A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
March 3, 2008
2. Supply
SNOW SURVEYING:
California's water fortune is told at Gin Flat; Sierra Nevada outpost is where the convergence of snow, sun and temperature enables scientists to predict floods or drought. A lab at 7,000 feet measures the snowpack, a main source of state's supply - Los Angeles Times
Growers gleeful as February rains fall at a 'nice' pace -
Wet February raises levels; Milder downpours help fill lakes, pad mountain slopes - Redding Record Searchlight
SNOW LEVELS
Snow levels up, more hoped for - Modesto Bee
DESALINATION:
Questions pile up for Carlsbad desal plant - North County Times
Commission discusses transfers topic on Tuesday -
WESTERN WATER ISSUES:
West Looking Again at Building New Dams - Associated Press
SNOW SURVEYING:
California's water fortune is told at Gin Flat; Sierra Nevada outpost is where the convergence of snow, sun and temperature enables scientists to predict floods or drought. A lab at 7,000 feet measures the snowpack, a main source of state's supply
By Deborah Schoch, staff writer
GIN FLAT, CALIF. -- -- In deep winter, water scientist Frank Gehrke straps on his cross-country skis and trudges uphill in the thin, cold air to one of the most closely monitored frozen meadows on the continent, 7,200 feet above sea level in the Sierra Nevada.
To understand why his arduous, breath-sucking hike is important, stand still and listen to the snow. In the pale morning sun, the forest of pine and cedar comes alive with sound. Clumps of fresh powder fall with a thud or drip-drop from tree tops, quickening with the staccato of popping corn.
This place is like a Rosetta Stone for
"Gin Flat's always been the place where we try things and invest first," said Michael D. Dettinger, a U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist based at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla.
Although the state oversees more than 300 survey sites, what makes Gin Flat unique is its location, an elevation in
These days, with water woes plaguing the state, readings at Gin Flat will ultimately help determine how much more it could cost Californians to drink a glass of water or take a shower, or if they can water lawns without restrictions.
That is why Gehrke, 60, didn't hesitate to ski three miles up the mountain last week, hauling a sled loaded with 60 pounds of fuel cells and tools. He is
Last week, his agency, the state Department of Water Resources, reported that Sierra snowpack was at 118% of normal for this date, compared with 63% of normal at this time last year, the driest year on record for
But Gehrke is a cautious man, and never more so than when explaining snowpack surveys.
"We could slide back to below average. A March without snow could do it," he said. "A lot of the reservoirs are pretty low from last year."
That would be bad news for Southern California, which depends heavily on imported water, about half from northern mountains and the rest from the drought-stressed
Amid fears of shortages, water rates probably will rise. Directors of the region's water wholesaler, the Metropolitan Water District, will vote March 10 and 11 on a proposed 14.3% rate increase starting Jan. 1, 2009, in part to buy extra water. More rate increases are expected in 2010 and 2011.
Worried state and local officials look to data from locations like Gin Flat for assurances that the Sierra will continue to provide a steady stream of water to keep the economy growing and water rates low.
Gehrke cannot offer the certainty they crave, he said one morning last week over a hearty eggs-and-hash-browns breakfast at a restaurant en route to Gin Flat. He is not one to speak in sweeping terms. His tone is matter-of-fact.
"When it's wet or dry, people go out and get into hyperbole about how much snow they've seen," he said
"We always think it's good to keep things grounded and not get carried away by the moment."
He is more cautious about climate change predictions. Yet, he is concerned about how snowpack levels have become erratic during his 27 years of measuring. It was thick in 2005-06, extra-thin last year and is slightly above normal so far this winter.
"A lot of people I really respect say you're going to see a lot more of this," he said.
Gehrke and other scientists have equipped 11 sites in Yosemite with high-tech monitors, turning one of
Gin Flat, east of the park's Big Oat Flat entrance, is named for a long-gone speak-easy. It provides a snowpack record dating back to 1930 that makes today's data even more valuable.
In this outpost, devices measure the weight and temperature of snow, the strength of the sun rays heating the snow and the moisture in soil under the snow. Sonar-like sensors test the depth of the snow. Results from Gin Flat are reported hourly and transmitted every three hours to
Those results are reshaping how scientists look at snow.
