Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
May 2, 2008
1. Top Items –
Sierra snow comes up short
The Sacramento
Dry conditions in California reduce Sierra Nevada snowpack
Associated Press
Summer may be grim for
The Los Angeles
Final snow survey of year confirms it's dry -
The Contra Costa Times
Need to deal with water needs crucial
The San Francisco
With Sierra snowpack down, does the valley face water woes?
Modesto
Snowpack levels now lagging : Bone-Dry April in Sierra tightens summer water supply in valley
San Jose
Pressure on state to reduce water use: Sierra snowpack levels at 67 percent of normal
San Diego
Drought certain if solutions are absent
The San Francisco
Call out for conservation: Saving water now could cut risk of future rationing
Stockton
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sierra snow comes up short
The Sacramento
By Matt Weiser
Despite new warnings Thursday that a water crisis is looming in
The Department of Water Resources on Thursday took its final
The water content of the snowpack stands at just 67 percent of average for the May 1 date. That's because this year's March and April period proved to be the driest since 1921, when record-keeping began.
Though snowfall was about average in January and February, it wasn't enough to make up for the following two months, which were virtually snowless.
After drought conditions last year, much of the snowmelt will merely be absorbed by parched soil and won't make its way into the streams and reservoirs.
In addition, poor environmental conditions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and a federal court decision have restricted water exports to 25 million Californians. It's estimated these effects have already cost customers about 600,000 acre-feet of water this year, or enough to serve 1.2 million families for a year.
"We're really up against it here in
In February, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called for a 20 percent per capita cut in water use statewide by 2020.
But as bold as that goal might seem, the conservation target comes with no teeth.
On Thursday, during a rare Capitol news conference on the meager snowpack, Chrisman said the administration does not yet have a plan to impose mandates or penalties to ensure that
"We're not there yet," he said. "We will be addressing that at some point, but I don't know the answer to that yet."
Instead, he expects the target will be met through voluntary measures and by working with local water agencies.
Others say the state should take a much more aggressive stance on water conservation.
"The governor didn't just set a target for climate change. He implemented a real policy," said Mindy McIntyre, water program manager at the Planning and Conservation League. "We hope that he'll do the same with water conservation, because it has the potential to work quickly."
Until this week, the water crisis has largely been limited to regions that depend on water pumped out of the Delta.
But on Wednesday, the city of
It's unclear whether the city of
But a federal court decision in April could require the bureau to alter water releases from its dams to protect salmon. If this doesn't affect urban water withdrawals downstream, it might affect the amount of water available in the river for recreation at times.
"For
A bill pending in the Legislature, AB 2175, would put teeth into Schwarzenegger's 20 percent conservation target.
The bill by Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, would make urban water agencies ineligible for state grants unless they meet the 20 percent conservation target, with benchmarks starting in 2013. The target for agricultural water agencies is a reduction statewide of 500,000 acre-feet.
"We've been successful statewide when we've set goals to reduce energy use, and to reduce the waste stream into landfills," said Laird. "I think the bill we're working on is totally consistent with the governor's goal."
The Governor's Office has not yet taken a position on the bill.#
http://www.sacbee.com/378/story/907145.html
Dry conditions in California reduce Sierra Nevada snowpack
Associated Press - 5/1/08
By Samantha Young , AP
Department of Water Resources scientists found snowpack water content averaging only 67 percent of normal throughout the 400-mile-long mountain range after the state experienced its driest two-month period on record.
Levels were 88 percent of normal in the northern Sierra and about 60 percent of normal in the central and southern regions.
Frank Gehrke, the snow survey chief at
"It's a knock-out punch to have that combination," Gehrke told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Echo Summit.
At the summit just south of
The amount of water running into streams and reservoirs is only 55 to 65 percent of normal, according to the figures collected by the Department of Water Resources.
That's one of the reasons federal and state water managers have reduced water exports this year from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to Southern California and the
Water deliveries also have been cut to comply with a federal judge's order that limits pumping from the delta by as much as 30 percent to protect the delta smelt, a threatened fish species. About 600,000 acre feet of water - enough water to supply 4.8 million people for a year - has not been pumped as a result of the restrictions, said Resources Agency Secretary Mike Chrisman.
