A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
February 11, 2008
2. Supply
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WATER SUPPLY:
Climatologist: Recent rain doesn't mean Inland area is in the clear - Riverside Press Enterprise
Lake Oroville level low despite recent storms - Chico Enterprise Record
OVERDRAFTING OF GROUNDWATER:
Water agency blamed for damage to homes; Homeowners claim groundwater overuse harms foundation - Desert Sun
Agency, city at odds over aquifer - Desert Sun
DESALINATION:
You can take the salt out of the water, but can you make the policy stick? -
Guest Column: Ride the desalination wave - North
DROUGHT CONDITIONS:
Editorial: Pulling out of the drought -
Guest Opinion: Every drop counts; Yes, it rained a lot. But that doesn't mean we're out of the woods with regard to the state's water woes – Los Angeles Times
WATER BANKING:
Kern planning official slams AVEK water bank EIR; Fails to meet CEQA guidelines; QUOTE: “The (DEIR and public process has produced a document that fails to provide objective and complete information.”—Lorelei Oviatt -
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WATER SUPPLY:
Climatologist: Recent rain doesn’t mean Inland area is in the clear
Riverside Press
By Richard Brooks, staff writer
Though the recent rains seemingly pulled the rug out from under his forecast for a mild winter, a prominent climatologist insists that the region remains in a La Niña weather pattern that will make this a relatively dry year.
“Most of your big (wet-weather) Januarys and Februarys are associated with El Niños,” said Bill Patzert, a climatologist and long-range weather forecaster at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
“But I’m not eating humble pie.”
The rain and snow have been a temporary aberration caused by a southerly shift in the high-altitude jet stream, he said.
Still, those abundant storms have brought the frequently drought-parched Inland area up to at least normal rainfall totals so far this year, raising hopes from some for an eye-popping wildflower display and a delayed fire season.
“We’re going to have the best (wildflower) bloom in our hills in probably half a century,” said Richard Minnich, an earth science professor at UCR. “The fire hazard is eliminated between now and probably June.”
Some snowfields on the highest peaks of the
So far this year, Inland area rain gauges are recording amounts that are about average, flood control officials say.
The storms may have seemed unusually heavy and numerous because they followed one of
Just a few years earlier, in 2004-05, the region had one of its wettest years. That year,
It’s that pattern of an exceptionally dry year followed by a wet one that is expected to result in abundant wildflowers, Minnich said. The dry year causes grasses to die off, and the following wet year encourages long-dormant wildflower seeds to germinate and flourish, he said.
In
Flooding and debris flows have been comparatively minor, even below hillsides left barren by wildfires.
“The burn areas have been getting snow. And it melts slowly,” said San Bernardino County Public Works Director Vana Olson. “As the season progresses, the soil could become saturated. We’ve been fortunate that we’ve had a few drying days between storms.”
Normal Rainfall – So Far
In
“We’ve been getting average normal rainfall,”
There are no guarantees for how the rest of the season will go.
“It could just stop,” he said. “Last year ... most places got just 3 inches of rain. In ‘04-‘05, we got approximately 25 inches.”
Luckily, those 25 inches didn’t come all at once. Because the storms were spread out, flooding was minimal even though the total rainfall was higher that year than in 1969, 1980 and 1993, when heavy flooding in some areas was triggered by prolonged rain,
Perhaps most importantly, this winter’s rains tend to ensure good health – at least through this year – for millions of trees in the
“We’ve had a lot of rainfall ... and snow. The trees ought to be in pretty good shape. Bark beetles are not going to be much of an issue this year,” said Timothy Paine, a UCR entomology professor.
If the rain ceases now for the rest of this year, the forest’s continued health will depend on how much water is stored in the soil, he said.
“If we have two successive dry years, we start running into problems,” Paine said. “I can’t speak to next year.”