Research scientist Bob Rice, for instance, is preparing a paper based on Gin Flat data that shows conventional measuring methods are overestimating the water content of snow by 20%.
For water managers, that's like overdrawing a savings account by 20%.
"That 20% can make you or break you in a given year," said Rice, of the Sierra Nevada Research Institute, part of UC Merced. "If we overestimate by 20%, then we have given out more water than we actually have."
At Scripps, Dettinger used Gin Flat data to discover that snowmelt is penetrating
As the earth warms, "It will be there in the summer when we and the fisheries and the forests need it," Dettinger said.
But last week, all this high-tech, far-reaching science came down to a man and his sled.
Because this is a federal wilderness area, snowmobiles are banned.
To reach Gin Flat, scientists must make the 800-foot ascent on skis or snowshoes.
Gehrke stripped off his fleece jacket as he trudged upward with the sled-harness around his waist, breaking trail in fresh powder for more than three hours.
Time raced by, and with each strenuous step, pine shadows grew longer. Gehrke decided to stash the generator and fuel cells at midafternoon and, unburdened, skied the rest of the way to inspect Gin Flat.
He had underestimated how hard it would be to haul 60-pounds of technology by himself. He'll be back this week to retrieve the generator and install it. He'll return in early April to help UC Merced students use probes to make hundreds of depth measurements of the snowpack.
And when the snow disappears, he will hike up to mend a wood-shingled instrument hut mangled by bears. #
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-ginflat3mar03,0,10405,full.story
Growers gleeful as February rains fall at a 'nice' pace
By Robert Krier, staff writer
February was friendlier to farmers than it was to forecasters.
March could be a different story, though. There are no storms on the horizon, and long-range forecasters say the month will be dry. A local meteorologist, however, expects a midmonth return to the wet pattern that has re-emerged every few weeks this winter.
Growers reveled in February's well-spaced storms. Rain fell Feb. 3 and 4, Feb. 13 and 14, and Feb. 20 through 24.
“Yes, the rains have come nice,” said Ben Hillebrecht, who grows avocados and oranges in
“With all that moisture, we're going to get some nice size on the fruit.”
Larger fruit means more money, since growers are generally paid by the pound.
Last year, when rainfall was less than a third of this year's,
“It's freed up funds and manpower to do other things,” Stehly said, such as equipment repair and tree-trimming.
He had planned to “stump” 30 percent of his trees because of a 30 percent cutback in water deliveries from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, due to pumping restrictions in
But because of the ample rains, Stehly is recalculating, even with the cut in water deliveries. He figures he will need to stump only 18 percent to 20 percent of his trees. If March is wet, he may get by stumping only 15 percent.
But the
Lindbergh Field, with 6.74 inches of rain, and Campo, with 10.6 inches, are two of the few sites that have recorded below-normal rain for the season. The rainfall year runs from July 1 to June 30.
National Weather Service forecaster Stan Wasowski also believes that March will be drier than usual but that the rains will return.
“I don't see anything happening for the next 10 days to two weeks,” Wasowski said. “But the pattern for us this winter is to get long dry spells, then we're back into the rain. You watch. It will shift back, probably in the middle or the end of the month.”
In February, Wasowski and other forecasters licked their wounds after a series of storms that either caught them by surprise or didn't deliver as expected. The Feb. 14 tempest will go down in local forecasters' lore as the “Valentine's Day Storm,” because it was one of the biggest missed forecasts in recent memory. The storm blanketed much of
Eight days later, a storm that forecasters expected to be weak ended up soaking
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080301/news_1m1recap.html
Wet February raises levels; Milder downpours help fill lakes, pad mountain slopes
Redding Record Searchlight – 3/1/08
By Scott Mobley, staff writer
Last month's storms huffed and puffed -- but didn't blow any houses down.
February's failure to match January's rampant rainfall, brawling wind and heavy mountain snow was certainly a relief for storm-weary homeowners, travelers, mountain dwellers and sun lovers.
Yet February's trio of storms dumped decent rain and snow where it counts for summer water storage and recreation -- on the mountains around the valley. Runoff from these downpours helped erase the giant bathtub ring around
"It's not a far stretch at all to fill it up," said Sheri Harral, a Bureau of Reclamation spokeswoman at Shasta Dam.
