Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
September 17, 2008
1. Top Item
Plan intended to head off statewide battle over water
Amador Ledger- Dispatch- 9/16/08
Water resources are focus of brainstorming session, PLAN: The region will not be able to count on an imported supply. Options focus on reuse and conservation.
Riverside Press-Enterprise- 9/16/08
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Plan intended to head off statewide battle over water
Amador Ledger- Dispatch- 9/16/08
There are drums of war beating all over the state of
Standing before a screen displaying the agency's latest map, AWA engineering and planning manager Gene Mancebo presented the board of directors with the Purple Pipe Plan at its meeting Thursday morning. The plan is to create a water system that will convey recycled water through purple pipes.
"The agency's objective," said AWA general manager Jim Abercrombie, "is to maximize our water supply."
Mancebo added, "We have to build a portfolio of water supply."
Additional water rights may be available if the agency can provide evidence that recycled water is replacing a significant quantity of its treated water. The goal, according to Abercrombie, is production and use of nearly 3 million gallons per day of recycled water, which would free up 3,000 acre feet of untreated water.
In their sights, the agency sees the possibility of firming up rights that Jackson Valley Irrigation District holds for 2,800 acre feet. "2,800 acre feet equates to 2.5 million gallons per day," Abercrombie calculated.
When asked later how the cost to customers would compare to the water they are now using, Abercrombie said, "The price of recycled water has to be competitive with raw water and less than treated, to incentivize people to switch over."
The concept of recycling water has been around for a while. The Water Recycling Act of 1991 states, "The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the use of potable domestic water for the irrigation of residential landscaping or other nonpotable uses, including, but not limited to, cemeteries, golf courses, parks, highway landscaped areas, and industrial and irrigation uses, is a waste or an unreasonable use of water."
As drought conditions worsen, reservoir levels drop, wells begin to go dry and people begin planning to protect their water supplies and find additional sources. Thirsty farms and cities from the Central Valley to the
Rights to use of the water flowing down from the mountains are shrouded in legal complexity, with riparian, appropriative and prescriptive rights that date back to Gold Rush times, when earlier water wars were fought. The best kind of rights to have are those known as pre-1914 appropriative rights, established before the California Water Commission Act became effective, establishing stringent rules for the appropriation of water.
The AWA has what are generally held to be rock-solid pre-1914 appropriative rights to 15,000 acre feet of water from the
These rights belonged to Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and were sold to the county in 1985. In addition, the agency has rights to 1,150 acre feet that is used to supply the Central Amador Water Project, through the Buckhorn Treatment Plant.
The city of
The state Water Resources Control Board, as its name suggests, holds decision-making power over water rights. High on their list of criteria is beneficial use. Under that umbrella term are domestic, municipal, agricultural and industrial supply; power generation; recreation; aesthetic enjoyment; navigation; and preservation and enhancement of fish, wildlife, and other aquatic resources or preserves. Appropriative rights are acquired by putting surface water to beneficial use. An appropriative water right in
Until a rainy season begins, boat launches will continue to drop into shrinking lakes, water agencies will grow increasingly nervous and concerned water users will cast covetous eyes on other sources.#
http://www.ledger-dispatch.com/news/newsview.asp?c=248606
Water resources are focus of brainstorming session, PLAN: The region will not be able to count on an imported supply. Options focus on reuse and conservation.
Riverside Press-Enterprise- 9/16/08
Water officials, city planners and lawmakers pitched ideas Tuesday for developing long-term water supplies for
The brainstorming session, one of four sponsored by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, was aimed at finding new and novel sources of water to sustain the region during the next 50 years, organizers said.
The recommendations will be used over the next year to update the district's supply and use plan. It will be the first revision since the plan was adopted 1996 in response to the severe drought of the late 1980s and early '90s.
One theme was clear throughout the gathering in
"In past planning, the worst-case scenario we looked at wasn't bad enough," said Timothy Brick, chairman of the board of directors for the district, a water wholesaler that supplies 26 agencies in six counties. "We are at the worst-case scenario."
Among the problems with current supplies: The Colorado River has suffered an eight-year drought, and more states are claiming shares of the river that once were used by
The future of water lies in conservation, storage and local supplies, Brick told about 150 participants.
He called for increased capture of rainwater to replenish groundwater basins, recycling treated wastewater for irrigation, the planting of more native landscapes, more aggressive ocean desalination programs, using conservation efforts to offset the water demands of new developments, and water rates that penalize inefficiency.
While the area has made strides in the past 20 years, "there's room for more conservation," Brick said.
Any recommendations will have to be made with the belief that future supplies will be much less than today's officials have seen in their lifetimes, said Wyatt Troxel, president of the Inland Empire Utilities Agency, which supplies supplemental water to southwest San Bernardino County.
Troxel suggested planting more trees to slow rainfall runoff and increasing water storage, like the six-month supply in
"Local reuse is the only supply we have control of," Troxel said.
Talk of continued development in the region, particularly
That means less grass, no more water running down driveways and a tiered rate system, said Randy Record, an MWD board member and director of Eastern Municipal Water District in Riverside County.
"We can't say, 'That's it, no more growth,' because that sustains our economy," Record said. "People ask me all the time if we have enough water for development. I say, 'Sure, I see it running down the street all the time.' "#
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_waterplan17.17c213a.html
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