Mega-Fire Still Possible
But rain – or the lack of it – is apt to have little effect once the annual
“How much it rains has nothing to do with it,” said Minnich, the UCR earth science professor who has studied the
Vast swaths of the western
But the eastern half of the mountains – the portion that overlooks the valley between
The situation is particularly dangerous because the
“When you throw in 60,000 (residential) parcels within the forest, we really have to count on land owners to do their part: Remove the brush, clean up the pine needles and trim the trees,” said Jason Meyer, a Cal Fire forester. “It makes it a lot harder to fight fire with all the private land up here.”
The overarching problem is that
“In terms of the water supply, it has been good news,” Patzert said of the recent rains and snowfall. “But there’s no Lazarus effect in the national forest. All that old fuel might get wet ... but dead is dead.” #
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_D_rain11.3e0afdd.html
By Alan Scheckter, staff writer
OROVILLE – Mother Nature has been raining and snowing buckets this winter, but so far local reservoirs remain low.
While experts expect the moisture, much of which is sitting in thick layers of snow in the high country, to eventually trickle down to the valley, the north state is months away from seeing just how much the reservoirs will rise.
After the recent series of wet storms it may seem odd to gaze at
Indeed, the lake, which Department of Water Resources information officer Don Strickland called “the main reservoir in the state water project system,” is at 38 percent capacity and just 55 percent of normal for this time of year. This is slightly higher than its low of 35 percent around Dec. 1.
Things are expected to improve in the next couple of months. Snow has fallen in large amounts in the north state at unusually low snow levels. Much of it is still on the ground, even as low as 2,000 feet.
And that’s a good thing. Snow is liquid money in the bank that pays dividends after the dry season hits the state.
“Generally speaking, we like to have snow up in the mountains in the winter so it can run off nice and slow,” said Maury Roos, a DWR chief hydrologist who’s been with the department for some 50 years.
Rain tends to be quickly soaked up by the ground or at best fill small streams.
“It has to rain a tremendous amount to make an impact on Lake Oroville,” Strickland said, “like the El Niño floods of ‘97-‘98.”
But even though the
“We’re only in early February,” Strickland said. “We’ve seen this before when the weather takes a 180-degree turn. If the Pacific storms stop coming through and the temperature warms and the snow melts early, we end up with a gradual runoff.”
“I don’t want to say (
“The reservoirs are so low now because we used so much (water) last summer to meet the needs and last winter was so dry,” Strickland said. “Last April we were at 40 percent of average.”
Flood control is another consideration, but doesn’t appear to be an issue this year.
When a deluge of rain or rapid snow melt comes too early, officials must open the spillways and release water into the Feather River, down to the
But with the present level at only 1.35 million acre-feet, there’s plenty of room to accommodate the anticipated spring snow melt. #
http://www.chicoer.com//ci_8221314?IADID=Search-www.chicoer.com-www.chicoer.com
OVERDRAFTING OF GROUNDWATER:
Water agency blamed for damage to homes; Homeowners claim groundwater overuse harms foundation
Desert Sun – 2/9/08
By Keith Matheny, staff writer
A group of La Quinta homeowners took the first step to suing the Coachella Valley Water District on Friday, claiming the agency’s overuse of groundwater and the resulting sinking of the valley is damaging their homes.
Officials predict it will not be the last lawsuit the water district faces related to subsidence – the sinking of the valley floor caused when more groundwater is used than returned.
It’s a potentially costly offshoot of a growing western water crisis caused by continuing drought, explosive growth, soaring demand and threatened water supplies.
Water district general manager Steve Robbins said he’s not surprised by the homeowners’ claim, a precursor to a lawsuit, served on the agency Friday.
A December report from U.S. Geological Survey confirmed that subsidence is continuing in the valley, more than a foot in some places over the past nine years and 3 to 4 inches in just the past two years in the PGA West area.
“I just expected whenever people have a problem with something, they always look for anybody they can go after,” Robbins said. “When the U.S. Geological Survey put the study out that said we have continuing subsidence, I figured it was a matter of time before somebody tried to sue somebody over it.”
Dream home a nightmare
It was to be James and Gail Milne’s dream home in the desert, a new house on
They paid nearly $500,000 about nine years ago.
“We bought it thinking this is where we’re going to be for our retirement,” James said.