Last month started much like January left off -- wet, windy and chilly. The
Then came one of those huge shifts in the meandering band of high-altitude, high-velocity winds girdling the globe that steer and feed storms in the mid-latitudes.
These winds -- known as the jet stream -- had dipped south over the West Coast through much of January into early February. But after Feb. 2 these winds bowed north, allowing warm, dry air to flood
The sun came out and stayed out for a couple of weeks during what is one of the year's stormiest months. The long spell of warm, dry weather sparked a spring bloom among far northern
The valley rain, mountain snow and strong winds returned for a few days starting Feb. 21 as the jet stream again sagged south. The
A private weather station just off upper
Sunday's storm spawned a fast-moving line of thunderstorms that drenched the
As usual, though, the mountains west and north of
The lake level on Thursday stood at 990.23 feet above sea level, or 76.77 feet below the crest. That's the lowest the lake has been in late February since 1992, records show. But the lake started the season 126 feet below
the crest after the driest winter in nearly two decades in 2006-2007, said Harral, the bureau spokeswoman.
Shasta Dam has recorded 45 inches of rain since July, already more than the dam got all last season, Harral said.
Another 15 or 20 inches of rainfall over the next few months could fill the lake, she said.
“We’re hanging onto everything we have, filling it (the lake) up as best we can,” Harral said.
March is poised to come in like a baby lion, at best. Forecasts Friday afternoon suggested the wispy tail of a weak cold front would drop just enough rain to put a shine on the streets and a sheen on the lawn this morning. Next week looks warm, breezy and dry.
Longer-range forecasts keep hinting the jet stream will steer storms back into
“I’ve been here 16 years,” Harral said. “Just when you think the lake won’t get that low, or that high, it happens. We can certainly get 20 inches of rain, and we can get it in a month.” #
http://www.redding.com/news/2008/mar/01/wet-february-raises-levels/
SNOW LEVELS
Snow levels up, more hoped for
Winter storms have packed snow on the Sierras but water officials say it will take more to fill depleted reservoirs.
Snow surveys measuring the amount and water content of snow conducted this week show the Central Sierra is at 110 percent of normal and the southern Sierra is at 130 percent of normal. In both places, those figures are close to or exceeding typical levels for April 1, the benchmark for the season.
Even so, last year's drought drained reservoirs and it will most likely still take even more weather to refill them, said Arthur Hinojosa, chief of the hydrology for the state Department Water Resources. He didn't have an exact figure.
"Hopefully, the storms we have been seeing over the last couple of months will continue to come in the same fashion," said Don Strickland, department spokesman. "Most reservoirs are half full or even a little less because they had to release so much water last year."
Don Pedro Reservoir is at 61 percent of capacity. New
http://www.modbee.com/local/story/226251.html
Capital Press – 2/29/08
By Elizabeth Larsen, staff writer
News that California' snowpack remains higher than normal arrived Thursday coupled with a report that the state must reduce pumping in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to comply with a federal court order to protect fish.
The third of five seasonal snowpack surveys was conducted Thursday near
At this time last year, the statewide snowpack averaged 63 percent of normal for all regions, according to the department.
The good news about the snowpack was offset by a DWR announcement that it would need to further reduce pumping through the State Water Project in order to comply with a federal court order in order to protect fish in the delta. The order will limit water exports to Southern California, the Bay Area and
Exports at this time of year typically would need to be about 8,000 cubic feet per second to fill storage south of the bay-delta and provide water to farms and communities there, according to DWR.
Those now will be cut to about 2,000 cubic feet per second in order to protect the delta smelt, the department said Thursday. This year's pumping reduction will reduce the amount of water that can be allocated to the 29 state water contractors this year between 11 and 30 percent.
DWR said the reduction will last up to seven days.
The pumping reductions are the resulted of a December 2007 decision issued by Judge Oliver Wanger to protect the tiny delta smelt, the population of which has dropped drastically in the past few years.
Electronic sensor readings of the snowpack taken Thursday showed the following snow-water equivalents: Northern Sierra, 122 percent; Central Sierra, 110 percent; Southern Sierra, 130 percent.
