[Water_news] 1. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS - Top Item for 10/30/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment

 

October 30, 2008

 

1.  Top Items -

 

 

Water supply falling short; rationing may be necessary

Riverside Press Enterprise – 10/30/08

By Janet Zimmerman

 

Inland water agencies could get only 15 percent of the supplies they requested from the State Water Project next year -- one of the lowest anticipated deliveries since 1993 -- possibly spurring mandatory rationing in some areas, officials said Wednesday.

 

The state Department of Water Resources is scheduled to announce the estimated allocation of water from Northern California today. But a state expert confirmed it will be 15 percent, and local authorities said that was consistent with what they were told to prepare for.

 

"We're anticipating getting a low allocation, possibly a record low," said Bob Muir, spokesman for Metropolitan Water District, a wholesaler for 18 million customers in the Inland area and other parts of Southern California.

 

The Department of Water Resources supplies Metropolitan and 28 other agencies.

 

The announcement follows two dry years and court-ordered reductions in Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta pumping that cut the amount delivered to suppliers by two-thirds, said Ted Thomas, department spokesman.

 

The 2008 water year, which ended Sept. 30, was deemed critically dry, with statewide runoff from snowpack at 57 percent of normal. Instead of the normal two-thirds full, the state's major reservoirs are at about one-third of capacity.

 

The state commonly makes conservative estimates for allocations, then boosts them if supplies become available. This year, allocations were estimated at 25 percent early on, then increased to 35 percent based on rainfall and snowpack.

 

In 1993, when the estimate was for 10 percent allocations at the end of a six-year drought, agencies ended up receiving 100 percent of what they'd requested.

"We're hoping this is not the final allocation," Thomas said. "We're keeping our fingers crossed that it gets better. ... It all depends on the weather."

State meteorologists are predicting average rainfall, although forecasts are not unanimous.

 

If this winter is dry, suppliers might have to ratchet up conservation and fine water wasters. Metropolitan has a plan to double prices for its customers who go over a set limit and will discuss in April whether to begin rationing next summer.

 

"Southern California is facing the very real possibility of water shortages, which could mean water rationing," Muir said.

 

His agency made 30 percent reductions in agricultural water deliveries in Riverside and San Diego counties last year and invested in groundwater storage, recycling of waste water and water-saving technologies, he said.

 

In anticipation of shortages, water agencies have been preaching voluntary conservation, especially outdoors.

 

Western Municipal Water District, which serves about 24,000 retail customers in western Riverside County, relies on the state for 80 percent of its supplies. The agency will offer more aggressive grants and rebates for products such as moisture-sensing irrigation controllers. It also will pay residents to replace grass with native plants, and it could fine outdoor water wasters, General Manager John Rossi said.

 

The district's retail agencies, including Norco, Corona, Elsinore Valley and Rancho California in Temecula, have agreed that the agencies less reliant on imported Northern California water will share with harder-hit districts, Rossi said.

 

Water officials cautioned that until issues in the Delta are resolved, including new or better ways to move water through a crumbling canal system, the likelihood of getting full allocations again are slim.

 

The San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District, which serves 10 agencies from Fontana to Yucaipa, has gotten by using water from reservoirs and wells, said Douglas Headrick, deputy general manager. The district relies on groundwater for about 70 percent of its supply.

 

Average rainfall in Northern and Southern California this year, combined with a 15 percent allocation from the state, would allow the district to "squeak by" without rationing. But cutbacks will be needed in some places, he said.

 

"No one likes to use the word rationing, but there it is," Headrick said. #

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_water30.44f4b39.html

 

 

 

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DWR's California Water News is distributed to California Department of Water Resources management and staff, for information purposes, by the DWR Public Affairs Office. For reader's services, including new subscriptions, temporary cancellations and address changes, please use the online page: http://listhost2.water.ca.gov/mailman/listinfo/water_news. DWR operates and maintains the State Water Project, provides dam safety and flood control and inspection services, assists local water districts in water management and water conservation planning, and plans for future statewide water needs. Inclusion of materials is not to be construed as an endorsement of any programs, projects, or viewpoints by the Department or the State of California.