The pumping restrictions, last year's drought and this year's dry conditions have left the state's reservoirs lower than normal.
"It's going to be a rough decade," said Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies. "You will see mandatory rationing, I believe."
Officials in
Officials at the East Bay Municipal Utility District have said water levels are so low that its Board of Directors may have to vote for mandatory water rationing when it meets later this month.
Chrisman said it was too early to say whether the state would ask cities and farmers to issue mandatory rationing, but he suggested Californians voluntarily water their lawns less frequently, buy energy-efficient washing machines and low-flush toilets.
Last May, the Sierra snowpack was just 29 percent of normal, the lowest since 1988.
Although this year's water picture is bleak, hydrologic conditions don't yet merit a drought declaration, said Elissa Lynn, chief meteorologist at the Department of Water Resources.
Although the state's rivers are still low, projections show the average flow from this dry spell will be 15-20 percent higher than it was between 1987-1992,
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said the most recent snow survey underscores his argument that
"These actions are vital to protect our environment, economy and quality of life," Schwarzenegger said in a statement. "I know that legislative leaders share my goal of comprehensive water reform, but time is running out. The longer we wait, the worse our situation becomes."
The Democratic-controlled Legislature has blocked Republican proposals to build dams, favoring increased water conservation measures and water recycling as way to meet the needs of California's population, now at 37.7 million.#
http://www.sacbee.com/114/story/905775.html
Summer may be grim for
The
By Deborah Schoch, Staff Writer
The bleak news, contained in
"I have not seen a more serious water situation in my career, and I've been doing this 30 years," said Timothy Quinn, executive director of the Assn. of California Water Agencies. An outmoded delivery system and court rulings that protect endangered fish are also straining the system, he said.
"This is a harbinger of relatively tough times, not just for this year but for a set of years," Quinn said.
He and others urged Californians to rein in water use.
"We need to recognize that we're in a water shortage and begin to act accordingly," state Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman told reporters at a
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a statement urging the Legislature to pass comprehensive water reforms, warning that many communities face shortages and possible rationing.
After a record-dry 2006-07 snow year, water managers had hoped this year would bring ample snow and rainfall to fill reservoirs and ease worries about water shortages. Those concerns have been exacerbated by a long drought in the
Cities throughout Southern California supplement their own local supplies with two major sources outside the region: Sierra water pumped south through the State Water Project, and water transported west from the
"I think we're all facing a worrisome water picture," said H. David Nahai, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
Statewide, early hopes of a wet year faltered when snowfall in some areas of the Sierra -- the source of much of the state's water -- virtually stopped in early March. The months of March and April combined were the driest in the northern Sierra since 1921.
The
"That suggests that reservoir levels are not going to recover," state snow survey chief Frank Gehrke said.
Worsening the situation, dry weather last year has left soil inordinately parched, and runoff into streams and reservoirs is only 55% to 65% of normal, state experts said. Spring sunshine and warm weather meant the snowpack melted more quickly and some snow converted directly to vapor, Gehrke said.
State meteorologist Elissa Lin fell short of officially declaring a drought. "It's been a very tough two years for water supply in
Further tightening water supplies, state deliveries to
U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger, who ordered those restrictions, is scheduled to hold hearings in June to decide whether to impose further cutbacks to protect chinook salmon and Central Valley steelhead trout.#
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-snowpack2-2008may02,0,6563964.story
Final snow survey of year confirms it's dry
The Contra Costa Times 5/1/08
Thursday’s snowpack measure, the final one of the year, came in at 67 percent of normal.
That represents a substantial drop from recent months due mostly to a record-breaking dry spell in March and April.
And it has thrown
“All of the tools are getting broken,” said Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies. “If this isn’t a crisis, I don’t know what is.”
Following strong storms earlier in the winter, March and April were the driest those two months have been in the northern Sierra since record keeping began in 1922, state Department of Water Resources chief hydrologist Maury Roos said.
“I don’t think we’d call it a drought year,” he said. “Yet.”
But it is shaping up as the driest year since 1994, according to early estimates for an index that tracks snowpack and reservoir storage.
