[Water_news] 1. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS - Top Item for 2/18/09

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

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

 

February 18, 2009

 

Top Items–

 

Agencies seek to preserve water behind Calif. dams

The Associated Press

 

Rainstorms delay need for emergency decisions on water

The Contra Costa Times

 

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Agencies seek to preserve water behind Calif. dams

The Associated Press – 2/17/09

By Samantha Young

SACRAMENTO -- With California's major reservoirs at woefully low levels, state and federal water agencies on Tuesday made a pitch to keep more water behind their dams this month.

 

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and state Department of Water Resources said they need to store as much water as they can to ensure enough for salmon, cities and farmers later this year.

 

Keeping that water, though, means the agencies must be granted an emergency petition that allows weakened water-quality standards in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The state is supposed to release water from reservoirs each February to improve delta water quality, although it has fallen short of its mandate so far this month.

 

"California is in the third straight year of below-average rainfall and snowmelt runoff," Cathy Crothers, DWR's assistant chief counsel testified during an emergency hearing before the State Water Resources Control Board. "Dry conditions and low storage have resulted in significant reductions in water supplies throughout the state."

 

At issue is the amount state and federal water agencies are legally required to release each February from dams that feed into the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. The reservoirs are critical to the water supply of two-thirds of the state's residents and millions of acres of farmland.

 

Their dams also block migrating salmon from colder northern waters. Despite that, they do have one benefit to the salmon: storing the cold water the fish need later in the year when river temperatures rise and threaten to kill them when they spawn.

It's that cool water the agencies are looking to preserve in the reservoirs for later in the year. It wasn't clear when the Water Resources Control Board would issue a decision about the request to hold water back, but the hearing was scheduled to continue Wednesday.

 

Critics of the agencies' plan say water managers are sacrificing delta fish such as the longfin smelt that are dependent on the mid-winter freshwater releases.

 

"Pitting one species of fish against the other epitomizes the absolute failed water policies of the state," said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta, a grassroots group based in Stockton.

 

Delta water users also questioned whether the agencies need relaxed standards to carry them through the rest of the month after storms over the holiday weekend and into this week boosted river flows.

 

Federal and state wildlife agencies agreed with water managers that storing additional water in California's reservoirs would outweigh the risks to delta fish.

 

"We feel if we hold some water now, it will help us," said Perry Herrgesell, the Bay Delta Water Policy Coordinator at the state Department of Fish and Game.

 

California's reservoirs are running low after two dry winters. Shasta and Oroville are less than half as full as they should be for this time of year, and the snowpack was well below average during the last official measurement.

 

The state has said it will deliver just 15 percent of its water contracts this year because of the low reservoir levels and court-ordered pumping restrictions, which are designed to protect a threatened fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation intends to release its annual water-delivery estimates on Friday. #

 

http://www.sacbee.com/state_wire/story/1632329.html?mi_rss=AP+State+News

 

Rainstorms delay need for emergency decisions on water

The Contra Costa Times – 2/17/09

By Mike Taugher

SACRAMENTO — Recent storms have lifted the need for an emergency decision on how to balance the water needs of two imperiled fish species for the rest of the month, a state water official testified Tuesday.

 

State water managers last week asked regulators for an emergency relaxation of February water quality standards that are beneficial to Delta smelt so they could better maintain cold water flows for spawning salmon this summer and fall.

 

But hours into a hearing on the emergency request, Department of Water Resources engineer John Leahigh said the rains are providing enough flow into the Delta that the standards will be met for the rest of the month.

 

That resolves a tough balancing act between water for smelt now and saving cold water for salmon later.

 

But the reprieve is only temporary. Water officials said that if the rains stop, they still could be back with another request as soon as March.

 

And the storms have not ended the drought.

 

Numerous water agencies across the state, including the Contra Costa Water District, continue to prepare for possible rationing. Water officials are planning to announce Delta water supplies later this week, and they warn water availability will still be very low.

 

Although regulators no longer have to decide whether to sacrifice water quality for salmon, at least for now, there still is a potential regulatory problem for state water managers. In response to the storms, they increased water deliveries out of the Delta from very low levels and away from the flows that help Delta water quality and Delta smelt.

 

That action, which came before the State Water Resources Control Board could make a decision on the petition, infuriated environmentalists and other Delta activists.

 

"You don't get after-the-fact permission. If you violate your standard, you violate your standard," said Dante John Nomellini Sr., a lawyer for the Central Delta Water Agency.

 

Leahigh said the Department of Water Resources still was seeking regulatory approval for the decisions to increase pumping.

 

"We would like to get a ruling from the board based on the actual operations that occurred in early February," he said.

The water quality requirement calls for a certain level of flow out of the Delta for 24 days in February. But, partly due to the increase in Delta pumping, that standard can only be met for roughly two weeks this month.

 

The hearing before a panel of the State Water Resources Control Board was continuing Tuesday night and could also begin a second day today. #

 

http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_11725992?source=rss

 

 

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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.