Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
September 24, 2008
1. Top Item -
Cold, arid winter is predicted: Forecasters say third year of drought conditions likely
The Union Democrat- 9/23/08
Tribe to lose historic lands if dam is raised
The Associated Press- 9/24/08
State activating drought water bank
Press-Enterprise- 9/23/08
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Cold, arid winter is predicted: Forecasters say third year of drought conditions likely
The Union Democrat- 9/23/08
By JAMES DAMSCHRODER
As the first day of fall arrived, weather watchers are forecasting a third dry winter in a row.
The Old Farmer's Almanac predicts winter temperatures will be about one degree below normal, with the coldest periods in mid-December, early and mid-January and early February. The guide predicts mountain snowfall will be below normal, with the most precipitation during mid-November, mid-January, late February and mid-March.
This would closely match last year's precipitation patterns, when a majority of the snowpack came in January and February, which was followed by the driest spring and summer on record.
This year's runoff will be about 57 percent of normal. Last rain season — measured from October to October — had statewide runoff of only 53 percent of normal.
At present, state reservoirs average about 45 percent of capacity, compared to their average of about 60 percent capacity for this time of the year.
The National Weather Service's
The predictions are based on long-term trends. Short-term events, such as individual storms, cannot be accurately predicted more than a few days in advance.
"We can have a general idea with long-term predictions," said Felix Garcia, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in
Garcia said that the predictions are usually fairly accurate, but it's harder when there's not an El Nino or La Nina pattern. Last year, there was a La Nina weather pattern, where cooler-than-normal waters in the Eastern Pacific influence climatic conditions.
"This year looks pretty neutral," Garcia said.
Other groups, including the International Research Institute for Climate and Society and the
Local
"I can't remember having three drought years in a row," he added.#
http://www.uniondemocrat.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=27636
Tribe to lose historic lands if dam is raised
The Associated Press- 9/24/08
In this valley where four rivers meet, the Winnemen Wintu tribe fished and farmed for centuries, its villages always near the water's edge.
Much of that heritage was lost during
Now the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is considering enlarging Shasta Dam as a way to boost
"These sacred places help keep the tribe healthy. They help keep it balanced and they help us to heal," said tribal chief Caleen Sisk-Franco. "There is no replacement. There's not an option to move it."
The desire by the few remaining tribal members to preserve the remnants of their homeland is running headlong into the desires of Central Valley farmers, the main beneficiaries of the federal proposal to enlarge
When it was filled to capacity, the lake flooded 46 square miles where tribal leaders say some 20,000 Winnemen Wintu once lived along the
What remains of their ancestral land, some 225 miles north of
Shasta Lake is the starting point for the federally run Central Valley Project, a system of 21 reservoirs, canals and aqueducts that funnels water to some 3.2 million acres of farmland and supplies water to about 2 million people.
Raising the dam would flood the remaining one-tenth of the tribe's historical land along the
The land is divided between that administered by the U.S. Forest Service, private landowners and a parcel owned by the Westlands Water District, a huge
Supporters say an enlarged lake is needed to meet the needs of
The bureau is studying whether to raise the dam between 6 1/2 and 18 1/2 feet, which would enlarge the reservoir by more than a tenth of its current size. That's enough water to serve the city of
"What's so potentially promising about raising Shasta Dam, all things considered, is an opportunity to provide more storage at a facility that's already in place," said Ron Ganzfried, a supervisor in the Bureau of Reclamation's regional planning division.
A higher dam also would provide more hydropower, flood protection along the upper
Although the price tag is steep - with preliminary costs ranging from $531.3 million to $854.9 million - it's far less than the cost of building a new dam. For example, the state estimates it could cost $3.6 billion to build a reservoir in a valley north of Sacramento that would store roughly the same amount of water as would be added behind a taller Shasta Dam.
That makes it an attractive solution for
In 2007, the Westlands Water District spent $35 million to keep land along the scenic
"Westlands recognizes that as one of the critical needs for water supply in the state," water district spokeswoman Sarah Woolf said. "Westlands was concerned if development were to happen there, the raising of the dam would never be allowed to happen."
Conservation groups are concerned that swelling of the lower portion of the
Instead, environmental groups favor building bypasses for salmon to get them around the dam and into the
"We need to come up with permanent solutions that will increase flexibility and provide what we need for the salmon rather than reinvesting in the very projects that caused the problem," said Mindy McIntyre, a water specialist at the nonprofit Planning and Conservation League, based in
Federal officials say environmental organizations and the Winnemen Wintu tribe will be consulted as plans move forward over the next few years, but how much sway the tribe will have to block the dam project is questionable.
