[Water_news] 2. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: SUPPLY - 6/26/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment 

 

June 26 2008

 

2. Supply –

 

 

California water shortages to boost some crop prices: With fuel costs also rising, customers are likely to see the price of tomatoes, melons, and lettuce go up.

The Christian Science Monitor- 6/26/08

 

Editorial

The Los Angeles Daily News- 6/25/08

Confessions and manipulations of a water-waster

 

Editorial

Get ready for water meters: Fresno moves closer to a rational system for single-family homes.

The Fresno Bee- 6/26/08

 

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California water shortages to boost some crop prices: With fuel costs also rising, customers are likely to see the price of tomatoes, melons, and lettuce go up.

The Christian Science Monitor- 6/26/08

By Ben Arnoldy, Staff Writer

 

Oakland, Calif. - This summer, it's a triage of leaf and limb in California's water-starved Central Valley.

 

At Blackburn Farm in Firebaugh, workers prematurely killed one almond grove and are frantically digging new wells to save the remaining almond crop. Their neighbors are walking away from 1,600 acres of cotton to salvage tomatoes.

 

Water shortages in California, coupled with high fuel costs, mean customers can expect rising prices for some fruits and vegetables, particularly melons, canned tomatoes, and perhaps lettuce. The situation turns the screws on Sacramento to solve the state's decades-old water standoff between its cities, farmers, and environmentalists.

 

"We have wrung much of the flexibility out of the water system," says Dave Kranz, spokesman with the California Farm Bureau. "The demands are greater primarily from urban growth and redirection of water for environmental purposes."

 

The state is estimating crop losses of $167 million for 2008, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

 

Several events coincided. A court reduced the water that can be moved from the flush north to the drier south in order to protect the endangered delta smelt fish. And the snow in the Sierras started strong, but stopped abruptly mid winter. Then the spring rains never came.

 

Ground zero is the Westlands Water District in the valley's southwest corner including Fresno County. District water managers told farmers in early spring to expect only 45 percent of their normal water allotment. Fresno County farmers left 41,000 acres out of one million acres unplanted, mostly cotton, followed by processing tomatoes, lettuce, cantaloupe, and garlic.

 

When the spring rains failed to appear, the District was forced to make a rare downward revision. The farmers will get only 40 percent, and even less during the hottest summer months. That's when the crops were left for dead.

 

"I initially reported about 2,000 acres," removed from production or abandoned, says Jerry Prieto, the Fresno County agricultural commissioner. "I've heard enough now where the numbers have probably increased to close to 8,000 to 10,000 acres, and that may continue to grow."

 

Earlier this month, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a drought to get water aqueduct and well water moving more quickly around the state.

 

Meanwhile, all eyes are on a coming court ruling that could further cut back water transfers to protect endangered salmon. Environmentalists argue for more serious conservation not just to protect the fish but the viability of the entire Sacramento delta, the linchpin of the state's water resources. The governor is talking about building more dams in the few remaining spots available.

 

California grows mostly fruits, vegetables, and nuts, while the American Midwest grows staples like wheat and corn more economically. California is growing much less cotton due to global competition, sending farmers to more profitable fruit and nut trees.

 

"If you don't have the water, your losses have the potential to be much higher. You have this huge investment [in trees] that's going to be amortized over many years, as opposed to annual crops like cotton," says Mr. Prieto.

 

Farmers short on water are cutting water to annual crops like lettuce, tomatoes, and melons to save their orchards.

 

The Westlands district supplies 95 percent of the nation's lettuce in October, says Sarah Woolf, spokesperson for the district.

 

Early reports from Fresno suggest the county won't be producing lettuce this fall. Other regions will try to extend their seasons, says the California Lettuce Research Board in Salinas.

 

The tomato crop price was already set 12 percent higher than last year, before the water situation worsened, says Ross Siragusa, president of the California Tomato Growers Association. "I think you are going to see prices go higher" on store shelves, he says, with fuel costs also rising. California supplies 94 percent of the nation's processing tomatoes.

 

The combination of fuel costs and water shortages may also affect cantaloupes. Shipping melons to the East Coast costs 25 cents per pound, up from 15 cents last year. That wipes out the profit margin and makes the crop one of the first to be sacrificed in tight water times. Already, fall cantaloupe production has plummeted 30 percent in Fresno County. #

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0627/p04s01-usgn.html

 

 

 

Editorial

The Los Angeles Daily News- 6/25/08

Confessions and manipulations of a water-waster

 

Auditors of the spacious spread owned by H. David Nahai on Beverly Hills-adjacent Deep Canyon Drive found that the general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is one of those very water-wasters that the city is, under his own leadership, cracking down on.

