A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
January 22, 2008
2. Supply
WATER SUPPLY PREDICTIONS:
Forecasters stick to dry weather predictions; Even with rainfall tallies rising and a storm on its way, experts say it's too early to assume a wet winter is in store - Los Angeles Times
WATER RECYCLING:
Recycled water seen as salve for supply woes - North County Times
GROUNDWATER ISSUES:
Litigants to try mediation in groundwater case - Antelope Valley Press
WATER CONSERVATION MEASURES:
District seeks more water conservation; Las Virgenes lowered use 9% in December -
Lake Mendocino levels no longer dire - Santa Rosa Press Democrat
WATER CONSERVATION:
Editorial: Water winners - Riverside Press
Editorial: Water solution depends on unity -
WATER SUPPLY PREDICTIONS:
Forecasters stick to dry weather predictions; Even with rainfall tallies rising and a storm on its way, experts say it's too early to assume a wet winter is in store
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, staff writer
Forecasters reached a consensus last fall, predicting another extremely dry winter in the Southland. Then came the rains, with the latest scattered showers beginning Monday, driving up rainfall totals to levels meteorologists admit look a lot like . . . normal.
But don't ask them to revise the dry winter forecast just yet.
"I'm sticking with it, even though we have a storm coming in," said Bill Patzert, a climatologist for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge. "I haven't heard of anybody that's broken ranks."
Local forecasters track rain from July to June, and as of 4 p.m. Monday, downtown
Average annual rainfall in
"We're going to get more rainfall this week, especially later this week, but that doesn't mean it can't turn around after that," said Ken Clark, a Rancho Cucamonga-based senior meteorologist for AccuWeather.com.
"We've been blessed with more precipitation than I would have thought at this point, and we really needed that rainfall, but that doesn't mean we won't finish the year below normal," he said.
Clark recalled last year, when forecasters mistakenly predicted a wet winter based on a powerful El Niño, ocean warming along the South American coast that produces more frequent and intense rainstorms in
Now, Clark and other forecasters are staking their dry winter predictions on La Niña, the opposite of El Niño, in which cooler South American ocean waters diffuse tropical storms, aggravating
La Niña-based forecasts tend to be more accurate than those based on El Niño: Eight of the last 10 La Niñas forecast resulted in drier-than-normal local weather conditions.
Cool ocean temperatures show a moderate La Niña, just what forecasters predicted earlier this year, according to Stuart Seto, a weather specialist with the National Weather Service in
"The La Niña is still going strong. It will still go strong until springtime," Seto said. "It may not be dry all the time, but overall, the picture looks like we will be below normal."
Patzert predicts that by the end of June, area rainfall would be 20% to 23% below average. National Weather Service forecasters were also still expecting a drier-than-normal winter.
This winter likely feels wetter than usual because it comes on the heels of last year's record dry spell, forecasters said. This time last year,
"People's memories are short. Last year was so very, very dry, it's like this year is very wet, even when we get the puny little rain we've had so far," Patzert said.
So far this month, rainfall in
Even if
Although some plants are moisture-rich from recent rains, "within the context of the past few decades, it's been particularly dry," said Jon Keeley, a research ecologist for the U.S. Geological Survey.
It would take a deluge of rain, the two-day, 15-inch downpours more typical of
"When you're in a drought, normal's not good enough," he said of recent rainfall. "We have to recharge our snowpack, our groundwater, our reservoirs, feed
For now, the forecaster is watering his garden by hand, and when he ventures out, he doesn't take an umbrella. #
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-weather22jan22,0,1163540.story?coll=la-home-center
WATER RECYCLING:
Recycled water seen as salve for supply woes
By Tom Pfingsten, staff writer
FALLBROOK - As imported water supplies tighten across
The district already sells recycled water to several Fallbrook nurseries and a golf course in
It costs more to convert wastewater into recycled water than to buy treated water from the Metropolitan Water District, but officials said the payoff is worth it in a year of limited water supplies.
Compared with $500 an acre-foot for treated drinking water, the $800 to $900 it takes to produce an acre-foot of recycled water may seem steep, but every gallon recycled is one less gallon of
General Manager Keith Lewinger said the district must account for the 30 percent cutbacks to agricultural customers at the end of the year, and that selling more recycled water would help relieve some of that pressure.
"On top of that, the farmer that is using the reclaimed water doesn't have to cut back at all," he said. "Everybody wins."
The Metropolitan Water District imposed 30 percent agricultural cutbacks Jan. 1 due to an August court decision that called for pumps in
Since that court decision, water agencies throughout
The Fallbrook Public Utility District produces 2,400 acre-feet of recycled water every year, 2,000 of which are not used and flow into the Pacific via the Oceanside Ocean Outfall, said the district's chief engineer, Joe Jackson.
