A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
September 10, 2007
2. Supply
WATER RATIONING:
A watered-down lifestyle; Residents prepare for city's new water-use rules -
Time to conserve water is now, officials say; Uncertainty lingers over how area will be affected by court ruling limiting SoCal water deliveries - Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Local districts downplay water rationing - Pasadena Star News
Water customers may be asked to cut back - The Valley Chronicle (
WATER RECYCLING:
SR may force use of wastewater; Council to weigh law requiring new developments, some businesses to utilize effluent - Santa Rosa Press Democrat
DESALINATION:
Vallecitos district signs on for desalinated ocean water - San Diego Union Tribune
WATER RATIONING:
A watered-down lifestyle; Residents prepare for city's new water-use rules
By Paul Eakins, staff writer
Barbara Hamton stood on the green lawn of her
"We hand water rather than use the sprinklers because I feel there isn't as much runoff," said Hamton, who has lived in the house for 30 years.
Across town in
"When the water comes, everyone has to conserve it," Penate said in Spanish.
Many
Water department officials estimate the city's water supply will drop by 10 percent following a federal judge's ruling last month limiting the amount of water that can be pumped from the San Joaquin-Sacramento River delta in
The city imports about 42 percent of its water and two-thirds of that amount comes from
Water department officials are recommending the water board declare an imminent water supply shortage, something that hasn't happened since 1991, when it meets Thursday, Alsop said. The declaration would enact eight rules to reduce water use, including restricting outdoor watering to only three days a week and requiring restaurants to serve drinking water only when customers request it.
"We're asking the public to pay greater attention to the water they're using," Alsop said. "We're asking them to go above and beyond."
The water department already has some water conservation rules in place, such as one that prohibits residents from watering their lawns to the point of causing water to run into gutters and sidewalks, and in June it issued a citywide declaration asking people to take voluntary steps to conserve water.
If the board approves the new restrictions Thursday, water conservation won't be just a voluntary matter anymore. Anyone who doesn't comply with the new rules could face penalties including paying a higher water rate and having one's water shut off completely, at least in extreme cases involving multiple offenses, Alsop said.
Doing their part
In addition to being conservative with her watering, Hamton, the
She said she knows many
"I think a lot of people are trying to conserve as much as they can," she said.
Several
"If we need to save, then everybody should pitch in,"
But as
"There's no other way to clean screens," said
Stricter water rules "would cramp my style," she said.
Businesses take action
Some businesses also have taken steps to conserve water, but business owners and employees said controlling customers' water use isn't easy.
The Belmont Athletic Club on
"Some people just come here to take showers," French said.
But Martha Espinoza, who owns a coin-operated laundry on
But water is absolutely necessary for her business to function, she said.
"Like a car uses gasoline, a laundry uses water," Espinoza said. #
http://www.presstelegram.com/ci_6841795?source=most_viewed
Time to conserve water is now, officials say; Uncertainty lingers over how area will be affected by court ruling limiting SoCal water deliveries
By Andrew Edwards, staff writer
The
Although local water officials have yet to learn exactly how the area will be affected by a recent court ruling that will curtail water deliveries to Southern California, the word from water agencies serving east
And depending on future events - notably whether the
Randy Van Gelder, general manager of the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District, said there is a very real possibility that inland
The potential for reduced water supplies for
"In the long-term - the long-term meaning two, three, five years - the lifestyle we have will not be able to be sustained," Van Gelder said. "You may end up with things like restricting the amount of lawn you have at a house.
"We would end up looking more like the semi-arid desert that we are."
The latest shock to
Wanger said pumps used to transport water to Central Valley farms and
The National Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups filed a lawsuit in 2005 to protect delta smelt.
On Thursday, the NRDC issued a statement praising the judge's order as necessary to protect fish populations and water quality in the delta.
State Water Contractors, an association of
Water deliveries would be reduced for both the State Water Project and federal Central Valley Project, which primarily serves farmers.
In the near term, it won't matter if Wanger's decision is successfully appealed, since the judge's order would not be stayed while any appeal is in process, said Susan Sims, spokeswoman for the California Department of Water Resources.
What Sims called "the new normal" means that come December, water providers can expect to receive smaller amounts of water than they request.
"This is a man-made drought on top of a Mother Nature drought," she said.
The San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District distributes water to more localized agencies that pipe water into homes.
Van Gelder said the district currently uses less than half of the maximum amount of State Water Project supply it is entitled to.
"Maybe a cut back doesn't hurt (us) as much as everyone else," he said.
