[Water_news] 2. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: SUPPLY - 5/2/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment 

 

May 2, 2008

 

2. Supply –

 

 

Snow levels below normal

Dry spell turns Sierra pack from promising to another challenge. -

Fresno Bee

 

Riverside County predicts crisis in water supply unless new sources are found: But conservation, desert landscaping can help avert shortage, say experts -

The Desert Sun

 

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Snow levels below normal

Dry spell turns Sierra pack from promising to another challenge.

Fresno Bee – 5/1/08

By Mark Grossi, staff writer

 

The driest March-April period on record has shrunk the Sierra snowpack to about two-thirds of average, plunging California cities and farms into a second consecutive dry year.

 

State officials Thursday stopped short of announcing a drought, but some reservoirs probably will not fill to usual capacities in parts of the 400-mile-long Sierra range.

Meteorologists attributed the unusually dry spring to the Pacific Ocean cooling trend called La Niña.

 

No water rationing has been announced. But some west San Joaquin Valley farmers have been bracing for a dry summer since last year, when a federal judge ordered less water to be taken from Northern California to protect imperiled fish.

 

West-side farmers now must rely even more on underground water pumping, officials said.

 

"Water supply is becoming a day-to-day issue for us because we're affected by so many things," said spokeswoman Sarah Woolf of the Westlands Water District, which has taken a third of its 600,000 acres out of production.

 

Westlands buys billions of gallons of water that come from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Snowmelt in the Northern California rivers feeding the delta is running at 55% to 65% of normal.

 

The state Department of Water Resources on Thursday measured the snowpack and confirmed that it is 67% of average. Last May, the snowpack was 29% of average, the smallest in 19 years.

 

The consecutive dry years will result in reservoir levels dropping far below average by fall. Lake Oroville, the state's principal storage reservoir, currently holds less than 60% of its average capacity for early May.

 

Pine Flat Reservoir, east of Fresno, holds less than 70% of its average for this time of year. The snowpack, which was above average in late February, now offers little hope.

 

"This year's snowpack won't give us much water to carry over next year in the reservoirs," said watermaster Steve Haugen on the Kings River. "We'll be looking at using the wells more and more."

 

In the Central Valley, Sacramento and Bakersfield had the driest March-April period since record-keeping began in the 1800s. Fresno had its second-driest March-April on record, with 0.02 inches of rain. Fresno's record was set in 1934, when no rainfall was recorded in March and April.

 

La Niña sometimes brings California dry weather, sometimes wet. This year, it seemed to bring both.

 

In January and February, when the Pacific cooling was at its maximum, storms traveled into California. But as the ocean warmed slowly and La Niña became milder, the jet stream altered and began sending storms north.

 

"We were looking so good earlier this year," said state hydrologist Maury Roos in Sacramento. "But these dry months have put a real dent in the water supply."

Frank Gehrke, the state's snow survey chief, said soils in many parts of California are parched from last year's dry season. The soils will soak up much of the early snowmelt, and the dry March and April have only made it worse.

 

"It's a knockout punch to have that combination," Gehrke said Thursday.

 

Officials from both sides of the political aisle are weighing in.

 

Gov. Schwarzenegger said the situation underscores his argument that California should conserve more water and build more dams.

 

The Democratic-controlled Legislature blocked Republican proposals to build dams, favoring increased water conservation measures and water recycling.

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, said his vetoed legislation promoting conservation and protecting Northern California ecosystems would have helped the state right now.

http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/570297.html

 

Riverside County predicts crisis in water supply unless new sources are found: But conservation, desert landscaping can help avert shortage, say experts

The Desert Sun –5/2/08

By Erica Solvig

 

In less than seven years, drought-stricken Riverside County might not be able to supply drinking water to 360,000 people - roughly the population of the Coachella Valley's nine cities.

 

The good news: You can help prevent this dire scenario, through desert landscaping and conservation, officials at the fifth annual Riverside County Water Symposium said Thursday.

 

About 800 elected officials, water experts and community leaders gathered in Cabazon to share ideas on convincing residents to reduce their water usage and ways that local agencies can collaborate on recycling and conservation efforts.

 

"We've been a victim of our own success: People have taken water for granted," said Celeste Cantú, general manager of the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority, which calculated the shortage projection.

 

"It's been difficult to say, 'Hey, we really are in a crisis. We really are in a drought.'"

 

According to Terrance Fulp, deputy regional director for the Bureau of Reclamation - Lower Colorado Region, this is the driest period in 100 years:

The state water resources on Thursday announced the snowpack water content is at only 67 percent of normal levels.

 

The Colorado River, the valley's major water source, is "over-allocated," Fulp said.

 

It could take years for officials to finalize a comprehensive plan for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which provides water for two-thirds of all Californians.

And climate changes will make the Southwest even drier, putting further pressure on resources such as the Colorado River.

 

Even though this year's average water runoff is a bit higher than it has been in recent years, it's not enough to relieve the current conditions.

"We're in eight years of unprecedented drought," Fulp said.

 

Locals tackle crisis

Desert water agency officials said the possible water shortage is at the forefront for them.

 

Officials are looking at how to extend the state water project into the Coachella Valley, said Steve Robbins, general manager of the Coachella Valley Water District.

It was never brought this way because people never thought there could be a shortage on the Colorado River, he said.

 

Having the infrastructure in place would put the desert "in a position that when we have water available in the state system, we're able to move it" here as needed, Robbins said.

 

But that takes money - something water experts expect they'll lose under the governor's proposed budget amid a state budget shortfall that could reach $20 billion.

At CVWD, water rates could rise 14 percent in July and another 10 percent next year to make up for the shortfalls in state funding, board president Peter Nelson said.

Still, officials say the responsibility doesn't only rest on local agencies.

 

Per capita, water usage in Riverside County and the Inland Empire is about double what people in Orange County use, Western Municipal Water District general manager John Rossi said.

 

And roughly 70 percent of the available water use is watering lawns and landscaping, Cantú said.

If residents cut that use in half - through desert landscaping or proper watering of existing lawns - it would free up 35 percent of the available drinking water, she added.

 

A reliable water supply is vital to continued population growth, and to major industries such as agriculture and tourism.

"Our economy is dependent upon water," Nelson said. "We need to make the most of that resource to make the most of our economy."#

http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080502/NEWS01/805020319