The exact figure will be calculated in the coming days or weeks.
The low snowpack, which feeds downstream tributaries and reservoirs, comes atop two other challenges.
Last year was so dry that reservoirs that had been brimming for years were drawn down significantly. Lake Oroville, a key reservoir for parts of the Bay Area and Southern California, is only half full, the lowest it has been this time of year since 1991, when the state was at the tail end of a severe drought.
The second challenge has to do with new restrictions on water pumping and deliveries to farms and cities that are meant to protect threatened fish.
The Delta, the largest estuary on the West Coast, is in severe decline with several fish species at near-record low population levels.
U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger in December issued new restrictions on water deliveries to protect Delta smelt, and will consider additional restrictions to protect threatened salmon and steelhead runs in the coming weeks.
Wanger has said he would not restrict water deliveries to the point of threatening human health and safety, but he ruled that he was compelled to crack down because federal wildlife regulators failed to protect endangered species from the effects of water pumping.
Still, the new rules make it more difficult to move water, and that will make it harder to refill some reservoirs when wet weather returns.
That
But March and April saw just 2.3 inches of precipitation in the northern Sierra, far lower than the previous record low of 3.2 inches, set in 1956.
Average precipitation for the two months is about 11 inches, and in 1995, 31.4 inches fell, said Elissa Lynn, a state water department senior meteorologist.
On top of that, overall low precipitation for the year and a dry ground that is soaking up snowmelt are helping to dry out 2008.
The convergence of problems are already being felt across the state.
For example:
The city of
The
In
In
The Contra Costa Water District and the Zone 7 Water Agency in the
At a news conference Thursday in
If a long-term plan is not embraced, he said, “that’s going to be the bigger regret.”
Chrisman, Quinn and other water officials are putting their hopes behind a Bay-Delta Conservation Plan that would reconfigure how water gets through the Delta region. The plan would likely endorse a new aqueduct to take water from the Sacramento River, around the Delta, and then to pumps near
“We inherited this system that was built in the middle of the 20th century by people who were born in the 19th century,” Quinn said. “They did that without the aquatic environment in mind.”
The plan, which is still being formed, is sure to be heavily scrutinized in part because new aqueducts could harm the Delta ecosystem or local water quality.
Greg Gartrell, assistant general manager of the Contra Costa Water District, said the outlook “is looking as bad as it did in the early 1990s.” That’s when a severe drought and the designation of Delta smelt and two salmon runs under endangered species laws led to upheaval and, eventually, a state and federal water management program called CalFed.
That program was touted as a way to avoid future shortages and fix the environment, but it failed to address some of the core issues facing the state’s water system.
“We didn’t deal with the tough questions, and now we’re paying the price,” Quinn said.
Gartrell said state water officials have not moved as aggressively to address short-term water supply problems and related ecosystem impacts as they have on repairing levees and pursuing a long-term plan.
“They need to have that same proactive action for dealing with fisheries and drought conditions that the state is going to need that in a year or two,” Gartrell said. “A 10-year plan is nice, but there are some immediate actions that need to be taken now.”#
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_9124919?source=rss
Need to deal with water needs crucial
The
By Kelly Zito, staff writer
Two parched years - punctuated by the driest spring in at least 150 years - could force districts across
State water officials reported Thursday that the Sierra Nevada snowpack, the source of a huge portion of
With many reservoirs at well-below-average levels from the previous winter and a federal ruling limiting water pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the new data added a dimension to a crisis already complicated by crumbling infrastructure, surging population and environmental concerns.
"We're in a dry spell if not a drought," said California Secretary for Resources Mike Chrisman. "We're in the second year, and if we're looking at a third year, we're talking about a serious problem."
Chrisman stopped short of saying the state would issue mandatory water rationing, which appears possible only if the governor declares a state of emergency. Rather, the burden will fall on local water agencies. Many, such as
Others have taken more drastic steps.
In Southern California, the water district serving about 330,000 people in Orange County enacted water rationing last year, due in part to a ruling by U.S. Judge Oliver Wanger reducing water pumped from the delta by about a third to protect an endangered fish.
