A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
October 3, 2007
1. Top Item
Fresno Co. seeks a state of emergency; Supervisors petition governor on water shortage - Fresno Bee
State officials address mounting water ‘crisis’ - Victorville Daily Press
California faces dire water outlook - Central Valley Business Times
REGIONAL: STATE WATER OFFICIAL SAYS RESERVOIR LEVELS LOW - KPIX Channel 5 (Bay Area)
Editorial: Can a water compromise be found?; Much is riding on whether the Legislature and the governor can the job done -
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Fresno Co. seeks a state of emergency; Supervisors petition governor on water shortage
By Cyndee Fontana, staff writer
The Fresno County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday asked the governor to declare a local state of emergency because of concern over impending water supply shortages.
Citing dry years and a recent court ruling, the board approved a resolution outlining the consequences of having less water. Representatives from several west side cities and others also sketched out a potentially bleak future for farmers and communities.
Mendota Mayor Robert Silva said reduced water will devastate the city's ag-based economy: "That's a major blow to us."
Supervisor Phil Larson, who brought the resolution to the board, said he hopes it will bring federal money to help struggling communities. Among the expected problems are fewer agricultural jobs and lost revenue for schools if families dependent on the farming industry move away.
Larson said the board's action "also puts the emphasis on how important this is."
In part, supervisors are reacting to a court ruling that requires big cuts in pumping from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to protect the endangered delta smelt. An unusually dry winter also has left state reservoirs at below-average levels heading into a new water year that began Monday.
"We're starting this water year -- which could be the record year of a drought -- in a hole," Department of Water Resources Director Lester Snow said Tuesday at a news conference in
According to the Board of Supervisors' resolution, western
In turn, that means fewer jobs, higher food prices and lagging business. Jose Antonio Ramirez, city manager in Firebaugh, said farmers aren't going to risk planting crops if they don't know how they'll obtain water.
Ramirez and others said farmers also will turn to more ground-water pumping. That could create other problems, such as taxing municipal water supplies in communities dependent on ground water.
The statewide figures released this week paint a gloomy picture of
In the
The statistics were released as lawmakers debate ways to boost the state's water supply. Gov. Schwarzenegger's $9 billion plan relies heavily on new dams, including one east of
Hearings on the plans are scheduled for Thursday at the Capitol. To get a water bond on the Feb. 5 ballot, a compromise must be reached by Oct. 16. #
http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/154460.html
State officials address mounting water ‘crisis’
Victorville Daily Press – 10/3/07
By Tatiana Prophet, staff writer
The
The crisis has not yet percolated to the
“I’m extremely concerned ... about what could very quickly become a real crisis for this state,” said state Sen. Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto, who has proposed a $9 billion plan to address the weaknesses in the system.
Cogdill was speaking at a news conference broadcast by telephone. He was joined by Lester Snow, director of the Department of Water Resources.
Last year, snowpack was at its lowest level since 1988, Snow said. Because of the drought, levels in state reservoirs are down 40 percent from last year, he added.
“We combine that with the vagaries of climate change ... and know that the forecast is pretty clear, that our droughts are going to be much worse in the future,” Snow said, referring to the wide swings in future weather that global warming presents. “This could be the second year of a 10-year drought, or the highest flood flows we’ve seen in the state.”
On top of that, in August a federal judge imposed limits on water flow from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to protect the endangered Delta smelt, whose habitat lies in the area of the Delta’s massive pumps. The same judge, Fresno-based Oliver Wanger, is scheduled to hear a companion case today aimed at protecting salmon.
Locally, the Mojave Water Agency has stored Aqueduct water underground since 1991, for a total of 114,205 acre feet. An acre foot is said to supply a family of four for one year.
The amount of water pumped in the entire region was unavailable, but for perspective, the former Victor Valley Water District, now the Victorville Water District, pumped about 22,000 acre feet in 2005.
For two years, the MWA has been heralding its plan to recharge the
While the MWA is allotted 75,800 acre feet per year, it remains to be seen whether the state will be able to provide its court-mandated annual allotment.
Michael Stevens, spokesman for the MWA, said he could not comment on the future of the agency’s water entitlement. But he did acknowledge that the situation is a crisis.
“It could have a huge impact if these issues are not addressed,” he said, referring to drought and Delta problems. “We should not be in a panic, but don’t become complacent. Because the state is in a crisis, it could impact our situation if things continue the way they are.”