Reservoirs in
"
The next manual survey is tentatively scheduled for April 1. #
http://www.capitalpress.info/main.asp?SectionID=94&SubSectionID=801&ArticleID=39735&TM=43106.34
DESALINATION:
Questions pile up for
By Gig Conaughton, staff writer
For the second time in three months, a government agency has raised environmental concerns about a plan to take seawater out of the ocean off
And for the second time, the agency in question has already approved, albeit conditionally, the desalinization plant.
The San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, the region's water-pollution police force, is the latest agency to raise environmental concerns about the
In a recent letter, the control board said it wanted more information about how the plant would minimize harm to fish and the environment ---- 21 months after the board awarded the plant a discharge permit.
In November, the California Coastal Commission awarded the plant a permit, on the condition that its backers, Poseidon Resources Inc., answer more questions about the same subjects.
Environmental groups last week immediately said the control board's action proved environmental worries were valid, and that agencies were moving too quickly to conditionally approve the plant.
"It's absurd to us that any agency could pre-approve a project of this magnitude without having this information already tied down," said Marco Gonzalez, an environmental lawyer active in the Surfrider Foundation, which has sued to overturn the commission's permit approval.
Poseidon downplayed the ongoing questions.
Poseidon Vice President Peter MacLaggan said the company has legitimate plans to ease environmental harm, and that all questions would be answered in coming months.
"What I take away from all of this is we haven't done a very good job of explaining our story," MacLaggan said. "That's what has prompted the questions."
Big project
If the $300 million, 50 million-gallon-per-day
Poseidon said late last year that it hoped to start building this year and open by 2010.
Last week it said that that timeline had changed to building in 2009 and opening by 2011 but that the change had nothing to do with the continuing environmental questions.
Tom Luster, the coastal commission's seawater desalination expert, said there were as many as 20 other desalination projects in the works that could eventually seek their own permits.
Drama
The plant's fate, and the permitting process, are part of an important water-supply drama.
Desertlike Southern California has long relied upon imported water: from the Colorado River, and from
But both of those supply systems are troubled.
The
Water officials around the state ---- and Poseidon ---- say that seawater desalinization would be an important new supply and could never hurt the ocean because its immense volume of water would dilute harmful effects.
Environmental groups disagree and say such plants could destroy
Gonzalez said last week that that means that permitting agencies should take every step to make sure they recognize all the possible environmental harm Poseidon's plant could cause and how to address those problems ---- to "get it right the first time."
Intake worries
Most of the plant's environmental questions revolve around how it will get the seawater it will turn into drinking water.
The proposed plant would be located at
Encina already sucks in millions of gallons of water from the sea, pumps it around its electricity-producing turbine engines to cool them, and then spits it back out to the ocean.
Poseidon planned to use 304 million gallons of that a day to force through high-tech filtering membranes.
Fifty million gallons a day would be turned into drinking water. The rest, including the extracted brine, would be sent back to sea.
However, NRG Energy, the company that operates Encina, has applied to move to an air-cooled process by 2010 because a recent court case and studies say ocean-cooling systems hurt ocean life, killing fish, vegetation, and microscopic life.
Poseidon has a deal to continue to use the existing sea intake and outfall system. But environmental groups have said that should not be allowed.
As he has in the past, MacLaggan said last week that the plant would only kill about 2 1/2 pounds of fish per day and some phytoplankton, fish larvae and other microscopic organisms. He said the company plans to offset that harm by creating 37 acres of new wetland habitat in a joint San Dieguito River Valley program.
Control board questions
But the control board said Feb. 19 that it didn't like the San Dieguito plan.
Control board officials said that even though they granted the
Eric Becker, a control board engineer, said the agency wants Poseidon to create new wetlands or other environmental habitat in Carlsbad's Agua Hedionda Lagoon ---- which is where the Encina plant's cooling system is situated ---- not San Dieguito.
MacLaggan said there isn't anywhere in Agua Hedionda to do that.
Meanwhile, the control board's executive director, John Robertus, said Poseidon's 37-acre offset plan amounted to a one-time $5 million purchase to offset unforeseen environmental harm over at least 30 years.
Robertus said that wasn't good enough. Southern California
"I'd rather have mitigation that is ongoing and dynamic," Robertus said last week.
MacLaggan said the $5 million cap was misleading.
