[Water_news] 5. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: AGENCIES, PROGRAMS, PEOPLE - 9/5/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

September 5, 2008

 

 

 

End of water wars

North Lake Tahoe Bonanza- 9/5/08

 

Climate change impacts on Sierra Nevada 'scary'

The Bakersfield Californian- 9/4/08

 

New flood map designations delayed

The Stockton Record- 9/5/08

 

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End of water wars

North Lake Tahoe Bonanza- 9/5/08

 

Tomorrow is a historic day in the annuals of Western states water rights.The Truckee River Operating Agreement — in progress for more than 20 years and the result of 100 years of water rights controversy — will be officially signed in a ceremony Saturday morning at Reno’s Wingfield Park.

The Truckee River flows out of Lake Tahoe in California, crosses the Nevada border near Farad, and ends in Pyramid Lake. The river, claimed by California and Nevada, has been used for recreation, water supply, hydroelectric power, irrigation, fish habitat and wetlands,among other uses.

Its water was literally fought over in the 1920s when a drought caused Lake Tahoe to fall below its natural rim. Downstream water users cut a canal into the rim to drain more water, causing angry threats and beginning the legal battles over its water. Through the years, the fight has resulted in several legal decrees establishing usage of the river’s water. The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe became involved when the cui-ui fish, its historical food source, became an endangered species.

The 1990 Truckee-Carson-Pyramid Lake Water Rights Settlement Act began the process to come up with a new agreement. Years and years of negotiations, research and meetings resulted in the TROA. Lake Tahoe stakeholders spent endless hours making sure the lake’s particular interests are covered, even to such items as how much water is recovered from snowmaking.

Once enacted, the TROA will replace the 1935 Truckee River Agreement, which has managed the bistate river and established rates of flow, water storage and the conditions under which Lake Tahoe could be pumped.

Now, the decades of controversy and work are culminating in this historic signing. Signing for the mandatory parties are Dirk Kempthorne, U.S. Secretary of the Interior; Ronald Tempas, of the U.S. Justice Department; Mike Chrisman, California Secretary of Resources; for Nevada, Alan Biaggi, Director of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources; Mervin Wright Jr. of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe; and Mike Carrigan, chair of the Truckee Meadows Water Authority.

Saturday won’t be the actual end of the process — federal courts in California and Nevada must now approve it. But there is an end in sight for the embattled Truckee River.

The TROA will 1) allocate the waters of the Truckee River, Carson River, and Lake Tahoe basins between California and Nevada; 2) enhance conditions for threatened and endangered fish species; 3) increase drought protection for the Reno-Sparks area; 4) improve river water quality downstream from Sparks; 5) enhance instream flows and recreational opportunities; 6) settle long standing litigation over water rights to the Truckee River; and 7) lift a 1972 moratorium on water rights applications in the affected region.#

http://www.tahoebonanza.com/article/20080905/NEWS/809049950/1020

 

 

Climate change impacts on Sierra Nevada 'scary'

The Bakersfield Californian- 9/4/08

BY STACEY SHEPARD, staff writer

Climate change is already impacting the southern Sierra Nevada and will have profound effects on everything from water supplies and forest fires to the survival of giant sequoias, researchers said Thursday.

 

They spoke at the Southern Sierra Science Symposium in Visalia, which featured scientists and federal park and forest managers discussing ways to address the impending ecological changes the mountain range faces from rising global temperatures.

 

“The take-home message is that climate change is here and having an effect on the Sierra Nevada and it’s going to get worse,” said Nathan Stephenson, a U.S. Geological Survey research ecologist based in Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks.

 

The impact of warming on water resources is one of the biggest concerns. Early snowmelt, and more rain instead of snow, could affect the amount of water in the Kern and other rivers throughout the Central Valley in coming decades.

 

“The Sierra Nevada is the water tower for the Central Valley,” Stephenson said. “It supplies water for agriculture, cities and ecosystems in the valley.”

 

Stephenson said the Sierra Nevada has warmed roughly 2 degrees Fahrenheit since 1979, with perhaps greater warming at higher elevations.

 

As a result, he said:

 

- Glaciers are melting.

- More precipitation is falling as rain, not snow.

- Snowpack is melting earlier due to a longer summer.

- Animals are migrating up-slope.

- Normal tree deaths have doubled.

 

Climate change is also blamed in part for a disturbing trend in wildfires in the Sierra Nevada, according to USGS forest researcher Jan van Wagtendonk.

 

Based on new data collected in the past 12 years, scientists have observed that fires are starting earlier, burning longer and over larger areas than in the past. Van Wagtendonk said a longer fire season is due to early snowmelt.

 

Bigger, more frequent fires could eventually lead to loss of forest, van Wagtendonk said.

 

“It’s scary,” he said. “It truly is getting worse.”

 

Researchers and forest and park managers are beginning to explore ways to tackle theses issues and manage the southern Sierra Nevada as it undergoes climate-related change.

 

That will require forest managers to move away from prescribed management practices of the past and toward more “flexible” approaches based on conditions of the local landscape, said Constance Millar, a senior U.S. Forest Service research scientist.

 

Through more strategic management, it is possible to manipulate the forest to produce more water, Millar said.

 

For example, creating more shade in certain areas can help retain snowpack. Planting trees with low water needs is also an option.

 

Work on that front has not been possible until now, Millar said, largely due to conflicts within the Forest Service over whether climate change was really happening.

 

“A year ago, our management partners, to put it bluntly, didn’t believe in climate change,” she said.#

http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/543260.html

 

 

 

New flood map designations delayed

The Stockton Record- 9/5/08

By Zachary K. Johnson, Staff Writer

 

Property owners waiting for the day new federal maps determine who lives in a high-risk flood zone - and therefore must purchase flood insurance - will have six more months to wait.

 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has delayed the effective date of preliminary flood-insurance maps from April to October 2009, according to the San Joaquin County Flood Control and Water Conservation District.

 

Since the preliminary maps for the county were released in January, an ongoing review and correction process has been under way, and updated maps were released in May. Also, flood-management officials have been working to improve levees to withstand a so-called 100-year flood.

 

The postponement will extend the time available for this process.

 

"Generally, I view this as good news," Public Works Deputy Director Steve Winkler said. "It gives us more time to clear up these issues before (the maps) go final."

 

Public outreach meetings originally planned for this fall will be pushed back to the spring of 2009, he said.

 

The preliminary maps issued in January put thousands of homes in flood plains, meaning homeowners with federally backed mortgages would have to buy flood insurance.

 

Flood-protection officials encourage property owners in the county to buy flood insurance. But homeowners whose properties in newly designated flood plains stand to lose money if they don't buy insurance before October 2009, when the maps become final and insurance premiums jump higher.#

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080905/A_NEWS/809050314

 

 

 

 

 

 

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