Then came the cracks in their dream and their home.
Outside in the driveways and sidewalk. On the home’s exterior. Then, the interior walls.
Today it’s as if the home was picked up and, in two giant hands, wrung like a wet dish towel.
Long, finger-width cracks slash up walls and across ceilings in multiple rooms of the home.
Fissures run along the floor slab under expensive slate tiles. Wood-beamed truss frameworks in the garage roof swing free, ripped apart.
The couple sank their life savings into the home, Gail said.
Added James, “We feel like we’re held hostage in this house, because we can’t do anything with it. We can’t sell it. Nobody’s going to touch it the way it is.”
The Milnes and three of their neighbors in the PGA West neighborhood experiencing similar problems filed suit against the developer, KSL Land III Corp. of
The homeowners claimed poor design and shoddy construction created the problems. The company denied the claims, and the lawsuit is pending.
But a scientific report released in December has the homeowners claiming the water district as also culpable for their damaged homes.
Robert Gilliland Jr., attorney for the homeowners, noted that the Geological Survey study references an underground fissure discovered in 1948 in the area of his clients’ homes.
“As the water has been pulled and pulled by Coachella Valley Water District, it’s caused that fissure to reactivate,” Gilliland said. “It’s causing the ground to shift and move and pull and twist.
“Unfortunately, these immediate homes are sitting in the epicenter of that movement, and now they are feeling the effect of the damage.”
Who’s responsible?
An attorney representing the developers also blames ground sinkage for the home damage.
KSL Land III Corp. bought back a home it built across the street from the Milnes a few years ago, after attempting and failing to fix similar structural problems, attorney Theodore Howard said.
The home now sits vacant, he said.
Company officials, however, maintain there’s no way the designers and builders of the homes could have known about the ground conditions there, “which only existed as a consequence of the increasing overdraft of the aquifer,” Howard said.
The homeowners’ claim has been sent by the water district to its attorneys to determine how to respond, Robbins said.
“There’s other things that can cause cracking besides subsidence,” he said. “And Coachella Valley Water District isn’t the only entity that pumps water out of the basin.”
But Gilliland noted the water district is the largest user of the aquifer.
“Just like the builder, I want them to assume responsibility for the damage that’s been caused by their de-watering practices,” he said. #
http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008802090318
Agency, city at odds over aquifer
Desert Sun – 2/9/08
By Keith Matheny, staff writer
The
The Coachella Valley Water District is suing the city and a developer over a large project planned for north of Interstate 10 called Citrus Ranch.
The project, on about 1,200 acres at the corner of Dillon and
The district’s lawsuit states the developer’s required environmental impact report that was approved by city officials didn’t follow the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, and that the project in its current form “will irreparably harm the environment.”
The lawsuit states the developer’s environmental study doesn’t address potential secondary impacts from increasing overuse of the valley’s aquifer, such as subsidence – or the sinking of the valley floor, which could damage buildings, roads, pipelines and other infrastructure – or diminished groundwater quality throughout the basin.
The district calls on a halt to all Citrus Ranch work and a new environmental study that takes into account potential impacts of further groundwater overuse, and looks for ways to offset it.
Officials with the city of
“We agree with the environmental impact report’s finding that sufficient water exists for this project, and we also believe the city of Indio complied with all CEQA requirements when it approved the development,” SunCal spokesman Joe Aguirre said Friday.
A project of the scope of Citrus Ranch requires “somehow participating in regional efforts to acquire more water for the valley,” water district general manager Steve Robbins said.
That could include capturing and treating wastewater for outdoor irrigation use, participating in a program to purchase more outside water to recharging the valley’s aquifer, or other steps, he said.
“We didn’t try to tell them what they need to do specifically; only that they needed to do something to mitigate their water usage,” he said.
A hearing on the lawsuit is set for next month. #
http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008802090319
DESALINATION:
You can take the salt out of the water, but can you make the policy stick?
By Alex Breitler, staff writer
With more than 1,300 miles of coastline in
The ocean.
