Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
September 24, 2008
5. Agencies, Programs, People
District board ponders water request
Surfers, skaters challenge kids to save water: Coalition of educators, corporate sponsors and action sports heroes launches 'Water Innovation Now' contest this week in O.C. schools.
The Orange County
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District board ponders water request
An informational item on a new geothermal plant turned into a major discussion between the Imperial Irrigation District board and the public during Tuesday’s meeting.
The geothermal plant, built by Ormat Nevada Inc. and stationed in Brawley, is set to go online by the beginning of 2009. But it will use a large amount of water — about 6,800 acre-feet on a 24-acre plant — and more water than other geothermal plants already built.
The IID board was set to review a draft for a 20-year water contract with Ormat, and community members weighed in with complaints, requests and possible solutions to the water problems the Valley faces.
“We’re not attempting to limit their (Ormat’s) ability to use and purchase their water in the
But, Osterkamp said, he wanted to welcome reasonable water users. He called for the IID to give all landowners an equal amount of water per acre. He said he felt that farmers were forced into fallowing to conserve water, and wanted to see stricter requirements placed on incoming businesses.
IID Director Anthony Sanchez responded, saying it was “every intention for this board to not take away from ag.”
Osterkamp questioned how that would be done if Ormat is not going to provide its own water.
Under the provisions of the draft contract, Ormat will donate $1.5 million to research and develop conservation methods such as drain collection, and to develop an integrated resource plan that would standardize the IID’s process in dealing with incoming businesses.
“Ormat stepped up to the plate,” said board President John Pierre Menvielle, and he said the company will help find water.
Ormat will also be required as part of its contract to generate 20 percent of its water, or 1,360 acre-feet, after 11 years. That would eventually increase to 2,720 acre-feet, or 40 percent of its water, by the end of the contract.
Michael Cox, who is running against incumbent Director Stella Mendoza for a seat on the IID board, said that IID needs to make good use of the money it will get from charging Ormat to send its geothermal energy across its transmission lines. IID stands to make about $1 million a year in wheeling fees from Ormat’s plant.
“I think we need to look at creative ways” to create water, Cox said, and using the wheeling money would be one way to finance the process.
Andy Horne, deputy chief executive officer of Imperial County Natural Resources Development, brought up the possibility of gathering groundwater as a potential resource that Ormat or other incoming businesses could tap into.
Horne also admitted
IID Director Jim Hanks said later that lack of planning all around was a major reason for the current situation.
But, Horne stressed the importance of working with the geothermal industry and of being patient with the contract development process.
“If we take the first candidate through the gate and chop their heads off, not many are going to come through the gate,” Horne said.#
http://www.ivpressonline.com/articles/2008/09/24/local_news/news05.txt
Surfers, skaters challenge kids to save water: Coalition of educators, corporate sponsors and action sports heroes launches 'Water Innovation Now' contest this week in O.C. schools.
The Orange County
By FRED SWEGLES
Famed surfer Rob Machado and skater
The two athletes are part of a team of educators, corporate sponsors and figures from the action sports industry who, this fall, are inviting students to "Imagine Life Without Water."
That's the theme of a Water Innovation Now contest challenging students to think about solutions and present them in one of three ways – a one-minute PowerPoint presentation, a 30-second public service announcement or a photo of a project with a one-page narrative about it.
Winners of the contest will see their work presented in December at an international conference on water scarcity, global changes and groundwater management, co-hosted by UC Irvine and UNESCO.
Students in the contest can win cool prizes like a family surf trip to
San Clemente's Ana Rothwell, who chairs the UCI-UNESCO youth committee, and Bill Cooper, director of the Urban Water Research Center at UC Irvine, came up with the contest as a way to give kids a speaking role at the international "Water Unifies" conference Dec. 1-5.
Contest organizers secured the support of the Orange County Department of Education, rounded up dozens of sponsors and kicked off the contest Tuesday at the Ocean Institute in
"It's all about making it cool and fun for our youth to deliver environmental solutions to our communities," Rothwell said.
Information is being distributed at 800 public and private schools in
For more about the contest. visit win.ocde.us. To learn about the December conference in
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/contest-water-county-2168161-way-irvine
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