[Water_news] 5. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: AGENCIES, PROGRAMS, PEOPLE - 8/25/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

August 25, 2008

 

5. Agencies, Programs, People –

 

Guest Commentary: Lester Snow

Article about water was misleading

Contra Costa Times

 

Opinion:

Stuart Leavenworth: All of a sudden, new dams don't look quite so attractive

Sacramento Bee

 

Flood warning system unveiled by California water agency

Sacramento Bee

 

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Guest Commentary: Lester Snow

Article about water was misleading

Contra Costa Times – 8/22/08

By Lester Snow – Director, California Department of Water Resources

THIS IS REGARDING your Aug. 10 front-page story "Harvest of cash."

 

The Delta is declining, but this article distorts the truth about the causes and fails to recognize the governor's commitment to finding a solution.

 

There are many Delta stressors, including invasive species, pollution, rising water temperatures and runoff. To assert that the environmental water program contributed to the fishery decline ignores the complexity of the issue.

 

Water purchases made under the Environmental Water Account were according to law and rules established in the CALFED Record of Decision. Operation of the account was assisted by public independent science reviews.

 

Also, water deliveries did not exceed conditions in the federal biological opinions. They do not have a limit on Article 21 deliveries.

EWA met its water purchase goals. Fish agencies had enough water for the actions they thought were needed.

 

Purchases made by the EWA from south of Delta water users from 2001 to 2007 were from willing sellers who had stored water in water banks.

 

The purchase price compensated users for the costs of storing this water, maintaining the water bank facilities, and extracting the water.

The water bond proposed by Gov. Schwarzenegger and Sen. Dianne Feinstein will increase water reliability and conservation, reduce shortages and restore the Delta. #

http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ci_10281264?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com

 

Opinion:

Stuart Leavenworth: All of a sudden, new dams don't look quite so attractive

Sacramento Bee – 8/24/08

By Stuart Leavenworth, staff writer

The Sierra snowpack is dismal. Lake Oroville is at one-third of its capacity.

 

Over on the Colorado River, Lake Mead has dropped to its lowest level in four decades. The D-word – drought – is on everyone's lips.

 

Given these circumstances, you might think that Southern California would be leading the fight for new reservoirs. It's not. While Central Valley farmers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are all clamoring for state-funded surface storage (that's water community jargon for dams and reservoirs), Southern California has examined the price tag of these projects and said, "Thanks, but no thanks."

 

Largely unnoticed by the state's media, the Southland's reservations about reservoirs are rocking the debate over water investments. In the 1960s, powerful farm industries in the Central Valley teamed up with Southern California to create Lake Oroville and other pieces of the State Water Project. History has shown that, when these groups cooperate, California can make water to flow uphill toward money.

 

But several converging trends are souring Southern California's support for new dams, including those pushed by the governor. Construction costs are skyrocketing, along with prices of energy needed to move water south. Water stored in Northern California has to be shipped through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, an increasingly undependable transit point for exports.

 

Add these up, and surface storage becomes a risky, expensive option, according to a draft report released this month by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

 

"From a Southern California perspective, dams in the northern part of the state have to be considered unreliable," said the report, aptly entitled "Where will we get the water?"

 

Prepared for Southern California business leaders, the LAEDC report is significant on several fronts. For one, this is not the work of a think tank with an anti-dam agenda. LAEDC is a group with wide respect in economic development circles. In addition, it has taken a unique, comprehensive look at the Southland's current water options, and the likely costs of those options over 30 years.

 

According to the report, conservation would be the least costly alternative, at $210 per acre-foot of treated water. Capturing storm water would cost about $350 but wouldn't help during a drought; groundwater storage would cost $580; and recycling about $1,000. Ocean desalination would cost more than $1,000 per acre-foot, depending on energy prices.

 

By contrast, surface storage – including proposals such as the Sites Reservoir in Northern California and the Temperance Flat dam near Fresno – would cost $760 to $1,400 per acre-foot. Most of these expenses would come from shipping the water through or around the Delta, "a legally and environmentally tortuous path," the report states.

 

Does this mean that Los Angeles is done financing water projects in Northern California? Don't bet on it. If California were to approve a new peripheral canal, Southern California would likely provide funding, and new storage projects would then become more viable.

 

But for now, diversification is the name of the game in a region where 22 million people are dangerously dependent on water imports.

"The region needs to undertake an urgent program to secure sufficient, reliable water supplies," the Southern California report states. "The solution will have to incorporate a portfolio of water strategies, since no single strategy will provide a 'silver bullet.' "#

http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/1179131.html

 

Flood warning system unveiled by California water agency

Sacramento Bee – 8/24/08

By Matt Weiser, staff writer

 

Amid a two-year drought, some people might be yearning for a heavy rain.

 

And when high water strikes again, California will be ready with a new color-coded alert system.

Borrowing a bit from federal security agencies, the state Department of Water Resources recently unveiled a "flood conditions" warning system to inform the public of the state's level of mobilization to combat flooding.

When there are no significant concerns, like today during a typically hot and dry August, the alert level is Floodcon 1 – no significant events. From there it steps up to Floodcon 5, which means land is likely going underwater in multiple locations and multiple emergency teams are deployed.

 

"It's kind of a way for other agencies and the public to see where we're at as far as our readiness," said Sean Mann, chief of DWR's flood operations center.

The system is modeled after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's color-coded national security warning system, said Mann. Color codes illustrate the gravity of the threat, ranging from green (take a nap) to red (run and hide.)

 

The federal system, however, has been ridiculed for providing little specific useful information to the public about actual dangers that may exist.

It's unclear yet if Floodcon will do any better.

 

Mann said Floodcon is designed only to indicate DWR's state of response.

 

The day's Floodcon color is maintained and described on the Internet at www.water.ca.gov/floodmgmt/.

 

During flood season, from Oct. 15 to April 15, DWR's color will always be no lower than blue – Floodcon 2 – and will turn rosier shades of peril with the weather and flooding events.

 

"Since it's on the Web site, the public, if they're interested, can get a view of what we're doing based on the Floodcon status," Mann said. "In a significant weather event, they obviously want to be in a higher state of awareness and take precautions."

 

The Web site does not provide links to specific flooding problems or weather events related to the color status.

 

It also does not apply unique Floodcon ratings to different areas. The reader might reside in an area immune to flooding, but see that the state's color code says Floodcon status is grave, because it only describes DWR's response level.

 

"Most people will already understand that during times of heavy rain, the risks of flooding are greater," said Jonas Minton former deputy director of flood management at DWR. "What is missing is better information for residents on the flood risk for their areas."

 

Minton, a committee member of Citizens for Flood Safety, which supported a property tax increase for levee improvements in Sacramento last year, said the color ratings also could lure the public into a false sense of security.

 

If DWR displays a safe green Floodcon color in June, he said, it might discourage an uninformed citizen from buying flood insurance or supporting a ballot measure for flood protection that happens to be up for a vote that month.

 

Mann emphasized the system has just been unveiled. He said localized alerts or links to more online information about specific local flooding or weather events could be added in the future if there is enough interest.#

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/1181032.html

 

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