The tribe initially was recognized by the federal government under the 1851 Cottonwood Treaty, a pact that set aside a 35 square-mile reservation but was never ratified.
It was recognized by Congress in 1941 legislation compensating the Winnemen Wintu for the land that would be submerged by the dam. The tribe never received the land that was intended as a trade-off.
But in 1979, when the federal government published a register of federally recognized tribes, the Winnemen Wintu were not on the list. The tribe has not sought recognition through the Department of Interior, said Bureau of Indian Affairs spokeswoman Nedra Darling.
Sisk-Franco says the Winnemen Wintu shouldn't have to go through a lengthy bureaucratic process when Congress recognized the tribe more than 60 years ago and its members were given housing, education and health benefits for decades.
"We hope to be able to work with them, whether they are a federally recognized tribe or not," reclamation's Ganzfried said. "We certainly recognize and respect their concerns. In order for any project to move forward, we like to find ways to minimize effects in any way we can."
The bureau expects to finish its environmental reviews early next year and distribute them for public comment. Congress also must authorize and fund the project.
Although the tribe is small in number, its ties to the area remain central to preserving its heritage.
The rocky shoreline along the
Across the river, toddlers are introduced to another rock where tribal elders tell their ancestral stories. Both cultural spots could be swamped by the rising waters of the
In addition to flooding historical tribal lands, several U.S. Forest Service campsites would be moved to higher ground. Tribal leaders fear one of those campsites could be relocated to a hilltop where they name their newborns.
"Their sacred lands lie in a fairly strategic place for the government," said state Assemblyman Jared Huffman, a Democrat from
A resolution he authored urging the federal government to formally recognize the tribe narrowly passed the state Legislature this summer.
Expanding Shasta Dam is one of five projects chosen by state and federal officials in 2000 as part of a master plan to improve
It is questionable whether the federal government can get the state to help pay for the project. The federal government typically requires a partner to match half the cost, bureau spokeswoman Margaret Gidding said. In 1989, the Democratic-controlled Legislature forbid the state from participating in any project that would adversely affect the
Unless the state reverses its position, local water districts around the state would have to put up the required local funding.
Woolf, of the Westlands district, said the agency is willing to pay its share of any project that boosts water supplies.#
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/24/BABH133A0I.DTL
State activating drought water bank
Press-Enterprise- 9/23/08
Facing the third dry winter in a row, the state is activating a plan to transfer water supplies from
Consumers could get hit with higher water bills as a result.
This would be the first use of the state's drought water bank since 1992, the end of six dry years that killed lawns and fish populations, drove down agricultural land values and forced severe rationing in some communities across the state.
This summer, Gov. Schwarzenegger declared a drought statewide and a drought emergency in the
Under the banking plan proposed by the Department of Water Resources, willing sellers in Northern California would agree to curtail their use of water so it can be shipped south via canals operated by the State Water Project or federal Central Valley Project.
Most of the sellers are farmers north of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta who would be paid to idle crops or pump groundwater instead of using surface water, said Teresa Geimer, water bank coordinator.
The action is a way to deal with court-ordered sanctions on the amount of water taken from the Delta, where fish populations are threatened by massive pumps that alter the water flow. The Delta supplies water for two-thirds of
The state has asked that water providers in dry regions express interest in using the bank by Oct. 15, Geimer said. The allotment could be enough to serve 1.2 million homes, although the supply is not guaranteed.
Sellers have yet to set their prices, Geimer said.
"Once we know who wants to participate and how much water they want, we'll do our best to meet those needs," she said.
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which supplies 26 member agencies serving about 18 million people, probably will participate but hasn't decided how much water to ask for, spokesman Bob Muir said.
"It would help shore up our supplies as we head toward 2009," he said.
The additional costs were figured into an overall 14.2 percent rate increase for MWD customers beginning in January. It's still unclear how the rate increase will affect household consumers. MWD already has imposed a mandatory 30 percent cut in supplies for agricultural users.
Water officials have declared a water crisis and are urging extraordinary conservation and development of ways to recharge local groundwater supplies.
The Delta isn't the only problem. Global warming has decreased the snowpack that feeds rivers, and imported water from the
So far, local water districts have not imposed rationing for residential customers. They have managed without cutbacks by using reserves, such as Metropolitan's
John Rossi, general manager of Western Municipal Water District in
"It will help," Rossi said.#
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_waterbank24.2eb081.html
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