Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
February 26, 2008
5. Agencies, Programs, People
LEGAL ISSUES:
State sued over lack of dredge activity; Mokelumne silt level riles landowner - Stockton Record
SACRAMENTO
Flood agency urges new fee; Developers and remodelers face extra cost if plan is approved to help finance stronger levees - Sacramento Bee
Soil testing starts on Pocket-area levees -
ENERGY ISSUES:
Modesto Irrigation District lobbies D.C.; Officials worry about mandate for renewable energy - Fresno Bee
WATER POLICY:
Editorial: One Water; Whether it's recycled or behind dams, it's expensive and critical -
LEGAL ISSUES:
State sued over lack of dredge activity; Mokelumne silt level riles landowner
By Alex Breitler, staff writer
A prominent
Dean "Dino" Cortopassi, a self-described "swamp rat" who grew up on the Delta and earned his living in agriculture, said decades worth of muck have piled up on the bottom of the Mokelumne and in other north Delta channels.
This means less room in the river for runoff during the stormy season and greater likelihood that the levees protecting his 3,000-acre Canal Ranch will fail, he said.
He blames the state Department of Water Resources, the Central Valley Flood Protection Board and the California State Lands Commission for allowing 5 to 8 feet of additional sedimentation to accumulate for three decades.
"Frankly, the state's behavior is, in my view, inexcusable," the 70-year-old Cortopassi said. "It is simply inexcusable."
A Water Resources spokesman said the department had not received the lawsuit and could not comment. The suit was filed Monday morning in San Joaquin County Superior Court.
But documents prepared by the state show officials are considering dredging portions of the Mokelumne as part of a flood control and ecosystem restoration project in the north Delta.
This planning effort has gone on for "many years," according to a roughly 1,200-pageenvironmental impact report released in November.
The Mokelumne and Cosumnes rivers do not have enough capacity to carry peak flows during major storm years, according to the state document. The Mokelumne can handle about 40,000 cubic feet per second; the capacity during a once-in-a-century flood could top 90,000 cfs.
Cortopassi, who was named Stocktonian of the Year in 2005, said he purchased farmland along the Mokelumne three years ago, where he is establishing olives for an olive oil plantation.
About one year ago, Cortopassi finished multimillion-dollar levee improvements to protect the property. He declined to say exactly how much money was spent.
Regardless, improving levees will not solve the problem if the river levels continue rising, he said.
The lawsuit also says the state has misused $35 million in Proposition 13 water bond money that should be put toward flood protection.
The money, approved by voters in 2000, was given to the Nature Conservancy for the purchase of
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080226/A_NEWS/802260305
SACRAMENTO
Flood agency urges new fee; Developers and remodelers face extra cost if plan is approved to help finance stronger levees
Sacramento
By Matt Weiser, staff writer
A plan to double the city's flood protection could add $5,000 to the price of an average new home in
The Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency proposes a development fee to pay for a host of projects to achieve greater flood protection throughout the city.
The fee was first discussed last year as a companion to a property tax increase adopted by voters for flood control projects. Details were unveiled at a meeting of the SAFCA board last week.
A fee on new development is seen as a way to ensure urban growth does not increase the area's flood risk. It would amount to about $2 per square foot for one-story, single-family homes, which in
Industrial projects would pay about the same rate, two-story multifamily housing would pay $1.20 per square foot, and commercial development would pay about $3.
New construction and remodeling that increases an existing building's footprint would be subject to the fees.
"We'd like to shape this to encourage redevelopment and compact growth," said Stein Buer, SAFCA executive director. "Where we are redeveloping existing square footage, you are not really creating additional square footage at risk."
After
Among them is a plan to armor
Armoring may be needed because Folsom Dam's flood control abilities will be "maxed out" after a new spillway and other improvements are built in 2015, said SAFCA attorney Tim Washburn. A 200-year flow out of the dam over a 48-hour period could overtop
An overtopped levee still means flooding, but at much lower depths.
"If the levees don't fail, you greatly limit the amount of water that flows into the floodplain and the amount of damage that results," said Washburn.
Another solution is "forecast-based operations" at Folsom Dam, in which water releases are triggered by weather predictions to create more flood storage. The fees could pay for water supplies inadvertently lost in the process.
Other projects include buying development rights on rural land around
Developer fees may also expand capacity in the Yolo Bypass and weirs that divert water into it when the
SAFCA also would use the fee to reimburse its property tax revenue. Those funds are being spent now for ongoing flood safety projects, especially to restore 100-year flood protection in the Natomas basin.
The proposed fee would be imposed in
Developers, so far, don't oppose the fee, but they want more time to study it.
"We understand the need for it. We embrace that," said Joshua Wood, government affairs coordinator at the Sacramento Builders Exchange. However, he said, "This is a significant fee that will affect our membership and the ability to pencil out projects."
