Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
January 31, 2008
5. Agencies, Programs, People
WATER TRANSFERS:
Water sale could cover county's bill - Oroville Mercury Register
Who's buying
Manteca levee gains a tentative OK from FEMA - Modesto Bee
Sutter to join flood advisory program - Marysville Appeal Democrat
NATOMAS ISSUES:
Army Corps of Engineers determines Natomas levees substandard; FEMA requires new buildings be 20 feet off the ground - The California Aggie (Davis
Editorial: Flood waters; RP mobile home residents' anger is misdirected - Santa Rosa Press Democrat
FLOOD CONTROL ISSUES:
Letters to the Editor: Safety above everything else - Sacramento Bee
WATER PLANNING:
Supervisors approve new water charges - Monterey Herald
WATER TRANSFERS:
Water sale could cover county's bill
Oroville Mercury Register – 1/30/08
By Roger Aylworth,
Conventional wisdom holds that water — at least in the West — is something to be fought over, but for
Since the early days of the California Water Project,
Over the years
Last year DWR changed its policy. As of 2008, the county has to pay DWR $765,172 for its entire water allocation or risk having the allocation canceled.
At the same time DWR decided to bill the county for the water, it also adjusted rules on water sales.
Previously State Water Project contractors, including
That gave
Tuesday, Paul Gosselin, director of the
Newlin said her department had received a "letter of intent" from the Palmdale Water District seeking to purchase the county's water.
Just how much water the county would be allowed to sell is dependent on DWR's water guarantees to its contractors.
Late last year, before the arrival of the current rains, DWR predicted it would provide 25 percent of the contractors' maximum allotment in 2008.
If the 25 percent allocation holds for 2008, according to Newlin's figures, the county could receive $1,437,500 from a deal with Palmdale.
As the percentage of the allocation the county gets grows, the per-acre-foot payment for the water would drop.
However the increasing amount of water sold would more than make up the difference.
Newlin told the board if the county could sell 100 percent of its water allotment,
"Although the cost to the county for water year 2009 and future years is still unknown at this time, using the 2008 price as an indicator, the county could meet and exceed its costs for 2008 through 2010 with the revenue generated through the sale" of the water in 2008 and 2009, states a report prepared for the board by Newlin.
Newlin stressed that the proposed sale of water to Palmdale is a short-term arrangement and that in the next several years the county anticipates using all of its 27,500-acre-foot allocation locally.
The board voted unanimously to give Gosselin authority to continue negotiations with Palmdale, and to have his staff produce the environmental documents necessary to conclude the agreement.
The supervisors also directed Gosselin to come back to them with a completed contract for future review.
The county will have to pay the DWR bill on the 2008 water to avoid any late penalties, but revenue from the contract will be used to backfill that cost. #
http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_8126059
Who's buying
By Heather Hacking, staff writer
Palmdale Water District is located about 60 miles northeast of downtown
Jon Pernula, water and energy resource director for the district, said the district has about 26,000 water service connections.
As a State Water Contractor, Palmdale is in the same situation as many who buy water from the State Water Project and will likely need more water than the state will provide.
The target is for Palmdale to buy and additional 10,000 acre-feet of water this year. One acre-foot is 325,851 gallons of water, or enough water to cover one acre with one foot of water.
Like other places in the state, a court judge's decision to limit pumping through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to protect the delta smelt population has made water supply even more difficult this year.
Pernula said the Palmdale district has already mandated water conservation, including only allowing landscape watering every other day.
In addition to the deal with
"We didn't want to put all our potential water supply needs in one basket," he said. "It was in our best interests to make overtures to several different" water suppliers.
The district has been tight on water for some time, with rainfall very low and only a small amount of surface storage available.
Groundwater pumping has lowered the aquifer and pumping costs have increased. Also, groundwater usage is in the middle of being worked out through the court system, a process known as adjudication. #
http://www.orovillemr.com/news/ci_8123663
Manteca levee gains a tentative OK from FEMA
By Inga Miller, staff writer
A levee protecting eastern
The Federal Emergency Management Agency had eyed the levee as a possible problem spot. But it issued the provisional approval, according to a recently released map.
Local levee officials must provide the federal agency with proof the levee would hold in a 100-year flood, the kind estimated at a 1 percent chance of happening each year.
