[Water_news] 2. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: SUPPLY - 8/14/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment 

 

August 14, 2008

 

2. Supply –

 

 

 

Costly water shell game points to need for reservoirs

The Contra Costa Times- 8/13/08

 

City Water Savings Pays Off In Future

Grunion Gazette- 8/14/08

 

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Costly water shell game points to need for reservoirs

The Contra Costa Times- 8/13/08

BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

IN THE WAKE of a severe drought in the early 1990s, California devised some innovative programs designed to assure adequate water supplies as well as environmental protection.

 

One of those innovations was water banking in which the state and regional water agencies could buy and sell surplus water.

 

In 1995, the state initiated a discount water program known as Article 21. Regional water agencies such as Kern County and the Metropolitan Water District in Southern California could buy water at the cost of pumping it during wet years.

 

Then the agencies could resell water at higher rates during the dry months. The idea was to make more water available for users and the Delta environment and to encourage conservation.

 

But that is not the way things worked out. Instead of protecting the Delta, far more water than authorized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services permit was pumped to regional water agencies.

 

The permit was for 168,000 acre-feet of Article 21 deliveries in an average year. However, in 2005, state water officials unleashed 730,000 acre-feet in a year that was only a little wetter than average.

 

As a result, far more water was pumped out of the Delta early in the year, when smelt spawn. Environmental experts believe that the diminished fresh water flowing into the Delta was a major reason for the steep decline of several fish species.

 

There are other concerns about the collapse of the Delta ecosystem, such as invasive species. But lower levels of fresh water mean higher salinity levels, which may help some invasive species thrive at the expense of the ecological balance of the Delta.

 

What makes the excess water deliveries even worse is the way in which water deals were made.

 

The Kern County water agency, for example, has made a considerable profit at the expense of California taxpayers as well as the environment.

 

Under Article 21, water was delivered to Kern for only $28 per acre foot last year. Also in 2007, the average overall price Kern paid for Delta water (Article 21 and other contracted supplies) was $86 per acre foot.

 

Kern then sold much of the same water back to the state at prices between $170 and $200 an acre foot, collecting $96 million in taxpayer money.

 

Article 21 is a shameful example of a state water program that backfired. There was insufficient oversight, which allowed for the excessively large water deliveries and the degradation of the Delta.

 

In effect, Article 21 was nothing more than a shell game that allowed a water agency to bilk the public and do environmental harm.

 

Unfortunately, it is not an isolated case of water policy failure. More than $3 billion has been spent since 2000 in efforts to improve the Delta environment and water supplies. The result has been an ecological collapse and a court order to sharply reduce water deliveries. Everyone is the loser.

 

At the root of much of California's water woes is the lack of adequate storage. Water demand has risen, and the state's population has doubled since the last major reservoir was built.

 

Water storage collected at environmentally sound levels in state reservoirs during wet months can make enough water available for users and the Delta ecology in dry periods.

 

Adequate supplies of fresh state-owned water would preclude any need to have regional agencies bank water for anything other than their own use.

 

It is past time that California got serious about constructing new reservoirs or substantially enlarging current ones. The state's economy, particularly agriculture, and the Delta environment are at risk.#

http://www.contracostatimes.com/opinion/ci_10194591

 

 

 

City Water Savings Pays Off In Future

Grunion Gazette- 8/14/08

By Harry Saltzgaver, Executive Editor

 

Nine months of water conservation in Long Beach has paid off — sort of.

 

Residents shouldn’t face further restriction in water use any time soon, despite the fact that the state’s water supply appears on its way to record low levels, according to Kevin Wattier, general manager of the Long Beach Water Department. Much of the rest of Southern California likely will see more severe restrictions beginning in 2009, when supplies from northern California are expected to be further reduced.

 

“Lake Oroville, which is the primary reservoir for northern California water, is dropping rapidly and already is at 1977 levels,” Wattier said. “By the end of August, if projections hold and the level continues the decline, it will be at the lowest it has ever been… We’re talking about conditions worse than the great drought of 1976 and ’77.”

 

California has been suffering through a multi-year drought, and Southern California water supplies were further impacted last year when a judge limited the amount of water pumped from the Sacramento Delta. That action was designed to protect the endangered Delta Smelt, and cut the amount of water available to the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) from that source by almost two-thirds.

 

“It is getting worse,” said Ryan Alsop, public and government affairs manager for the water department. “It is headed exactly where we thought it would be a year ago.”

 

Last September, the city’s Water Commission declared an imminent water supply shortage, and instituted a series of water conservation measures. Those rules included limiting residential watering to Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays and only in the mornings and evenings; bans on street car washing; requiring restaurants to get a request before serving water; and more.

 

The measures have worked. Since Oct. 1, the city’s water demand is nearly 8% below its 10-year average, and a record was set in July when use was 16% below the 10-year average for the month.

 

Wattier and the Long Beach commissioners have clamored for months for the rest of Southern California’s cities to follow Long Beach’s lead. Now, Wattier said, the commission’s foresight will be repaid.

 

“The October to December forecast is for continued drier than normal conditions,” Wattier said. “Our reserves are falling real fast. When it is time to make the water allocations on Dec. 1, it is likely the MWD will use a reduction of 10% in overall supplies.”

 

That reduced allocation would be part of the MWD’s drought policy passed earlier this year, which drops Long Beach down the priority list when it comes to available water. While that’s not good news, Wattier said, Long Beach is ready.

 

“We’re looking at a 10% to 15% cut in water from MWD,” Wattier said. “We can handle that… We expect 2009 to be California’s worst water year ever. Long Beach is well positioned, which a lot of people can’t say. We expect no further prohibitions beyond what we’re already doing.”

 

Many other Southern California cities, including Los Angeles, began mandatory water restrictions this summer. Bill Townsend, president of the Water Commission, said people better get used to the restrictions.

 

“Communities throughout outhern California must implement mandatory restrictions on the most wasteful outdoor uses of water, and those restrictions need to be made permanent,” he said. “I want to thank our customers for their huge effort and urge them to continue.”

 

Last month, the commission approved a combined 15.8% increase in water and sewer rates for fiscal 2009 (still subject to City Council approval). About 2% of that rate increase was to offset the reduced amount of water use, while the rest was the result of increased costs, including a higher price for imported water. Long Beach buys about half of its water from MWD; the rest comes from local ground water.#

http://www.gazettes.com/water08142008.html