Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
October 4, 2007
5. Agencies, Programs, People
PROPOSITION 50 FUNDS:
Column: A unified voice on water; County coalition scores $25 million state grant -
WATER POLICY:
CVWD urges Sacramento to get water bond on ballot - Desert Sun
FORUM ANNOUNCED:
Colusa forum to discuss new peripheral canal - Oroville Mercury Register
FOLSOM DAM PROJECT:
First contract awarded for Folsom Dam project - Sacramento Bee
PASO ROBLES WATER PROJECT:
Editorial: Paso council makes good on a promise; It revisits the flat water rate increase and listens to residents to craft a compromise - San Luis Obispo
PROPOSITION 50 FUNDS:
Column: A unified voice on water; County coalition scores $25 million state grant
By John Krist, columnist
In November 2002,
The money will fund projects to remove invasive weeds along Calleguas Creek and retire obsolete septic systems that are contaminating groundwater beneath the Oxnard Plain. It will help finance several water-recycling projects and reduce contamination of local streams. Next week, the Board of Supervisors will be asked to accept the $25 million grant from the state on behalf of the coalition of agencies responsible for developing and prioritizing the project list.
Proposition 50 was unusual in a number of ways. For one thing, it was the product of citizen initiative rather than the legislative process, the route more typically followed by water bonds. But it was also historically atypical in the way it blended money for water projects with money for habitat conservation.
The 12 legislative water bond measures approved by voters during the 1960s, '70s and '80s focused exclusively on building things: dams, canals, sewage treatment and reclamation plants, purification facilities, pipelines, pumping stations. None explicitly allocated a single dollar to ecological programs. That began to change in 1996 with Proposition 204, which allocated more than $500 million to ecological restoration, and fish and wildlife programs primarily associated with the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta system. And in 2000,
Proposition 50 continued that novel trend.
There's one more aspect of Proposition 50 that made it unusual. It included $500 million for projects developed in accordance with regional watershed plans. Ideally, those projects were to address a variety of goals simultaneously, from increasing the water supply to reducing flooding and improving recreation.
Regional, watershed-based planning is something people in the water-development community have been talking about for years as a worthy ideal. But for a number of reasons, it has proved fiendishly difficult to accomplish.
Traditionally, individual water agencies have addressed only the narrow concerns of their customers, and have focused on quantity and quality of supply.
Flood-protection agencies have focused on levees, dams and storm channels, even when those structures compromised groundwater quality and wildlife habitat. Natural watercourses have typically been regarded as either delivery pipelines or floodwater conveyances, not as fragile ecological systems. And when it came to vying for state and federal funds, agencies competed with each other in a messy fiscal free-for-all.
Agencies in
But Proposition 50 required even more. Beginning in 2002, shortly before voters approved the water bond, local agencies developed similar management plans for the
On behalf of the coalition, the county then applied for a share of the bond money. In January, the state announced its approval of a grant to help fund 11 of
The convoluted process behind the grant award on next week's board agenda is less inherently interesting than the actual projects the money will make possible. But in this context, process assumes vital importance. Water is the ultimate unifying force: It is the connective tissue that links upstream and downstream communities, makes the concerns of fish and frogs the same as those of farmers and suburban families, unites mountaintop scrub and seaside marsh. Without a similarly integrated approach to planning and management, water projects may cause more problems over the long term than they solve. #
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007/oct/04/a-unified-voice-on-water/
WATER POLICY:
CVWD urges
Desert Sun – 10/3/07
By Denise Goolsby, staff writer
Coachella Valley Water District is encouraging state lawmakers, the governor and others attempting to resolve
Seven water-related bills have been introduced by legislators since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called lawmakers into special session. To qualify for the February presidential primary election, a bill placing a bond measure on the ballot must be approved by the legislature and signed by the governor no later than Oct. 16, according to Secretary of State Debra Bowen.
Rather than endorse “competing” bills introduced on behalf of the Republican governor or Democrat Senate President pro Tem Don Perata, the district's board of directors last week unanimously adopted a resolution that urged bipartisan solutions.
The Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee was scheduled to begin hearings Thursday, but those reportedly have been postponed.