In July, the Yucaipa Valley Water District started running drinking water through a $44 million filtration system intended to clean State Water Project-provided water.
The district's general manager, Joseph Zoba, said the millions won't go to waste - he still expects to receive state water.
However, the likelihood that reduced amounts of water will be flowing to
"We won't be able to bank as much water into the ground as we wanted to," Zoba said.
Nevertheless, Zoba does not foresee reduced water deliveries as something that will block or significantly slow future development in the
He said the district's requirement that future housing developments pipe in recycled water for watering lawns and other non-drinking purposes will enable future construction to happen.
Zoba and Redlands Water Resources Manager Chris Diggs both acknowledged the possibility of mandatory water rationing and said that for now, it's a must for locals to save water.
"More conservation is necessary - put it that way," Diggs said.
Zoba and Diggs also noted that winter weather will have a big impact on how severely reduced water flows affect the
About 20 percent of
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger seized upon the Aug. 31 court decision as a moment to trumpet his water proposal, which would spend $4.5 billion on water storage and another billion to restore the delta.
Locally, Stacey Aldstadt, general manager of the San Bernardino Water Department, also said it's time to invest in new water infrastructure, such as the proposed Bunker Hill Basin Regional Water Supply Project.
The
In the meantime, Aldstadt echoed other area officials by calling on residents to save water.
"We really are asking people to conserve as much as possible," she said. "Don't water your lawn in the middle of the day. Don't wash your driveway." #
http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_6841509
Local districts downplay water rationing
By Mike Sprague, staff writer
Water rationing is all over the news these days, and the Metropolitan Water District is drawing up contingency plans.
But these dire acts aren't likely to affect most area residents, especially those living in
The water utilities that serve those three cities rely solely on underground water and don't buy water from MWD.
"We don't foresee any near-term need for mandatory water rationing, but we appreciate and continue to endorse voluntary conservation practices our customers already perform," said Garry Hofer, spokesman for Suburban Water Systems that serves the eastern half of
"Suburban is in a position where we have created a variety of sources of supplies, including groundwater, imported surface water and local surface water," Hofer said. "In a sense we're more insulated than most other water agencies against the wrath of a drought."
Like Suburban, Pico Water District, the cities of
These comments come at a time when officials from MWD, which serves 18 million people in six counties, are preparing plans for water cutbacks.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger in
The district imports about two-thirds of its water from Northern California and the
But MWD's actions aren't expected to affect most of those areas in Southern California that rely on groundwater - such as Suburban, the cities of Pico Rivera and Whittier and the Pico Water District, officials from these agencies say.
"It has no relation to the city of
But there are other fears, say those who manage the underground basins.
MWD has for now stopped selling water to replenish the underground basins.
"If we can't rely on surplus water, that could interfere with basin management," said Carol Williams, executive officer of the
"We don't know what Metropolitan intends to do as far as replenishment deliveries for the long term."
If the basin can't be replenished, water levels will drop and that could make for problems in pumping water, Williams said.
"You well may see our water purveyors promoting water conservation more than we've had to do in the past," she said.
Robb Whittaker, general manager for the Water Replenishment District, which manages the Central and West basins in southern
It now purchases reclaimed wastewater from the Sanitation Districts of
But if the drought continues and it can't buy water from MWD, it might have to take less recycled water, Whittaker said.
But Whittaker says his district may have another answer, although one proposed project would cost $75 million.
"To the degree we can develop projects and use recycled water that is flowing out to the ocean, we could have a self-sustaining water supply," he said.
One way would be to construct an advanced water treatment system, such as reverse osmosis, in order to get permission to use more recycled water, he said.
The district might be able to take enough water so that it didn't need to purchase anything from MWD, he said.
"It's a lot of money, but with state and federal funding along with the cooperation from other agencies - we're talking about a large regional project - we could completely do away with our need to rely on (MWD)," he said.
The project could be built in four years, he said. #
Water customers may be asked to cut back
The Valley Chronicle (
By Charles Hand, staff writer
Eastern spokesman Peter Odencrans said the district is working on a response to this week's announcement from Metropolitan Water District that the decision could reduce the amount of water available by as much as 30 percent.
Metropolitan is Eastern's parent agency and supplies a substantial part of the water Eastern sells to its customers in the
Odencrans said the Metropolitan news release said the loss could be as much as 30 percent, but that it could be much less.
For the time being at least, there are no plans for mandatory water use reductions in the Valley, but the Eastern board of directors and staff are discussing the possibility of putting together a plan for mandatory cuts in case they become necessary.
