Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
December 19, 2007
5. Agencies, Programs, People
NATOMAS LEVEES:
Focus on Natomas basin levee work - Sacramento Bee
FUNDING ISSUES:
County puts flood funds toward MST; Supervisors invest in regional water lobbying effort - Napa Valley Register
LONG-TERM WATER SOLUTIONS:
State experts discuss long-term water solutions - Yreka’s Siskiyou Daily News
NATOMAS LEVEES:
Focus on Natomas basin levee work
By Matt Weiser, staff writer
The board will consider only the work on the
The Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency hopes to start construction next summer on the canal, as well as on the northern five miles of
SAFCA approved the projects last month as the first phase. It also approved an environmental impact report for the entire $400 million Natomas project, which involves raising or widening nearly 25 miles of levees protecting 70,000 people.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also must approve the construction and is drafting its own environmental study.
Comments are being accepted on that study through Jan. 18. They should be sent to Elizabeth Holland, U.S. Army Corps, 1325 J St., Sacramento, 95814; or e-mail Elizabeth.G.Holland@usace. army.mil.
An informational meeting on the report is set for 4 to 7 p.m. Jan. 9 at
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/577985.html
FUNDING ISSUES:
County puts flood funds toward MST; Supervisors invest in regional water lobbying effort
By David Ryan, staff writer
Lobbying efforts cost money, and the Napa County Board of Supervisors is preparing to pay the piper to lobby for a potentially expensive water project in east
Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to pay $250,000 for the county’s membership in a regional organization that might bring federal and state money to a what could be a multi-million dollar project to build a recycled water pipeline to the Coombsville area.
Property owners in the area known as Miliken-Sarco-Tulocay area — or MST — for the creeks that run through it, face depleted aquifers and many claim that their wells no longer deliver. Not all property owners in the area have drying wells, though, adding complexity to the political solution the Board of Supervisors has to concoct.
In October, angry property owners fed up with county delays urged the Board to act as fast as possible to fix a situation more than a decade in the making — but they also asked the board to make sure the project didn’t cost too much money.
County officials have considered an assessment on MST property owners to pay for the project, but are uncertain about whether the residents will support it.
Taking the pulse
As a result, the board also ordered county staff to partner with the Napa Sanitation District — the agency that would supply the recycled water — to perform a professional survey of the landowners in the MST area.
Property tax assessment democracy is a strange cousin to its more direct one-person-one-vote system that elects candidates. In the case of an assessment, the larger the landowner the bigger the vote, because it’s assumed the larger landowners get the most benefit and pay the highest price for improvements that property tax assessments bring.
The Board of Supervisors voted to put plans in motion to take $250,000 in Measure A flood money in coming months to enter into a partnership with Napa Sanitation District and regional group of agencies from
Yet the Board of Supervisors was also concerned that MST taxpayers not be entirely saddled with the cost to the county, should it decide to go forward. Supervisor Bill Dodd urged the rest of the board to negotiate with Napa Sanitation District to see if it would consider the benefits to its customers of having recycled water pumped to the MST area.
Napa Sanitation District has come under increasing pressure from water regulators to limit the amount of recycled water it dumps into the
Supervisors Mark Luce, who sat on the board of directors for the Napa Sanitation District in years past, said his understanding is that NSD leaders feel the agency will be in compliance with federal regulators for years to come. Luce also said he felt Napa Sanitation District would build a pipeline if it could find a financing partner, but perhaps not at the expense of the district.
“I think its an open question of how they’re going to spend ratepayer’s money,” he said.
In the end, the Board of Supervisors voted to send Supervisors Harold Moskowite and Dodd, to negotiate with the Napa Sanitation District. Dodd and Moskowite’s districts include parts of the MST area. #
http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2007/12/19/news/local/doc4768c86354ac7211304222.txt
LONG-TERM WATER SOLUTIONS:
State experts discuss long-term water solutions
Yreka’s Siskiyou Daily News – 12/18/07
By Dave Kranz, CFBF Manager of Media Services
With many
Water leaders who participated in the discussion predicted years of difficulty, particularly for agricultural water users, as
’There’s a rough patch ahead for
A federal judge’s decision will commit more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to benefit protected fish leaves water agencies south of the delta scouting for alternative supplies, Quinn said.
’With what’s happening in the delta, the Metropolitan Water District and big ag districts in the Central Valley are going to be getting their checkbooks out and putting the price of water up,’ he said. ’I think we’re going to go through a fairly tough time for everybody, but especially for agricultural water users.’
A representative of one of those agricultural water users, Jason Peltier of the Fresno-based Westlands Water District, said the court ruling could lead to a 70-percent reduction in water supplies in Westlands and in ’a bunch of other districts.’
’Hopefully, it won’t be that bad but certainly, that’s what some of the modeling is showing,’ he said.
And that’s just for one year in what could be a lengthy wait for a long-term solution for moving water through or around the delta.
’How do we deal with the eight, 10 or 15 years it takes to get a canal built so we can effectively separate our water from the fish?’ Peltier asked. ’It’s a frightening prospect looking at that gap.’
The prospect of a canal to carry water around the delta worries landowners and water users there. Tom Zuckerman, former co-counsel of the Central Delta Water Agency, said construction of a water conveyance in the delta ’doesn’t solve problems, it just moves them.’
’Until we begin to address the severe imbalance between supplies of water and demands for water, building a conveyance that enables us to transfer the deficit from one area of the state to another doesn’t really address our problems,’ Zuckerman said.
But Quinn said water conveyance lies at the heart of the state’s water problems, and that ACWA will seek solutions to solve ’that controversial, difficult conveyance problem and still make sure all the boats are rising with the tide around the state of California.’
Northern California Water Association Executive Director Ryan Broddrick said he worries that discussions about water supply reliability have not focused on what’s needed to sustain long-term food and fiber production in the
’There’s been a lot of discussion about what is needed for urban supplies and a lot of discussion about opportunities for conservation,’ he said. ’But there has not been a discussion about the future of agriculture in the
Westlands’ Peltier said agricultural representatives in water negotiations must constantly deal with the myths that farmers use water inefficiently and that agriculture represents a low-value use of water. At one recent meeting, he said, he tried to change people’s perceptions.
’I asked people to think about an acre,’ Peltier said. ’You can play a football game on an acre of grass and it’s pretty to look at, but what can a farmer do with an acre? A farmer can grow 12,000 heads of lettuce. That’s 48,000 servings. A farmer can grow 100,000 pounds of tomatoes. A farmer can grow 2,000 pounds of almonds and if you’re good and eat a can a week, that one acre can feed you for 150 years.’
Richard Roos-Collins, director of legal services for the Natural Heritage Institute, said that sort of understanding among all the different interests involved in negotiating about
’The water-supply system we have today was built at a time when Californians could do business together,’ he said.
’We need to go back to that, or go forward to it, and find a way to do business together that protects our respective interests but nonetheless allows us to put aside differences that can be put aside, so we can get on with the business of the state.’ #
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