[Water_news] 2. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: SUPPLY -11/10/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment 

 

November 10, 2008

 

2. Supply –

 

 

Meeting Announcement

2009 Winter Outlook Workshop

November 21, 2008

 

Council likely to approve upgrade to drought alert

San Diego Union Tribune

 

Santa Cruz desalination pilot plant meeting expectations

Santa Cruz Sentinel

 

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Sacramento - As part of efforts to address the state’s drought, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) will hold it’s first ever Winter Outlook Workshop Nov. 21  in San Diego.  The Winter Outlook Workshop brings together nationally known scientists to provide state water managers with the most accurate prediction possible for water year 2009 which runs from October 1 through September 30.

 

California is potentially facing yet another dry year.  The past two water years have been critically dry, and storage in the state’s reservoirs are at a 14-year low.  Court-ordered restrictions on water deliveries from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta have further contributed to the lack of water in some parts of the state.  Many local communities have placed mandatory or voluntary restrictions on water use.  An accurate long-range forecast for 2009 precipitation is a critical tool for water managers throughout the state.

 

Event Details

 

November 21, 10 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

San Diego Westin Hotel

Diamond I Room

400 West Broadway

San Diego

 

The WOW workshop is a free event, but attendance is limited to 75.  Please email anorris@water.ca.gov to RSVP. For those who can’t attend, the workshop will be webcast live. The link and more information will be available at www.water.ca.gov closer to the date.

 

 

Council likely to approve upgrade to drought alert

San Diego Union Tribune – 11/10/08

By Mike Lee

 

Mandatory water-saving measures for all San Diego businesses and residents will start to take shape Monday, when the City Council likely will approve an emergency conservation plan.

 

Most of the rules won't begin immediately because it's not clear how much water the city or the region must save in 2009.

 

Barring heavy mountain snowfall this winter, water agencies statewide are widely expected by spring to step up conservation with new rules and stronger enforcement amid a prolonged drought. San Diego's role is particularly important because it is by far the largest water user in this county, accounting for more than one-third of the overall consumption.

 

The city's proposal includes year-round regulations against water waste, such as a ban on landscape irrigation runoff. It also establishes a system of progressively stricter mandates that includes outdoor watering schedules, a ban on the use of most ornamental fountains and restrictions on car washing.

 

The biggest potential change for customers is a property-by-property water “budget” that would impose dramatically higher rates for those who go over their allotted limit.

 

San Diego also is preparing to stop issuing water permits for most new development projects unless builders can offset their water demand through conservation or other measures. That provision would start only if the drought becomes more severe, but it already has sparked concerns about the lack of details.

 

“What this provides the business community is a lot of uncertainty,” said Craig Benedetto, a spokesman for building owners and managers in the region. “The city needs tools to get their customers to conserve water. We just want to make sure that they aren't killing the economy at the same time.”

 

San Diego's strategies for dealing with drought, and those for the rest of the county, are based on the amount of water the region must conserve. Level 1, the current stage, relies on voluntary steps to achieve savings of up to 10 percent. The next three levels include mandates of increasing severity.

 

Late last month, California officials said they have enough water to meet 15 percent of requested deliveries in 2009 – the second-lowest initial allocation in the history of the State Water Project.

 

Water leaders for the city of San Diego said some water-saving measures should be made permanent. For instance, they have proposed a year-round ban against irrigating to the point where water flows off properties.

 

City officials also want to compel restaurants to serve water only on request and force people to wash their vehicles at commercial facilities unless they use a hose with an automatic shut-off nozzle or a hand-held container. Until now, those measures have been voluntary.

 

At Level 1, San Diego encourages, among other things, landscape watering between 6 p.m. and 10 a.m. and using recycled water at construction sites.

Level 2 provisions require that most landscaped areas be irrigated no more than three times per week from June through October, on a schedule set by the city, and no more than once a week for the rest of the year. The use of ornamental fountains generally would be prohibited.

