A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
August 15, 2008
2. Supply –
Westlands water rationing finished
The
Water’s three Rs: retrofit, reuse, recycle: $4.4B Hetch Hetchy project and conservation efforts help protect supply
Water rationing ends for some SJ Valley farmers
The
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Westlands water rationing finished
The
By Dennis Pollock
Rationing within the Westlands Water District has ended early because of declining demand that resulted when crops were abandoned and fall planting declined.
The water rationing program, which has been under way since late May, ended Aug. 1 and deliveries have returned to normal, based on a 40% allocation, for water users in the district.
Sarah Woolf, a spokeswoman for the district, said the reduced demand convinced U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials that it was acceptable to stop the rationing and allow growers to use their remaining water supply for the year.
Woolf said decisions on what crops to plant had been made by late June and early July that resulted in less demand for water.
She said the resumed deliveries will be most helpful for permanent crops such as almonds and pistachios. The lower demand helped recover San Luis Reservoir storage levels and avoid "serious low-point issues," she said.
The rationing was necessary because of court-ordered restriction on pumping water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta during the spring snowmelt to protect threatened fish.
Reduced irrigation during the critical summer months has resulted in a preliminary estimate of $88 million in crop losses.
Woolf said the overall amount of crop losses won't be known until harvest is completed. Also to be factored in are fall crops left unplanted because of the water-rationing program. #
http://www.fresnobee.com/business/story/799733.html
Water’s three Rs: retrofit, reuse, recycle: $4.4B Hetch Hetchy project and conservation efforts help protect supply
by Amanda Bishop,
June’s declaration by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California’s first drought in 16 years is turning up the pressure on Bay Area governments, developers and business owners to safeguard supplies — and efficiently wring every precious drop out of existing water.
That involves upgrading existing sources like
Such a three-pronged approach — maintaining water infrastructure, promoting water-saving systems and developing new water technology — can keep the water service flowing to Bay Area residents despite the distant and often-precarious sources on which they depend.
“People aren’t used to turning the tap and not getting water,” said Julie Labonte, director of the water system improvement program at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. “They’re used to the electricity going out, but not water. People have no idea how destructive that would be.”
Building momentum
In size and importance, the upgrading of Hetch Hetchy is by far the the Bay Area’s largest water infrastructure project.
A $4.4 billion project to repair, replace and seismically upgrade the system that delivers water 160 miles from Yosemite to
Twenty-five of 81 component projects have already been completed, and others are getting ready to flow into the pipeline, Labonte said.
“The momentum is really going,” she said. “We’ve moved most of the projects from the planning to the design phase. By 2010 a good majority of our large projects will be in construction. In 2010 we’re going to have a heck of a lot of work out in the field.”
That includes construction of a brand-new tunnel and pipeline, called the Bay Division Reliability Project. The new line will run 21 miles from
A massive engineering challenge, to be sure, but like many large infrastructure projects in the Bay Area, pouring the concrete and bending the steel is the easy part. The technical challenges of upgrading Hetch Hetchy are dwarfed by political and environmental factors, Labonte said. “Taxpayers want it as cheap as possible. Wholesale customers want reliability.
Municipalities want things in exchange. Sometimes all these goals are not lined up properly.”
Hetch Hetchy provides water to 2.4 million people in
Waves of the future
In the search for more water, scientists and engineers are finding new ways to use polluted or salty water as well.
East Bay MUD has recycled water from its
“Without a reliable, sustainable water supply, it’s a moot point,” city manager Peter Ingram said. “If there’s not enough water supply, you can’t issue permits and have a new development.”
Redwood City has the largest water recycling program within the SFPUC but three other projects are also in the works: a Westside recycled water project, which would use recycled water for landscape irrigation; the Harding Park Recycled Water Project, which would use recycled water from the North San Mateo County Sanitation District in Daly City; and the Sharp Park Recycled Water Project, which would provide recycled water from the North Coast County Water District.
Water districts have long considered desalination plants to turn saltwater into drinking water.
“Marin’s desalination plant would cost $2,000 an acre foot,” said Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment and Security in
The
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Water rationing ends for some SJ Valley farmers
The
Some farmers on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley have cut back water usage so much that rationing orders in place since May have been lifted.
The conservation is because many farmers have been forced to plow under crops and abandon planting altogether because of the rationing.
A spokesman for the Westlands Water District says the decline in demand frees up water for permanent crops such as pistachios and almonds. Deliveries returned to normal last week.
The district still will receive only 40 percent of its allocation this year because of court-ordered cutbacks on pumping from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to protect endangered smelt.
Agricultural officials estimate crop losses at more than $88 million.#
http://www.fresnobee.com/552/story/800879.html
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