Desalination – the science of turning saltwater into sink water – has been a staple for decades in the arid
And it might eventually relieve some pressure on the Delta, whose fragile levees form the arteries through which much of
Desalination, supporters say, would guarantee water during a drought. There’s plenty of ocean for the taking; the same can’t be said for our rivers, whose feedstock, the
Politically divisive in the past, desalination is steaming forward as the Delta’s water supply grows more tenuous. More than a dozen seawater treatment plants are proposed in
Conservationists are now in a difficult spot. They oppose massive water exports from the Delta, while simultaneously arguing that sticking a straw into the ocean or bay could be hazardous for fish and water quality.
Much work remains before desalination becomes a mainstream source of water – if it ever does.
“We need to be cautious,” said Heather Cooley, a research associate with the think-tank Pacific Institute in
“Desalination is something that’s in our future, but that future is not here yet.”
The state already gets about 100,000 acre-feet of water per year from desalination plants as far north as
Up to 500,000 acre-feet per year is possible by the year 2030. But even that sum would still be less than 10 percent of all the river water exported from the Delta each year.
“Desalination is not “the one” solution. It’s one of the options,” said Fawzi Karajeh, chief of the state Department of Water Resources’ Water Recycling and Desalination Branch.
Much of the current interest stems from voter-approved Proposition 50, which in 2002 allocated $100 million to studying desalination technology and funding projects.
The cost, after all, is one reason why desalination hasn’t picked up much steam in the past. A few years ago, desalination cost $2,000 to $5,000 an acre-foot; as technology improves, that range has dropped to $850 to $1,300 per acre foot, but purifying seawater is still more expensive than many other methods of obtaining water, Cooley said.
At current prices, getting drinking water from the ocean is cheaper than the cost of water dammed behind the proposed Sites Reservoir – one of the dams supporters tried to convince the Legislature to approve last year.
But Cooley has other concerns besides cost:
» Pipes that suck in saltwater might take fish with them, not to mention tiny plankton upon which they feed.
» After treating the saltwater, the brine byproduct – typically twice as salty as ocean water – is released back into the ocean or bay. The brine can contain chemicals used during desalination and may harm the ecosystem. Few studies have addressed this.
» Desalination may produce lots of water, but it requires lots of energy, too, through the burning of fossil fuels which contributes to climate change.
Cooley believes that as desalination evolves, Californians could do much more to conserve water through low-flow toilets and shower heads, and other strategies.
“We’ve made great strides in the last 15 to 20 years, but we still waste a tremendous amount of water,” she said.
There may be solutions to some of her worries about seawater treatment, the DWR’s Karajeh said. Experts are studying ways to eliminate brine completely; it’s also possible to mix the brine with treated wastewater to bring down the salt content before releasing the brine into the environment. #
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080211/A_NEWS/802110317/-1/A_NEWS14
Guest Column: Ride the desalination wave
By Robert Simmons, former chief trial counsel of the
On the heels of the California Coastal Commission’s approval of the Carlsbad Desalination Project, opponents of seawater desalination are making a desperate, last-ditch effort to derail the project by filing a lawsuit yet again. It is an all-too-common tactic of certain radical elements of the environmental movement to abuse the legal process by filing endless frivolous lawsuits trying to stop beneficial projects they oppose.
But when it comes to assaults on this
The Carlsbad Desalination Project has undergone considerable expert scrutiny ---- and rightfully so. A water supply project of this magnitude must be turned upside down and inside out to ensure that the environment and public interests are being protected. This project has secured a favorable certified environmental impact report and permits from the California Department of Health Services, the Regional Water Quality Control Board and the California Coastal Commission.
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Throughout the past decade, this project has withstood multiple lawsuits and regulatory agency appeals by the same few opponents who now refuse to accept the Coastal Commission’s decision that this facility will protect the environment and is, therefore, consistent with the Coastal Act.
By filing another hopeless lawsuit, these non-expert activists blindly ignore the years of research and study by scientific experts that have been relied upon by every permitting and regulatory agency that has approved this project.
