A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
November 28, 2007
2. Supply
At Lake Mendocino, lake bed grows as water level drops - Ukiah Daily Journal
WATER SUPPLY PLANNING:
PWD pays to reserve water - Antelope Valley Press
WATER BANKING:
AVEK plans to buy land for future water bank - Antelope Valley Press
WATER SUPPLY RELIABILITY:
District talks water storage, improving reliability of supply - Antelope Valley Press
BAY AREA WATER:
Palo Alto high and dry?; Like the rest of the state, Palo Alto and Bay Area face future crisis over how to manage water supply - Palo Alto Online News
PLANNING:
Column: Should we rely on Norcal or Poseidon? -
At
Ukiah Daily Journal – 11/28/07
By Ben Brown, staff writer
As
There has been countywide concern about the lake level since early summer when the Sonoma County Water Agency announced that, without conservation, water levels in
As of Monday, lake storage was at 29,982 acre-feet. The maximum capacity is 122,500 acre-feet.
"It's as low as I've ever seen it," said Nancy Weinhold, 55, of Willits, as she walked along the dry lake bed Tuesday.
From the north boat ramp it was possible to walk nearly 100 yards along the lake bottom before reaching water.
The dry lake bed was littered with stumps and logs, and buoys warning boaters of the "no wake zone" sat upright on the lake bed at the end of 25-foot chains that once kept them tethered to concrete anchors.
Both the lake's boat ramps are closed and access from the southern Jet Ski Beach has been closed. Army Corps of Engineers spokeswoman Maria Lee said access has been cut off for safety reasons.
Lee said the lake is still open to those who want to use kayaks, canoes and other boats small enough to carry out to the water. She said she advised against trying to drive out, noting one truck has already become stuck.
Mendocino County Water Agency General Manager Roland Sanford said there is concern across the county about the lake levels, especially in places like
Since summer, most water agencies in
"Conservation will be an ongoing practice," he said.
Lower than normal winter rainfall and a decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reduce the flow of water through the Potter Valley Project have been blamed for the low water levels.
The Potter Valley Project diverts water from the
"Neither of those options are likely," he said.
Rain is not forecast for the near future, but
http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/ci_7580186
WATER SUPPLY PLANNING:
PWD pays to reserve water
By Alisha Semchuck, staff writer
PALMDALE - Directors of the Palmdale Water District don't want to run dry in 2008, so they approved an initial $150,000 payment for the option to obtain supplemental water in the coming year to meet customer demands.
Board members acted in response to a report from Jon Pernula, district water and energy resources director, which recommended that the district utilize the State Water Project Contractors Authority Dry Year Water Transfer Agreement. The initial payment enables the district to reserve 10,000 acre-feet of dry year supplemental water. Each acre-foot equals 325,851 gallons, the amount used in a single-family home in a year, or as water resources manager Claudette Roberts described it, a football field of water, one foot deep.
In his report, Pernula cited "persistent inadequate rainfall and recent judicial actions, which have effectively reduced pumping capacity" in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta as the cause of
Rain didn't fall in the normally wet months from January through March 2007. Even the water content of snow packs in the northern Sierras fell short of average years, based on monthly tracking reports. That made spring runoff from the mountains to the streams and rivers minimal.
Compounding that, as Pernula pointed out, an Alameda County Superior Court judge and U.S. District Court Judge Oliver Wanger ordered a shutdown, or at least slowdown, of the delta pumps - the system that sends water down the 444-mile California Aqueduct, one source of surface water for PWD. The judges acted on behalf of an indigenous species of fish, the delta smelt, whose population was declining in part because of being sucked into the pumps and killed.
As a State Water Contractor, PWD is entitled to pull as much as 21,300 acre-feet from the aqueduct in a year when water supplies are plentiful and contractors receive 100% of their entitlement from the Department of Water Resources. In 2007, DWR cut back that allotment significantly, and if 2008 turns out to be another dry year as weather forecasters project, water allocations from the aqueduct will be reduced even more drastically, local suppliers like PWD and the Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency, a wholesaler to municipal and agricultural users, agree.
"District staff has analyzed the impact of potential resource shortages in our supply-demand ratio," Pernula said, "and has determined the need to participate in available water transfer option agreements for purchase of supplemental water to meet our projected needs in 2008."
