Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
June 25, 2008
1. Top Items -
Press Release
Department of Water Resources
Keith DeVore, Director
For Immediate Release
June 19, 2008
The
Delta counties looking for common ground
The
Better Delta protections demanded
San Jose
CVWD to begin treating for Quagga mussels—before they arrive
The Desert Sun-6/24/08
Officials boost chlorine in canal water: Action intended to stave off any quagga invasion
The Desert Sun- 6/25/08
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Press Release
Department of Water Resources
Keith DeVore, Director
For Immediate Release
June 19, 2008
Media Contact: Lisa Park, ParkL@saccounty.net, 874-1515
Improving the Quality of Water and Life in the Delta
One gallon of oil can ruin a million gallons of drinking water. This is just one of the issues negatively impacting the
Delta. The Keep the Delta Clean Program is working to promote clean and safe boating to sustain the quality of
recreation and environmental health in the Delta. The program offers environmental services such as oil recycling
centers, oil absorbent exchange centers, fishing line recycling stations, cigarette butt disposal containers, pet waste
stations and informational kiosks.
FOR WHOM: Boaters and families who visit and play in the Delta
WHAT: “Keep the Delta Clean Day”
WHEN: Saturday, June 28, 2008 from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Photo Opportunities: There will be a boat tour alongside the Delta with a tour
guide discussing the history and problems facing the Delta at 11:00 a.m.
WHERE: Sugar Barge Marina & Paradise Bar and Grill
There are numerous problems in the Delta related to boating and marina operations including lack of accessible,
marina-based environmental services and increasing pollutant and navigational threats from neglected vessels. This
program is working to protect the Delta and mitigate its rapidly growing urban and boating populations by supplying
new environmental services and providing information on clean and safe boating practices through public outreach
activities. The newly installed environmental services are open and FREE to the boating community and can be
found at a variety of marinas throughout the Delta. To date, 3 of the program’s Oil Recycling Centers have
collected approximately 6,585 gallons of oil, 4,290 oil filters, 3,480 pounds of oil absorbents and over 1,000
used marine engine batteries from the boating community.
Participants for this program include
information, visit the program’s website at www.KeepTheDeltaClean.com. (Live June 28, 2008).
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The
By David Zahniser, Staff Writer
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against a Colorado-based construction and engineering firm, accusing it of overbilling the utility over a seven-year period.
The lawsuit alleged that the Englewood-based company conspired to defraud the DWP by preparing and approving numerous invoices that "artificially inflated the value of the work performed by CH2M Hill and its subcontractors."
The lawsuit comes one year after an audit commissioned by the DWP concluded that CH2M Hill had overbilled the municipal utility by as much as $4.5 million.
Although the lawsuit does not say how much the city believes it is owed by CH2M Hill, DWP General Manager H. David Nahai said his agency would seek at least $13.5 million, plus punitive damages and $10,000 for each allegedly false claim submitted by the company. "This lawsuit doesn't specify a number because it's possible that by the time that other damages are added, the number could be much larger" than the original amount that was overcharged, Nahai said.
CH2M Hill received contracts worth $106 million since 1998 to control dust on the dry bed of
A spokesman for CH2M Hill said he had not seen the lawsuit, but denied the allegations of fraud. "We did what we believe, and what others believe, was good work for the city," said Martin Nicholson, CH2M Hill's regional manager for the Southwest region. "We stand behind that work."
CH2M Hill was hired in 1998 to provide the city attorney's office with expert witness services as it worked to limit the DWP's liability at
The original contract, awarded during the administration of then-Mayor Richard Riordan, was not competitively bid and was repeatedly expanded, according to a report commissioned by the DWP two years ago. That contract grew from $550,000 to $13.9 million by January 2001. A second grew from $28 million to more than $90 million between April 2001 and April 2006.
The DWP lawsuit accuses CH2M Hill of breach of contract, fraud and providing negligent representation. Relying on the state's false claims act, the DWP intends to seek triple damages in the billing case.
"We hope this will send a strong and clear message to anyone who is doing business with the DWP that this commission is watching the spending of ratepayers' money like a hawk," said commission President Nick Patsaouras, an appointee of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.#
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dwp25-2008jun25,0,6495935.story
Delta counties looking for common ground
The
By
Finding common ground on an issue as contentious as water will give the region more clout as statewide plans for the future of the Delta, which provides water for most of
The next step is for the five counties to create a more formal coalition to advocate those common interests.
It's important to come together and speak with one voice, and
By coming together as a region, the Delta counties have a better chance of being heard as the state develops long-term plans for the region through its Delta Vision process, said Mel Lytle, the county's water resource coordinator.
