[Water_news] 5. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: AGENCIES, PROGRAMS, PEOPLE - 12/31/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

December 31, 2007

 

5. Agencies, Programs, People

 

WATER PANEL:

Madera supervisors hot over idea to toss out water panel - Fresno Bee

 

AMERICAN RIVER KAYAKING:

Kayakers running restored channel; Delay in opening access entrance raising concerns - Auburn Journal

 

David Kennedy, state's longtime water resources chief, dies at 71 - San Francisco Chronicle

 

 

WATER PANEL:

Madera supervisors hot over idea to toss out water panel

Fresno Bee – 12/28/07

By Charles McCarthy, staff writer

 

MADERA -- The Madera County grand jury's final report of the year has touched off a fierce debate by calling for every member of a newly appointed county water commission to be tossed out of office.

 

They're all unqualified, the grand jury says.

 

The charge has outraged the Board of Supervisors, which has drafted a response lambasting the grand jury for arriving at its conclusions without even talking to the commission members it wants ousted.

 

"They rushed it," said Supervisor Tom Wheeler. "They did this in three weeks. They didn't talk to any board members."

 

But the grand jury is standing firm, saying that the four members of the Water Advisory Commission simply don't have the backgrounds they need to advise supervisors on water issues.

 

Three have real estate backgrounds, and one is a dairy farmer.

 

"We stand behind our report," grand jury forewoman Linda R. Dominguez said.

 

"We have the power to investigate and report. We've done our job."

 

The grand jury also wants the board to create a search committee to recruit "fully qualified" appointees.

 

Caught in the middle are the four commission members: Edgar De Jager of Chowchilla, a dairy farmer; Steve Sagouspe and Edward J. McIntyre of Madera, both real estate brokers; and John Reed of Oakhurst, a commercial property developer.

 

McIntyre said that in his view, he and the other commission members are qualified. Supervisors voted this year to form the commission to "discuss and recommend water policies." The commission functions as an advisory panel only. It does not make county policy.

 

"In the real estate business, you deal with water in every transaction," said McIntyre, who has been working in Madera County since 1978. "We have a responsibility for future generations."

 

In a response to the grand jury report prepared for Madera County Presiding Judge John W. DeGroot, the Board of Supervisors said it will keep all four commissioners because each is qualified.

 

The board's five-page response was prepared for the signature of Supervisor Ronn Dominici, who is due to rotate into the board chairmanship Jan. 8.

 

The board is expected to formally approve its response then.

 

Heated debate over water issues is nothing new in Madera County.

 

For years, an underground water-storage bank has been discussed as a possible way to meet the county's growing water needs.

 

In 1999, supervisors created a Water Oversight Committee as plans were being discussed for such a bank at Madera Ranch, almost 14,000 acres of grasslands southwest of Madera. Some feared that the water would be sold to buyers outside the county.

 

Committee members were selected because of their association with organizations like the Madera Irrigation District or because of their scientific and practical knowledge of water issues.

 

The irrigation district has since taken over the Madera Ranch project after the failure of its previous developer, Azurix, the international water spinoff of Texas-based Enron.

 

In August, supervisors dismissed the 14 members of the Water Oversight Committee and created the Water Advisory Commission.

 

Wheeler said supervisors believed the committee was "unwieldy" because it was so large.

 

The new panel was expected to include one appointee for each of the five county supervisors, but District 1 Supervisor Frank Bigelow -- who voted against forming the new committee -- hasn't appointed anyone.

 

Denis Prosperi, a Madera farmer, was invited to join the commission by outgoing board chairman Vern Moss, but Prosperi declined.

 

Prosperi said that he disagreed with the dumping of the oversight committee, which he said was set up so it wouldn't be political, and the installation of a new group of "political" appointees.

 

Supervisors "didn't like the concept of hearing things they didn't want to hear, so they just killed off the whole committee," Prosperi said.

 

The original committee was "much more qualified" and told the county "the unvarnished truth" about water issues, Prosperi said.  #

http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/290598.html

 

 

AMERICAN RIVER KAYAKING:

Kayakers running restored channel; Delay in opening access entrance raising concerns

Auburn Journal – 12/30/07

By Gus Thomson, staff writer

 

A river again runs through the American River canyon adjacent to Auburn and a group of kayakers plans a symbolic run along the newly restored channel New Year's Day.

Tuesday's run will start at the American River confluence and end at Rattlesnake Bar boat launch, eight miles to the south.

The first water started flowing through the restored American River channel last September after a 33-year period when it was rechannelled through a half-mile-long diversion tunnel. The tunnel, built as part of the long-delayed Auburn dam project, was closed at both ends to allow the river to flow freely again.

Recreational river users have been discouraged from using the stretch of river through the construction site since then, until work on the Placer County Water Agency's permanent pumping station project is completed.

