authority official said last week that without the stamp of approval from the county's Department of Planning and Land Use, it is unlikely that the authority would annex the San Luis Rey water district.
"Unless we get a certification from the county, we will not extend our boundaries ---- that is one of our policies," said Dana Friehauf, principal water resources specialist for the San Diego County Water Authority.
She added, though, that the department's board of directors would have the ultimate say over the fate of the project.
Conflicting agendas
At a meeting last week, San Luis Rey directors voted unanimously to approve a master plan for 19.5 miles of potable water pipelines, 5.4 miles of gravity waste-water pipelines and 25.2 miles of recycled-water pipelines built adjacent to Highway 76 and east of I-15. That water infrastructure would be adequate to serve the needs of as many as 7,600 homes, according to a copy of the master plan.
The problem is that a draft copy of the county's new planning guide for future growth ---- called the General Plan 2020 ---- contemplates no more than 2,130 new homes to be built in the area between now and 2020.
San Luis director William Pankey said Thursday that the county is looking only at growth projections through the year 2020, while water district consultants are looking at expected growth through the year 2030.
Pankey also noted that Pryor, the man who wrote the April 27 letter describing the district's plans for a new water-and-sewer system as unacceptable, has since left his job.
"All the management down there has changed, so I don't know (the department's) current position," Pankey said.
Jeff Murphy, the agency's acting deputy director, said Thursday that no one should jump to conclusions about the management change.
"Just because we've had a change in directors doesn't mean there is a change in our position in this matter," Murphy said.
Difficulties ahead
Valley Center Municipal Water District General Manager Gary Arant said last week that the ongoing drought in the state and multiple threats to Southern California's water supplies make it more difficult to get "properties annexed by the water authority and Metropolitan Water District today than it was a couple of years ago."
He said an upcoming court case could ultimately determine whether "there will be adequate water supplies for this development and other developments."
The case involves much of the imported water used in Southern California, which comes from
In March, when it was learned that a tiny fish called the Delta smelt ---- an endangered species ---- was being chewed up in a pumping station that is responsible for sending most of the water consumed in
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/08/19/news/top_stories/21_09_278_18_07.txt
WATER POLICY:
Water Wars Over Northern Calif. Supplies Hit Bakersfield
KERCO Channel 23 (Bakersfield
As
Only, not everyone in
Part of the bill's solution is to build two reservoirs, one on the west side of the
Speakers from the
The L.A. Times reported that
State Senator Roy Ashburn who called the forum believes Californians need to have more water, build more damns, and build more reservoirs. He said
According to a report sent out by Senator Cogdill, the $3.95 billion SB 59 Reliable Water Supply Bond Act would solve the crisis.
The bill has stalled in recent months from Democrat opposition in the California State Senate. Four Democrats opposed the bill and one abstained. According to the Aquafornia blog, water flowing one way from north to south is a problem in itself, and northern
Senator Ashburn said, “It’s been decades since we’ve made any changes in our water supply, yet we’ve continued to grow.”
The report claims that
“It’s been very difficult to construct more water facilities in this state. Because every time we start talking about it, someone files a law suit or an environmental challenge,” Senator Ashburn said. He claimed that
State Senator Dave Cogdill said the bill could add 3 million acre feet of storage to reservoirs in the north and add improvements on the delta.
“The biggest challenges will be from the environmental community. They do not support surface water storage as a viable option for providing water,” Senator Cogdill said.
Senator Cogdill also claimed the reason there is water in
http://www.turnto23.com/news/13916944/detail.html
ELECTION ISSUES:
Riverside Press
By Jeff Horseman, staff writer
LAKE
Not so this year, with three incumbents on the five-member board of directors competing for four-year terms against three challengers who say the 79-year-old district on Lake Elsinore's western edge is mismanaged and offers poor service.
"It's sort of like an old boys' network," said one challenger, Jeff George, of
Board President John Wilkie, who is not up for re-election, accused the challengers of plotting to merge the district with its much larger neighbor, the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District.
In a letter to the
Morrison said acquiring Elsinore Water "would be a tremendous financial burden" on
The Elsinore Water District serves about 1,700 customers in
Only the district's property owners can vote in the election, which is being conducted with mail-in ballots. The ballots are due to the county registrar of voters by Aug. 28.