Snow and Cogdill encouraged the state’s investment in “regional self-sufficiency,” which involves local agencies pursuing ways to avert a crisis themselves.
Such measures include surface water storage, desalinization, conservation and reclaimed water.
“But these measures by themselves can’t solve our problem,” Cogdill said.
“We won’t be able to rely on the Sierra any longer, it appears,” he added. “We think it’s crucial that we move forward (on the bond proposal).”
In the meantime, officials from the retail districts to the state water agencies are pushing conservation above all.
For more information on the state’s water crisis, go to www.calwatercrisis.org. #
http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/water_3101___article.html/state_year.html
“Our major reservoirs are fairly well below average. We’re starting this water year, which could be the second year of a drought, in a hole,” says Mr. Snow.
Mr. Snow’s comments came Tuesday afternoon as the state was in the second day of its “water year,” which begins Oct. 1 and continues through Sept. 30.
He says lack of snowfall during the winter is translating into less water in storage. But he also says a federal court will consider possible restrictions on water stored in reservoirs in an effort to protect salmon runs in the state’s rivers.
“We may be restricted in the way we operate reservoirs,” he says. “The environmental issues in the state have all come to a head.”
The bulk of
But reliance on the Sierra snowpack could be a problem in the future as less snow falls in the mountains, says state Sen. Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto.
“We need to do more in the way of investment in our infrastructure,” Mr. Cogdill says, urging improvements not only to how water is delivered but to add more reservoir storage.
Mr. Cogdill is sponsoring a $9 billion water infrastructure proposal in the current legislative special session called by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. #
http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=6540
REGIONAL: STATE WATER OFFICIAL SAYS RESERVOIR LEVELS LOW
KPIX Channel 5 (Bay Area) – 10/2/07
The Director of the State Department of Water Resources said today that State Water Project customers could see reductions in the amount of water available if the 2006-2007 drought continues for a second year.
Director Lester Snow held a news conference to mark the start of the state's water year, which began on Monday. He said that the state's reservoirs are at below average levels. The Oroville reservoir is 30 percent below normal. Shasta is down 33 percent and Folsom is 40 percent lower.
"We're a lot less than where we should be at this time of the year,'' Snow said.
The low reservoir levels and uncertainty about rainfall and Sierra snow pack levels during the coming winter could lead to a reduction in the amount of water available from the State Water Project.
"We're going to be very careful about making allocations in the State Water Project this year,'' Snow said.
The State Water Project provides water for 23 million
Begun in 1957, the State Water Project was recognized in 2001 by the American Society of Civil Engineers, along with the
http://cbs5.com/localwire/localfsnews/bcn/2007/10/02/n/HeadlineNews/WATER-STATE/resources_bcn_html
Editorial: Can a water compromise be found?; Much is riding on whether the Legislature and the governor can the job done
Everyone knows
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger puts the emphasis on new dams. Democrats who control the Legislature and their allies in the environmental movement don't much care for the notion of dams. They assert that underground storage, conservation and reuse of existing supplies can meet rising demand.
The two sides are on a collision course in the special legislative session called by Schwarzenegger to address water issues. That collision could be averted by a compromise that gives each side at least some of what they want. But given the recent history of governance in
The state is growing in population -- nowhere so fast as here in the Valley -- and supplies are dwindling. The looming shortages are sure to be exacerbated by the effects of global climate change. And without fixes in the creaky Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a catastrophic failure of levees could lead to the loss of irrigation water for thousands of acres of Valley farm land and drinking water for millions of
Stir into this complex mix the recent ruling by federal Judge Oliver Wanger in
The Bee's position has always been that there must be a mix of solutions. Some new dams are needed to gather extra water in especially wet years. Underground storage is a source of supplies we have only begun to tap. And tremendous savings are possible with much greater emphasis on conservation and techniques for recovering water and reusing it. An analysis by the state Department of Water Resources found that new conservation efforts could save as much as 3.1 million acre-feet of water a year. That's three times the water that could be stored behind new dams.
Each of those measures has its constituency. The problem is there is no real constituency in
The Democrats say they aren't necessarily opposed to new dams. They just want local agencies and consumers to pay for them. The governor argues that many dams would serve many people up and down the state, not just local water users.
There ought to be room for a compromise there. Surely a formula could be found that divides the costs in an equitable fashion.
But that presumes that compromise is even possible. There is always the danger in
http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/story/154415.html
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