 

Guy Cables, an organizer of Tuesday's river run, said it will serve to highlight the new recreational resource available near Auburn and also the frustration many are feeling with what appears to be lack of access from the Maidu Drive entrance in Auburn.

"They're now saying they're not opening it up until the spring and only on weekends - which is crazy," Cables said. "This is going to be a big draw yet they're gating the whole thing up."

As part of the $75 million river restoration and pump station project, an access road off Auburn's Maidu Drive leads to two take-out points on the river. But indications are the road and parking lot won't open until the spring and then, only on a limited basis.

When plans for the project were being finalized five years ago by the water agency and bureau, pressure from nearby residents led to a decision to limit vehicle access off Maidu Drive to times when the entrance is manned.

With the Maidu Drive entrance gate closed, people who choose to take their boats out face a three-mile uphill walk from the Oregon Bar and newly named China Bar takeout points. The other option is to continue downstream to Rattlesnake Bar, for pickup there.

 

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation owns the site and hasn't freed funding for the state Department of Parks' Auburn State Recreation Area to man the Maidu Drive entrance early in the year. Jay Galloway, Auburn State Recreation Area superintendent, said that meetings are ongoing with the bureau but that it appears they want a limited May opening.

"It will probably be just weekends," Galloway said. "They're not providing us with more funding and feel if there is a lot of public outcry, then they'll expand it."

The recreation area is experiencing its own funding challenges in a new round of cost-cutting the governor's office is ordering to balance the state budget. A local hiring freeze could take effect, even with funding coming from an outside source like the Bureau of Reclamation, Galloway said.

The local office is working on a brochure to assist people wanting to try the river run. Rangers are advising against using inexpensive innertubes while promoting the use of helmets and lifejackets.

It has also received approval for naming the new access points.

 

The area between the pump station and Oregon Bar downstream will be called China Bar - a name for the area of the river that had been referred to in the Placer Herald newspaper as early as 1852.

The access point just below the pump station will be named after Frederick Birdsall, a 19th century Auburn resident who developed the county's first water-supply system and operated an olive-oil company.

The 53-vehicle parking lot about a third of the way up the access road to Maidu Drive will be named Oregon Hill, after a gold-digging site with that name nearby. The charge to use the Oregon Hill day-use parking lot will be $5, payable at the entrance station. There will also be parking available at the top of the road at a newly constructed parking lot, at $5 a day.

Galloway said yearly passes are available for $90, which includes access to most other parks in the state.

Cables said he'll provide kayaks and rafts from his Lincoln Way shop free of charge and rent wet suits and dry suits on Tuesday for the new year's river run. #

http://www.auburnjournal.com/articles/2007/12/31/news/top_stories/02channel31.txt?pg=2

 

 

David Kennedy, state's longtime water resources chief, dies at 71

San Francisco Chronicle – 12/31/07

By Matthew Yi, staff writer

 

David N. Kennedy, a former chief of the California Department of Water Resources who oversaw the agency during some of the Golden State's wettest and driest years in modern history, has died. He was 71.

 

Mr. Kennedy died of natural causes Dec. 23 at the Olive Glen nursing home in Sacramento.

 

His tenure as state water director between 1983 and 1998 remains the longest stint by an individual in the agency's history. Mr. Kennedy was first tapped by Gov. George Deukmejian and was reappointed by Gov. Pete Wilson.

 

Mr. Kennedy was in charge during major floods in 1986, 1995 and 1997 and during the state's longest drought in modern history, from 1987 to 1992.

 

It was under his watch that the Department of Water Resources expanded the State Water Project's delta pumping capacity and completed construction of the 100-mile Coastal Branch to augment water supply to Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

 

"California has lost a great water leader and dedicated public servant," department Director Lester Snow said in a statement. "Dave's knowledge of California's water issues was unparalleled, and his commitment to efficient and reliable operation of the State Water Project tireless."

 

Mr. Kennedy was born in 1936 in Ontario, Ore. His family later moved to the East Bay, where he graduated from Albany High School. At that time, his mother, a former teacher, was a homemaker and his father was an engineering professor at UC Berkeley.

 

He attended UC Berkeley, earning both his bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering in 1959 and 1962, respectively. He also served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers while a UC student.

 

After earning his degrees, he worked as a staff engineer at the Department of Water Resources. Mr. Kennedy had been a 15-year veteran at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California when he was appointed to head the state water agency.

 

Most recently, after Hurricane Katrina, Mr. Kennedy served on an independent, 13-member external review panel to assess the government study on New Orleans levee failure.

 

Mr. Kennedy is survived by his wife, Barbara, of Sacramento; his daughters, Ann Kennedy Watembach of Sacramento and Susan Orttung of Arlington, Va.; his son, Richard Kennedy of Brea (Orange County); his sister, Coleen Engstrom of Walnut Creek; and six grandchildren.

 

At Mr. Kennedy's request, no memorial services have been set, and the funeral was limited to family members.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/31/BA84U65J3.DTL

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