The board plans a preliminary vote on the fee in March. It would then require approval by the city and
Collection of the fee would start 60 days later. #
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/739035.html
Soil testing starts on Pocket-area levees
By Matt Weiser, staff writer
Soil testing has begun on levees in
Sections of the trail and other public facilities atop the levees will be closed temporarily during the work.
Two types of testing are being conducted by a contractor working for the state Department of Water Resources. A drill rig is taking soil samples, while in other locations a device tests soil properties by forcing a rod up to 120 feet deep into the levee.
Both tests will supplement aerial laser and electromagnetic measurements taken last year, said Steve Mahnke, the department's chief of urban levee evaluations.
The work is part of the Department of Water Resources' $85 million effort to fully evaluate urban levees in the
ENERGY ISSUES:
Modesto Irrigation District lobbies D.C.; Officials worry about mandate for renewable energy
By Michael Doyle, staff writer
Lobbying lawmakers on Monday, Modesto Irrigation District managers warned about the potential consequences of a state ballot measure requiring greater reliance on renewable energy. The proposal would require
"We may need to buy stock in Pier One, for the candles," said Modesto Irrigation District's general manager, Allen Short.
Renewable sources currently account for about 12% of the power generated by the Modesto-based district, and Short indicated more is coming on line. With the help of a $720,000 state grant, for instance, the Fiscalini Cheese Co. is installing a "methane digester" that will extract methane gas from cow manure; the irrigation district could then buy the resulting energy.
But Short and Joy A. Warren, the
Investor-owned utilities, such as Pacific Gas & Electric Co., already face a 2020 deadline for generating 20% of their power through renewable sources. The proposed ballot measure would stiffen the renewable requirements and extend them to publicly owned utilities as well, such as the
Proponents are collecting the 433,971 signatures needed to qualify the Solar and Clean Energy Initiative for the
"Californians must take energy reform into their own hands," the proposed ballot measure states. "The alternative to dirty energy is clean and solar energy."
Statewide, about 11% of
The renewable energy initiative is entirely a state matter.
Nonetheless, utility officials like Short and
Monday morning, the utility executives found a sympathetic audience in the office of Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa. Radanovich is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is fighting its own renewable energy conflict.
"The congressman is aware of the difficulties you guys are facing," Radanovich's spokesman, Spencer Pederson, assured Short and Warren.
Last year, over the objections of San Joaquin Valley Republican lawmakers, the Democratic-controlled House approved an energy bill requiring utilities to generate 15% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. The renewable energy mandate was later stripped from the bill in the face of strong Senate resistance. #
http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/421560.html
WATER POLICY:
Editorial: One Water; Whether it's recycled or behind dams, it's expensive and critical
Santa Rosa Press Democrat – 2/26/08
What does a press conference involving
Both the press conference and the lawsuit were about water, albeit different kinds of water, and the outcome of both hold the possibility of changing state water policy.
On Thursday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, announced that they have joined forces with the goal of persuading the Legislature to approve a comprehensive state water bond.
This effort comes only two months after negotiations collapsed between legislative Democrats and the governor on a proposed water bond.
Schwarzenegger hopes that with Feinstein’s help, he can persuade Democratic legislators to accept a plan that includes the construction of dams, the restoration of the Bay Delta’s ecosystem and a canal or pipeline to send water around the delta. While they didn’t give numbers, a similar legislative plan discussed in 2007 would have cost $9 billion.
In doing so, lawmakers could head off a larger plan — $11.6 billion — that the state Chamber of Commerce hopes to place on the November ballot.
There are questions about the wisdom of adding to the state’s debt load when it faces a $16 billion budget shortfall, but
This year, 25 million Californians will have their water cut by 30 percent, following a court order to reduce releases from the delta in order to protect an endangered fish.
As the state attempts to balance the competing needs of struggling species, a growing population and its agricultural economy, the pressures on the water system will only get worse. Climate change could add to the problem if the Sierra snowpack declines and if dry years become drier.
Building new storage sites is one answer; another is to reuse more water — which brings us to the city of
The ruling means that Healdsburg must treat more thoroughly the wastewater it releases into Basalt Pond (which is near the
Healdsburg is already taking steps to increase its level of treatment and is planning to use the water during the summer to irrigate the city’s parks, playgrounds and the golf course, which is a good thing. The ruling means that other cities which store wastewater in comparable ponds could one day be required to take similar steps.
This isn’t cheap. Healdsburg’s new treatment plant cost $32 million and its irrigation system will run between $10 million and $14 million.
Whether its potable or recycled, one thing is clear, Californians should expect to pay much more for water in the future. #
http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20080225/NEWS/481130712/1043/OPINION01
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