Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
July 23, 2008
1. Top Items -
Farmworkers rally at state Capitol for water bond
Associated Press- 7/23/08
Editorial:
More information is needed for a new look at an around-the-Delta canal.
Tracy Press- 7/22/08
Associated Press- 7/22/08
Editorial:
State snoozes as lake dries up
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Farmworkers rally at state Capitol for water bond
Associated Press- 7/23/08
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein have proposed a $9.3 billion water bond to build reservoirs, encourage conservation and restore the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
The bond needs to win the approval of the state Legislature, which is controlled by Democrats who generally are opposed to new dams.
Schwarzenegger and lawmakers representing agricultural areas in the Central Valley say
Editorial:
More information is needed for a new look at an around-the-Delta canal.
Tracy Press- 7/22/08
An influential public policy group has just released a report that says California should no longer draw water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to supply water to most of the state — and that we should build a canal to pipe Sacramento River water around the Delta to the head of the California Aqueduct near Tracy.
Hold on. Didn’t we already debate the so-called peripheral canal, take it to a vote and soundly reject it — in 1982?
Now, the Public Policy Institute of California and experts from University of California, Davis, say the risks posed by a changing Delta ecosystem — with climate change, rising sea levels, levee failures from future earthquakes, increased runoff and new invasive species — call for an aggressive approach to protecting California’s long-term water supply.
The Public Policy’s 184-page report says that continuing to channel water through the troubled estuary’s maze of levees is risky and costly, and that fortifying the Delta’s 74 islands would be a waste of taxpayer money. The authors conclude that an “isolated conveyance” — blather for peripheral canal — would draw fresh water from the
“Ultimately, there are two choices,” says Jay Lund, an engineering professor who co-authored the Public Policy report. “No exports or a peripheral canal. Keeping the Delta as it is, is not one of them.”
This report isn’t the first to weigh in on the Delta. An earlier state task force recommended the study of a “dual conveyance,” one that would combine a pipeline with continued pumping through a repaired Delta.
Following that report in May, the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors took a formal stand against such a canal — just as it did in 2007, 1998, 1991 and 1982 — and challenged cities and agencies in the county to pass similar resolutions.
The county’s resolution declared that a peripheral canal of any kind would harm water quality and the ecosystem and diminish agricultural land and even future urban development.
Supervisor Leroy Ornellas doesn’t mince words when it comes to the Delta and the politics surrounding it.
“The Delta’s not broken,” he says. “Everything around the Delta is broken — the state and various departments. Get more water flowing through the Delta, and we’ll all be in better shape.”
Just as we can’t fathom a solution to our water woes that’s not beneficial to all Californians, we can’t recommend a canal without thoroughly analyzing the impacts on the Delta. How would the quality and quantity of the water in the Delta change if river water isn’t channeled through it? And what would be the consequences for the recreation, agriculture, environment and economy of the Delta and surrounding area?
We’re happy to see Ornellas speak out on behalf of the Delta; we wish more
This isn’t just about the future of much of
http://tracypress.com/content/view/15316/2244/
Associated Press- 7/22/08
By Garance Burke, Associated Press Writer
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, Lake Oroville — which sits at the top of the vast system of state pumps and canals that send mountain river supplies to Southern California — is at 40% capacity now and will drop to about 20% by the end of December, he said.
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
"We have organized two food give aways, and people began lining up two hours before the give away," Silva said. "This is the biggest problem we've ever faced in the city of
The subcommittee plans to use the testimony to inform the federal government's response to the water shortage, said its chair Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Calif.
Representatives from environmental and fishermen's organizations, as well as Native American tribes, were not called to testify.#
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/drought/2008-07-22-california-water-shortage_N.htm
Editorial:
State snoozes as lake dries up
The response by state legislators has been all but a collective yawn.
At least federal officials are concerned. A congressional hearing was held in
Instead of public hearings and discussions, the polarized state Legislature relies on dueling statements and press conferences — fully realizing that nothing gets done without face-to-face discussion combined with public oversight and input. The state needs some sort of water summit meeting.
The congressional hearing in
Lester Snow, director of the state Department of Water Resources, told the
As of Tuesday, the lake was at 38 percent of its capacity. It held 1.4 million acre-feet of water. That's half of what's average for this time of year. When full, it can hold 3.5 million acre-feet.
As of now, the lake is dropping almost a foot each day. Snow testified that by the end of December, when the lake usually starts to rise again from winter rains,
Oroville has the second-largest storage capacity in the state. Shasta, the largest reservoir, is part of the federal water project as opposed to the state project (like Oroville). Shasta is in slightly better condition at 45 percent of capacity.
The chairwoman of the subcommittee, Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Santa Fe Springs, said her panel would use the testimony to help craft the federal response to the water shortage.
We hope the response includes encouraging the state to get its act together. A third year of below-average rains will cause even greater economic hardship in the state, yet the state government fails to plan for the possibility of continued drought.
In addition to conservation and desalination plants, the state needs new reservoirs. Blame for the lack of action on getting them built can be spread far and wide. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed funding for water projects approved by voters in November 2006 because the projects did not include new storage. That upset legislators, who aren't exactly jumping in to support Schwarzenegger's $9.3 million water bond proposed for the November ballot that would include new dams.
It's hard to say where any of this will end up, but it's a certainty that the water problem isn't getting any better while the state government squabbles.#
http://www.chicoer.com/opinion/ci_9967807
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