"We would not put a financial cap on our commitment," he said. "We were not saying that's all we're willing to spend. What we said was the harm would be more than fully compensated at 37 acres."
Luster and the commission also have questions about the 37-acre plan.
In a letter sent to Poseidon last week, Luster said the commission needed more information about Poseidon's environmental studies.
The letter said the commission could not tell how Poseidon determined creating the 37 acres would offset the fish and larvae the plant would kill. Because of that, the letter said, the commission could not judge whether the 37 acre-plan was adequate.
MacLaggan said Poseidon hoped to answer all the questions from the control board, the commission and a third agency ---- the state Lands Commission ---- by midsummer and finalize all of its needed permits.
The state Lands Commission, like the Coastal Commission, wants more information about how Poseidon will offset the greenhouse gases the plant will emit.
"This is just all just part of the process, outlined by the regulators who need to methodically work through this," MacLaggan said. #
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/03/03/news/coastal/20_45_843_2_08.txt
Commission discusses transfers topic on Tuesday
OROVILLE -- The Butte County Water Commission Tuesday will discuss a water transfer program proposed with Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District, Western Canal Water District and Richvale Irrigation District.
According to an initial study for
Glenn-Colusa has also filed a study for a transfer option for 82,500 acre-feet of water, in addition to 2,500 acre-feet of water from wells.
The district provides water to farmers in Glenn and Colusa counties.
The commission will also hear an update on Proposition 50 research on the Tuscan Aquifer.
The meeting will be at 1:30 p.m. in the Board of Supervisors Chambers,
http://www.chicoer.com//ci_8434448?IADID=Search-www.chicoer.com-www.chicoer.com
WESTERN WATER ISSUES:
West Looking Again at Building New Dams
Associated Press – 3/3/08
By Nicholas K. Geranios, staff writer
The Western states' era of massive dam construction _ which tamed rivers, swallowed towns, and created irrigated agriculture, cheap hydropower and environmental problems _ effectively ended in 1966 with the completion of Glen Canyon Dam.
But the region's booming population and growing fears about climate change have governments once again studying construction of dams to capture more winter rain and spring snowmelt for use in dry summer months.
"The West and the Northwest are increasing in population growth like never before," said John Redding, regional spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in
The population of the Western states grew nearly 20 percent in the 1990s, to more than 64 million, and continues to swell even as climate change poses new threats to the water supply.
Ironically, consideration of new dams comes even as older ones are being torn down across the country because of environmental concerns _ worries that will likely pose big obstacles to new construction. In
There are lots of other ideas for increasing water supplies in the West. They include conservation, storing water in natural underground aquifers, pipelines to carry water from the mountains, desalination plants to make drinking water from the ocean, small dams to serve local areas.
Most of those ideas are much more popular than big new dams.
Jay Manning, director of the
"It is inevitable we will take steps to increase water supply," Manning said. "Storage is part of that solution."
With demand for water already high, pressure is being increased by fears that climate change will produce rain instead of snow in winter, reducing the slow-melting snowpack that provides water in dry summer months.
Gregoire's plan drew the support of many environmentalists by including many ideas they prefer, including conservation measures and metering more uses of water.
But the state also is studying dams, drawing opposition from some environmentalists, particularly a group called the Center for Environmental Law and Policy.
"Our water future doesn't lie with new dams," said Dr. John Osborn, a
Osborn contends dam boosters are pushing for new dams to benefit business, underplaying the costs and environmental destruction and ignoring the benefits of improving conservation.
In other states:
_Four major water storage projects are being studied in
_The Southern Nevada Water Authority, which serves
_In
_Some in
A major barrier to new dams is cost, which runs into the billions, Manning said. It's uncertain how much the federal government would be willing to pay.
A recent study of the Black Rock dam proposal in the Yakima River basin concludes the 600-foot-high dam would cost $6.7 billion to build and operate, and would return just 16 cents for every dollar spent.
The explosive growth of the West is in part a product of a binge in dam construction that provided plentiful water and cheap electricity. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation built more than 472 dams, including Shasta in
But the era of giant dams essentially ended with the Glen Canyon Dam, just upstream from the Grand Canyon on the Arizona-Utah state line, which galvanized the environmental movement because its
However, both lakes are only half full after years of drought, and researchers at
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004255460_apdammingagain.html
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