“No single piece of legislation offers all of the solutions to our current crisis,” explained CVWD General Manager-Chief Engineer Steve Robbins, “but we cannot afford to wait for the ‘perfect bill' with respect to water. The Bay-Delta is on the verge of collapse. We have drought statewide and along the
“We estimate that a federal judge's ruling to protect an endangered fish will result in the loss of between 30,000 acre-feet (9.8 billion gallons) and 80,500 acre-feet (26.25 billion gallons) of State Water Project water delivered to
Reduced pumping of water from the Bay Delta into State Water Project facilities is expected to go into effect in December and continue at least through June 2008 to protect the Delta smelt. #
http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200771003023
FORUM ANNOUNCED:
Colusa forum to discuss new peripheral canal
Oroville Mercury Register – 10/4/07
COLUSA -- A forum with statewide water leaders on the idea of building a canal to divert water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta will be held at from 2-4 p.m. Wednesday at the Colusa Casino.
The forum is hosted by the Northern Sacramento Valley Water Forum.
Increased environmental regulations and a recent court order limiting pumping out of the Delta have reinvigorated discussions regarding the future of the region. This panel discussion will provide information on some of the alternatives being discussed by leaders throughout the State.
The Forum is free and open to the public.
Speakers include:
- Ryan Broddrick, executive director of the Northern California Water Association, who will serve as moderator.
- Ellen Hanak, associate director and senior fellow for the Public Policy Institute will present an overview of her recent report regarding the sustainability of the continued use of the Delta to meet multiple needs.
- Lester Snow, director of the state of California Department of Water Resources, will provide a description of the governor's infrastructure bond. He will also talk about how he feels the bond may benefit
- Andy Hitchings, of Somach, Simmons and Dunn, will discuss possible legal ramifications to
- Mindy McIntyre, of the Planning and Conservation League, will address some of her organization's concerns regarding various water management options for the Delta and how those options may impact the estuary of the Delta.
Each panelist will speak for approximately 15 minutes and will then answer questions from the audience. For additional information, please call Vickie Newlin 538-2179.
Directions from
http://www.orovillemr.com/news/chico/ci_7079627
FOLSOM DAM PROJECT:
First contract awarded for Folsom Dam project
By Matt Weiser, staff writer
FOLSOM -- Federal officials this week awarded the first contract in a long-awaited plan to boost Folsom Dam's flood-fighting ability.
The $16 million contract went to Kiewit Pacific Co. of Concord, the Bureau of Reclamation announced. It involves excavating a massive new spillway at the dam, modifying earthen embankments alongside the dam and building a haul road.
Kiewit Pacific is building the $117 million four-lane bridge across the
The contract marks major progress since spring 2005, when a more complicated plan was derailed by construction bids that were double the estimated cost.
Since then, the bureau and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers collaborated on a simpler design, which features a new spillway adjacent to the existing dam to empty the reservoir faster. This, in turn, creates more space for floodwater, providing a buffer for
"We're starting to complete the project now," McCracken said. "We're not talking about it. We're doing it."
Total project cost is estimated at $1.3 billion. Construction should begin by the end of November, McCracken said. #
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/413781.html
PASO ROBLES WATER PROJECT:
Editorial: Paso council makes good on a promise; It revisits the flat water rate increase and listens to residents to craft a compromise
San Luis Obispo
If you want a lesson in good governance, look no further than Paso Robles.
Tuesday night, the Paso Robles City Council wasted no time in responding to citizen concerns about the steep water rate increases put in place to pay for the Nacimiento Water Project.
By a unanimous vote, the council canceled a huge increase in the flat fee, which eventually would have risen to $60 a month, from the current $12. Instead, the city will raise per-unit fees, so that customers who use a lot of water will pay substantially more than frugal users.
Worth noting: The City Council, when it first approved the $60 flat rate, promised to revisit the rate after the city sold bonds to finance the project. The bonds have been sold, and the council revised the rates. Promise made, promise kept.
The usage-based fee is a much more equitable system that gives customers more power over how much they pay. If their water bills are too high, ratepayers can look for ways to cut back on usage.
It is true that not everyone walked away satisfied; some residents would have preferred no increase at all.
However, we think this is a fair compromise: The city still raises revenue for the Nacimiento project, which assures Paso Robles residents a long-term water supply, but it doesn’t inflict astronomical rate increases on households that use only small amounts of water. #
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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