A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
January 15, 2008
2. Supply
AG WATER:
Rancho California Water District to pay for computerized irrigation for big water users - Riverside Press Enterprise
Drought persists despite heavy snow - Lassen County Times
WATER SUPPLY ISSUES:
Column: Severe drought may be only way out of California water crisis - Western Farm Press
Column: Nature's water solution - North
AG WATER:
Rancho California Water District to pay for computerized irrigation for big water users
Riverside Press
By Jeff Horseman, staff writer
TEMECULA - A water district wants to help customers with big landscapes save water by paying for the installation of "smart" irrigation systems.
The Rancho California Water District recently received an $87,500 grant from the federal government to install the computerized systems, which can adjust water deliveries to take into account the weather, soil and other factors.
The district's smart irrigation program is expected to save 1.4 billion gallons of water over the 10-year lifetime of the equipment, enough to quench the indoor water demands of 15,610 families of four for a year.
"Our goal always is to sustain our customers with a reliable supply of water," said district spokeswoman Meggan Reed.
Smart irrigation is the latest water-saving strategy for the district, which serves Temecula, part of Murrieta and nearby unincorporated areas.
The district is also moving to cut back water supplies for agricultural customers. In addition, golf courses and other large-scale users are being required to use recycled water on their greenery.
The smart irrigation push comes as the district is boosting water rates for high-use customers. Starting Jan. 1, landscape accounts that use more than 150 percent of their water allotment will be charged $428 per acre foot of water instead of $322 per acre foot.
Smart irrigation is an element of many local water conservation plans because it delivers water to plants more efficiently.
Rather than spraying water at a constant rate, smart irrigation systems take into account factors such as weather, slopes and the soil.
Tom Carrasco, general manger of Environmental Concepts Landscape Management in Temecula, said smart systems can be tailored to account for evaporation and transpiration, the process by which plants use water.
Smart irrigation controllers can be programmed via satellites or the Internet, said Carrasco, whose company manages 171 controllers. One controller clock typically runs 12 to 40 valves, he said.
The City of
Kevin Harrington, maintenance superintendent with the city's Community Services department, said the city can adjust its controllers with the click of a button. The technology also allows the city to spot water leaks, he said.
The Calsense controllers used by Temecula cost between $5,000 and $10,000 apiece. The city has between 25 and 50 of the controllers, Harrington said.
A number of communities in Temecula already use smart irrigation, including Redhawk. John Ellett, property manager for the community of about 3,000 homes, said nine of Redhawk's 40 to 50 irrigation timers use smart technology that adjust irrigation schedules based on rainfall.
"It definitely is a great system," he said.
Rancho
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_ssmart15.326b2c2.html
Drought persists despite heavy snow
Jan. 15, 2008 — Despite two feet or more of snow on the ground in some places, Lassen, Plumas, Modoc, and four other counties are still suffering a drought disaster.
The new snow did not impact drought conditions, such as “continued low reservoirs, below-average mountain snowpack, and long-term precipitation deficits,” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor Web site at drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html.
The Secretary of Agriculture and the U.S. Small Business Administration declared a drought in Lassen, Plumas, Modoc, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama and Trinity counties. The disaster declaration for Shasta and contiguous counties was based on agricultural losses beginning Jan. 1, 2007.
“With both those declarations in place, it does free up small-business loans and some other things that are available through the federal system that normally wouldn’t be available,” said Lassen County Office of Emergency Services Chief Chip Jackson. “Through the secretary of agriculture’s declaration, I believe, it allows for crop losses and a lot of other things.”
Farmers and ranchers who conduct family-sized operations can apply through July 16, 2008, for emergency loans of up to $500,000 for actual losses as a direct result of the disaster. That’s eight months after the two federal agencies declared the drought on Nov. 16, 2007.
The loans will be available at an interest rate of 3.75 percent. Applicants may contact the local Farm Service Agency on
Since the secretary of agriculture and the SBA declared the drought, only the two federal agencies can say when the drought is over.
“They won’t even look at it until spring,”
Federal officials will evaluate all the rainfall and snowfall totals reported by local agriculture departments and take into account the water content in the snow, he said.
Until then, farmers and ranchers may apply for the loans.
“They’re still eligible if they’re ag related (losses) because the crop damages have already happened from last season,”
Small, nonfarm companies that do business directly with growers and producers, such as truckers and agricultural equipment or service providers, and small agricultural cooperatives may apply for SBA economic-injury disaster loans.
