[Water_news] 2. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: SUPPLY - 6/27/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment 

 

June 27 2008

 

2. Supply –

 

 

Water shortage in focus County conference to address drought

The San Bernardino Sun- 6/26/08

 

Drought hits ranchers hard: Expert says region has seen 40 percent less rain than normal

Visalia Times-Delta- 6/27/08

 

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Water shortage in focus County conference to address drought

The San Bernardino Sun- 6/26/08

Lauren McSherry, Staff Writer

 

Officials say they are bracing for a water shortage that could last years in California, and they are asking the public to weigh in on how to conserve water.

 

"It sure looks like we are in a drought or (are) moving into a severe drought," said Kirby Brill, general manager of Mojave Water District, one of the three major water suppliers in San Bernardino County. "What I think everyone is starting to realize is if we become more efficient in our use of water, we can stretch our supplies."

 

In light of the need to conserve water, the county will host its second regional water conference Aug. 14 at the Ontario Convention Center.

 

The public is invited to attend the conference and bring suggestions about managing the county's water resources.

 

Paul Biane, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said the county expects to gain 1 million more residents in the next 20 years. The county must plan accordingly to prevent a lack of water from crippling economic growth, he said.

 

"We've got to get more efficient in how we go about using water," he said.

 

The county government owns or leases more office space than any business in the county and is taking measures to ensure that its buildings are water- and energy-efficient, Biane said.

 

The water shortage is also a concern to local developers, said Todd Tatum, president of the Building Industry Association, Baldy View Chapter.

 

"As we all know, California really rests on a perilous hydraulic system," he said, referring to how water is transported to Southern California by way of the California Aqueduct and the Colorado River. "At any time should one of those systems fail or go offline, all of us in California will be affected in a huge, huge way."

 

During the conference, panelists will discuss supply challenges and the impacts posed by rapid population and economic growth.

 

The conference will include lively round-table discussions and short presentations, organizers said. Written questions will be taken from the audience.

 

At $125 each, however, tickets to the event are pricey.

 

The High Desert and San Bernardino Valley are "blessed" with underground basins where water can be stored, which puts San Bernardino County in a slightly better position than surrounding counties, Brill said.

 

When agencies plan their water programs and policies, they are looking 50 years ahead to the amount water that will be available, he said.

 

"It's our challenge to look out there and anticipate all the demands for the community," he said.#

http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_9713193

 

 

 

Drought hits ranchers hard: Expert says region has seen 40 percent less rain than normal

Visalia Times-Delta- 6/27/08

By Valerie Gibbons  

 

Fires in the foothills. Rangeland dry as a bone. Less water for Valley crops.

 

Welcome to the summer of 2008.

 

A dry spring and a hot early summer led Tulare County officials this week to seek a state of emergency. Such a declaration would set in motion aid programs designed to help growers and ranchers recover from losses.

 

The hardest hit: Ranchers along the foothills. About 615,000 acres of rangeland could be in jeopardy.

 

Total losses could reach $3.2 million, said Marilyn Kinoshita, a deputy agricultural commissioner for Tulare County.

 

"We've had about 40 percent less rain than we should have had," said Gary Sanger, forecaster with the National Weather Service in Hanford. "December, January and February were fairly wet, but in March it's like the spigot was turned off."

 

Since July 1, 2007, Visalia has received 6.66 inches of rain — just half an inch more than the year before.

 

The driest season on record in the Valley was 1947-48, with a scant 3 1/2 inches of rain. The 2006-07 season, with 6.03 inches, was the 11th driest since the record-keeping began in 1878.

 

Rain and snow

Snow surveys conducted at Hockett Meadow show that the water content in this year's snowpack was about normal, the National Parks Service reported. According to the state Department of Water Resources, however, with the exception of Lake Kaweah — where storage is 145 percent of normal — area lake levels are down.

 

Lake Success, which is kept at an artificially low level because of structural problems with the dam, is at 58 percent of normal.

 

While water shortages are not at a critical level on the east side of the Valley, growers can expect a dry season. Those with contracts with the Westlands Water District have had their allotments slashed because of court rulings protecting the endangered Delta smelt.

 

The 15,000 farms served by the Friant-Kern Canal will receive all of their basic, Class 1 deliveries but just 5 percent of their surplus, or Class 2, deliveries. The Friant-Kern Canal draws its water from Millerton Lake in Fresno County.

 

"We've had years when the class 1 deliveries were cut by 50 percent, so we have seen a lot worse," said Ronald Jacobsma, general manager of the Friant Water Users Authority, which oversees the canal. "But we will be pumping a lot of ground water this year."

 

Growers use ground water to supplement deliveries from the various irrigation districts serving the Valley. But ground water percolates through the soil slowly and is not easily replaced.

 

Paul Hendrix, manager of the Tulare Irrigation District, said the agency has entered into partnership with the county to build more ground-water recharge facilities.

 

"People are relying heavier on their wells," he said. "It used to be that we only used groundwater in the driest of years. Now we are using ground water in modest or average years."#

http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080627/NEWS01/806270323