The other 400 acre-feet are either sold to nurseries and groves, or donated for such causes as watering trees and shrubs on the South Mission Road median north of Fallbrook High School, said Jackson.
An acre-foot is roughly equivalent to 326,000 gallons, or enough to sustain two households for a year.
The California Department of Transportation also buys recycled water from the Fallbrook district, in accordance with state laws requiring Caltrans to use recycled water on its highway and interstate landscaping.
It's biologically sterile and just a little more salty than drinking water, he said.
According to state law, recycled water must be delivered through different pipes than tap water because it is not as pure. Therein lies much of the cost of selling the second-hand liquid,
For example, the district is planning to spend about $120,000 to expand its recycled water pipeline past Fallbrook High, a longtime customer, so that it can sell recycled water to another nursery.
That project is on hold until the district can gain access to an easement for the pipeline extension,
Recycled water is commonly used to water sports fields and groves, and would be suitable even for watering home landscaping, although the cost of dual plumbing systems would be "more trouble than it's worth," he said.
One idea for using reclaimed water in much larger amounts would involve storing recycled water in a reservoir near Camp Pendleton, then siphoning it through groundwater basins and purifying it to sell as drinking water, said Jackson.
That idea mirrors a $490 million project that will begin pumping treated water into the ground this year in
In a Jan. 2 report in the Los Angeles Times, officials said the
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/01/20/news/inland/18_35_071_19_08.txt
GROUNDWATER ISSUES:
Litigants to try mediation in groundwater case
By Alisha Semchuck, staff writer
LOS ANGELES - Attorneys involved in the Antelope Valley groundwater adjudication lawsuit returned to court Monday for the latest turn of events in the case.
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Jack Komar, who is presiding over the case at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles, listened again to the difference of opinions from a field of legal counselors speaking on behalf of plaintiffs, cross-plaintiffs, defendants and cross-defendants in a case initially filed in October 1999 by Diamond Farming Co. against Lancaster, the Antelope Valley Water Co., Palmdale Water District, Palm Ranch Irrigation District, Quartz Hill Water District and Mojave Public Utility District. Since its inception nearly a decade ago, that battle has grown and now involves hundreds of entities.
Komar asked San Diego-based attorney David Zlotnick for his response to some objections regarding a proposed notice intended for owners of small land parcels in the Valley, people who pump water from the ground on their property, according to the court transcript for that session.
Zlotnick represents Rebecca Willis, a Valley resident who owns 10 acres of land near
The idea was to have Komar establish rights for a class of nonpumpers with the potential to pump, plus a separate class of small pumpers - landowners who already pump a little groundwater.
Zlotnick said believes the main objection to the notice he drafted was that it "wasn't clear enough" causing pumpers to be "treated as if they were nonpumpers" if they fail to return a response form to verify that they are already pumping.
Zlotnick said he considers the language in the notice he drafted to be adequate, and that adding "more verbiage" would make people less likely to read the notice.
Class certification is just one more issue muddying the complex battle over groundwater rights - who is entitled to pump and how much?
Attorney Bill Brunick, who represents the Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency, on Thursday told members of the Antelope Valley State Water Contractors Association that "the court is somewhat frustrated" with the case.
The next court hearing is set for March 3, but prior to that, involved parties are supposed to meet with a mediator and try to reach an understanding or some common ground, Brunick said.
"One of the difficulties I'm having with this situation is that everybody that is in this room and everybody who has ownership of land in the
"And that is going to require all counsel to put their heads together to come up with a method for doing that, rather than dividing yourselves among those who want to do class actions - those who want to basically object. We are not getting anywhere that way.
"It seems to me that with this litigation, counsel really needs to work together to at least tee up the issues, so to speak, so that the court will have an opportunity to hear the evidence and to make some sort of an adjudication, step-by-step, so that we can get these matters resolved," Komar said.
"It has been a long time pending. It started out with a couple of farms or ranches. It has been parlayed into a mass of litigation.
"I've said this before in other cases," Komar said. "This really requires a political solution. The courts are probably the least effective manner of arriving at a political solution. But we have the case. I've been assigned the case. I want to proceed to provide a proper adjudication … but I need counsel to cooperate."
"Mediation is critical this month," Brunick said. "Otherwise, (the situation) will result in more money spent. You don't want the lawyers to drive the bus," or costs will continue to escalate.
"Water rights are like playing paper, scissors and rock," Brunick said. "In some cases, you can win. In some cases, you lose.
"Be flexible," he said.
"Hopefully, we (can) come to a solution that protects ag, protects M&I, and protects the taxpayers," Brunick said, referring to agricultural, municipal and industrial water users. #
http://www.avpress.com/n/21/0121_s7.hts
WATER CONSERVATION MEASURES:
District seeks more water conservation; Las Virgenes lowered use 9% in December
Las Virgenes Municipal Water District customers reduced their water use by 9 percent in December compared with a year earlier, after officials called for new conservation efforts.
