A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
April 14, 2008
2. Supply
Water supply threats worsen - North
NESTLE WATER BOTTLING:
Water worries put cap on bottling - Associated Press
WATER SUPPLY POLICY:
Guest Column: We can solve the water ‘crisis’ in three easy steps -
WATER CONSERVATION:
A season for conservation – Santa Rosa Press Democrat
AG ISSUES:
Free workshop will cover farm irrigation systems - Redding Record Searchlight
WATER RIGHTS ISSUES:
Yolo and Lake counties at stand-still over water rights -
Water story makes big splash; Doomsday predictions for Lake Mead,
Water supply threats worsen
By Bradley J. Fikes, staff writer
Local water agencies have created numerous programs to encourage saving water. For example, the region’s water wholesaler, the San Diego County Water Authority, is promoting a “20 Gallon Challenge” to cut household water use by 20 gallons a day. And the authority recently adopted a model drought conservation plan for its member agencies, who directly provide water to customers.
However, other water-deprived areas outside of
That supply, however, is contingent upon there being enough water to transfer, and Mother Nature has shown herself to be a fickle provider. Conservation and reclamation of already used water doesn’t rely on the vagaries of the weather. So the
Total water consumption in the
Desert success
In
About six years ago, the
So the Las Vegas-area water agencies unleashed a torrent of new incentives, including discount coupons for carwashes. That’s water-saving, Bennett said, because carwashes recycle their water, while water used to hose down cars in driveways is lost to evaporation.
There are also rebates for buying water-saving devices, a program that has just arrived to
Most notably,
The water conservation system is now largely self-enforced, Bennett said. Price incentives, rebates and education have made the population water-aware.
Water hogs still exist in the
“Our incentive programs are enormous. We spend over $90 million (annually) paying people to do things that conserve water,” Bennett said. “All of our conservation programs are financed by new growth. So when somebody moves into this valley and develops a piece of property, they pay pretty large connection fees. A portion of those monies goes to funding conservation efforts.”
Bennett said that gives him a nice answer for longtime residents who feel imposed upon because their conservation is making more growth possible.
“That new person, who you’re helping provide water for, is paying the bill for these (conservation) programs,” Bennett said.
Getting the word out
Water conservation depends on public support, Bennett says. People have to be constantly told of the need to save water and what they can do to help
People may think they’re saving water by not running the tap while they’re brushing their teeth, Bennett said. But most of the water savings comes from reducing outdoor water use. Water from indoor use can be reclaimed, while water wasted outside evaporates in the hot desert sun.
Bennett said the district uses a combination of public education, water rates that penalize high water use, regulations and incentive programs.
“They really all play off each other,” Bennett said, calling outreach “a critical component.”
“We’ll spend millions of dollars on messaging, publicity and so forth,” Bennett said. “Most of those messages are intended to drive people to other resources, to let them know about a product or service, to let them know about a behavior we want them to implement.
“One of the key principles behind our success is actively engaging the community in not only (explaining) what the issues are and what the choices are, but making it very clear exactly what they can do about it,” Bennett said.
Some of the messages are surprising: While turf grass lawns are discouraged because they use so much water, just about any other greenery will produce substantial water savings.
“They can have a very lush-looking landscape,” Bennett said. “They can have a tropical landscape with flowers and trees, shrubs and plants. They can have a rose garden. All we care is that it’s not spray-irrigated turf grass anymore.”
On average, the water savings from converting from lawns to other vegetation is about 75 percent, Bennett said.
Short to long term
Water conservation needs to proceed on two tracks: short-term responses to emergencies and long-term changes in behavior, said Chris Brown, executive director of the California Urban Water Conservation Council.
“In an immediate threat to water supplies, restrictions on outdoor water use have been shown to work around the country,” Brown said. For example, watering lawns and gardens could be prohibited during middays, limited to certain days of the week or entirely banned.
The model drought conservation plan endorsed last month by the San Diego County Water Authority aims for a unified response to drought among its 24 member agencies that sell water directly to customers. The plan is intended to make it easier to get a single message out to the public in
The plan, which must be adopted by the member agencies to go into effect, establishes four levels of drought warnings.
Level One, Drought Watch, calls for a 10 percent voluntary reduction in consumer water use. The remaining three ---- Drought Alert, Drought Critical and Drought Emergency ---- call for mandatory reductions of up to 20 percent, 40 percent and more than 40 percent, respectively.
These levels come with specified conservation measures that curb practices regarded as nonessential, such as outdoor irrigation. This ensures that people who are already conserving water are not penalized.
