Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
November 26, 2008
5. Agencies, Programs, People –
Editorial:
Delta plan completed: Time to take it seriously
Vacaville
Boat racing returns to Salton Sea during Speed Week, Dec. 5,6 and 7
Palo Verde Valley
Inland agencies receive state grants in water conservation program
Riverside Press Enterprise
Short sea shipping being pitched by maritime group
Eureka
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Editorial:
Delta plan completed: Time to take it seriously
Vacaville
The Delta Vision Task Force has finished its report on what
Just as the report was being released, the Department of Water Resources said that in 2009, it expects to deliver just 15 percent of the water
But even if winter brings more rain and mountain snow, court orders designed to protect endangered fish, including smelt, salmon and steelhead, could continue to curtail the amount of water that can be taken out of the Delta.
These rulings apply not only to farmers and communities located south of the pumping station at
Certainly
How water should be used -- to supply human needs or to sustain nature -- is the No. 1 priority addressed by the Delta Vision Task Force. It recommends legally acknowledging that both water supplies and the ecosystem have equal status in any future Delta decisions.
The task force laid out 73 recommendations and six other goals as well, including enhancing the Delta's unique cultural, recreational and agricultural
values; restoring its ecosystem; promoting statewide water conservation; building new conveyance and water storage facilities; improving flood protection through emergency preparedness, land-use regulations and levee strengthening; and establishing a better system of Delta governance.
The devil is in the details, of course, and certainly there is something in the report to displease everyone involved. And there are hundreds of agencies involved. Which is, of course, one reason every other attempt to coordinate a response to the Delta's problems has failed.
Californians can't afford to keep squabbling. The courts are already imposing solutions that aren't palatable. And Mother Nature isn't waiting around either.
The climate is changing. The rain and snow that used to come with some regularity are no longer arriving on a predictable schedule, if at all. And if sea levels rise, as predicted, there will be more salt water and flooding in the Delta.
A cabinet-level committee is taking comments about the Delta Vision Task Force's recommendations -- the next hearing begins at 9 a.m. Dec. 5 at the CalFed headquarters, 650 Capitol Mall, in Sacramento. It will then make its own recommendations to the governor.
Delta policy must change, and that means everyone will have to give a little or even a lot. The status quo simply cannot continue.#
http://www.thereporter.com/corrections/ci_11069100
Boat racing returns to Salton Sea during Speed Week, Dec. 5,6 and 7
The "fastest water" in the world will play host to the American Power Boat Association's Kilo races at the
The Salton Sea is 35 miles long and 15 miles wide, making it the largest body of water in
The elevation of 227 feet below sea level with water 25 percent saltier than the ocean makes the
Throughout the history of boat racing, many world records have been set here due to the high level of buoyancy and low atmospheric pressure.
This year's "Bonneville" style event will see some of the fastest boats in the whole country and possibly even the entire world. Records will be set.
The Kilo's record time consists of the best two way passes on the 5/8 mile (1 kilometer) trap. The speed is the combined elapsed time of the passes each way.
This course will have 1-2 miles of run up and run down on either side of the trap to allow the racers to build up top speed when entering the trap. All types of boats from all different kinds of boat racing categories will be on hand to take their runs for the record books.
For campground reservations, log on to Reserve America at www.parks.ca.gov or call 1-800-444-park. Full hookup sites, tent sites, and environment beach campsites are available.
Hotel recommendations can be obtained by calling the Indio Chamber of Commerce at 760-347-0676 or by e-mail at www.indiochamber.org.
Ask about special groups deals (racer rates) at the local hotels. The
Day use fees are $6 per car, per day and $5 for seniors. They are good from sunrise to sunset.
For more information about this historic event call the park office at 760-393-3059 or 331-9944 or call the visitor center at 760-393-3810. Contact RPM Racing Enterprises @310-318-4012 for technical information about the races.
Bring out the entire family and enjoy all this special area has to offer. Check out the new Web site of www.seaanddesert.com.