The East Bay Municipal Utility District announced in April that it was considering water rationing, price increases and other measures in response to critically low reservoirs. The district, which serves 1.3 million customers in Contra Costa and
"If you catch a third (dry) year, then you're looking at a supply that's so low you can't manage it well anymore," said Charles Hardy, spokesman for the district. "That's when its starts to hurt businesses and people across the board."
No industry faces bigger changes than agriculture, which uses about 80 percent of
Already, some farmers are switching to crops requiring less water and letting fields go fallow. One water agency official recently talked to a
"We have a lot of water, but we also use a lot of water," said Jeffrey Mount, director for watershed sciences at UC Davis. "From an economic perspective, it makes sense moving water from agriculture to urban uses."
In fact, some farmers are already selling their water to urban districts. But there is no easy system for transporting that water, and the infrastructure required would be extremely costly.
Californians have suffered through droughts before.
A deep, two-year drought in the late 1970s drew discussions about dragging glaciers down from Alaska or filling huge plastic bladders at river sources and dragging them by tugboat to users, Hardy said. Consumers endured rationing during a longer drought in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
After those dry periods, water conservation initiatives kicked into high gear. Low-flow toilets and showerheads became the norm, and homeowners started filling their yards with drought-resistant plants. Today, that might not be enough in a state with a population expected to reach nearly 50 million by 2030.
In addition to possible restrictions on watering lawns and washing cars, water prices could spike - at least for those who use too much.
The district serving 330,000 customers in
"If you really want to use more water there, you're going to pay for it - and (the district) uses the extra funds to finance conservation investments," said Ellen Hanak, a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California in
It is unclear whether this dry period is a full-blown drought. Much like economic recessions, droughts can be diagnosed only in retrospect.
However, it is certain that if the dry conditions that began with the low 2006-2007 snowpack levels continue, they could have a cascading effect. The dryness of 2006-2007 contributed to this year's poor water supply totals, said Elissa Lynn, chief meteorologist with the California Department of Water Resources.
"We're losing a lot of what we did have as snow melted into the ground,"
There is also a small chance that dry windy conditions blew snow straight from the mountains into vapor, she said.
Not all Bay Area agencies face the same challenges, because they get water from various sources:
Nevertheless, stricter water controls could be a continuing part of
"We're facing some pretty grim circumstances that call for some bold action - recycling water, desalinating water," said Tim Quinn executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies. "Above and beyond that, we have to invest in the sustainability of this system that our grandfathers constructed in the middle of the last century. It was developed with the convenience of human beings in mind, not aquatic beings."#
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/01/BA9O10F8PK.DTL&tsp=1
With Sierra snowpack down, does the valley face water woes?
By Ken Carlson
The water outlook for the state and the
That erased the optimism of last month's close-to-normal survey for the snowpack, which serves as a chief water supply for cities and farms in
State officials said it raised the possibility of water shortages and mandatory rationing this summer, but now the state is asking its 38 million residents only to conserve water.
"
Officials stopped short of declaring a drought, but are worried that a dry season next year could bring severe shortages.
Most of
In
Although storms dumped on the Sierra in January and February, the dry mountain soil and paltry late-winter snowfall caused the snow reserves to shrink.
"We have lost half of the snowpack that we had in mid-March," said Elissa Lynn, senior meteorologist for the state Department of Water Resources. "We could be looking at conditions that are ripe for a serious drought."
Officials said runoff into streams and reservoirs is 55 percent to 65 percent of normal.
The water content is about 60 percent of normal in the central and southern Sierra, which will mean less water flowing into reservoirs that supply water to farms and cities in the
No MID cutbacks for '08
Besides the dry weather, a court order to protect salmon migrations has placed restrictions on water transfers through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Officials with the MID and Turlock Irrigation District said the disappointing snowmelt will make it harder to recover from two straight below-normal years.
"We have plenty of water for this year; the concern is what happens if 2009 is another dry year," said Walt Ward, assistant general manager of water operations for the MID. "If it's an average year in 2009, it doesn't help you climb out of the hole. You need a series of wet years to pull it back."