The challengers -- George, Kristine Anderson and George Bloomfield -- don't live in the district, but all three own property there.
George, 48, who grew up in
"Change is good," she said. Members of the board running for re-election have "struggled with what they've got," she said."
"That was a huge red flag that said to me 'something's got to change here,' " he said.
The challengers all said they'd have to study the condition of the district before deciding whether to raise rates.
While the Elsinore Water District is dependent on
"We're still a small, friendly little water company," said Croft, of
"We've done the best we can with what we had to work with," said incumbent Robert C. Smith, of Temecula, who's been on the board for 18 years.
If re-elected, Croft said he plans to hold the line on rates and to support the drilling of a new well. Smith said he wanted to work with
The third incumbent, Sue Ellison of
JoAnn McCracken, of
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_swater18.3f000eb.html
Yuba levee program short on cash; If state funds don’t arrive, ‘you’ve got a problem’
Marysville Appeal Democrat – 8/18/07
By John Dickey, staff writer
Three Rivers Levee Improvement Authority officials fended off criticism Friday that the agency was in default on last year’s Reclamation Board agreement that lifted limits on
The authority has raised $7.7 million this year – well below the $60 million from developers that should be in an escrow account under terms of the agreement, according to a Reclamation Board official.
“They don’t have the money to complete any of this stuff,” said Tom Foley, president of Concerned Citizens for Responsible Growth and a frequent critic of the program to improve the levees. “They must be in default of the project agreement.”
Three Rivers officials disagreed, saying the financing plan has shifted toward state funding from Propositions 1E and 84.
That was necessary because a more expensive setback levee was chosen earlier this year – a better flood control improvement, but one that was too costly for developer financing alone because it increased the cost of Phase 4 work from $135 million to $201 million.
“A major part of our project is dependent on Proposition 1E funding,” said Paul Brunner, TRLIA’s executive director.
That funding may be held up by the state budget. TRLIA says that the Department of Water Resources will not make an award until the budget is approved.
TRLIA officials also say that the agreement made last year with the Reclamation Board allows modifications to the capital funding plan.
The April 2006 agreement between
Reclamation Board officials did not dispute TRLIA’s explanation.
Reclamation Board Chief Engineer Stephen Bradley said there should be $60 million in TRLIA’s escrow account.
But the agreement allowed the authority to change the financing schedule.
“Subsequently, that cash flow schedule can be modified and it already has been,” said Bradley.
Brunner said in an interview that $7.7 million has been raised, including $500,000 from the TRLIA budget – a figure that is down by $1.4 million because three landowners withdrew from the program, taking their money with them.
The landowners represented about 15 percent of the program with 13 more landowners remaining.
While the loss of developers is a concern, TRLIA hopes that an application for an early round of Proposition 1E levee bond funding will come through and provide the money to finish Phase 4 repairs.
DWR has not announced any decisions yet. A local match may still need to be raised from either developers, a benefit assessment or both.
The real question, said TRLIA special counsel Scott Shapiro, is whether TRLIA has a local share.
“If they give us $200 million, great,” said Shapiro. “If they give us a dollar, you’ve got a problem.”
Meeting the 2008 deadline to complete levee repairs will depend on state funding to get the setback levee project started in October, said Brunner. The setback levee could be worked on through the winter because there is another levee in place that would be torn down once the new embankment was finished.
Segment 3 is going ahead next week, while Segment 1 would be done next year. Preliminary work has also been done on Segment 2, a setback levee, to prepare for an October construction start. #
http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/trlia_52800___article.html/levee_million.html
Editorial: Second thoughts on West Sac's floodplain plan
West Sacramento faces the same flood control conundrum of many smaller
To its credit, this city of 43,000 has taken some steps unmatched by other cities of its size: It has proactively investigated its (state-owned) levees, and its property owners have agreed to tax themselves to cover part of the needed improvements.
Now comes the hard part.
