A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
February 04, 2009
2. Supply –
Bone-dry Bolinas - barometer for state?
The San Francisco Chronicle
Editorial: Water rationing to follow drought
The
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Bone-dry Bolinas - barometer for state?
The San Francisco Chronicle – 2/4/09
By Kelly Zito
With
The
A third violation of the order would allow the Bolinas Community Public Utility District to cut off water.
Without drastic cutbacks, officials say, the community of 1,200 could run out of water by the end of April. The town on the southern end of the
"People are worried," said Jennifer Blackman, general manager of the utility district, which authorized the measures last week. "It's unsettling to be informed that a resource which is necessary to life is limited in this way."
Independent atmosphere
Bolinas, home to aging hippies, Hollywood celebrities, well-known artists and high-powered lawyers, has a decidedly eccentric, independent atmosphere. Residents often tear down road signs to misdirect tourists.
A self-contained water system and limited supply have kept the population steady for decades - which is fine by most folks there. But as
Drying reservoir
One look at the reservoir known as Woodrat II tells the tale. At this time of year, the town usually draws its water from the Arroyo Hondo Creek, leaving the reservoir full to the brim.
But with creek flows at a dribble, Bolinas started drawing from the reservoirs last year. Woodrat II's 40-foot-long banks now are dry and cracked. The water, which looks thick and sludgy, barely covers the outtake pipes. And storms forecast for this week aren't likely to boost water levels much.
"It's August out here," said Bill Pierce, chief water and wastewater operator for the utility district. "The hills are brown - they should be green. The stream flows are a trickle."
Almost every water agency in the state is suffering. Most reservoirs are at rock-bottom levels after two parched years and a third under way. Demand from cities has continued to grow, and recent environmental disputes have slashed pumping from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, which serves two-thirds of
Rationing elsewhere
In the Bay Area, the East Bay Municipal Utility District imposed rationing of 15 percent last year. This week, the Sonoma County Water Agency warned it might have to institute 30 to 50 percent cutbacks later this year.
Bolinas' rationing amounts to roughly 25 percent, down from an average of 208 gallons a day per customer or water hookup.
But its threat of service termination stands alone in the state and paints a particularly dire picture, said Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies.
It's going to get bad
"People don't understand how bad this is going to get," Quinn said. "We've had eight droughts, some of them minor, in the 20th century. This is the first major drought in the 21st century."
With that in mind, Bolinas water staffers delivered rationing notices door to door this week in hopes of stretching the town's dwindling water supply until December. The notices spell out the process: On the first violation, customers will receive an official notice. After a second, the district may install a flow-restricting device. After that, water service may be disconnected.
Residents also are urged to water yards once a week and avoid washing sidewalks or cars with district-supplied water.
A need for speed
"We know we're going from zero to 60 here, that we're asking a lot," Blackman said. "But we feel we need to do it quickly. That's why we're trying to do so much outreach. We don't want to have to go to dramatic enforcement. We hope we can get there together."
Most residents seem to be on board, although a few questioned the late timing of the rationing (Blackman said unexpectedly dry conditions in November, December and January prompted the emergency).
"The cuts are a good thing," said Gerrund Bojeste, who was sitting in his dragon-inspired art car on Bolinas' commercial strip this week. "People need to create their own storage, be more frugal. You just can't keep running the water while you're brushing your teeth."
Bolinas has gotten the message about wasteful washing machines. Business at the local Laundromat, which has only high-efficiency washers, is on the rise, Blackman said, as more people move away from their top-loaders, which can use more than 40 gallons per load, compared with 15 gallons. The laundry has been granted a higher daily water limit.
Cafe cuts back
A few doors down, owners of the Coast Cafe are not offering tap water - diners must ask. Beverages that are served come in plastic-like glasses made from corn.
"We found that washing glasses takes three times as much water as it takes to fill them," said owner David Liebenstein.
Such practices may become the status quo, experts say, as the state feels the effects of climate change and moves toward a water system in which the environment is a higher priority and people conserve more water.
"Fifty years ago, polices were about extracting resources and the environment didn't count," Quinn said. "Today's policies are about recognizing the value of the environment itself, apart from the economic value to people.
"We're adjusting to that change, but it's very difficult."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/03/MNV415MGLA.DTL&feed=rss.news
Water rationing to follow drought
The
Editorial
Where's the rain?
The old-timers around here will tell you that 80 percent of the precipitation that falls on
Elsewhere, the season known as winter has associated with it snow and ice, freezing temperatures, wind chill factors, slippery roads, mud slides and all manner of horrors related to, well, winter.
Unless you live in the mountains surrounding the
Flowers usually continue to bloom, lawns to grow and most garden pests to flourish during the winter months down here on the valley floor. We see a thin blanket of snow every third or fourth year, not enough to even get upset about. The children go out early in the morning to build a snowman, if they can scrape together enough material, but by noon the strange white stuff is melting back into the green blades of grass, the sun is shining once again and everything gets back to normal.
And unless you have driven by or flown over
Those who have recently approached the state's largest man-made reservoir, however, are tired of seeing the ever-widening ring around the bathtub. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if any day now, the drain plug becomes visible.
Water levels are so low at
At the risk of sounding too much like Chicken Little, who was ostracized because he said the sky was falling, I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that unless our weather changes dramatically, and soon, that water rationing will soon follow these dry, spring-like days.
And if the rain does come, then all of the orchards and field crops that are even now germinating, sprouting and showing all of the signs of life, will likely be ruined by the very rain that we need to very badly to refill our reservoirs and replenish our diminished snow pack.
Rainy years, just like rising prices on single family houses, will likely return in some cyclical pattern. But for now, all of the predictions of global warming and massive shifts in plant habitat appear to be on the threshold of coming true.
Just the opposite phenomenon is happening in
The Polar Express that funneled warm Pacific Ocean evaporated moisture up and over Alaska and then down across the windswept plains of northwestern Canada to dump it on Spokane seems to have broken down, leaving residents there breathing huge sighs of relief even as they unbury cars long ago lost to the great white fluffy blanket that clogged streets, collapsed roofs and closed schools for weeks at a time.
Yes, even that exaggerated bit of cold weather is part of the global warming scenario. You see, as the average temperature of the Earth warms up even a fraction of a degree, hundreds of thousands of water molecules evaporate into the atmosphere where the energy that those molecules represent interact with the moisture-laden upper atmosphere to create storms bigger, stronger and more destructive than most men and women have ever witnessed.
That is where the water is, up above us in the sky.#
http://www.andersonvalleypost.com/news/2009/feb/04/water-rationing-to-follow-drought/
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