The MID has no plans to cut water deliveries in 2008, but hasn't ruled it out for next year.
Because of the dry spring, the districts expect to carry more than 825,000 acre-feet in Don Pedro Reservoir in the fall after delivering water for farmers and city customers. That carryover is half of what they shoot for.
The districts share the storage in Don Pedro, and a wetter spring would have provided 13 percent more water to hold onto for next year, said Wes Monier, strategic issues and planning manager for the TID.
If the dry trend continues next year, Monier expects the district will continue with measures to conserve water.
TID cap on ag water
Last month, the
More dry weather will make it tougher to maintain orchards and growers will resort to pumping water from the ground. "There is going to be more wells dug," Macedo said. "No doubt about it."
Water districts on the valley's
"It is not enough water to maintain a crop if you are planting your full acreage," said Anthea Hansen, assistant manager of the Del Puerto Water District, which includes 45,000 acres in western Stanislaus, San Joaquin and Merced counties.
Ground is being left fallow and some growers are paying top dollar to buy extra water from other federal water contractors, she said.
Not an official drought
Officials said the dry weather is getting close to an official drought, defined as prolonged below-normal rainfall, resulting in depleted water storage, dry soil and stressed public water systems.
On Thursday, Gov. Schwarz- enegger renewed his appeal for the state to invest in water infrastructure, including conservation, more storage and improved conveyance through and around the delta.
Chrisman said
"When most folks understand the importance of it, people usually respond to it," he said.
http://www.modbee.com/local/story/286625.html
Snowpack levels now lagging : Bone-Dry April in Sierra tightens summer water supply in valley
By
Just two months ago, it appeared that
But March and April were the driest months in the
As a result, the
And while
"In March, things were looking pretty good," said Frank Gehrke, chief of the snow survey program for the state Department of Water Resources in
Hydrologists for the department said conditions aren't bleak enough to describe this summer as a drought. But they worried that if snowfall is low next year, the state will face major water problems.
After snow builds up every winter and spring on the Sierra mountains, it melts during the summer, flowing into rivers and
But this April and May, only 2.3 inches of rain fell in the Northern Sierra between Lake Tahoe and
Without rain, there was almost no new snow to follow the heavy amounts from January and February. Worse, said Gehrke, no storms meant lots of sunlight. And that meant more melting.
So overall runoff is expected this year to only be about 55 percent of normal.
In
Residents will be asked to continue last year's 10 percent voluntary reductions this summer, said Susan Siravo, spokeswoman for the Santa Clara Valley Water District.
"We still have good groundwater reserves and our reservoir levels are pretty good," Siravo said. "March and April have been very dry. But we got a high level of runoff in January and February."
The district's 10 reservoirs were 68 percent full Thursday.
So far this year,
It would have been more, but April was bone-dry. Only one-tenth of an inch of rain fell in
The trick this summer is to focus on lawn and gardens, which use half the water in an average house, Siravo said.
"Fix leaks and broken sprinkler heads," she said. "Water at night or early in the morning. Most people can have a healthy lawn watering three days a week. You can easily cut back 10 percent."
Some
With the dry spring, sales of drought-tolerant plants are double this year what they normally would be, said Ron Kanemoto, manager of Yamagami's Nursery in
"Water is on people's minds, definitely," he said. "Last weekend, I got chastised by a customer for not having drip irrigation equipment. We had discontinued it about five years ago because we weren't selling it. Now you can tell the interest is coming back."
Unlike other Bay Area locales,
for the district's 1.8 million customers, with the other half coming from the delta.
Other Bay Area water districts are much more strapped.
The East Bay Municipal Utility District staff will recommend May 13 that the agency's board impose mandatory summer water rationing of at least 15 percent, said spokesman Charles Hardy. That will be the first time the district's 1.3 million residents from
The reason? East Bay MUD has no groundwater storage and its watershed is at a relatively low Sierra elevation.
Meanwhile, the 2.4 million people from
That's because last year, they were asked to voluntarily cut use 10 percent and they responded with a 13 percent reduction, said Tony Winnicker, a spokesman for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. Also, that system's reservoirs are 70 percent full.