These drought warnings, however, are short-term measures.
For the longer term, the goal is to get people to use a series of so-called “best management practices” that have been proven to permanently reduce per-capita water use, Brown said. These include more efficient irrigation timers, changing landscape to drought-tolerant species, or using a broom instead of washing down driveways.
Sometimes, short-term restrictions can lead to long-term changes in behavior, Brown said.
“A lot of customers learn that their lawns don’t go dead when they’re not watered every day,” Brown said. “It’s a very educational experience. These have been learning opportunities as well as challenges.” #
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/04/13/business/733c9432b08b0dba88257420007050f7.txt
NESTLE WATER BOTTLING:
Water worries put cap on bottling
Associated Press – 4/13/08
By Samantha Young, staff writer
McCLOUD – The lumber mill closed five years ago, and so many families moved out that the town can no longer even field a high school football team.
But McCloud is hoping to turn things around by exploiting the other natural resource in abundance along the icy flanks of
The town of 1,300 people in far
The project is still awaiting an environmental review from the county and could be several years away from approval, having run into opposition from scientists, fishermen, conservationists and some members of the community.
But others in town are growing frustrated by the delays and want to see something, anything, to replace the lumber mill that was driven out of business by the logging restrictions that have hurt the timber industry across the
“When they had the mill, this town was jumping,” said homeowner Paula Kleinhans. “As soon as the mill closed down, people moved, they lost their jobs, and now there are no children here. It really needs industry here.”
Similar disputes are playing out elsewhere around the country as water becomes an increasingly precious commodity — and a major source of legal and political controversy — because of drought, booming population and the popularity of bottled water.
From
Supporters of bottling plants see them as a vital source of jobs and revenue. Others fear that pumping large amounts of water from the ground will drain wells, creeks and streams.
“It’s no longer this limitless resource,” said Elaine Renich, a commissioner in
In
“They are people who want to bully their way in and take our water,” said
Opposition in
Last September,
Bottled water is a $10.8 billion-a-year industry in the
McCloud sits in the shadow of 14,162-foot
The dozens of springs breaking through the crust of
Under the agreement negotiated by McCloud’s sole governing body, an elected board that oversees water, roads and sewers, Nestle is promising 240 jobs and payments of as much as $390,000 a year, depending on how much water is removed.
The company and the board say the town will still have more than enough water for itself. And preliminary reviews have shown that the pumping plant would have minimal environmental effect.
“We’re all working to the same goal: sustainability and protection of the environment,” said Nestle’s
Opponents say not enough study has been done. Among other things, they say, it is not clear what the pumping would do to the streams. Some could become slower or warmer, perhaps harming the trout, scientists say.
“These are small streams. Individually, they don’t count for much, but it’s always the cumulative effect you worry about,” said Peter Moyle, a biologist with the
In town, some residents and community leaders believe the project could bring some energy back to McCloud, which had 2,000 people before the lumber mill closed.
Nowadays, the McCloud Soda Shoppe & I, the bookstore and the general store close by 5:30 p.m., and the only place to get a meal on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights is the bar at the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall.
Randy Prinz, 52, said he might support the bottling operation if the town renegotiated to get more money. His grandparents settled in McCloud at the height of the timber industry, and he watched it go from boom to bust.
“Now all you have is your memories and your house,” he said. “And no job.” #
http://www.chicoer.com/advertise/ci_8907177?IADID=Search-www.chicoer.com-www.chicoer.com
WATER SUPPLY POLICY:
Guest Column: We can solve the water ‘crisis’ in three easy steps
By Tony Bogar, works with Friends of the River,
We hear endlessly about the “water crisis.” Politicians are pushing to build more dams, at a cost of several billion dollars each. Even the
Let’s be clear.
So, some people are rushing to build dams — expensive 19th century solutions to 21st century problems. We don’t need solutions that are expensive, destructive and useless. A little common sense shows us that the real answers to our problems are easy, efficient and smart.
Why dams don’t work: Dams are expensive. Dams today are the most expensive option for water, costing billions of dollars each to build and maintain. Taxpayers could end up paying a bill that’s almost 50 times — yes, 50 times! — the cost of smarter solutions.
Dams are destructive.
Dams are useless.
Why common sense does work: Saving water is easy. Conservation really does work.
