Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
July 22, 2008
1. Top Items -
State's water chief worries 2009 will be worst drought: House panel hears of financial impact
Associated Press- 7/22/08
The Associated Press- 7/21/08
Promised
The
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State's water chief worries 2009 will be worst drought: House panel hears of financial impact
Associated Press- 7/22/08
By Garance Burke
Lester Snow, Department of Water Resources director, spoke at a congressional hearing on
State officials are preparing for another year of drought in 2009, prompted by low storage levels, court-ordered cutbacks, increasing demand for water and forecasts of another dry winter, Snow told the House Subcommittee on Water and Power.
Next year “could be the worst drought in
The next-largest reservoir,
Snow told the crowd of about 250 that the water that moves south from the Delta has an economic impact of nearly $400 billion.
No immediate solutions to the water crisis were offered. There was considerable talk about a need for a new reservoir, an improved water delivery system and a need to take another look at what is really threatening wild fish in the Delta.
Some witnesses railed against how the Endangered Species Act is being enforced and what they see as a tendency of environmental activists and the courts to focus on pumps as the sole culprit in undermining fish populations.
Numerous farmers told the legislators that another year of tight water supplies could spell economic disaster for the fertile
The unemployment rate in Mendota, an agricultural town about 35 miles west of
The subcommittee plans to use the testimony to inform the federal response to the water shortage, said its chair Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Santa Fe Springs.
Representatives from environmental and fishermen's organizations, as well as American Indian tribes, weren't called to testify. #
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080722/news_1n22drought.html
The Associated Press- 7/21/08
By Garance Burke
Snow spoke at a congressional hearing on
State officials are already preparing for another year of drought in 2009, prompted by low storage levels, court-ordered cutbacks, increasing demand for water and forecasts of another dry winter, Snow told the House Subcommittee on Water and Power.
Next year "could be the worst drought in
The next-largest reservoir,
Numerous farmers told the legislators that another year of tight water supplies could spell economic disaster for the fertile
The unemployment rate in Mendota, an agricultural town about 35 miles west of
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_9953754
Promised
The
By , Staff Writer
But the Auburn Dam, the long-awaited source of surface water that our area needed, never happened.
Now the state, in a final blow, may kill the federal government's rights to take any more water from the river. That water was to be shared with three counties, including
Local officials testified Monday that they still need the water and asked that the water rights be preserved a few more years.
"This has long been promised to the county by the state and federal government, and it's a commitment that should be honored," Mel Lytle, water resources coordinator for the county, told the State Water Resources Control Board.
Auburn Dam, started in 1972, was delayed three years later after an earthquake. Then the cost soared above what Congress was willing to pay.
Much has changed since the dam was first proposed. The Delta has deteriorated. Environmentalists say the state has promised more water than can be delivered.
Stockton environmentalist Bill Jennings told the board he was 26 years old, weighed 150 pounds and had "flaming red hair" when the Auburn Dam water rights were issued. Today his beard is a snowy white.
"This morning, my shower diverted more water" than has been put to use in all those years, he said.
"The Auburn Dam project is dead,"
Even without a dam,
"The county is not proposing to build Auburn Dam," attorney DeeAnne Gillick said at Monday's hearing.
Rather, local officials asked for about three years to negotiate a water contract with the Bureau of Reclamation and find a way to get the water on their own.
The need, they say, is desperate. Despite the county's being naturally rich in rivers and surface water, about 60 percent of its water comes from underground.
As a result, groundwater has dropped as low as 70 feet below sea level in some areas, while saltwater slowly invades the area from the west at a rate of 150 to 250 feet annually.
Federal officials said Monday that the decades-long delay in building Auburn Dam was out of their control.
Construction stopped in 1975 after an earthquake raised concerns about the structure's seismic safety. A new design would be needed, the agency decided.
Lawmakers have never increased the cost limit for the project, although as many as 13 legislative bills have attempted to address the issue.
Ultimately, the bureau has very little control over funding, said Ray Sahlberg, regional water rights officer for the Bureau of Reclamation. It can't "hold a bake sale" and can't win the lottery to build the dam and preserve its water rights; it has to wait for Congress to allocate money.
"We believe this project is still viable today," Sahlberg said.
Over the years,
"The county was intentionally or unintentionally misled," said James C. Hanson, an engineer representing
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080722/A_NEWS/807220329
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