[Water_news] 2. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: SUPPLY -2/03/09

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment 

 

February 03, 2009

 

2. Supply –

 

 

Drought likely to hit grape growers first

Santa Rosa Press Democrat – 2/2/09

By John Burgess

 

Drought-like conditions likely mean mandatory water conservation this summer in cities and towns from Windsor to San Rafael, but the lack of rain poses more urgent threats for grapegrowers along the Russian River, water officials said Monday.

 

For city residential users, low flows in the Russian River probably will result in crackdowns on irrigation of yard landscaping beginning in June.

However the first to feel the impact could be Sonoma and Mendocino county grapegrowers who will have to reconsider whether to turn on the spigots for frost protection next month.

 

“The overall message to folks is if they burn through their agriculture allocation of water for frost, there’s nothing left for irrigation, and they have no crop anyway,” said Sean White, general manager of the Russian River Flood Control and Conservation District in Ukiah. “We only have one pot of water.”

 

Residents and agriculture from Ukiah to Healdsburg are the hardest hit by the drought, which has left Lake Mendocino at precariously low levels and the probability they will face 50 percent cutbacks.

 

Lake Mendocino provides much of the summer time flow in the river between Ukiah and Healdsburg. The reservoir on Monday had 31,100 acre-feet of water in its water pool and would be dry by July if there are no conservation measures taken, said Pam Jeane, deputy director of operations for the Water Agency.

 

The agency is asking for 50 percent in conservation, which would leave the lake with 15,000 acre-feet in October to be released during the fall run of chinook salmon.

The Water Agency might even ask the state to let them drop the flow from Coyote Dam at Lake Mendocino to a point so low that the Russian River run at a zero flow by the time it hit Healdsburg, saving even more water in Lake Mendocino.

 

“It’d look like a creek,” said Jeane, referring to what the Russian River would look like.

 

Under that scenario, Russian River water customers from Windsor to San Rafael would be relying on water coming out of Lake Sonoma, which is 74 percent full.

Lake Sonoma releases into Dry Creek are limited by the federal government to protect fish habitat.

 

The Water Agency on Monday issued its dire projections on the water supply in lakes Mendocino and Sonoma and the impact that it is going to have on the 750,000 residents in Mendocino, Sonoma and Lake counties that rely on the Russian River for water.

 

“If things don’t change, we are looking to implement 30 percent rationing this year, but it could be up to 50 percent,” said Paul Kelley, chairman of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.

 

The Water Agency held a press conference at the Memorial Beach in Healdsburg, with the fish ladder at a backdrop.

 

With the Water Agency estimates, the major customers from Windsor to San Rafael would receive 30 percent less water this year, which would necessitate mandatory rationing from June through October.

 

The customers include the cities of Windsor, Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Cotati, Sonoma and Petaluma and the Valley of the Moon, North Marin and Marin Municipal water districts. Each agency would develop its own specific rationing plan incorporating its alternate water supplies, which in most cases are municipal wells.

 

Those customers would work together as part of the Water Agency’s Water Advisory Committee to come up with a plan to allocate the Russian River water.

 

Jake Mackenzie, a Rohnert Park councilman and chairman of the advisory committee, said they are just waiting for the Water Agency to give them the amount of water they will receive and they’ll implement the necessary conservation plans.#

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090202/ARTICLES/902020251/1349?Title=Drought_likely_to_hit_grape_growers_first

 

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