The 2008 transfer program, initiated by the State Water Project Contractors Authority, seeks to obtain water from rice farmers in
The initial option payment costs $15 per acre-foot, with $5 covering administrative costs. The remaining $10 will be placed in a trust fund intended for payments to those farmers. However, the actual cost of that water is estimated at $160 an acre-foot, minus the $10 advance payment.
"There are several bailout points in the agreement," Pernula said, "which allow the district to decline exercising the water transfer options in the unlikely event that 2008 surprises us with an overly abundant water yield."
The contractual agreement stipulates that the actual "amount of water available for purchase by the buyers will not be known until the … agreements are executed."
Furthermore, the agreement points out that the water purchased "will be subject to normal carriage water losses and the water actually delivered by the Department of Water Resources could be reduced based on regulatory or judicially imposed restrictions on the DWR ability to operate the export pumps."
In other words, there exists some slight risk that the rice farmers water can't be delivered through the delta. Either way, the farmers still need to get paid for not growing their rice, as AVEK General Manager Russ Fuller had explained in a presentation to that agency's board.
Despite the uncertainties, Pernula stated in his report, the transfer program provides PWD with a "much needed increment of insurance to help meet projected demands in the event that the 2008 season turns out to be as extensively dry as predicted."
PWD General Manager Dennis LaMoreaux said the State Water Contractors Association is "working with DWR to move that water through (the delta) as a high priority. It's just a matter of timing, when they can move it. It hasn't been determined yet how the operation will work with Judge Wanger's decision."
LaMoreaux said those details are "being worked out by state and federal agencies" and will be brought before Wanger to finalize.
Like Fuller, LaMoreaux explained that the program was initiated as a backup water source.
It was put together for years "anticipated to be dry," LaMoreaux said. In the past few years, it has been a program arranged by the State Water Contractors Association. "Prior to that, it was done by DWR."
LaMoreaux explained that this water is separate from the normal Table A allotment - the amount that DWR allocates to State Water Contractors each year. Also, he added, "this isn't carryover water," an excess of allocated water that contractors couldn't use in a given year and are allowed to take in the first three months of the following year. #
http://www.avpress.com/n/26/1126_s4.hts
WATER BANKING:
AVEK plans to buy land for future water bank
By Alisha Semchuck, staff writer
PALMDALE - Will the Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency land a fruitful property deal?
Five of the agency's board members believe plans to proceed with the purchase of 1,455 acres in Lancaster at a cost of $7.2 million will prove beneficial for a future water banking project, while the land continues to produce crops. But a couple of their colleagues on the AVEK board expressed disapproval of the plan to enter into an escrow agreement.
Though director Frank Donato abstained from voting one way or another on the motion to move ahead with the purchase plans at the Nov. 13 AVEK board meeting, he opposed a property lease incorporated as part of the sales agreement - a deal that allows longtime Lancaster rancher Forrest Godde to lease the site - from Avenue A south to Avenue D, between 130th and 160th streets west - for $100 a year for the next two years.
AVEK director Keith Dyas voted against the land deal, concurring with Donato and also asking why AVEK hadn't sufficiently investigated the property before proceeding with plans to buy the land - conducting tests to ensure that the site would prove viable for a water bank.
Board president Andy Rutledge, vice president Neal Weisenberger and director
During follow-up phone interviews, Lane, Weisenberger and Rutledge explained why they considered the land purchase a prudent decision.
"We were looking for some property in
Weisenberger pointed out that AVEK would be picking up that property at a reasonable price.
"It's under the appraised value," he said. The land was appraised at $7,000 per acre. AVEK is paying $5,000 per acre - a price that saves the agency slightly more than $2.9 million.
"To me, AVEK struck a really good deal," Lane said.
"If (the seller) charged the going market rate, then the lease price would have increased," Weisenberger said. "So it's either pay me now or pay me later.
"AVEK would like farming to continue so we (have) dust control and security, with somebody out there," Weisenberger said.
Rutledge said he didn't want to comment too much until after the deal is signed, sealed and delivered. "At this time, I don't think it would be in our best interest to comment," he said.
However, he echoed Weisenberger's comments regarding maintenance of the site.
Based on the lease agreement, the seller will "keep the land clean, take care of the land (and) act as an overseer," Rutledge said. Because it will take AVEK about two years to implement the water banking recharge program, at least the property won't sit vacant, he said.
"There is a big value to that," Rutledge said. "I know. I've been a farmer. I was raised on a ranch in
"That contract is good for our agency," Rutledge said. "Otherwise, no way would I approve it."