“
Odencrans and Kightlinger said the judicial decision shows the need for solving the long-standing problem of how to get water from and through the Delta without destroying sensitive habitat and species.
“This historic court decision affirms what the water community has realized for some time, but the general public may not fully appreciate, the Delta, both as a valuable ecosystem and essential water supply, is broken,” Kightlinger said.
Not all of
In the
Some of the water Eastern draws from Metropolitan comes from the
Still, the loss of 30 percent of Metropolitan's supply could present problems in Eastern's service area, Odencrans said, though how much and when remains to be seen.
The court decision will last one year during which the affected agencies and federal government are to work out a plan to use the Delta system without damaging the Delta.
Odencrans said there are two plans to solve the problem, one devised by water agencies and the other by the Schwarzenegger administration.
They have been around for a while, but there has been little success of merging them into a single effective plan, Odencrans said.
“The state still seems to have the water for the population. The problem is the mechanics of moving it across the Delta in a way that avoids environmental problems,” he said.
http://www.thevalleychronicle.com/articles/2007/09/07/news/06nemwd.txt
WATER RECYCLING:
SR may force use of wastewater; Council to weigh law requiring new developments, some businesses to utilize effluent
Santa Rosa Press Democrat – 9/10/07
By Mike McCoy, staff writer
"If it's a new business park, a new cement-mixing plant or a commercial car wash, the city would have the authority to require them to use recycled water rather than potable water," said Virginia Porter, a consultant who helped the city draft the new law.
It could include commercial laundries that specifically deal with washing everything from uniforms and linens to diapers and tablecloths, Porter said.
The City Council on Tuesday will consider the ordinance, which would empower the city to require selected residential, commercial and industrial developments to use the city's highly treated effluent -- in place of potable water -- for nonhuman and animal consumption uses.
Santa Rosa Water Resources Planner Jennifer Burke said the goal is simple: to conserve potable water.
Porter said the requirements are in keeping with state laws and policies that increasingly demand that wastewater, particularly the highly treated variety
The measure goes to the council with a favorable recommendation from the city's Board of Public Utilities.
If adopted Tuesday, the law would go into effect Oct. 19, although board Chairman Richard Dowd said it would be some time, potentially a year or more, before details of how it will be implemented are decided.
Opposition is expected Tuesday. During a board meeting Thursday, some citizens raised health concerns about the effluent, particularly if it's to be used to irrigate landscaping around homes.
Board members, however, said the use of wastewater would not go forward if scientific evidence emerges that it is harmful. But so far the city hasn't seen that evidence nor has the state provided it.
"
"It's OK for full body contact but not drinking. It's good stuff," she said.
Dowd said without the law it is unlikely the city can find many takers within the fast-growing southwest and southeast portions of the city, which are the primary focus of the measure.
The board has been developing plans for two years to find ways to put a billion gallons of effluent a year to productive use in those two areas, which are targeted for the major share of city growth over the next 10 to 20 years.
Currently, most of the 8 billion gallons a year of wastewater generated by the city's regional sewage treatment plant is used to irrigate 6,400 acres of farmland and urban landscapes between
But future growth, particularly in
Dowd said the initial plan is to target larger users first. "We want to identify where its use would be most efficient," he said.
"The game plan is to identify those who use a million gallons of water or more a year, not Joe and Mary Sixpack with a 5,000-square-foot lot," he said.
Dowd said that without the new law residents and business owners in those areas would be reluctant to substitute wastewater for potable water even for the best of conservation reasons.
"If we don't make it mandatory for new development, it will never happen," he said.
He also said that successful implementation would delay the need for costly projects by the Sonoma County Water Agency to bolster municipal water supplies to
For those forced to take the wastewater, Dowd said it would result in slightly lower monthly bills. The utilities board is recommending the effluent be priced 5 percent below what the city charges for potable water.
Porter said wastewater already has become a widely accepted commodity. It currently is used to irrigate the front and back yards of a subdivision of
"Wastewater," Burke said, "is drought-proof and sustainable."
http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20070910/NEWS/709100327/1033/NEWS01
DESALINATION:
Vallecitos district signs on for desalinated ocean water
The Vallecitos district board has agreed to buy 7,500 acre-feet of desalinated seawater annually from the plant, which Poseidon Resources proposes to build on the grounds of the Encina Power Station in
The purchase would fill 37.5 percent of the annual need of the district, which serves
Poseidon's application for a state coastal permit for the plant is likely to go to the Coastal Commission in November. #
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070908/news_1mi8desal.html
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