In addition to the boat races, the
The weather is near perfect this time of year, with warm days in the 70s and 80's and cool nights. The views from the Sea are astounding with panoramas of the
Visit the nearby palm oasis areas and view the San Andreas fault line, geothermal features and
Drive the Bradshaw Trail along the "Road to
Sample the agricultural treasures of the
http://www.blythecanews.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&subsectionID=1&articleID=10596
Inland agencies receive state grants in water conservation program
Riverside Press Enterprise
Do you have grass that's drinking up water and getting little use? You could get paid to rip it up under a state-funded rebate program aimed at stretching California's water supply through another year of drought.The state Department of Water Resources will fund programs from 53 water agencies around the state for turf removal and other water-saving measures, such as low-flow toilets and climate-sensitive irrigation controls. The $17 million pot of money also will be used by water districts for public education, leak detection and retrofitting systems for better efficiency, spokesman Matt Notley said.
Two of the biggest single grants went to water suppliers that serve the Inland area: $2 million to Metropolitan Water District, Southern California's largest water wholesaler, and $1 million to the Inland Empire Utilities Agency, which serves
Consumers should check with their water supplier about possible rebates.
The grant money comes from a $3.44 billion bond measure -- the Water Security, Clean Drinking Water and Coastal and Beach Protection Act -- passed by voters in 2002. The funds are going out this week, Notley said.
MWD will put its $2 million grant toward a large-scale turf removal rebate program, the first such effort to be done on a regional basis, said Carolyn Schaffer, a project manager.
The agency will match the grant with $5 million from its water stewardship fund, financed by fees charged to member agencies, she said.
The cash-for-grass program is expected to begin early next year for about 18 million people served by MWD's 26 member agencies. Residential and commercial customers will be eligible.
Details are still being worked out, but the plan is to pay $1 per square foot of grass that is removed, Schaffer said.
Homeowners could reduce their water use by half or more if they replace grass with
Replacing 1 square foot of grass with water-saving trees, shrubs and flowers saves an average of 55 gallons of water per year, according to the Southern Nevada Water Authority, which has a similar rebate.
The program is not meant to be anti-grass, Schaffer said.
"Functional turf is very important; we're not proposing that it be removed. But if people have areas of lawn and all they're doing is mowing and watering it and they want to do something else with it, this is an incentive to do that," she said.
The Inland Empire Utilities Agency will use the cash to help businesses and the seven cities it serves connect to recycled-water pipes so they can use nonpotable water for irrigation, spokeswoman Sondra Elrod said. Beneficiaries could include parks, schools and golf courses.
The agency, which serves
But with the grant money, "we figure what we were going to do in 10 years we're going to do in three," Elrod said. #
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_grants26.3823983.html
Short sea shipping being pitched by maritime group
Eureka
Stephen Pepper sees an opportunity for
It's also something that's been quietly steaming along, a little behind the scenes, in the conversation about how the port might become a greater economic engine in the region.
Short sea shipping involves moving cargo and containers from one American port to another, where it can be shipped across the ocean to a final destination. Pepper, who has worked in the tugboat industry and formed a logistical outfit called Humboldt Maritime Logistics, sees an operation that would use tugs and barges to move goods between five different West Coast ports, including
Short sea shipping -- say it three times fast -- is a model used on the East and Gulf costs, in
”It's only a matter of time before it comes to the West Coast,” Pepper said.
In fact, short sea shipping is addressed in the
But Pepper sees the port as already having much of the infrastructure it needs for moving goods in containers on barges. He's got preliminary agreements with Pacific Affiliates, the Eureka-side business whose heavy-duty dock has sat idle since it was rebuilt years ago. Tug businesses already exist to move barges around. The only major missing component is a mobile crane needed to place containers on barges. That's estimated to cost about $4 million.
Short sea shipping also has the blessing of the federal government, through the U.S. Maritime Administration. That agency is pushing the concept as a way to relieve congestion on the clogged highway arteries of the country. Pepper is asking the harbor district and the city of
The benefit to local businesses would be substantial, Pepper believes. Lumber, hog fuel and gravel could all be moved, along with other smaller-volume nonperishable goods.
Because the idea is based on an economy of scale, with containers being loaded at several ports, Pepper believes the financial picture works out.