 

The most complex Level 2 strategy is creating, monitoring and enforcing usage budgets for some 274,000 customers with water meters. The City Council won't review details about how those targets are set for several weeks.

 

Water officials are studying historical water-use data to establish consumption limits for each ratepayer, said Alex Ruiz, a deputy director for San Diego's water department. It's possible that light water users will avoid mandatory cuts because they already have done their part.

 

“We are committed to ensuring that any allocation properly credits those who have stepped up to the conservation challenge,” Ruiz said.

The city could penalize heavy water users with a surcharge on their water bill of 20 percent or more. Ruiz said repeat offenders also may be subject to flow-restriction devices on their water lines.

 

At Level 3, landscape irrigation would be reduced to two designated days per week. Car washing would be prohibited unless residents use high-pressure, low-volume wash systems or go to facilities that use recycled water.

 

The city also would largely stop allowing new hookups to its water supply system if its needs to curb consumption by at least 30 percent. For months, many residents have demanded a halt on new developments because they increase water use.

 

San Diego is proposing exceptions for public health and for builders who pledge to offset their water use by, for instance, reducing existing water demand somewhere else in the city.

 

At Level 4, landscape irrigation generally would be banned except for crops and for hand-watering trees and shrubs two days a week. Also, the city would prohibit filling pools and spas when the conservation goal exceeds 40 percent.

 

San Diego officials said sanctions for violating emergency regulations would range from warning letters to fines of as much as $1,000. #

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20081109-9999-1m9water.html

 

Santa Cruz desalination pilot plant meeting expectations

Santa Cruz Sentinel – 11/10/08

Alia Wilson

 

Six

Six months into the seawater desalination pilot test program, the Santa Cruz Water Department and Soquel Creek Water District opened the doors to the facility and allowed about 100 curious residents a glimpse Saturday.

 

Visitors reviewed information about desalination technology and water supply issues within the community, toured the facility and learned about the pilot test project.

"Everything has been going as we expected them to turn out," technical adviser Todd Reynolds said. "We're hoping for more challenging source waters to treat. Santa Cruz waters have been, typically, very clean."

 

The Santa Cruz Water Department and Soquel Creek Water District are investigating the feasibility of using desalinated water as a supplemental water source during times of drought. Four different pre-treatment technologies along with reverse osmosis desalination technology are being tested for at least a year at the facility, which is near the Seymour Marine Discovery Center at the end of Delaware Avenue.

 

The results of the pilot plant operations will be used to define the design requirements and costs of a full-scale desalination facility, which may be built in 2015. The pilot plant also will provide data to ensure water quality standards can be met or exceeded for a potable water source and will be included in any environmental impact report prepared for a full-scale desalination plant.

 

No decisions regarding  the construction of the plant have been discussed yet, according to officials.

 

"The important thing today is we really want people to see the pilot plant and the capabilities it has especially as this very dry winter is approaching," City Councilwoman Cynthia Mathews said. "We want the public to see how timely such a project is."

 

Testing at the pilot plant began in March and will continue until March 2009. Pumping 50 gallons a minute, the $4 million pilot plant is expected to help determine the best kind of pre-filtering process the plant should use.

 

Visitors throughout the day had no shortage of questions for the pilot plant's staff, and were intrigued by the kinds of filtering being used at the plant.

"Forty years ago, at the Moss Landing power plant, I started the thermal seawater conversion plant," said Sam Farrington of Santa Cruz. "We've come a long way since then."

 

Bridget Canty and Sergey Frolov just moved to Santa Cruz in September and were eager to learn about the city's water issues and solutions.

"As an environmental consultant, I like to be involved with issues on a local level and it's interesting to see how the water scarcity problem is going to be solved," Canty said. "It's great information and is a great project."

 

Tour group leader and project engineer Erik Desormeaux said the day's turnout was a nice surprise, despite poor weather.

 

"People in Santa Cruz seem more involved with the city's developments," Desormeaux said. "This plant really is the city's last option for supplemental water. We have to do something otherwise the next drought will be very difficult."#

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_10940964

 

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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.