Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
October 8, 2008
5. Agencies, Programs, People –
Opinion
A heartfelt plea for a sensible water policy
Heal the Bay's founder lays out her vision for a clean and sustainable state supply.
New wrench in QSA suit
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Opinion
A heartfelt plea for a sensible water policy
Heal the Bay's founder lays out her vision for a clean and sustainable state supply.
By Dorothy Green
Dorothy Green is founding president of Heal the Bay, the Los Angeles/San Gabriel River Watershed Council and a founder of the
To everything there is a season; but water is eternal. Or it was, until we started disturbing its natural rhythms. We penned it behind dams and diverted it to aqueducts, starving the life out of rivers and creating an unsupportable addiction to using more water than we need to live.
Despite the looming crisis in water, we have enough to live on, but not enough to waste. And waste it we have, with great enthusiasm for lush green lawns in a desert and a penchant for backroom deals with agribusiness. These deals end up as sweetheart ones for the moneyed corporate farmers, providing them with essentially a bountiful private water supply, which they sell off at a profit, while the rest of us are carefully metered and potentially rationed.
I have spent more than 30 years fighting for clean water and a sustainable supply for
How? The state Water Resources Control Board already has the authority -- legal and regulatory -- to manage the state's water resources. But it hasn't been doing so. For example, it has issued from five to seven times the amount of water rights than there is available water. It is also responsible for water rights and quality in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, yet 10 sewage treatment plants in the delta area discharge treated wastewater that contains large amounts of pollutants into the water supply.
The board should be depoliticized and sufficiently funded so that it can do its duty effectively. It should create a sustainable water plan that has teeth, with bipartisan support from the governor and the Legislature. This is how to make this happen:
* Create an independent structure for water rights: a water court comprising three appointed administrative law judges who specialize in water rights to handle those disputes before the board. Their decision-making must be consistent with applicable law, but there should be a mandate that they allocate water according to the actual availability of supply in the state. They also should review past water-rights decisions to bring them in line with existing supplies.
* The board should develop a sustainable water plan with accountability. Enforcement mechanisms would include financial penalties and operating restrictions for wayward agencies. There also should be an independent and public biennial assessment of the plan's implementation.
* The sustainable water plan should include an allocation of water rights based on available supply; a ban on discharging wastewater into our drinking water supplies unless it meets Title 22 public health standards for water recycling (similar to drinking water standards); meter every water use, including agriculture, not just those of urban dwellers; mandate use of recycled water throughout the state; mandate low-impact development for all projects, including transportation, in order to capture storm water on-site to replenish local groundwater aquifers; and fast-track a groundwater cleanup program.
* Develop a steady revenue stream to support the water-rights court and the board. The funding must not be dependent on the general fund budget. There are a number of fees that support the board, but they are not enough. Additional funds should come from water supply agencies based on their water usage.
* Do not approve a deal for a new water bond until these changes have been put in place. Although past bonds have done some good, they haven't helped us face the increasing water scarcity caused by climate change and increasing population.
The time for consensus and compromise has long passed. If there is one thing I've learned in my lifetime of activism, change doesn't come easily, but without it, the environment will continue to degrade along with our quality of life. Don't allow our water future to be decided by special interests. Anne Frank said, "How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." I agree. Let's start now. #
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-green8-2008oct08,0,7093004.story
New wrench in QSA suit
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The Imperial Group is attempting to redirect the lawsuit it has against the Imperial Irrigation District, this time claiming the IID employed quantification settlement negotiators who had conflicts of interest.
If a conflict of interest is found, according to state law, any contracts negotiated while the conflict was ongoing are rendered invalid. This would effectively erase the QSA, which the Imperial Group has protested since its signing.
But a lawyer for the IID said the filing is in violation of a court order.
“It has absolutely no merit,” said IID attorney Jeff Garber.
Garber said Patrick J. Maloney, the attorney representing the Imperial Group, needed permission from the court to file, which he did not obtain. Also, Maloney did not have permission to bring any new names into the lawsuit, which the filing does.
The pleading names David Osias and Rodney Smith, two IID employees who worked on the negotiations, claiming they were also employed by the Bass brothers while being on the IID payroll. The Bass brothers owned land the IID eventually purchased as part of the QSA.
David Osias is now part of the IID’s legal counsel, defending the IID against the Imperial Group.
“David Osias is beating the Imperial Group in the QSA cases and that’s why the conflict keeps coming up,” said IID board President John Pierre Menvielle.
Osias has been accused of conflicts of interest in the past. He was employed by the Elmore family, which sued the IID when land they leased from the IID flooded.
In January, the judge presiding over the QSA case, Roland Candee, found that Allen Matkins, the firm Osias worked for, had represented both the IID and the Elmores from 1996 to 2001.
However, the judge also ruled that the Imperial Group had been too late in filing its protest against Osias, and no action was taken against him.
“The Imperial Group has failed to convince Judge Candee that David Osias has a conflict,” Menvielle said. “And now the Imperial Group is trying to convince the public that David Osias has a conflict.”
The filing also names individual members of the Board of Directors, said Mike Morgan, a member of the Imperial Group, because the directors have not required the employees to fill out disclosure forms, which would determine Osias’ and Smith’s employment histories.
“We’re suing them to tell them they have to do business the way the rest of the public agencies do business,” Morgan said.
One of the former board members named in the filing, Lloyd Allen, is dead.
This filing would not be the first time Maloney violated court proceedings. Maloney has faced discipline from the state bar in the past for his actions.
According to a written decision in 2002, he was suspended from practicing for “three counts of professional misconduct, including committing acts of moral turpitude, making misrepresentations to a Superior Court judge and violating a court order to promptly pay sanctions.”#
http://www.ivpressonline.com/articles/2008/10/08/local_news/news03.txt
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