Recycling water is efficient. Why spray clean, clear drinking water on our golf courses and median strips? We can use the rainwater that runs into our storm drains and recycle our wastewater. Through reclamation and recycling we can save enough drinking water each year for 1.5 million households — roughly all of
Storing water is smart. Every year enough water for almost 3 million households — one-quarter of all the households in
These three easy steps easily beat billion-dollar dams and canals. #
http://eurekareporter.com/article/080413-we-can-solve-the-water-crisis-in-three-easy-steps
WATER CONSERVATION:
A season for conservation
Santa Rosa Press Democrat – 4/12/08
By Bob Norberg, staff writer
Gene Berman was shocked by his March water usage.
The first month of irrigating the ¾-acre of landscaping at his
“I don’t like wasting anything,” said Berman, who moved into the home 18 months ago. “This is lush landscaping. It’s beautiful, but we may start to think about drought-resistant plants.”
Using as much water as Berman did is not unusual, said Randall Barron, a city of
During a two-hour water audit Friday, what Barron found also was typical – sprinkler heads that were old, leaking, blocked by shrubbery, aimed the wrong way and inefficient; drip irrigation where there no longer were plants; and faucets and a shower head that needed restrictors.
“By replacing sprinkler heads and going to drip in some areas where you now have overhead sprinklers, you can easily save half of that water,” Barron said.
The weather is heating up, with temperatures in the 70s and 80s the next few days. That means yard irrigation is expected to move into high gear.
Yet the Sonoma County Water Agency already is warning that without more rainfall to increase the level of water in
“We don’t have at this point a specific target that we are aiming for. However, that is partly because we don’t know what the water supply will be,” said Pam Jeane, the Water Agency’s deputy director of operations. “The message at this point is that less is more – using less water means more water for the environment and recreation.”
The agency last year was under a mandatory state order to limit the water it took from the
It in turn passed the conservation order to its contractors, including
“Now is the time when people are starting to turn irrigation systems on. It is a good time for everyone to check out to make sure it is operating correctly, that there are no leaks or breaks or blockages,” said Jennifer Burke, a senior water resources manager with the city.
Barron downloaded a satellite image of Berman’s house and landscaping and then spent two hours checking every faucet, shower, toilet and the sprinkler and drip irrigation systems.
He even set up 18 catch-cans on a 380-square-foot lawn to determine how much water the sprinklers emitted and how it was distributed.
“Not well,” said Barron, summarizing his findings. “I will have to take it back and put it into a spreadsheet to crunch the numbers, but it’s very uneven.”
The city will give homeowners as much as $350 toward repairing irrigation systems and $250 for removing lawns.
The city also gives out free self-testing kits that include water bags to measure shower and faucet flow, dye tablets to check for toilet leaks and a list of what to look for with irrigation systems.
Barron recommends replacing sprinkler heads with multi-stream rotor heads, which can be adjusted to control spread and throw, and which also throw out heavy drops of water that aren’t affected by wind.
Berman said he appreciated the city’s program.
“I like to save money, but it isn’t the issue. To conserve water is the issue, because it’ll run out,” he said. “This is extremely valuable.” #
http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20080412/NEWS/804120328/1033/NEWS&template=kart
AG ISSUES:
Free workshop will cover farm irrigation systems
Redding Record Searchlight – 4/13/08
The Tehama County Resource Conservation District is offering a free workshop to teach farmers, ranchers and others how to make the most of their irrigation systems.
The April 25 workshop will demonstrate the district's Mobile Irrigation Lab and free irrigation evaluation services.
The workshop will be held at the
The district advises that proper water use increases water and energy savings, improves crop yields and increases profits. An evaluation by the MIL provides information on how evenly your system distributes irrigation water, assistance with irrigation scheduling and a confidential report on the system's performance.
A map and directions to the workshop are available on the district's Web site, www.tehamacountyrcd.org.
Bring your own lunch, or you can order one at the site. R.S.V.P. by calling the Tehama County RCD at 527-3013, Ext. 3. #
http://www.redding.com/news/2008/apr/13/free-workshop-will-cover-farm-irrigation-systems/
WATER RIGHTS ISSUES:
Yolo and
By Tiffany Revelle, staff writer
LAKE COUNTY -- Negotiations over long-standing water rights to
In May 2007, the
If the amendment was agreed upon by both entities, it would make that 7,950 acre feet available for beneficial use including for drinking anywhere in the county. The board approved the suggested amendment on the premise that less and less of it is needed to fill the pipe going to the Geysers as treated sewage increases with population growth.
"We haven't had any meetings lately, but we will meet this spring. I don't know when yet," Robey said. He and Farrington met informally with two directors from the Yolo district group to discuss both counties' water needs.
According to the Yolo district's general manager Tim O'Halloran, the meetings stopped after Yolo received the proposed amendment almost a year ago. "We were surprised by their approach of sending us a document out of blue," O'Halloran said.