Recently, a task force that is part of that process released recommendations on how to protect the Delta's ecosystem. It also made recommendations to create a new entity to oversee the Delta and build some kind of conveyance system to bring water to pumps that take water across the state.
County officials have been wary of new governance and vehemently opposed to building a canal to bring water around - rather than through - the Delta.
And concerns about the loss of local control to any new entity and support of through-Delta conveyance were in the 11 points in the new resolutions.
Representatives from the five counties put together the resolution when they began meeting in May.
Even within the five counties, views on the Delta and its many parts do differ, Supervisor Larry Ruhstaller said. "As we work together, ... we'll get a more friendly relationship. Or at least a more known relationship."
Other regions - anywhere upstream from the Delta - can find common interests with the Delta counties, too, he said. Wealth and political clout draw water to the south of the state, he said. "If we don't stand together, they're going to peel us like grapes."#
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080625/A_NEWS/806250316/-1/A_NEWS
Better Delta protections demanded
San Jose
Five members of Congress from
The letter accuses the federal regulatory agencies that must approve the plan of failing to protect Delta fisheries in the past and pointedly asks for assurances that the latest plan to save the Delta will fare better.
"It is troubling to us ... that this Bay-Delta planning process seems to be driven by those with an interest in (Delta water) exports, rather than by those who depend on a healthy watershed and sustainable fisheries," said the letter, which was signed by Reps. George Miller, D-Martinez; Ellen Tauscher, D-Walnut Creek; Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton; Mike Thompson, D-Napa; and Doris O. Matsui, D-Sacramento.
The congressional letter said the two federal agencies that must approve the plan, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service, approved and participated in the last effort to fix the Delta, known as CalFed.
But key Delta fish species have since crashed and its salmon runs have declined more sharply than other West Coast salmon, leading many to call the CalFed effort a failure.
"And while we appreciate that it is essential that the federal agencies charged with ensuring the long-term health of California's fisheries participate in this process, we must evaluate the situation in light of the failure of the CalFed program and of your agencies' recent track record on fisheries protection," the congressional letter said.
The Bay Delta Conservation Plan is being championed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration and the state's biggest water users as a way to fix the Delta's problems, comply with endangered species laws and get a new aqueduct built around the Delta.
The plan would exempt massive Delta pumps from traditional endangered species permits that regulate water pumping in ways that are supposed to protect Delta smelt, steelhead and imperiled salmon runs.
In place of those permits, a sweeping conservation plan would be developed to conserve fish.
At the center of that plan is a proposal by water users to build a canal or pipeline that would take water around the Delta. Doing so would remove the threat that the big Delta pumps pose to fish in the south Delta. But such an aqueduct, which would most likely be used in combination with the existing pumps and plumbing, could increase pollution in the Delta by reducing the amount of dilution from the
The conservation plan also would grant 50-year assurances to water agencies that they would not face further water supply disruptions.
Among the concerns highlighted in the congressional letter: How can regulators provide long-term assurances given the fact that they still do not know exactly why smelt and salmon have crashed and what role the pumps might be playing?
"The last thing we need is a repeat of CalFed, and unless the fish agencies are held accountable to do their job and protect our threatened ecosystem, that's what we're going to have," said Ann Hayden, a water policy analyst at the Environmental Defense Fund who is participating in the conservation plan development.
Another participant representing water users said the conservation plan would address the array of threats to the Delta.
"The idea of the conservation plan is to put in place a whole bunch of measures across the spectrum so that they (fish) recover," said Laura King Moon, assistant general manager of the State Water Contractors, an association of major water agencies including the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Zone 7 Water Agency in Alameda County and the Santa Clara Valley Water District.
"The BDCP is the most likely vehicle for attaining recovery of those species that they care about," King Moon added.
The congressional letter asks the wildlife agencies to answer a series of questions by Aug. 1.
Spokesmen for the Fish and Wildlife Service and the fisheries service had no comment, saying their agencies had not had time to review the letter. But they said they would respond to the questions.
The Department of Water Resources did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
The conservation plan for the sprawling Delta is on an extremely ambitious schedule that seeks to have the plan approved and permitted before Schwarzenegger leaves office after elections in 2010.
By contrast, a similar plan that covered only development in eastern Contra Costa County took 10 years to develop.#
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_9685477?nclick_check=1
CVWD to begin treating for Quagga mussels—before they arrive
The Desert Sun-6/24/08
By Denise Goolsby
Coachella Valley Water District will be using considerably more than a single ounce of prevention when it begins introducing liquid chlorine into the Coachella Canal, scheduled to begin July 3---a preemptive strike designed to prevent destructive quagga mussels from infesting and colonizing the waterway and its delivery system.