Reclamation District 17, which owns the levee, has until Aug. 23, 2009, to provide that data. In the meantime, it is listed as provisionally accredited on a preliminary new map.
The area includes luxury homes on the former site of the
Even protected, the areas are within the so-called 0.2 percent annual flood zone -- that is, an area with a 1 in 500 chance of flooding every year.
"One thing we need to emphasize to people, something we have always wanted to emphasize and particularly after Katrina, is that levees are not perfect," said Jim Stone, deputy public works director and flood-plain administrator for the city of
The maps show that a 1-in-500 chance flood would reach even farther west in pockets north and south of the Highway 120 Bypass. The maps are a preliminary version of updated flood maps being prepared by FEMA for insurance purposes, which are expected to be final next year. When the maps are done, those living in areas within the 100-year flood area will be required to carry flood insurance.
But Stone encourages homeowners anywhere within even the 500-year flood zone and nearby to buy insurance. For homeowners in a low-risk area, insurance runs about $317 a year for coverage of $250,000 on a house and $100,000 on its contents, according to an estimate provided on FEMA's Web site. The premium jumps to $2,462 a year in high-risk areas.
"All we have are calculations about where the water might go," Stone said. "We don't know exactly how nature is going to perform. So if people have a lot of equity in their home, they might want to think about getting that protection."
The levee, which runs between
In accordance with the levee's 1990 accreditation, workers watch for soil flow and shore up the levee with sandbags and gravel blankets when necessary. Stone said the district and cities also are working to improve the levee.
Stone said the city is planning information sessions within a month or two.
http://www.modbee.com/local/story/197037.html
Sutter to join flood advisory program
Marysville Appeal Democrat – 1/30/08
By John Dickey, staff writer
Once the county is rated through the federal government's Community Rating System program, it would get credit for current activities such as floodplain construction regulations and community outreach on flooding. Meetings with Federal Emergency Management Agency officials are planned in the next month to pursue a county rating.
"We are doing some of the things that qualify us already, but you have to package them," said Doug Gault, the county's director of public works.
The ratings could be of interest to federally-backed mortgage holders in south
Gault said he expects the ratings to be completed in about three months, before the new floodplain maps become effective.
If a Class 7 rating is achieved - the county's goal - flood insurance premiums could go down as much as 15 percent for homeowners who have to get flood insurance because they are in a special flood-insurance zone.
"We're pretty confident we're getting a rating that would qualify us for a discount," said Gault. "We're not sure if the county will get the rating it is shooting for."
The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved participation in the Community Rating System as part of a package of routine items that were not discussed. FEMA describes CRS as a voluntary program to reduce flood losses, facilitate accurate insurance rating, and promote the awareness of flood insurance.
While homeowners currently paying $317 for preferred policies would not save a huge amount, the savings would add up when special hazard flood insurance zones proposed for south
"At $317, it's not that big a deal, but it would be pricewise, if the policies go up," said Charyl Anthony, a customer service representative who handles flood insurance for the Huntley-Sheehy Inc. insurance agency, in Marysville.
http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/insurance_59733___article.html/flood_rating.html
NATOMAS ISSUES:
Army Corps of Engineers determines Natomas levees substandard; FEMA requires new buildings be 20 feet off the ground
The California Aggie (Davis
By Alysoun Bonde, staff writer
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers delivered some bad news to the city of
In October 2007, the city and
The Corps' findings were not what
The Corps determined it could not certify the levees for a 3 percent flood event, meaning there is a 3 percent chance a flood too powerful for the levees will happen in any given year, or a 60 percent chance that this flood will occur over the life of a 30-year mortgage.
Many Natomas residents support the new building restrictions. The Natomas Community Association is strongly opposed to Greenbriar, a proposed 3,450 home development. The Sacramento City Council gave conditional approval Jan. 22 to annex the 577 acres needed for the project.
"We've been trying to get the city to put a moratorium on building, but they continue to press forward," said Rose Tribolet, vice president of the Natomas Community Association. "It makes me feel like the city council is being irresponsible."
Natomas is a natural basin for the
Developers began building homes, malls, offices and apartments after the Corps originally certified the levees in 1998 for a 100-year flood protection. The Corps decertified them in 2006.
"Hurricane Katrina caused us to tighten up our standards a bit," said David Killam, public affairs spokesperson for the Corps. "Most of us went down to
The Corps did not complete its study of the entire levee system. It discovered enough problems in two western sections of the levees to make their decision.