Why do they do this? Because these side-stream activists hope to remain politically relevant by intentionally crossing the line that separates environmental advocacy from obstructionism. To my mind, it is the same as knowing you have lost the war but are fighting on to save face. Like the general who sacrifices lives of his soldiers out of personal pride, these anti-desalination people seek to deprive all of us of a new potable water supply that is large, pure, reliable and sorely needed.
By continuing our nearly-total dependence on imported water, we inevitably risk severe ecological damage to the sources of this water and the loss of much of the water itself. Therefore, reducing our dependence on imported water is both good water policy and good environmental policy.
We desperately need to remove the stranglehold that outside water exporters have had on us for so many years. We cannot do it with conservation and recycling alone. But by combining those measures with the new water the Carlsbad Desalination will supply, we can achieve the water independence that I and many others have worked so hard to win. #
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/02/09/opinion/commentary/18_53_372_7_08.txt
DROUGHT CONDITIONS:
Editorial: Pulling out of the drought
To water managers, the snow-capped
The future snow melt that will slowly percolate into groundwater recharge areas well into summer along the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo river banks is the key to ending years of drought. Is the region ready to capture this bounty?
Or will it be wasted?
Rainfall in downtown
So why aren’t water folks cheering? They are like the American voter, worried about the tanking economy, gridlocked political environment and ominous environmental news – yet despite a gloomy outlook are voting in higher numbers. As Barack Obama would say, do the water folks have the audacity to hope? Hope that
“This (rainfall, snow pack) is definitely going to help,” said Carol Williams, general manager of the Main San Gabriel Basin Watermaster. But she said we’ll need another wet year in `08-`09 before she and others would pronounce the drought dead.
We understand such cautious optimism. The Watermaster is facing a go-it-alone future from mighty Metropolitan Water District, which has suspended its delivery of imported water for replenishing our overdrawn basins. Instead of annually, that may happen “three out of 10 years,” she said.
Actually, going independent may be the best thing for communities sitting on top of ground water supplies. It is the stimulus this region needs to fix its own water problems.
As Rep. Grace Napolitano said last week, it will take a lot of agencies and people working together. We have some project suggestions:
First, clean-up of polluted pockets of the basins must be accelerated. Yes, there’s been progress. But cities, water agencies, the EPA, the state and the responsible parties must put more money into finishing the job. Having a pollution-free aquifer will establish
Second, the region must invest in ways to better capture storm run-off. One idea that should be explored is to establish a fresh water harbor at the end of the
The low-tech way to capture more rainwater is to return land to its pristine state. Re-greening the Arroyo Seco, the
We’re pleased to hear the Watermaster is working with the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy to find more land for preservation. More green space – especially along our rivers – will send millions of gallons of rain and storm water back into underground aquifers.
What about consumers? We’d rather use carrots than sticks for increasing conservation. More agencies should follow the lead of the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District which gives away low-flush toilets, water-stingy shower heads and promotes water-efficient dishwashers and washing machines. All new buildings should be water wise and include drought-resistant landscaping.
With these carrots, plus the good news of a wet year and a healthy snowpack both locally and in Northern California, cities such as
We’re seeing a rainbow at the end of the drought. Now, if only we could harvest that pot of gold. #
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/opinions/ci_8218125
Guest Opinion: Every drop counts; Yes, it rained a lot. But that doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods with regard to the state’s water woes
By Heather Cooley, senior research associate at the Pacific Institute, a nonpartisan think-tank based in Oakland
In January, it rained a lot in
It was chaotic, as always – but desperately needed. The wet weather came after the driest year on record in the
There is no simple, single definition of drought. In any region, there are periods of below-normal precipitation. These dry periods become a drought when demand for water exceeds supply. In this sense, we may be in a permanent drought throughout the
Wet and dry extremes are a natural part of
So far, 2008 has been a wet year. At the end of January, rainfall in downtown
But we need a lot of rain to make up for last year’s shortfall. Precipitation throughout
But several new factors are making it harder for water managers and planners to say if we’re in – or out – of a drought. One of the most important is climate change caused by global warming. In its most recent assessment, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a scientific body that studies the effect of human activity on the climate, noted that droughts have become more common. It forecast that droughts will become more frequent and intense as atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise. And as temperatures warm, crops, lawns and swimming pools will likely require more water.