The district plans to release 4,050 gallons of chlorine daily into the canal a short distance from where it branches off from the All America Canal, about 10 miles west of Yuma, AZ, near the United States border with Mexico.
CVWD personnel have been monitoring the canal closely for the mollusks since they were discovered at
Chlorine has proven effective elsewhere in killing quagga mussel veligers, the free floating larvae produced by the mollusks. A single adult quagga mussel releases as many as 10,000 larvae at a time, up to one million in a single reproductive season.
Although the concentration of chlorine will be sufficient to kill the larvae, the chemical will dissipate about a mile downstream from where it is introduced into the water, at what is known as a Parshall flume. Turbulence at the flume, which is used to measure the canal's flow rate, is conducive to blending the chlorine with water.
The first of CVWD's approximately 1,100 canal water customers is nearly 90 miles further downstream---and there are about half a dozen irrigators served by Imperial Irrigation District more than 35 miles away---so the chemical will not be present in any water deliveries. About 300,000 acre-feet of water is diverted into the canal annually.
The district hopes turbulence at at least three locations within the canal will further deter quagga mussel infestation by breaking veligers apart, as will extreme desert temperatures.
To offset most expenses of the Coachella Canal Quagga Mussel Control Emergency Chlorination Project, CVWD's Board of Directors Tuesday okayed a $3 surcharge for every acre-foot of canal water purchased, while approving the district's 2008-09 budget and domestic water, sanitation and irrigation water rate increases.
The $3 fee is in addition to a $1 per acre-foot increase in the rate to cover increased operations and maintenance costs. The new rates go into effect July 1.
Quagga mussels and their "cousins," zebra mussels, are considered a serious threat to natural and manmade waterways and conveyance systems throughout
The district is attempting to kill the mussels before they can begin to establish colonies along exposed surfaces of the canal and within the 65 laterals and numerous pipes that constitute the 500-mile delivery system.
In enclosed areas, mussels pack themselves so tightly into confined spaces that they restrict or stop the flow of water completely. Even when mussels are killed, shells remain affixed to most surfaces. To remove them, an affected, enclosed water delivery system often has to be shut down completely. Such was the case with the Colorado Aqueduct.
Quagga mussels have found their way into
http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080624/NEWS01/80624036/1006/news01
Officials boost chlorine in canal water: Action intended to stave off any quagga invasion
The Desert Sun- 6/25/08
By Deborah Barfield
Although quagga mussels have yet to arrive in the
The decision came the same day
The Coachella Valley Water District's board of directors voted Tuesday to take precautionary measures, Assistant General Manager Mark Beuhler said.
The water district will add 4,050 gallons of chlorine to the waterway on a daily basis as early as next week to kill off some mussels.
"We haven't seen any yet, but our reaction is to be better safe than sorry," Beuhler said. "We're going to try to control them before they get here."
The chlorine will be added to the
It will take a few miles for the chlorine to dissolve and it should not affect residents, Beuhler said.
Congress hears concern
Water officials from elsewhere testified in
"It's significant. They grow very quickly," said Ric De Leon, water systems operations manager for the Metropolitan Water District in Southern California, which includes
The officials urged Congress to provide federal funding for more research, to develop a regional plan to address the problem and help agencies rid their water systems of the mussels. De
"We are coping with the problem - for the moment," said Ronald Zegers, director of the Southern Nevada Water System, who called it the "most serious nonindigenous" pest introduced in North American freshwater systems.
The mussel first appeared in the Great Lakes in the 1980s, but has since spread to other states, including
State water officials and scientists said there are a few effective ways to kill the mussels. Chlorine, though, can harm the environment.
"By solving one problem, we created another," said Zegers. "All of these solutions come at a price."
Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Santa Fe Springs, chairwoman of the subcommittee, said she plans to convene a meeting of officials from such agencies as the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to form "some kind of road map" to solve the problem.
Napolitano also urged federal officials to look into a possible biological treatment alternative tested in
Federal land officials said addressing the problem is a priority and have channeled funding into research and educational outreach, including a campaign dubbed, "Don't Move a Mussel." But lawmakers complained they are not moving fast enough to identify and address the problem.
"This has been a difficult issue for us in the West," said Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno.
Boat manufacturers and dealers, however, warned against overreactions and fear that has led some communities to ban recreation boats on waterways. Boats have been a vehicle for mussels, officials said. Those bans have had an impact on local economies and recreational boaters, said Jim Klark of the Southern California Marine Association.
"We must work to change the mindset of closure as a first measure," Klark said.#
http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080625/NEWS07/806250336/1006/news01
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