"We felt that it was critical for the city to receive the information in a timely manner. If we had done a total analysis, it would have taken much longer to complete the study," said Roger Henderson, senior engineer with the Corps. "If any area fails the analysis, the entire flood defense system is non-certifiable."
The Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency has an ambitious program to repair the levees, Killam said. SAFCA began work on the levees in 2007. The project has a $414 million price tag and is expected to qualify for 100-year flood protection by 2010 and 200-year flood protection by 2012, said Jay Davis, a SAFCA consultant. #
Editorial: Flood waters; RP mobile home residents' anger is misdirected
Santa Rosa Press Democrat – 1/31/08
Water. A couple of months ago we were lamenting the lack of it. Now we are worried about too much.
The fact that this is the
In both communities, unhappy residents are looking for someone to blame. Mother Nature appears to be the culprit in
Weather was also the primary factor in the mobile home park flooding -- although the park owner appears to be at fault, too.
According to city officials, Florida-based Sunset Strip Corp. and California-based Indian Springs have been unresponsive to the city's suggestions to reduce flooding in the low-lying neighborhood.
Even worse, it appears that someone in park management is blaming the city for the flood problems -- even though the park's streets are private property and are the owner's responsibility.
Residents whose streets flooded last month and in 2006 are right to be demanding action. But they should be talking to the park owners -- not the city. #
http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20080130/WIRE/801300351/1043/OPINION01
FLOOD CONTROL ISSUES:
Letters to the Editor: Safety above everything else
By Dan Lungren, Gold River, Republican member of Congress, 3rd District
Re "Levee report shocks city," Jan. 16: The Federal Emergency Management Agency's declaration that
We would be remiss to bypass such an opportunity to set a sound agenda toward repairing and strengthening our levee system by succumbing to the short-term incentives of developing the
There is no question that all involved desire to see investment and economic vitality thrive; however, that passion for a growing economy must necessarily lead our vision toward long-term, sustainable development. That very sustainability relies on a dependable, proven levee system.
The levee breach in neighboring
The Folsom Dam spillway groundbreaking was one aspect of the wide effort we must and will make toward securing our region from the devastation of mass flooding. #
http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/675215.html
WATER PLANNING:
Supervisors approve new water charges
By Jim Johnson, staff writer
With just token opposition, the Monterey County Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved new water charges for property owners of about 12,000 acres in the
Just three property owners representing a little more than 1 percent of the affected acreage submitted protest letters, far short of the 50 percent needed to force a possible vote on the charges.
Property owners will pay $66.23 per acre-foot of water delivered from the rubber dam and treatment facility as part of the Salinas Valley Water Project.
River water will be collected behind the collapsible rubber dam from April to October, then pumped to a treatment facility where it will be combined with recycled water to irrigate agricultural fields stretching from the coast to near Espinosa Lake and from Moss Landing to north of Marina.
Operation and maintenance of the rubber dam and treatment facility are expected to cost about $1.26 million for the 2008-09 fiscal year, and the project will produce an average of nearly 19,000 acre-feet per year. The cost also covers operation and maintenance of a fish screen and bypass, and flow monitoring and control facilities.
During Tuesday's hearing, Supervisor Simon Salinas complimented Curtis Weeks, county Water Resources Agency general manager, and water officials for moving ahead with the long-delayed project despite numerous obstacles.
Two property owners showed up at the meeting to address the charges. Chris Bunn Sr. urged the board to continue with the project, while property manager Robert Goodwin suggested the board should do a more comprehensive analysis of the long-range project costs because of the amount of time that has elapsed since it was approved by voters in 2003.
Property owners were notified of the pending new charges in December and had 45 days to respond.
Construction of the rubber dam and treatment facility is slated to begin in April, with completion due in early 2009, and water deliveries are scheduled to begin later that year. The collapsible rubber dam will be constructed about two miles upstream from Highway 1 near Moro Cojo.
Currently, property owners in the affected area use a combination of groundwater and recycled water to irrigate their fields as part of the Castroville Seawater Intrusion Project. Because river water will replace the groundwater, which is currently being pumped from already overtapped underground water supplies, the project's intent is to recharge area aquifers and turn back seawater intrusion. #
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