Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
October 18, 2007
5. Agencies, Programs, People
DELTA ISSUES:
Column: Time to focus on the delta; Voters shouldn't face conflicting water proposals -
DISASTER DRILL
Local agencies preparing with drill for disasters - Highland Community News (
DELTA ISSUES:
Column: Time to focus on the delta; Voters shouldn't face conflicting water proposals
By John Krist, columnist
As long as clean water comes out when they turn the tap, most people prefer not to think about where it comes from or how. Or at least that's the general consensus among those who are paid to think about such things full time.
But every couple years, Californians prove they do think about their water supply. Perhaps not often, and probably not very deeply. But they understand that it's important, and they're willing to spend a lot of money on it. Proof is provided by election results over the past 11 years, during which voters have approved more than $20 billion in water-related bond measures.
It probably didn't hurt that most of the bonds included money for things that had nothing to do with water — effective campaign strategy, if dubious public policy. Proposition 204 in 1996, probably the most straightforward of the bunch, funded parkway acquisition and habitat protection as well as water recycling and flood projects. Propositions 12 and 13 in 2000 combined money for urban recreation centers, wildlife habitat, flood control, pollution prevention and water conservation. Propositions 40 and 50 in 2002 included money for parks and farmland preservation, as well as funding to restore the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and help small water agencies build treatment plants.
Last November, voters approved Proposition 1E, a $4.1 billion bond measure that included money for delta levee repairs, and Proposition 84, a $5.4 billion bond measure that funded various water projects as well as parks, recreation and other unrelated programs.
But asking voters to spend money for specific water projects is one thing. Asking them to settle complex policy debates by choosing among competing ballot measures is quite another. Unhappily, that's what is likely to happen in 2008, a consequence of this year's legislative meltdown in
Despite persistent goading by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, lawmakers seem deadlocked over conflicting proposals to upgrade the state's aging and increasingly unstable water system. Proponents of those competing plans promise to take them directly to voters if a compromise cannot be reached in the next few weeks.
This time, however, there's more than just money on the table. Without a compromise, the plans most likely to end up on a ballot in 2008 represent fundamentally different approaches to water supply availability and reliability.
One, proposed by Senate Democrats, focuses on the pursuit of multiple paths: delta levee and ecosystem repairs, groundwater protection, improved operation of existing dams and aqueducts, conservation and other efficiency improvements. The other approach, championed by Senate Republicans, largely mirrors Schwarzenegger's own proposal and allocates money mostly to build or enlarge dams.
Neither of these approaches represents an optimal course or reflects the true priority of issues facing
The delta matters to California for many reasons, principal among them its role as a linchpin in two water-supply systems: the State Water Project, which pumps water from the delta and sends it on its way to more than 20 million urban users in the Bay Area and Southern California, and the Central Valley Project, which also pumps water from the delta and delivers it by canal to irrigate about 7 million acres of Central Valley farmland.
And the delta is at risk. Salt and pollutants threaten water quality, and the profound alteration of the delta ecosystem has spelled disaster for native species — leading to a recent court-ordered reduction in pumping that has the potential to profoundly disrupt supplies to much of the state. Most of the delta is below sea level and sinking, at the same time that sea level is rising. The 1,100-mile network of earthen levees protecting farms, pumping plants and other critical systems is poorly built and at high risk of failure.
So forget about dams; it's premature to consider placing more water in upstream storage when that water will have to travel through the same dysfunctional delta before anyone can use it.
Save the dam debate for a day when the delta's been stabilized, reservoir feasibility studies have been completed, and planners understand more about how climate change is going to alter precipitation and streamflow patterns — factors that may tip the balance decisively in favor of alternative reservoir sites or even toward underground rather than surface storage.
Focus on the delta. Right now, everything else is a distraction. #
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007/oct/18/time-to-focus-on-the-delta/
DISASTER DRILL
Local agencies preparing with drill for disasters
Highland Community News (
By Paula Kasprzyk, staff writer
There were no lights from fire trucks, sirens from ambulances, or dummies on stretchers as one might have expected last week at the annual exercises of the Emergency Response Network of the Inland Empire (ERNIE).
This meeting was a table top exercise in which discussion was the most important tool and the participants were armed with notebooks.
The California Governors Office of Emergency Services, California Department of Public Health, Drinking Water Field Operations Branch and ERNIE held the local multi-jurisdictional tabletop exercise at the
ERNIE encourages local agencies to keep mutual agreements that allow for the sharing of resources in the event of any disaster. ERNIE also works with each agency to make sure they are compliant with state and federal mandates so they can get funding from the federal government in the case of a major disaster.
In order to comply with the National Incidental Management System (NIMS), agencies must conduct yearly exercises of their Emergency Operations Plans.
At the annual table top exercise on Oct. 10-11, some of the local jurisdictional agencies working with mutual aid agreements conducted exercises to test their mutual aid agreements and communication systems, working on the design of the table top on day one and conducting the mock disaster operation, an earthquake, on day two.
Gary Sturdivan, Safety and Regulatory Affairs Coordinator of the East Valley Water District, one of the event sponsors, highlighted the importance of communication between cities, counties and local agencies. He said, “here, with the mock emergency operations center, we are able to see how they handle the emergency and if they follow the guidelines.”
The exercise was designed to develop communication plans; emergency operation plans, and fosters working relationships between agencies before an emergency happens. The two-day program provides multiple agencies the opportunity to work together, exchanging information on resources, capabilities and opening lines of communication prior to a real emergency.
One of the participants, Sgt. Dave Phelps of the Highland Police Department said, “all of this training will be beneficial for the city of
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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