Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
August 20, 2008
5. Agencies, Programs, People –
Westlands discusses nuclear plants
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Water ordinances advance: New construction projects and faucets in public restrooms would face more stringent regulations under laws.
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Westlands discusses nuclear plants
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By Dennis Pollock
Fresno Nuclear Energy Group LLC on Tuesday signed a letter of intent with the Westlands Water District to discuss the possibility of building two 1,600-megawatt nuclear power plants on 500 acres in the district.
John Hutson, the company's president, said the district would choose the site.
Hutson said that, under the proposal, a desalinization facility, powered by the plants, would be built "to supply clean, reliable water to the farmers on the west side."
Ground water in the district is plagued by salts that include selenium and boron.
State law bans any new nuclear power plants until the federal government approves a process for the permanent disposal of their spent fuel. A nuclear plant also would have to clear several federal legal hurdles, most notably from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Hutson has said he might try to use a ballot initiative to overcome the state ban on new nuclear plants.
Sarah Woolf, a spokeswoman for Westlands, said district officials met once with Hutson and others involved in the project about two weeks ago.
"The agreement says, 'Let's at least sit down and talk about it,' " she said, adding that one challenge would be obtaining enough water to cool the energy plant. "We made it clear that we're water short.
"Our interest is if we could create a desalinization plant, we could power it with nuclear energy that would make it more cost effective."
Woolf said it would be "at best" 10 years before anything could be built.#
http://www.fresnobee.com/business/story/809184.html
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Water ordinances advance: New construction projects and faucets in public restrooms would face more stringent regulations under laws.
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The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to move forward with drafting two ordinances that address the shrinking amounts of available water in
The first ordinance would set a list of landscape irrigation requirements for new construction projects. The new projects would require that a building has to install a separate pipe and meter to use recycled water if it is in a recycled water zone of the city.
However, they will not have to adhere to other more stringent regulations, Plan Check Engineer Carol-Anne Coates said.
All other new projects will be asked to comply with plantings and higher-efficiency sprinklers requirements, and follow guidelines such as creating “hydrozones,” or grouping plants together that need larger amounts of water to survive, Coates said.
“We realize it would be hardship for some properties to have to adhere to the ordinance so we left out existing properties,” she said. “However, if there is a major addition to a house or commercial business already in the area, they will also have to install the more efficient sprinkler heads.”
The new irrigation practices address not only the council’s green architecture practices, but follow a 2010 mandate as well, according to a city staff report.
An Assembly bill passed in 2006 requires that local cities adopt more efficient landscape practices similar to the Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance developed by the state Department of Water Resources, according to the report.
Slated to be released in January, the ordinance would require that construction projects greater than 2,500 create a water budget — a minimal amount of water needed to maintain their irrigation areas, Coates said.
The second ordinance would install faucet aerators in restrooms available to the public. As many as 9,000 bathrooms could be required to install the aerators, which is easy to do and inexpensive, she said.
Vice Mayor Gary Bric suggested that staff consider using metered faucets in public restrooms to prevent people from turning on the faucets and leaving them running.
In June, the council voted to approve a similar ordinance that new construction projects also install water-efficient bathroom appliances.
On Tuesday, Councilwoman Anja Reinke expressed concern about the availability of the aerators in local stores.
Despite low numbers of the fixtures on retail shelves in the past, there are now plenty in stock for sale, Coates said.
The ordinance is mandatory for all new multifamily and commercial projects as well as substantial remodels to faucets, toilets, shower heads and urinals in order to meet the proposed California Green Building Standards Code, Coates said.
In February, the council voted 4 to 1 to support a water-reduction plan to cut back on supply delivered by the water district. The plan would be implemented only if conditions get worse, officials said.
The shortage is caused by low rainfall levels throughout California; a judicial case that is holding up deliveries of water from the Sacramento/San Joaquin River Delta; low levels of snowpack in the Colorado Basin and Sierra Nevada; and an eight-year drought in the Colorado River that recently ended.#
http://www.burbankleader.com/articles/2008/08/20/politics/blr-council20.txt
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