 

In fact, Nahai's lawn is so overwatered by sprinklers that it's sitting in a foot of subsurface moisture.

 

Those were the revelations that Nahai made to the Daily News in a story this week. In that story, Nahai acted contrite - and seemed ready to take action to trim his average $232 monthly water bill.

 

It was embarrassing for Nahai, to be sure. And it reinforced the belief by many that Los Angeles' leaders regularly engage in hypocrisy. Here was the man scolding Angelenos for using too much water caught in the wasteful act himself.

 

But shouldn't Nahai be forgiven for generously opening his home and his water usage to the public - a commitment to model good conservationist behavior? Certainly, if that were the whole story.

 

The story behind that story, in fact, shows more political calculation than chagrin. Nahai's offer to the Daily News was nothing more than a clever pre-emptive strike against another reporter he considered a bother. For weeks Nahai had resisted requests from independent journalist, blogger and all-around muckraker Alan Mittelstaedt to turn over his water bills. It was a reasonable request. The man who was resurrecting the water police and portraying himself as a conservationist ought to be willing to be an example.

 

Nahai was annoyed by the request and the persistence of this journalist, and knew he would have to give up his wasting ways sooner or later. So he used a tactic common to clever public figures: He took his story elsewhere. Hah. Take that nosy Nelson!

 

Politicians, celebrities and other powerful people have been playing games like this ever since there was a press to play with. It's unfortunate, and the public likely has little idea of the manipulation that goes on behind the scenes every day just to get public officials to grudgingly provide important information.

 

What's more, this story illustrates not only that Nahai is a crafty political figure, but that he - as so many others in the city's leadership - only did the right thing when forced. Would disgraced San Diego Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham have stopped taking bribes from defense contractors had not he been exposed by the San Diego Union-Tribune and the FBI? Not likely.

 

Besides, the real problem is not so much that Nahai runs a wasteful home, but that he runs a wasteful utility.

 

If Nahai is willing to sidestep legitimate requests for information and manipulate the public on a simple question of his water bill, imagine what he might do to sidestep legitimate requests on the DWP's proposed expansion, future rate increases and capital improvement construction.#

http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_9694523

 

 

 

Editorial

Get ready for water meters: Fresno moves closer to a rational system for single-family homes.

The Fresno Bee- 6/26/08

 

Fresno's long-awaited water meters will be automated, a step that could save the city -- and its residents -- a good deal of money in the long run. That was the decision by the City Council Tuesday, and it's a good one.

 

The automated system will allow meters to be read at a central location, eliminating the need for some 50 employees who would have been required to read older style meters. Automation will also give the city's water division the ability to measure water use more efficiently, spotting problems sooner and saving water.

 

The city will begin installation of meters next year, and must begin reading them by 2010, under the terms of state law and a contract with the federal Bureau of Reclamation that provides water from Millerton Lake.

 

It will take about five years -- and about $53 million in bond funds -- to complete the installation of meters in the city's 105,000 single-family homes.

Apartments and businesses are already metered.

 

The council approved a three-step rate increase last year, a portion of which will be used to pay off the bonds for meter installation. Other revenue from the increases will be used to pay for several capital projects the system needs.

 

Installation of the meters can get tricky, especially in older neighborhoods. Some installations will require more excavation and other work than is the case elsewhere. The city has said that any damage done to water lines during the process of installation will be fixed by the city, at no additional cost to homeowners.

 

Another good idea: The city is planning a sort of grace period for ratepayers. Once the meters are up and running, customers will get a bill showing the cost of their metered water, but will be charged the existing flat rate for a period of perhaps two or three months.

 

That will help in cases of sticker shock, and there may be a lot of that. In come cases, there will be small leaks that have gone undetected, and metering will reveal that. Customers will then have time to address the problems before the metered rate really kicks in.

 

In other cases, a lot of people are going to discover -- to their rueful astonishment -- just how much water they've been wasting. That profligacy is disguised now, since the flat rate system essentially subsidizes waste, with those who carefully conserve paying the same as a neighbor who runs water down the gutter ever day.

 

Some people who are already using water wisely could see their bills go down with the metered rate. They might want to waive the grace period and start paying a lower bill right away.

 

This has been a long time coming in Fresno. We should have been using water meters decades ago. But with the state facing a long-term water crisis, better late than never.#

http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/story/693221.html