[Water_news] 1. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS - Top Item for 6/30/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment

 

June 30, 2008

 

1.  Top Items -

 

 

Judge won't order changes to dam operations to protect fish

The Associated Pres-6/27/08

 

Dam gates kept closed

The Fresno Bee- 6/27/08

 

Water plan to protect Delta

The Sacramento Bee- 6/30/08

 

Editorial

Western levees need action

Capitol Ag Press- 6/27/08

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Judge won't order changes to dam operations to protect fish

The Associated Pres-6/27/08

 

FRESNO, Calif.—A federal judge has denied environmentalists' and fishermen's emergency request to open the gates of a dam south of Redding to safeguard endangered fish species they say are threatened by its operations.

Attorneys for the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations argue that keeping the dam's gates closed prevents adult spring-run chinook salmon from swimming upstream to spawn.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger said he wouldn't order any immediate changes to operations of the Red Bluff Diversion Dam, but would consider their concerns in future hearings about the effect of the state's water systems on the fish.

Farmers in the Sacramento Valley were relieved at the ruling, since opening the gates could have restricted their water supplies.#

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_9722306

 

 

 

Dam gates kept closed

The Fresno Bee- 6/27/08

By John Ellis

 

A federal judge on Friday rejected an emergency request by environmentalists to immediately open the gates of a key dam on the Sacramento River, a move they said was needed to allow endangered Chinook salmon to reach their spawning grounds.

 

The decision by U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger sent a wave of relief through nervous Sacramento Valley farmers and growers who depend on water diverted at the dam to feed their crops.

 

"We dodged a bullet," said Jeff Sutton, general manager of the Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority.

 

Wanger, however, also said he was leaning toward ordering the gates of the Red Bluff Diversion Dam to open Sept. 2, about two weeks earlier than normal. He said he wants to hear more testimony on that matter and didn't issue any final ruling.

 

Though peak time for irrigating is July and August, if September is a hot month, opening the gates two weeks early could have an adverse effect on the same growers who feared the gates would be ordered open now, said Ken LaGrande, the canal authority's chairman.

 

But Natural Resources Defense Council attorney Kate Poole, who is participating in the hearing, said the gates remaining closed now hurt Chinook salmon heading upstream to their spawning grounds. In August and September, the gates need to be open to assist young salmon heading back downstream to the ocean.

 

Poole has said the species are in peril and need help to survive the state's drought conditions.

 

Friday's ruling was another in an ongoing trial involving a federal water plan that covers Central Valley steelhead and two species of Chinook salmon. In April, Wanger invalidated part of the plan because it did not adequately protect the three fish species, he said.

 

Now he is holding a hearing to decide what -- if any -- action needs to be taken.

 

One of the actions requested by environmentalists was to open up the Red Bluff Diversion Dam. But because the trial was taking so long -- it has now stretched over three weeks -- environmentalists last week made an emergency request to open the diversion dam.

 

The dam raises the water line on the Sacramento River, which allows it to run into the Tehama-Colusa Canal on gravity. If the gates were open, the water level would fall too low to spill into the canal.

 

A pump would then be used, but its capacity is far less than using gravity. There are plans to someday install a bank of pumps.

 

The dam, located south of Red Bluff, has 11 gates and was built on the Sacramento River in the early 1960s. The canal system it feeds diverts water into Tehama, Glenn, Colusa and Yolo counties.

 

On Tuesday, the trial will resume with environmentalists seeking to increase cold-water releases from Lake Shasta to make the Sacramento River's temperature lower at a point further downstream. That would assist in salmon spawning. They also want to maintain 1.9 million acre-feet of water in Lake Shasta.

 

Those decisions would not only affect Sacramento Valley farmers, but also farmers much closer to home in the Westlands Water District.

 

Wanger also must issue a final ruling on the Red Bluff Diversion Dam.

 

The government and its water agency allies think Wanger should do nothing.

 

Currently, they say, the National Marine Fisheries Service is rewriting a biological report on the Central Valley Project's effects on the steelhead and two salmon species that Wanger invalidated. That should be done by next spring and should address the environmentalists' concerns, they say.#

http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/698557.html

 

 

 

Water plan to protect Delta

The Sacramento Bee- 6/30/08

By Matt Weiser

 

A makeover is in the works for the state's top water police, one that would streamline operations and may bring more enforcement action to protect the fragile Delta.

 

The Water Resources Control Board proposes the self-improvement plan in two parts: legislation to overhaul its structure and duties, and a strategic plan to regulate San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

 

The changes could force water agencies to adhere more strictly to the "public trust doctrine," a legal principle that allows the board to revoke water rights from wasteful users and polluters.

 

"I have many member agencies that are very concerned about this turn of events," said Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies. "For better or worse, there will likely be significant decisions around water rights in the future."

 

As The Bee reported last week, most California water agencies have not fulfilled their conservation promises, putting them at risk for such challenges.

 

Critics have long complained that California's water supply and quality have suffered from political influence on the board and its nine regional water quality boards. Its members are political appointees and would remain so under the proposed changes.

 

The proposal for legislation comes in the form of a "water quality improvement initiative" that could become a rider on a forthcoming state budget bill. It builds on a water quality bill by Senate Majority Leader Don Perata, SB 1176, that is now stalled.

 

The proposal would reduce the size of the regional boards from nine to seven members to minimize chronic vacancies. Each chairman would become a full-time, paid position to improve accountability and expertise.