"Our sense was that rather than just on one side say, this is what we want,' we should work collaboratively to develop an arrangement that makes sense for both parties. The term is interest-based collaboration, where we identify each other's needs and work toward mutually acceptable solutions," O'Halloran said.
He continued, "We don't feel it was developed in that manner. Frankly, we didn't quite understand where they were coming from or what they were suggesting."
The
O'Halloran said he was not aware of an MOU.
Yolo Water and Power Co., which later became the Yolo water district, applied May 28, 1912 for the right to use water flowing through Cache Creek, naming all the streams and flowing into the lake, according to the Lake County Recorder's office. As it prepared to construct the present dam on Cache Creek, Yolo Water and Power Company had asked the board of supervisors at the time if
http://www.record-bee.com//ci_8846248?IADID=Search-www.record-bee.com-www.record-bee.com
Water story makes big splash; Doomsday predictions for Lake Mead,
By Henry Brean, staff writer
The story has everything, from the lights of
Over the past year, the Southern Nevada Water Authority has fielded a barrage of interview requests from media outlets from across the country and around the globe.
They all want to talk about the same thing: doomsday predictions for climate change, drought on the Colorado River and
Authority officials have been interviewed more than 30 times by some of the world's most recognized publications and broadcast outlets, from Good Morning America to the BBC, Time magazine and the French newspaper Le Monde.
These aren't the usual freelance journalists parachuting in from
The requests really started to pour in two months ago after the Scripps Institution of Oceanography released a report predicting a 50-50 chance that Lake Mead could run dry by 2021.
Within a week, water authority Public Information Manager Scott Huntley had fielded 18 media inquiries.
"It was really a made-for-headline, made-for-TV kind of study," he said.
The onslaught continues.
Earlier this month, water authority General Manager Pat Mulroy taped an interview for CBS News Sunday Morning. On Tuesday, she sat down with the Weather Channel and the English-language branch of the Arabic news network Al Jazeera.
"That was about as exotic a request I've gotten in my career," Huntley said, and he wasn't talking about the Weather Channel.
For Mulroy, who has done the lion's share of the interviews, the surge in interest is proof of just how serious the drought got last year. The Scripps study simply brought the matter into sharper focus, she said.
Huntley said the tone of recent interviews has changed somewhat when it comes to the study.
"We're starting to get into the longer-term follow mode instead of the initial-frenzy mode," he said.
Scripps researchers trace Lake Mead's fall to climate change and overuse of water from the
According to the study, there is also a 50 percent chance that the reservoir's level will fall low enough to shut down power generation at Hoover Dam by 2017, and a 10 percent chance the lake could empty by 2014.
Water managers have questioned the study's methodology, but Mulroy said its conclusions about
"Can I say it is impossible? No, I can't say it's impossible."
International interest in the study, and the
"From a media perspective, it's a sexy story for them. You've got
You've got
"And climate change is an enormous issue in
Mulroy got a bizarre, firsthand taste of Europe's fascination with the issue a few weeks ago, when she traveled to
Mulroy said she turned on the television in her hotel room, and a familiar face appeared on the screen: hers. It was video, freshly dubbed in German, from an interview she gave months before in
"I thought, 'Oh my God, I can't get away from it,' " she said. "It was truly hilarious."
Huntley said the story might not get quite so much traction overseas if it were happening in
"I think
In February, Yomiuri Shimbun, with its circulation of more than 10 million, published a four-part series on water issues worldwide. Part three was dedicated solely to shrinking
"There is a real heightened level of attention," Mulroy said.
Reporters aren't the only ones taking notes, either.
Mulroy recently returned from an international water conference hosted by investment house Goldman Sachs in
Mulroy said it is clear that "Wall Street is watching" the water situation in Las Vegas, something that could impact private investment in, and bond ratings for, projects in the region.
So what did
"As dire as it looks on television,
The community's plan is to lessen its dependence on the drought-stricken Colorado River by building a pipeline to tap groundwater across eastern
The project is expected to stretch 250 miles, as far north as
Even at peak capacity, however, the pipeline would supply fewer than 400,000 homes, far less than what the
The Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada is one of several groups that have objected publicly to the pipeline project, declaring it a threat to the environment and the livelihoods of rural residents.
PLAN's executive director, Bob Fulkerson, said he welcomes all the media attention, even if it gives water authority officials a larger forum to tout the virtues of their pipeline.
"The spin can work both ways. All eyes are on
http://www.lvrj.com/news/17654274.html
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