Compounding the nervousness this year, last year's Sierra snowpack - 28 percent of normal on May 1 - was the lowest in nearly 20 years. That meant less runoff to fill the state's large reservoirs, making this year even more critical.
Across the state, farmers and large
Because a judge ordered pumping from the delta cut last year by up to 30 percent to protect an endangered fish, farmers are facing wrenching cutbacks, said Laura King Moon, a spokeswoman for the State Water Contractors, a group of 27 agencies that import delta water.
"Not only are we facing severe restrictions under the Endangered Species Act on how much water we can deliver, less than average runoff means that water supplies are down as well," she said.
http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_9129180
Pressure on state to reduce water use: Sierra snowpack levels at 67 percent of normal
By
Season-closing snowpack figures came in a dismal 67 percent of normal, driven down by record-low precipitation over the last two months, the state Department of Water Resources reported yesterday.
Water districts are extra-cautious when broaching the unpopular subject of rationing, but there are indications that some agencies will take the latest snow survey as proof that drastic steps are necessary.
“I'm reading the tea leaves,” said Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies, “but it's very clear this industry is going to have to get serious about demand management . . . We have to make sure people use less water.”
The San Diego County Water Authority has no immediate plans to ration deliveries, but the dire conditions will be reviewed at its meeting scheduled for May 22, said Jim Barrett, a member of the board.
The water authority on Monday will launch a $1.8 million advertising campaign urging conservation and offering advice on how to save, particularly outdoors.
“Our water supplies are being cut, and we need everyone to pull together and save more water immediately,” said Fern Steiner, the authority's chairwoman.
The giant Metropolitan Water District, which sells water wholesale to various agencies including
“We're in good shape, reserves-wise, Kightlinger said. “But we can't continue indefinitely.”
Confirmation that
That's particularly true in
The governor's conservation call in late February was muffled by disputes over his proposal for reservoirs and a new north-south delivery canal. The conservation plan is short on details, such as how to avoid punishing districts that already have conserved aggressively and how farmers would fit in.
Historically, there has been reluctance in some regions to accept water meters, tiered pricing and other controls.
“We need to make sure the plan is fair,” Kightlinger said.
Southern California is already squeezed by cuts resulting from a seven-state agreement to share the Colorado River and a slowdown in deliveries from the north to comply with a court order to protect the
So a good season of soaking rain and snow would have been a welcome measure of relief, albeit temporary. The new year started out promising, delivering potent storms in January and February.
But the skies closed quickly. March and April turned out to be record-dry for the Northern Sierra, providing sprinkles at best. The last storm that cheered ski resorts and dam operators alike roared into the Shasta-Tahoe region on Feb. 24.
“That was the last good shot of snowfall,” said state hydrologist Art Hinojosa.
Sierra snowfall is crucial to
Meanwhile,
In
The East Bay Municipal Utilities District, which delivers water to
But whether voluntary efforts will be enough to carry
Twenty years ago, cyclical weather was deemed the primary cause of that drought. Today it is more difficult to assess the cause of shortages and address them. Among the factors: rapid urban growth, climate change and myriad woes threatening the fragile
Barrett, who represents the city of
“The problem is not the amount of snow,” Barrett said. “The problem is being able to move the water through the pumps.”
Schwarzenegger seized on the dismal outlook to again promote his water plans that have been stymied in the Legislature as too costly and damaging to the environment.
“Today's snow survey findings further underscore the need for action now. I have proposed a comprehensive approach to address our statewide water crisis that includes water conservation, more surface and groundwater storage and new investments,” Schwarzenegger said in a statement.
“These actions are vital to protect our environment, economy and quality of life. I know that legislative leaders share my goal of comprehensive water reform, but time is running out. The longer we wait, the worse our situation becomes.”
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080502/news_1n2water.html
Drought certain if solutions are absent
The
Kevin Fagan, Staff Writer
Whether there is the political will in the state to do so stumped a group of eminent historians and scientists participating in Stanford's annual "Walk the Farm" nature hike, which, at 20.8 miles, was more like a sole-blistering tramp.
One thing all agreed upon: The state had better get cracking.