Concerns have been raised regarding AVEK's failure to go through the California Environmental Quality Act before negotiating a deal. The act is meant to identify and mitigate any negative environmental impacts of a project. "We did the same thing with the Calandri property," Weisenberger said, referring to roughly 1,500 acres west of Rosamond that AVEK recently purchased from onion and carrot farmer John Calandri, also for a water bank.
"We're not required to do CEQA in order to purchase property," Weisenberger said. "We're required to do CEQA in order to do a project."
The process takes time. On the Calandri land it could take close to a year, Weisenberger said. After that, "it might be challenged in court," he said. "That could be another three or four years. Is that fair to the owner of the land who wants to sell it?"
Rutledge looked at the situation from a Valleywide stance, he said, taking into consideration the need for water banking to ensure a reliable water supply under emergency circumstances, such as a sustained drought or a natural disaster.
He said water banks have long been needed in the Valley. As a wholesaler, AVEK supplies water to municipal customers, including Los Angeles County Waterworks District 40 and Quartz Hill Water District, as well as to agricultural users.
"We've got a big responsibility," Rutledge said. "We have to help all the areas in the Valley." He said AVEK furnishes water to communities ranging from Acton and Pearblossom to Rosamond, Edwards Air Force Base,
Lane said he looked at the property purchase as a way of maintaining a historical footprint in the Valley. "The families that are selling that (property) want to see something that benefits the Valley and remains rural use," said Lane, himself descended from a pioneer family. "My grandfather came here in 1908" and raised wheat and alfalfa, Lane said. The owners of the proposed
"There's something about families that worked the land," Lane said. "They have a passion for the land." #
http://www.avpress.com/n/20/1120_s10.hts
WATER SUPPLY RELIABILITY:
District talks water storage, improving reliability of supply
By Alisha Semchuck, staff writer
PALMDALE - Right now, Palmdale Water District can meet its average annual customer demands, relying on existing water sources.
That's the information district Water and Energy Resources Director Jon Pernula provided Monday at a meeting of the agency's Water Supply and Reliability Committee.
However, he said, conditions in a single dry year or multiple dry years might "require additional water resources" for the water district to meet customer demand.
District staff is evaluating a variety of options that would enable the agency to store surplus surface water made available through the State Water Project - the California Aqueduct - in average or wet years, Pernula said.
In fact, Pernula pointed out, the district likely could purchase additional surface water in wet years after groundwater storage has been secured through a contractual agreement involving public/private storage projects.
He presented committee members and the district's administrative staff with a list of existing groundwater banks and planned banking projects the district staff is evaluating for storage potential - places they can deposit excess water for use in dry years.
Some of the potential projects Pernula identified include Semitropic Water Storage District in Wasco; Semitropic/Rosamond Water Bank Authority, west of Rosamond; North Kern Water Storage District, in the San Joaquin portion of Kern County; Arvin-Edison Water Storage District, in Arvin; West Kern Water District; Kern Water Bank Authority; the Tejon Ranch project; Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency's proposed groundwater recharge project; and the Upper Amargosa Creek project being developed by Palmdale.
At this point, the Semitropic/Rosamond Water Bank Authority. Tejon Ranch, AVEK and Upper Amargosa Creek "aren't fully up and running," said Dennis LaMoreaux, the district's general manager. In fact, Upper Amargosa Creek is "just in the formation stages," he said.
Other projects that Pernula listed "may be doing some recharge, but (water) recovery hasn't been worked through," said Curtis Paxton, the district's assistant general manager.
Those are some of the factors being weighed in the decision-making process, Pernula said. District staff is considering how much actual storage space would be available and when that space will become available. They also are looking at how many acre-feet of water can be used for recharge each year and how much can be recovered - drawn out of the bank - in low water years. District staff is also comparing the costs to share a unit of storage in each of the water banks, how many shares are available, the cost-benefit ratio and other charges, like maintenance fees.
"We're looking for any available opportunities in the
"How far along are we?" asked Gordon Dexter, chairman of the Water Reliability Committee. #
http://avpress.com/n/21/1121_s11.hts
BAY AREA WATER:
Palo Alto high and dry?; Like the rest of the state,
By Sue Dremann,
The water bubbles up at the
On Oct. 28, 1934, the mountain waters roaring through the pipeline from Hetch Hetchy was a watershed event. Bay Area residents voiced a sense of security. There would never be another disaster such as the 1906
The water is abundant and clean, and 40 years later, it helped build a technological revolution in
This fragile artery supplies water to one-third of the Bay Area's population -- nearly 2.5 million Bay Area residents. But officials at every level of government are worried about future water supplies. Earthquakes, competing demands, such as population growth, and potentially decreasing supply will put increasing pressure on the state's water system.