"We are pleased with the initial response," said John Mundy, general manager of the district, which serves 65,000 people in Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Westlake Village and neighboring areas.
Because of below-average rainfall and other factors, district officials asked customers to voluntarily reduce their water use by 10 percent in December.
The need to conserve has not ended, officials say.
"We hope customers will do their best to conserve slightly more in the weeks ahead," Mundy said.
Recent rainstorms have not diminished the need to conserve.
Reservoirs across the state are being depleted and must be refilled, he said.
Even if there is significant rain this year, state managers face court-mandated reductions in pumping of Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta water.
"This is the time of year where we try to replenish stored supplies for summer, yet in late December the capacity to pump was reduced 50 percent," Mundy said.
The Las Virgenes district is entirely dependent on water pumped from the delta through the State Water Project.
The district's Las Virgenes Reservoir in
The reservoir also serves as an emergency supply in case an earthquake or widespread power outage severs deliveries from the Metropolitan Water District to Las Virgenes.
"Water customers need to be thinking conservation for the long term," Mundy said. #
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/jan/20/district-seeks-more-water-conservation/
Santa Rosa Press Democrat – 1/22/08
By Mike Geniella, staff writer
The volume of stored water remains below normal but is once again back to a level where the Army Corps of Engineers has resumed control over releases downstream. During typical wet late fall and early winter months, the agency's role is to manage the lake and Coyote Dam for flood control.
But because of dry conditions, the Sonoma County Water Agency until earlier this month had been controlling releases downstream largely for purposes of fishery protection and downstream drinking water supplies.
As of Monday, however, there was slightly more than 50,000 acre feet of water stored behind Coyote Dam, compared with slightly less than 28,000 acre feet on Dec. 18. That was the lowest volume of stored water since 2002. On average, an acre foot of water is enough to meet the demands of four people for a year.
The lake is 20,000 acre feet shy of normal water levels.
Still since late December, the lake's elevation has risen 17 feet because of periodic heavy rains.
Forecasts of more rain are good news for about 6,000 customers of the Redwood Valley County Water District, the only public agency to directly draw its water supplies from the lake. Until the December rains, lake levels neared the point where the district would have been unable to pump from the reservoir.
By Dec. 11, the situation was so dire that district directors had asked customers to cut use by 40 percent.
The current volume has eased those concerns.
When the
At peak flood conditions, the dam can prevent the river from rising 2 feet in Guerneville. #
http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20080122/NEWS/801220332/1033/NEWS01
WATER CONSERVATION:
Editorial: Water winners
Riverside Press
The water district, which serves Temecula, portions of Murrieta and nearby unincorporated areas, landed an $87,500 federal grant in November to help pay for sprinkler upgrades. The grants, coupled with $300,000 in incentives from Metropolitan Water District, will help the district provide the smart sprinklers for customers with more than an acre of landscaping.
The smart sprinklers use weather data from satellites and the Internet to adjust watering patterns. The water district says the smart sprinkler program can save 1.4 billion gallons of water over 10 years, enough water to supply 15,610 families of four for a year.
Rancho
Court-ordered cutbacks in water exports from
Turns out, using less water is a good investment for the future of
Editorial: Water solution depends on unity
In a region grown accustomed to the status quo, last week's proposed state order calling for dramatically reduced pumping from the
For reasons of politics and geography, the shortage of usable water on the
Similarly, the populace has come to accept the reality that the
Oddly, considering how deeply many here feel about quality of life and environmental issues, the not-so-slow death of the river and the habitat it supports has stirred little passion except among those devoted to endangered fish.
So it becomes rather easy to imagine the
For those who care about the future of the river and of the
The proposed order from the state Water Resources Control Board would create an actual timetable for Cal Am to start complying with the long-ignored, 1995 state order limiting the water that can be pumped from the river. In stages, it would reduce the flow by 15 percent, then more until, by the year 2014, the pumping would be cut in half.
By Cal Am's estimates, enhanced conservation efforts by an already conservation-minded public would make the first few years tolerable but, by the end, the
The only obvious alternative to letting the landscape dry up, to draining the pools, to canceling construction projects, is to create another water supply. Cal Am has a decent start on that idea with its plans for a desalination plant in Moss Landing, but the bureaucratic hurdles and the almost-guaranteed challenges by environmental groups make it unlikely that it could be on line by 2020 much less 2014.
It is time for those who would block that project to reflect on which is truly worse, the environmental issues raised by desalination or the human and environmental issues raised by a dried out
It also is time for the
The heart of Cal Am's conservation strategy is to impose higher and higher rates tiered to prices dramatically higher than today's. On top of rate hikes the utility already has in the works,
Ultimately, the region is facing a water crisis that could radically change life on the
It can be done. #
http://www.montereyherald.com/opinion/ci_8025695?nclick_check=1
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