"There is enough water for people - just not enough for people and the agricultural system the way it's set up now," Richard White, a leading environmental historian, said as he hiked past one of Stanford's two main reservoirs Saturday. "Like with so many things, you may have to make some choices. Hard choices."
State water officials agree that the outlook is not rosy.
Driest recorded period
State officials warned Thursday that widespread water rationing is a very real possibility this summer. Another few years like this, experts say, and we might start running drastically short of water.
And that's just if the water demand stays the same - which it won't.
Something major needed
White said the trouble isn't having too many people or too much agriculture in the sprawling regions. It's just that we expect too much of what we have.
"My guess is that something major will have to be done in the next 10 years or so, and it will probably take a drastic drought to bring it about," said White, who also is co-director of Stanford's
The challenges for
Some water storage facilities on the 8,180-acre campus, they found, are old and filling with sediment. Fish populations are requiring extraordinary care to maintain as water gets siphoned away from creeks, and crops and livestock compete vigorously for supplies.
The walk also showcased some of the nation's most innovative conservation methods - from a power plant poised to become the first in Northern California to recycle cooling tower water for use elsewhere, to a watering system that is computer-driven to switch off in rain or cool temperatures. The campus toilets are so low-flow that some use only a pint of water.
Water has always been one of the most fought-over commodities in the West, literally determining where cities and agriculture can exist, and the booming population and big-bucks agricultural needs are stressing the existing system, said Jon Christensen, a Western environmental writer who helped organize the hike. And as seen through Stanford's example, he said, handling that stress means we are going to have to "get more creative and flexible than ever about our uses."
Sediment settling in
One of the most pressing challenges was illustrated in a nutshell at Searsville Dam, a Lego-looking structure of stacked blocks in the hills west of the campus. When built in 1892, it was among the first dams of its kind in the West. After all these years of sandstone runoff filtering in, however, the reservoir held back by the dam is now 54 feet deep with sediment - and just 10 feet deep with water.
If the university lets the sludge spill into the waterway leading away from the dam, it will raise the flood plain all down the line. If it doesn't clear out the sediment, the reservoir will eventually become a marsh. Emptying that much sediment, on the other hand, can be hugely expensive.
The same conundrum faces managers of dams all over the West, from the Olympic Peninsula in
Action is critical
"In the world of water resources, there is no such thing as a do-nothing option," said David Freyberg, a Stanford civil engineering professor who advises internationally on water usages. "Or as they say, the do-nothing option actually does a lot." As in damage.
Some local and state water authorities are already trying to take this attitude to heart - carefully.
Water managers in the
Agreement on all these initiatives, locally and statewide, has proved predictably tough.
"We need a comprehensive approach to solving the state's water problems, and we need some of everything," Ted Thomas of the state Department of Water Resources said in a phone interview. "We don't have enough water storage, and we need better water conveyance (pipe systems).
"Conservation is great, and we preach it all the time, but it won't do much in the sixth or seventh year of a drought," Thomas said. "Because by then, you won't have anything left to conserve."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/02/MNRK10DPD6.DTL
Call out for conservation: Saving water now could cut risk of future rationing
By
Nevertheless, state water officials are hesitating to call this second consecutive dry year a drought.
"We need to recognize that we're in a water shortage and begin to act accordingly," Chrisman said in a news conference Thursday.
Chrisman's boss, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, wants Californians to reduce their water use by 20 percent by 2020.
Earlier this week, local officials said they expect no unusual water restrictions this year, although some cities - such as
This local optimism may give way if the public fails to cut back, Chrisman said. While he said the state is not planning mandatory rationing yet, it could happen this year.
Chrisman said he's hoping Californians cut back on their own, because the state's main water supplies are well short of normal.
The Sierra snowpack is only two-thirds the level it should be at this time of year, and the water behind Oroville Dam is only at 58 percent of where it ought to be at this stage.
We can thank La Niña for this, according to state meteorologist Elissa Lynn. This weather condition typically cuts off our rainy season midway, she said, adding that it was lucky it did not kick in until March.
"It could have been much worse," she said.
Other parts of
Meanwhile,
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080502/A_NEWS/805020329
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