Mismanagement of our water supplies can also produce a drought. For instance, overuse of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta has caused an ecological crisis there. The amount of water pumped out of the delta rose to record levels after 2000. As a result, the delta smelt, some salmon populations and other fish species are rapidly declining. In response, the courts have ordered the state to dramatically reduce the amount of water it pumps out of the delta, effectively creating a policy-induced drought throughout
Fortunately, the recent spell of wet weather has allowed the state Department of Water Resources to increase the deliveries from the delta to farmers and cities in Southern California, the Bay Area and the
The fact of the matter is that droughts will come and go. Managing our water system from drought to drought, however, does little to reduce our vulnerability to fluctuations in rainfall.
First, we must find new sources of water. We could build another dam, tap the next river over the mountain or pump another groundwater aquifer. But these sources have been over-tapped already. There are more innovative ways to increase water supplies.
Every year, billions of gallons of wastewater are dumped into our rivers and oceans.This water can be treated and reused for a variety of purposes. For instance, the Orange County Water District recently completed a recycling facility that produces 72,000 acre-feet a year of high-quality water. Similarly, the Irvine Ranch Water District currently meets nearly 20% of its water demand with recycled water.
Second, we must reduce our demand for water. New front-loading washing machines, for instance, use 40% less water than their older cousins, and new toilets use one-quarter of the water used by older models.
A commitment to developing alternative supplies and using our existing supplies more efficiently – rather than simply hoping for rain – will help ensure that we have sufficient resources to maintain a healthy environment, a prosperous agricultural sector and a vibrant economy for future generations. #
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-cooley10feb10,0,6242384.story
WATER BANKING:
Kern planning official slams AVEK water bank EIR; Fails to meet CEQA guidelines; QUOTE: “The (DEIR and public process has produced a document that fails to provide objective and complete information.”—Lorelei Oviatt
By Bill Deaver, staff writer
ROSAMOND — An environmental impact report (EIR) prepared for a proposed water bank west of Rosamond fails to meet numerous state requirements and needs to be re-written, a top Kern County Planning Dept. official has told the Antelope Valley/East Kern Water Agency. The proposed site for the project is near
In a letter to AVEK, Lorelei Oviatt, special projects division chief for the county planning department, said the EIR fails to meet six mandates of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
“The (draft environmental impact report (DEIR)) and public process has produced a document that fails to provide objective and complete information, does not include all feasible and reasonable mitigation measures, omits important analysis of environmental issues and violates CEQA in combining the project and the alternatives in the same analysis,” Oviatt wrote.
She also noted that the document did not fully address the project’s potential for inducing growth, and left out modeling for air emissions and potential greenhouse gasses, along with many other shortcomings.
CEQA ignored
AVEK’s handling of the EIR and the project did not follow CEQA mandates for involving the public in the process of developing the EIR, Oviatt noted, explaining that while the proposed water bank is located in
It is also vague about where the project site is located, she noted, and there is no justification in the DEIR for its comments claiming that two other water banking sites in the county are “economically infeasible.”
Oviatt also notes that while the proposed water bank site is in Kern County, public documents “state that the water bank is to benefit Los Angeles County and cities” serviced by the L.A. County Dept. of Public Works.
Because most of the water will go to customers in Los Angeles Coutny, theproposed project has “few benefits to (Kern) county property owners.” She also notes that, as AVEK bought the land where the water bank is to be located before the EIR process has been completed, “the analysis and selection of alternatives has been pre-determined by the purchase” of the water bank site.
Controversy
AVEK’s plans to build a water bank at the site has raised concerns among Kern residents living nearby. They have raised numerous issues at AVEK board meetings, including demanding that the Los Angeles County District Attorney investigate allegations that the agency has violated
http://desertnews.com/mdn/story6.html
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