That may be especially true today, as the world-wide economic slowdown has depressed container shipping from the huge volumes of several years ago on the West Coast. Stagnating overland links to other areas of the country and the West Coast ports' dependence on
The competitive position of the West Coast is not as good as it appears, said the Drewry report.
Shippers are more reluctant now to make more than one call with huge container vessels, and moving goods by barge to a main port for pickup and drop-off may make sense. And rail service is something of a finite resource with already high volumes.
Shipping customers want reliable, predictable service, reasonable cost, convenience and reasonable transit time, according to a 2004 report from a forum of maritime administrators and business representatives to the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers.
”Shippers and consignees are basically indifferent to mode choice or route,” the panel reported, “as long as their needs and concerns are met.”
Short sea shipping already moves hundreds of millions of tons of cargo by water in the
”Since the amount of cargo that can be carried on a ship is many times what can be pulled by a truck, increasing short sea shipping could reduce highway congestion, cut diesel exhaust and lessen wear and tear on our bridges and highways,” Sweeney wrote.
But Sweeney also warned against allowing foreign vessels to participate in domestic short sea shipping by weakening the Jones Act, which requires cargo from one American port to be moved to another on a U.S.-flagged vessel.
Pepper said Humboldt Maritime Logistics is focusing on domestic goods and that its inquiries to carriers has been responded to positively.
Initial calculations see nearly 100 jobs being created -- including indirectly -- by the service if it gets up and running, and union labor would be arranged through the harbor's stevedore for the waterfront work. Humboldt Maritime Logistics also sees a substantial reduction in the fuel needed to move goods from the area and an improvement in air quality.
The project, Pepper believes, could be up and running in two years and represents one way the port can further contribute to the regional economy.
”This bay has assets that could help its economy,” Pepper said.#
http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_11078314
Bay Area ferry fleet welcomes new green boat
San Francisco Chronicle
By Carl Nolte, staff writer
(11-25) 20:15 PST -- A brand-new
The boat is called Gemini. It is painted white and red, but it is green all over. The boat is designed to have 10 times fewer emissions than existing Bay Area ferries and is equipped with everything from sonar to detect floating debris or marine animals in the boat's path to Wi-Fi for the passengers.
The Gemini, said Shirley Douglas, spokeswoman for the Water Emergency Transportation Authority, which owns the boat, is "one of the most environmentally friendly ferries in the country," one of a new breed that burns a blend of biodiesel and ultra-low-sulfur fuel.
The boat will be the low-emission champion of the bay - its exhaust is 85 percent lower than standards set for marine passenger vessels by the Environmental Protection Agency.
"It's pretty special," said
The Gemini is the first of four ferryboats ordered by the Water Emergency Transportation Authority, an agency that was authorized by a regional ballot measure in 2004. The boat and a second ferry now under construction - this one named Pisces - cost a total of $16 million.
The money came from funds raised by an extra dollar tacked onto Bay Area bridge tolls at the beginning of 2007.
The Gemini and the Pisces are part of a fleet that will be the backbone of a whole new ferry network. The Water Emergency Transportation Authority is expected to take over all the bay's ferry operations except for the Golden Gate ferry services to
The Gemini, as the first of the new boats, will probably go in service late this year or early in 2009 on one of the two Alameda-Oakland-San Francisco routes. One route line goes from the
Eventually, the Gemini and the Pisces would be used on new services the water authority is considering. Among the routes planned is from
The new boat is smaller than most bay ferries - 116 feet long, it can carry 149 passengers and 34 bikes and run at 25 knots. Like other high-speed ferries on the bay, the Gemini has a catamaran hull.
This one, however, is designed to produce a minimal wake. It also has two solar panels mounted on an upper deck to test whether solar propulsion is feasible on
The boat was built by the Nichols Brothers Boat Builders in
Immediately on arrival, the Gemini was taken to the Bay Ship and Yacht shipyard in
The boat will be given a public preview at a formal christening service at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 12. However, Mary Frances Culnane, the transit authority's director of engineering, said she had the boat christened before it was put into the water at the Nichols Brothers yard. "As a seafarer," she said, "I am superstitious."
Two other new high-speed ferries are expected on
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/26/BA1S14C7Q7.DTL
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