It's not so much a problem of a lack of available water, officials said -- although no one is sure how global warming will play out in the coming decades. Instead, a race is on to create the infrastructure to conserve, store and move it.
The question many are asking is: Can we get there in time?
On shaky ground
Until the 1960s, most Bay Area communities depended on ground water, according to Stanford University Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering David L. Freyberg. Switching to Hetch Hetchy was a boon to Bay Area communities.
The water was plentiful and is considered among the cleanest on the planet. Its infrastructure was already paid for.
But today the system is decrepit -- more than 70 years old. The pipeline bringing water to the Bay Area crosses three earthquake faults. A big quake would knock portions of the system off line, water officials said.
A systemwide seismic retrofit is now in the works. But it won't be completed until at least December 2014, according to Michael Carlin, assistant general manager for water at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), which is rebuilding the system.
In the interim, the Bay Area remains vulnerable in the event of a disaster, public officials said. If a breakdown in the water supply were to occur, a fire like the one in 1906 after an earthquake could happen. And a cholera outbreak is a real possibility if water rationing were to kick in, at which point 2.4 million people wouldn't have water to flush toilets, Palo Alto City Councilmember Bern Beecham said.
Water rationing could also be disastrous for the Bay Area economy. Businesses that rely on water for manufacturing could be forced to close their doors, throwing many out of work.
"HP and the big-pocket companies will be OK, but the small businesses without global facilities to shift the load off to can't ever come back. It will be like
The City of
Dwindling water, either from increased demand or drought, concerns Stanford University Utilities Director Michael Goff.
Stanford has a three-day supply of potable water stored in two reservoirs. Five wells on campus and two lakes -- Felt and Searsville -- provide water for irrigation. But beyond emergency supplies, when it comes down to having enough potable water in an extended disaster, Goff said Stanford is tapped out.
The university's contingency plan might require some painful restrictions, such as curtailing academic research, he said.
"Those are real concerns. In a worst-case scenario, with a drought, we can't conserve much more," he added.
The coming decades
In the whole scheme of things, emergency supplies and even Hetch Hetchy itself will be a drop in the bucket, some officials said. Bigger questions loom about long-term water use, according to Palo Alto City Councilmember Larry Klein,
"There's a bad-looking trend, looking forward. We won't have enough water storage available. It's a major concern for
Snowpacks in the Sierras act like a natural reservoir by slowly releasing water as they melt, SFPUC's Carlin said. But models of global warming show less snow; and higher temperatures and more rain will cause melting earlier in the season. With nowhere to store the rapid runoff, the water will be lost, causing lower supplies in the summer months when the water is needed most, he said.
Eighty years of record keeping isn't enough to understand the Sierra snowfall patterns over geologic time, according to Beecham. No one knows what effect the changing climate will have on Sierra water over the long term, but experts said Sierra water will be increasingly unreliable. A 2006 California Department of Water Resources report estimates that global climate change could reduce the Sierra snowpack by 5 percent by 2030 and up to 33 percent by 2060.
At a Nov. 15 meeting of BAWSCA board members in
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposes a comprehensive water-infrastructure expansion, including building two new reservoirs.
Sen. Joe Simitian is sponsoring a state bill to build a variation on the
"They're talking about it. But we're talking huge money," Councilmember Klein said of the estimated $9 billion project.
In the coming decades, public officials and residents may be forced to make hard choices. The cost of goods will rise, including the food supply, and some water-dependent crops such as rice could be in short supply, according to agricultural reports.
The suburban landscape as known today may become extinct, replaced by native plants. Bay Area residents would do well to look toward the landscaping examples in
Beecham wondered if water costs could ignite a class war. Questions will arise as to whether wealthy individuals will have rights to more water for landscaping and swimming pools because they can afford it, or if shortage will bring a more egalitarian approach, where everyone will be forced to conserve equally, he said.
"Have" and "have not" cities could also be pitted against each other.
A high-stakes game
A drama with long-term consequences could play out in the next year.