This page enthusiastically endorsed the
Had we more fully explored all aspects of the city's financing plan, we would have cautioned against relying so heavily on developer fees to pay for flood improvements. It's a risky strategy for people who may choose to buy new homes in
The 2005 flooding in
In West Sacramento's case, the city plans to add at least 8,000 homes to
City officials say they had to tap developer fees. The alternative would have been to double the tax assessment, which could have led to its defeat at the polls.
That's understandable, but there are also uncertainties with developer fees. The housing market is slumping. If it stays in the doldrums for several years, the city may not generate the fee revenue it is projecting.
The city also knows that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is preparing to redraw the flood maps for
It's unlikely that
But if it pursues a Faustian bargain of using new development to pay for flood control,
http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/333695.html
SAN LUIS RESERVOIR CELEBRATION:
45th anniversary of ground breaking at San Luis Saturday
Los Banos
By Andrew Green, staff writer
When John F. Kennedy visited the Westside in 1962, thousands of visitors arrived at the San Luis Reservoir and Dam site to see the president's helicopter land and witness an historic local event.
On Saturday, visitors can relive the moment as the Department of Water Resources celebrates the 45th anniversary of the groundbreaking. Tour guide Howard Berman said a video of the ceremony can now be viewed at the
Berman said the video contains Kennedy's entire speech and highlights the beginnings of a project that is now the largest off-stream reservoir in the
"There isn't going to be a ceremony but we're just hoping everybody who wants to come up and watch the video can do it anytime," Berman said of the anniversary. "We got (the video) about four months ago. I don't know where it was but somebody found it."
Kennedy's visit to the Westside took place on Aug. 18, 1962 alongside then-governor Edmund G. Brown and U.S. Rep. B.F. Sisk of
According to
Historian Charles Sawyer said the president and governor then blasted off a row of flares indicating where the dam would be.
"They had a box where he pushed the plunger and the flares went off. When you watch the whole thing you can see the recording of his speech and all the politicians who were there," said Sawyer, who said he had to work that day and missed the 1962 event. "My wife and two sons went up there and they could practically reach out and touch him. It was a little safer in those days for the president to do that."
In addition to the video, Berman offers guided historical tours of the site that he said now supplies water to the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project.
Work on the B.F. Sisk Dam, bearing the name of the
According to the department of water resources, the dam can hold more than two million acre-feet of water and stands at more than 385 feet. The reservoir has a 65-foot shoreline when filled. The reservoir has a surface area of 12,250 feet and has a depth of 270 feet at the lowest point.
Following his speech, Berman said Kennedy, who was then 45 years old, left the site via helicopter. The president also visited
Ironically, Los Baños was visited three days after Kennedy's visit by former Republican presidential rival and future U.S. President Richard M. Nixon. #
http://www.losbanosenterprise.com/local/story/13899375p-14466888c.html
DWR WORKSHOP ANNOUNCEMENT:
California Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the Floodplain Management Association (FMA) are pleased to announce a free workshop on the Integration of the California Flood Plan and the California Water Plan
The goals of this workshop include:
· - In-depth focus on floodplain management issues on statewide and regional scales
· - Discussion of statewide flood management planning and its role in the California Water Plan process
· - Discussion of regional flood management planning and its role in the Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) and the California Flood Plan processes
DWR cordially invites agencies and organizations involved in floodplain management to provide input into the California Flood Plan and California Water Plan Update 2009.
Date: Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2007
Time: 1:30 - 4:30 p.m.
Location: MontBleu Resort, 55 Highway 50,
RSVP: by August 28 to sjenkins@water.ca.gov
For More Information, contact Sharon Jenkins at (916) 574-0602.
FMA website:
FloodSAFE website: Water Plan website:
www.floodsafe.water.ca.gov www.waterplan.water.ca.gov
Note: FMA Conference registration is not required to attend this workshop
DWR's California Water News is distributed to California Department of Water Resources management and staff, for information purposes, by the DWR Public Affairs Office. For reader's services, including new subscriptions, temporary cancellations and address changes, please use the online page: http://listhost1.water.ca.gov/mailman/listinfo/water_news. DWR operates and maintains the State Water Project, provides dam safety and flood control and inspection services, assists local water districts in water management and water conservation planning, and plans for future statewide water needs. Inclusion of materials is not to be construed as an endorsement of any programs, projects, or viewpoints by the Department or the State of
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