To apply, contact SBA at 800-659-2955 or visit the agency’s Web site at sba.gov/services/disasterassistance.
“Where we’re doing snow surveys, in some cases there isn’t any snow to survey,” Duffey told the board at its meeting on May 15, 2007. She reported the drought severity index found eastern
In the spring of 2007, the State Water Project estimated the snowpack ranged from 29 percent of average to 46 percent of the normal statewide average — its lowest level in since 1989.
However, the California Department of Water Resources announced no water shortages in the summer of 2007, because reservoirs and groundwater basins were full from the winter of 2005-2006, the fifth-wettest on record in
http://www.lassennews.com/News_Story.edi?sid=4513&mode=thread&order=0
WATER SUPPLY ISSUES:
Column: Severe drought may be only way out of
Western Farm Press – 1/15/08
By Harry Cline, Farm-Press Editorial Staff
A severe drought this year may be the only way
It has been 30 years since a new water project was completed in
For years, inept politicians have failed to resolve the water issues that will eventually bring
Agriculture has long had a dog in the
When all that comes out of the home faucets and water hydrants this summer is air in
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed a comprehensive water bond measure last fall, but he and lawmakers have failed to broker a deal. Frustrated with the inaction, the California Chamber of Commerce recently announced an effort to launch its own water bond ballot initiatives.
The chamber is circulating four versions of an $11.7 billion bond initiative. It would include dams, as well as systems to divert water around and through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. This is a resurrection of the
The chamber initiative may provide the only tools for a reasonably quick solution at the polls to the crisis. The solution will not come from the
The business-backed Chamber measure is similar to a Republican-backed plan that places an emphasis on dams. The Democratic proposal focuses on groundwater storage and conservation.
It will take all three — dams, groundwater storage and conservation to provide a reliable water supply for
Fixing the Delta should be priority No. 1. When the
The looming water crisis for cities also may bring another benefit to
Urbanites have tolerated them, but when the water runs out, some of these environmental groups may find a less than friendly urban audience.
“Take a hike” has a nice ring to it.
No one wants a crisis to generate a solution, but it may be the only way out of the state’s political morass. #
http://westernfarmpress.com/alfalfa/severe-drought-0108/
Column: Nature's water solution
By Phil Strickland, resident of Temecula and a regular columnist for The Californian
Historian Carey McWilliams wrote in 1946 that "God never intended
Good job, guys.
Here we are, six decades and millions of souls removed from his utterance, wondering once again if we'll be left stranded and parched in the desert.
And, it's been a scant 20 years since the last protracted drought as we suffer yet another tightening of nature's spigot.
Since early man settled the region, water, more than anything else, has determined growth.
It was that reality that led to the famous water connivances begun in the early 1900s. It is that reality that keeps us looking to the few clouds in the sky hoping they will share some of the precious element.
Nature is not cooperating. And the elaborate system we've developed to fill our increasing need may fail us too. That would be the State Water Project, which supplies water from
Think about it: We have nearly 50 percent of the population in the state, less than 0.1 percent of the stream flow, an early prediction that we may only receive a fraction of our allocation and an artificial impediment.
For that, you can thank a federal judge who has ordered a water-flow limit to protect the tiny delta smelt, a fish being killed by the project's pumps.
You also can thank our unquenchable thirst, but the judge's order has chained the region behind the eight ball.
Given fish, judges and drought, our dams, reservoirs and aqueducts are proving to be inadequate solutions to the increased demand for water.
Short of a mass exodus, there is little we can do to permanently resolve the problem. Even a complete re-evaluation of our water usage likely would not do the trick, but it would help.
Given that the Lord probably won't change the rainfall, we are left with the unpleasant fact that if something is to be done, we must do it.
One way is for us to embrace who we are. That would be desert dwellers.
Here in
Thing is, the landscaping has almost uniformly turned from native to lush yards that are not natural to the region.
They look good. In fact, some look great and are a credit to the tenacity of the homeowners in their grooming, but they can have a powerful thirst.
Cities throughout the Southwest are encouraging homeowners and businesses to adopt the native look and thus save, literally, tons of water.
That's only logical.
Trying to make
This is not to suggest that homeowners be forced to turn putting-green lawns into desert landscapes, but some assistance from local or state agencies for folks who are willing to get creative would have a permanent, and no less visually appealing, impact on water usage.
There are technologies -- recycling, turning salt water to fresh, gray water and so on -- that promise to help mitigate the problem, but reducing the unnatural landscapes covering much of inhabited
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/01/15/opinion/strickland/16_51_351_14_08.txt
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