 

It would streamline the now-cumbersome process to adopt water pollution limits by bringing California's system into accord with federal procedures.

 

To improve enforcement, the boards would be freed of issuing written notices before penalizing polluters, and a requirement to hold a public hearing before referring such cases to the attorney general would be abolished.

 

City attorneys and district attorneys in large cities would gain the power to seek civil penalties against polluters if requested by the water board. Only the attorney general has this power now.

 

The second prong of the overhaul package is the "Bay-Delta strategic work plan." It proposes an aggressive regulatory agenda to improve water quality and habitat in the largest estuary on the west coast of the Americas. The plan is scheduled to be presented to the state board Tuesday in Sacramento and could be adopted as soon as July 16.

 

It proposes an ambitious schedule to review existing water rights within and upstream of the Delta to ensure diverters are following the law. This includes the complex diversion rules governing the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project, which deliver Delta water to 25 million Californians.

 

The plan would evaluate the need for more fish screens on these diversions and whether in-stream flows are adequate to provide quality fish habitat.

 

The board also would develop a strategy to achieve the governor's call for a 20 percent reduction in per capita water consumption by 2020. This could impose new mandates on local water agencies. The plan would take up to five years to carry out.

 

Both proposals can be viewed on the water board's Web site, www.swrcb.ca.gov.

 

"We've got a situation in the Delta of real concern, with water quality and a number of fish species in decline," said water board spokesman Bill Rukeyser. "The direction we're coming from is that we've got a definite role and we hold part of the solution."

 

Much depends on how rigorously the changes would be adopted and imposed. Bill Jennings, executive director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance and a longtime critic, said he is encouraged but skeptical.

 

"The collapse of the Delta estuary is partly a result of their failure to grapple with and deal with these issues," he said. "Is the state board serious about this? That remains to be seen."

 

Quinn said the plans are likely the most comprehensive regulatory effort in the board's 40-year history. "At first glance, it's a logical framework," he said. "The board may well be asking more of water agencies over time, but that's just something we're going to have to get used to."#

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/1048675.html

 

 

 

Editorial

Western levees need action

Capitol Ag Press- 6/27/08

The massive flooding in the Midwest has shown the incredible extremes of nature, the vulnerability of manmade water structures, and the staggering impact of uncontrollable water on people physically, financially and emotionally.

When Senate hearings this spring talked about the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation water infrastructure, there were grim assessments of the problems that exist with federally built levees, canals and dams in the country.

According to Associated Press, BuRec has 7,911 miles of canals in 17 Western states, most of them managed and operated by local irrigation and water districts.

The American Society of Civil Engineers has estimated $1.6 trillion is needed to rebuild the country's water infrastructure, a lot of which was built more than 50 years ago.

There have been several examples in the West and elsewhere of the weaknesses in canals, levels and other water storage structures.

In eastern Idaho, the Teton Dam failed in 1976; it collapsed as it was being filled for the first time, sending 300,000 acre feet of water forward and causing massive damage.

The Seminary Hill Reservoir near Centralia, Wash., failed in 1991, triggering 3.5 million gallons of water to rush out in three minutes.

In California's Bay-Delta, Liberty Island, Prospect Island and Little Holland Tract have been examined on who needs to be responsible for the levees there. Prospect Island had levee breaks in 2006 and 2007 and the breach repaired. In 1998, Liberty Island had its levees fail but they were not repaired. Little Holland Tract had floods in the 1990s.

In 1997, more than 30 levees gave way in the Central Valley of California, flooding 300 square miles and evacuating 120,000 homes.

Southwest Washington State had levee breaks and heavy flooding this past winter after the area experienced its "500-year storm" last winter. Levees were damaged and fields flooded when the Chehalis River reached 50 times the normal rate of flow, and rainfall intensity at the time 140 percent higher than the 100-year amount for that area.

Earlier this year, another part of the West showed the weaknesses of water structures.

When the Truckee Canal was breached in Nevada in Fernley, Nev. in January, 600 houses were flooded in water of eight feet or more, and $55 million in property damage took place.

While everyone watched the disaster unfolding during the last few weeks in the rain-drenched Midwest, they are still soaking in warnings of can it happen here in the West.

There have been mixed levels of preparation.

As recent as two years ago, the Washington Department of Ecology found that 28 dams had safety deficiencies that needed repairs and began work on them.

In March, legislators in Olympia approved packages of tens of millions of dollars to help protect flood-prone areas, and awaited plans from the Army Corps of Engineers. The Chehalis River Basin had flooded three times in 15 years, and a plan by the Army Corps done more than 10 years ago still has not led to any construction.

California voters in 2006 approved bond funding of almost $5 billion to improve flood management. More bond funds have been proposed for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

But are the plans developing fast enough, enough money being allocated, and water structure improvement and restoration marked a critical priority that can wait no longer?

University of Maryland's Clark School of Engineering last year warned in a report that flooding in California's Central Valley is "the next big disaster waiting to happen" and the flood control system there is incapable of dealing with severe floods. The Sacramento area alone could face more than $25 billion of damage.

After witnessing what has been happening in the Midwest, Western states can wait no longer.

Better water plans, funds for them, and construction progress must be done now.#

http://www.capitalpress.info/main.asp?SectionID=75&SubSectionID=767&ArticleID=42614&TM=84923.66