BAWSCA represents 27 agencies, including
The City of
Stanford is planning an expansion requiring an additional 1.5 million gallons beyond 2030, Goff said.
As other cities grow, they may begin eyeing
Although Stanford officials did not say they would seek any of
"
Currently, there is no penalty for having excess unused water, but if BAWSCA members are forced to pay for allocations they aren't using, there could be incentive to voluntarily reduce those allotments, city officials said. Some cities might trade or potentially sell their excess, depending on how the new contract is structured, said Beecham, who was instrumental in forming BAWSCA.
BAWSCA has done a credible job for all 27 stakeholders in its negotiations with
"There are concerns that we all need to work together. If we don't, we'll kill each other," Beecham said.
Conservation methods in the works
Regional collaboration and water-infrastructure upgrades aren't the only ways municipalities can plan ahead for a water shortage, officials note.
According to Palo Alto City Councilmember Peter Drekmeier, who is also program director for the Tuolumne River Trust, creative conservation solutions could help resolve disputes and stave off environmental disaster.
"We're arguing that there is tremendous potential for conservation and retention and recycling," he said. He pointed to
"Irrigation is the perfect use for recycled water," Drekmeier said.
Additional plans are in the works to expand the use of reclaimed water for business use.
Palo Altans pride themselves in being on the forefront of environmental sensitivity, but when it comes to water, they have one of the area's largest aquatic footprints, according to Beecham.
On a larger scale, agricultural conservation efforts have also proven successful, such as those developed on a larger scale in southern California, BAWSCA's Chief Executive Officer, Arthur R. Jensen wrote to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission on Oct. 18.
Other ideas are on the table both countywide and statewide, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Assistant General Manager for Water Michael Carlin said. Creating a superhighway of emergency interties that allow water to be shifted from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, agriculture-to-urban transfers, banking water in the
While cities may look first to the groundwater that once served as their primary water source until the 1960s, it is limited. Drawing it down too far or too fast will create the same problems that contributed to its abandonment -- land subsidence and salt-water intrusion, Santa Clara Valley Water District Water Supply Manager Keith Whitman said.
Land subsidence occurs when water pumped out of the ground causes the land above it to permanently sink. Salt-water intrusion occurs when the layer of fresh water is either depleted or sucked down too fast and an adjacent layer of salt water is drawn into the fresh-water layer.
Every scenario designed to solve the water problem will have its trade-offs, whether economic, social or environmental, officials agreed.
For Beecham, desalination plants exemplify the struggle at hand.
"I hate 'em. They are highly energy intensive. They use a lot of pressure and energy ... to push water through a membrane," he said.
That creates an additional dilemma "as we look at our carbon footprint," he added. #
http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=6485
PLANNING:
Column: Should we rely on Norcal or Poseidon?
Orange
By Bill Borden
What do the delta smelt and Poseidon Resources have in common? Actually, one is the source of a monumental problem for
Currently, more than 50 percent of
This is where the delta smelt comes in. Some overly zealous protectors of little fishies have arrived at the conclusion that the 4-inch delta darling is somehow endangered.
Consequently, we are under an order to reduce our delta usage by 30 percent.
Now, it is not that I don't like the delta smelt; in fact, they are quite tasty on party rye after sauteing in lemon butter. But the might-as-well-be-separate state of Northern California seems to take great delight in making things difficult for us here in Southern California – the state that pays the overwhelming portion of taxes collected in both.
Something smells funny to me about the whole fishy deal, but we're going to have to live with it. We have an extremely delicate water supply and delivery system, and it is not going to get any better until we have more complete control over it.
Close to home in
What can we do about our dependence upon the People's Republic of Northern
Poseidon Resources, a worldwide company in the business of water reclamation and desalination, appears to have the best plan so far. Very recently, it was granted a development permit by the California Coastal Commission to construct a desalination plant in
Here in
Poseidon will not take water directly from the ocean. It will use the water discharged by the power plant, desalinate it and deliver the drinkable water to cities in
It is anticipated that the Huntington Beach Poseidon plan will go to the state Coastal Commission in January or February for approval. You can be sure that the anti-everythings will have a big bus full of enthusiastic protestors with more smelt stories for the commission whenever and wherever the hearing takes place.
Perhaps, unlike the pseudo-science that seems to permeate hearings and the subsequent legal gymnastics that are typical in the other state, reason and good sense will prevail here in Southern California and
http://www.ocregister.com/news/water-california-delta-1927606-supply-poseidon
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