Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
November 26, 2007
1. Top Items
Southern California plans to buy farmers' water; RATES TO GO UP IN SHORTAGE - Associated Press
Southern
Water districts prepare for shortage; Valley agencies look for sources in case of continuing drought - Modesto Bee/Associated Press
Editorial: Securing water; The market to sell meets the market to buy -
Southern California plans to buy farmers' water; RATES TO GO UP IN SHORTAGE
Associated Press – 11/22/07
By Jacob Adelman, staff writer
LOS ANGELES -
The Metropolitan Water District would buy the water from
The purchase plan, which would increase rates for the agency's customers, is meant to shore up supply as the dry spell persists, Man said.
"We are interested in securing an insurance policy, so to speak," she said.
The MWD provides water to nearly 18 million people in
The rest comes from underground sources and other local supplies.
The agency could have trouble meeting its customers' needs because of low rainfall, diminished flows in regional rivers and a legal ruling that limits pumping in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta - a major water supply for the state - to protect an endangered smelt.
MWD board members on Tuesday authorized the agency to seek up to 200,000 acre-feet of water - roughly 65.2 billion gallons - of water from farmers in the state. The water sale is being brokered by the state Department of Water Resources, which will look to farmers to voluntarily offer parts of their water supply for sale, Man said.
It was unknown how many farmers would sign onto the deal and how much money they would ask for the portions of their supply, Man said. Water district officials also did not know how much water user rates would increase as a result of the purchase, she said.
Observers said the supply would most likely come from farmers to the north of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, where water is more abundant.
Farmers in the
The water shortage has forced some
The pumping limitations could also hinder efforts to move water to Southern California from the
"It creates a bottleneck at the delta on when you can move the water through it and how much you can get through," he said.
Even if the MWD secures the additional water from farmers, it may still have to ration water supplies among the local agencies that it serves if the shortages persist, agency officials said.
District directors will decide in coming months whether to impose the rations, along with limits on lawn watering and other outdoor water use, officials said.
MWD directors on Tuesday also approved an accord with
The state Water Resources Control Board still has to approve the accord, she said. #
http://www.mercurynews.com/localnewsheadlines/ci_7531574
Southern
Marysville Appeal Democrat – 11/25/07
By Andrea Koskey, staff writer
Southern California’s largest water supplier hopes the
Directors of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California want to enter into an agreement with the state to buy water the Yuba County Water Agency will make available through the Lower Yuba River Accord.
“We are already dipping into our reserves” in
Metropolitan’s directors said they are willing to buy between 13,750 acre-feet and 35,000 acre-feet in dry years in the next 18 years.
The estimated price is about $3.4 million annually. An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons.
Under a more extreme scenario of severe shortages, Metropolitan could buy as much as 140,000 acre-feet, spending $16.5 million, according to a report prepared by the district’s staff.
“The only water transfer deal we have is through the accord,” Curt Aikens, YCWA’s general manager, said of the Los Angeles-based district. “MWD is out looking for other sellers, in case of a dry year.”
The State Water Resources Control Board has scheduled hearings Dec. 5-6 on the accord. The YCWA will seek approval for a long-term transfer of up to 200,000 acre-feet per year through 2025.
During the first eight years of the accord, starting Jan. 1, 2008, the YCWA will transfer 60,000 acre-feet per year and will be paid $30.9 million, according to the agreement. Additional water may be made available, depending on conditions.
Aikens said if the accord is approved by the board, the YCWA will be able to sell water to the Department of Water Resources, which then has to decide how to sell the water to different agencies.
The Lower Yuba River Accord, an agreement among 17 entities, was created to protect and enhance salmon and steelhead habitat in the Yuba, as well as ensure water continues to be supplied to farmers, power generators and environmentalists. It also creates 24 miles of protected fish habitat.
This would be the third time since 2003 that Metropolitan has tapped the statewide water market to secure options.
In 2005, Metropolitan worked with the State Water Project Contractors Authority to secure one-year transfer options on 125,000 acre-feet of
The report prepared for Metropolitan directors noted that the YCWA approached Metropolitan, “other water contractors, DWR and the federal Bureau of Reclamation to discuss selling a portion of the water it would be required to release, plus additional water made available by reoperation of YCWA’s storage reservoirs and groundwater substitution.”
Wolcott said there are “far more steps in getting
YCWA Chairman Don Schrader acknowledged there are many hurdles to transfer water from the Yuba to
“Even if we did sell them this, how would they get it through the Sacramento Delta?” he said.
The YCWA would “need to have an extremely wet winter to supply them with 235,000 acre-feet,” Schrader said.
Metropolitan is a cooperative of 26 cities and water agencies serving 18 million people in six
In addition to the
http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/water_56936___article.html/metropolitan_acre.html
Water districts prepare for shortage; Valley agencies look for sources in case of continuing drought
Winter is fast approaching, carrying with it the hope of much-needed rain and snow.
But some
They're ready to buy water -- as much as possible, as soon as possible.
Earlier this month, the San Luis and Westlands water districts, on the west side of the
On Wednesday,
The south state's largest water wholesaler is trying to entice farmers to fallow their land and sell their irrigation allocations to the MET for more money than they could make selling their crops.
The actions of the three districts illustrates just how desperate the state's water picture has become.
Persistent droughtlike conditions have been exacerbated by a recent court order making it more difficult to move Northern California water to thirsty
While that may not mean much to northern
But if nothing changes -- meaning another 12 months without nearly enough rain or snow -- we all could be feeling the pinch by this time next year.
The die was cast in September, when U.S. District Court Judge Oliver Wanger ordered a reduction in delta pumping to protect the endangered delta smelt.
Those pumps are at the heart of the state's distribution system -- moving water through thousands of miles of canals and pipelines.
Delta water is delivered to an estimated 25 million Californians via the California Aqueduct and
Water bound for
Delta water also irrigates thousands of acres of farmland, including acreage along the water-starved west side of the
By next spring, the San Luis, Westlands and Del Puerto water districts anticipate drastic cutbacks in their water allocations.
Those cutbacks, should they materialize, would make life difficult for hundreds of farmers.
"I can see it in the faces of our growers," said Martin McIntyre, general manager of the San Luis Water District in Los Banos.
"Family legacies are at stake here. This makes for some pretty desperate times." So desperate, in fact, that McIntyre and Thomas W. Birmingham, his counterpart at the Fresno-based Westlands Water District, are stumping the Valley in search of supplemental water for their farmers.
In early November, they wrote to members of the San Joaquin Tributaries Association with the hope of making a water deal.
Bill Harrison, general manager of the Del Puerto Water District in western
"We're definitely in the same boat,"
Irrigation water can be hard to come by in the Del Puerto District -- especially in dry years. And the delta pumping cutback has made things worse.
"Normally, we'd look to the north state for [extra] water,"
Unlike the water-rich east, the Valley's west side doesn't benefit from a Sierra snow-fed system of rivers, creeks and reservoirs.
"We're desperate," McIntyre said, "to find additional water supplies to bridge this uncertainty." #
http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/222378.html
Editorial: Securing water; The market to sell meets the market to buy
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which supplies
The MWD finds its long reliance on the State Water Project in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta threatened. A court order to protect delta fish may well cut the MWD's supply from this source by 30 percent. Eight straight years of drought on the Colorado River also means there is no “surplus” river water for
Specifically, the MWD will purchase additional water from
The San Diego Count Water Authority is also pursuing water transfers as part of its drought management plan and its continuing efforts to diversify the region's water supply. It has greatly reduced reliance on the MWD, and will reduce it more.
The MWD and
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20071124/news_lz1ed24bottom.html
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