A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
January 17, 2008
2. Supply
FOLSOM
Folsom Lake at its lowest level since 1995; Recent snowfall should help by springtime - Auburn Journal
WATER RECYCLING:
Column: Imagine: Rain, rain, stored away; Savvy designers are helping homeowners collect and reuse storm water rather than see it all wash away - Los Angeles Times
DEVELOPMENT ISSUES:
FOLSOM
Folsom
Auburn Journal – 1/16/08
By Roger Phelps, Gold Country news service
Welcome wetness won't fill Folsom Lake, but it will raise it from its lowest level in more than a decade.
Recent storms dumped several inches of rain into the lake and its tributaries. Before that, lake level was a scant 371 feet above sea level, containing only some 220,000 acre-feet of water, state and federal officials said. An acre-foot is 325,851 gallons.
Seldom-seen boulders poked the surface, and it didn't look like a reservoir that's contracted to serve water needs of a sprawling, populated, lawn- and golf course-studded area. It was down to about one-quarter of its capacity.
"The lake holds a little under a million acre-feet," said spokesman Jeff McCracken of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
Art Hinojosa, a division chief at the state Department of Water Resources, said the winter of 1994-95 was the last time the Folsom Lake level slumped further than it did last week.
"It bottomed at 364 feet," he said.
Heavy snows at high elevations in the
He said the state is due to measure the Sierra snowpack soon.
When
"On Nov. 21, 1977, it held only 140,000 acre-feet," he said.
Jointly, the city of Folsom and the San Juan Water District hold ancient, high-ranking rights to Folsom Lake water.
If, despite recent storms, a true drought winter happened, customers of those agencies likely wouldn't be affected this year, but
That's because the district has a supplemental right conferred under the federal Central Valley Project, a massive government irrigation program.
"Should this year be a dry rain year, there could be a reduction in our CVP surface-water allocation, which is controlled by the Bureau of Reclamation," Lorance said.
Bounded by the American River to the south, Folsom's northern district is supplied by the San Juan Water District, which supplies several customer water agencies in the area.
"Whether customers were required to conserve is up to the SJWD retail agencies," Lorance said. #
http://www.auburnjournal.com/articles/2008/01/17/news/top_stories/05folsomlakelevel17.txt
WATER RECYCLING:
Column: Imagine: Rain, rain, stored away; Savvy designers are helping homeowners collect and reuse storm water rather than see it all wash away
By Debra Prinzing, Special to the Times
WHILE you watched much-needed showers race down the driveway and spill into street drains two weeks ago, did you perhaps think: How can I harness that rainfall? How can I save that water for a yard that has endured drought-like conditions?
It turns out that "harvesting" rainfall is not only good for the garden, but also good for the environment.
And there are several ways you can prepare for the next major storm to keep some of that moisture in your landscape and away from the drainage systems.
Increasingly, homeowners want strategies to capture and retain storm water, whether for irrigating the garden during dry spells or to divert it from gushing down the block.
In response, municipalities such as
Peter Jensen, a landscape designer with Gaudet Design Group of
To Jensen, traditional residential landscapes are water wasters. Expansive front lawns require irrigation and boost your water bill. Impermeable driveways shed precipitation into the streets. Downspouts dump water into municipal drainage systems. This waste adds up to thousands of gallons of water that otherwise could remain within the homeowner's own landscape.
Jensen recently helped John Francis and Susanne Meline capture rainwater in their
To determine the ideal size and volume of the infiltration pit, Jensen calculated the potential rainfall that his clients' roof would shed into the yard. The pit, about 200 cubic feet, is a straight-sided hole in the ground, lined with landscaping cloth and filled with variously sized rocks. It is topped off with larger rocks to emulate a dry creek. The system allows water to seep slowly into the ground rather than mixing with pollutants on the city streets. Some designs also have outlets to handle overflow during extreme storms.
In addition to rock-filled infiltration pits, commercial products are available. For example, a system by Australia-based Atlantis Corp. (www.atlantiscorp.com.au) uses modular cubes fabricated from recycled plastic to filter water underground. "But all pits are still 'custom dug' based on the size of the project," Jensen points out.
Whether the Francis-Meline property receives light mists or heavy rain, any water that hits their roof, combined with excess backyard water, moves through downspouts and is collected in drainpipes leading to the in-ground system. After meandering, stream-like, along the rocks, the water settles in the submerged pit. Some systems use a silt basin to remove debris, although Jensen's design allows water to run through rock and landscaping fabric, which filters out the silt.
To neighbors who stroll along the sidewalk, the design's above-ground portion resembles a stone creek bed dotted with rushes, sedges and native ground covers. A 15% grade change from the front door to the sidewalk puts gravity to work as water flows downhill. "I tried to make this look like a natural system using the topography of the yard with plants that grow along riverbeds," he says.
Other water-capturing techniques enhance the landscape. Jensen shattered a large section of the two-car driveway and reconstructed it with ground covers and ornamental grasses. Silvery mats of Dymondia margaretae, a spreading perennial that can handle foot traffic, are knit together with flowering thyme between sections of concrete. Raindrops soak into the planted areas rather than wash down to the street. The front walkway uses a similar approach, recycling leftover broken concrete for steps rather than being sent to the landfill.
Where a traditional turf-style front lawn once stood, Jensen planted no-mow lawn, a grass that requires less water and eliminates use of an energy-hogging lawn mower. The parking strip is planted with a flowering evergreen yarrow, a good lawn substitute.
To irrigate the garden during dry times, Jensen installed a state-of-the-art drip system. Instead of operating on a timer, it is linked to an Internet weather site that calculates the property's water needs, turning on during dry spells and off when it rains.
Jensen adopted many of the same techniques in Sandi and Joe Lee's property, also in
A new asymmetrical path of separated landings allows for better drainage. The infiltration system is topped with warm-hued river rock, and the garden is planted with geometric blocks of Agave
"We could have hidden the infiltration pit underground and planted over the top," Jensen acknowledges. "But I wanted to uncover it to show how it works in a natural system for channeling water.
"As more people do small things to save water, they will build up to be major things -- and help the environment." #
DEVELOPMENT ISSUES:
Even a commodity as basic as water is an uncertain thing in
A forward-thinking water district in
Water agencies have played a dangerous game since 2001, when new state laws required them to determine that there would be enough water for 20 years to serve large new developments before approval could be granted. As dependent as this semi-arid area is on imported water, they gambled that the water would keep flowing. That is, until the Eastern Municipal Water District gave the region a much-needed reality check. Its planners studied the numbers and the forecasts and said: Sorry, the water isn't there. The brakes were put on several new projects, including a giant Skechers
Continued regional sprawl is unwise for many reasons besides water: traffic, energy, pollution, environmental degradation. But no one should want to see a major new source of jobs stopped simply because we can't get the taps turned on.
David J. Slawson, president of the water district's board, said he's surprised that other districts haven't come to similar conclusions. It seems inevitable that they'll have to, and soon. The governor and Republican lawmakers cite the continued pressure on water supplies as a reason to build more dams and storage. A better first step toward securing
More agencies should be following the example of the Orange County Water District, which built a plant to reclaim sewage and turn it into clean drinking water. An area this dry might need appropriate landscaping zoned into existence. And water rates should be adjusted more sharply, so that once basic household needs are met, the price rises steeply enough to discourage waste. The decisions could get this simple: Would we rather have lawns or jobs? #
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-water17jan17,0,738152.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
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