A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
February 25, 2009
2. Supply –
California
The
Likelihood of no water alarms CVP farmers
The
New well nearing completion will boost San Clemente
The Orange
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
California
The Hanford
This could be the worst drought year in
Contrast that with 2006 through 2009. Runoff is so far averaging 55 percent of normal.
The Sierra snowpack is 76 percent of normal.
But population increases and environmental rules have already made this drought as bad or worse than the 1987-1992 stretch, water experts say.
"An awful lot has changed since the early1990s," said Jason Peltier, deputy manager for Westlands Water District.
Westlands irrigates 30,000 acres of western
Westlands farmers are expecting no surface water deliveries from the Central Valley Project, which sends water from Northern California rivers to thirsty
Even in normal water years, Westlands farmers are likely to see only 20 to 30 percent of their allocations because of environmental requirements, Peltier said.
Those requirements include maintaining a "minimum pool" in
In 2006, federal judge Oliver Wanger placed additional restrictions on southward pumping to protect the endangered Delta Smelt fish.
The impact of drought is magnified on Westlands because many growers have switched to trees and vines, permanent crops which must have an adequate supply of year 'round water to survive, according to DWR hydrologist Maury Roos.
In the Kings County Water District, which includes much of the farmland surrounding Hanford, a groundwater banking system called the Apex Project is expected to give farmers 10 percent more than they would have had otherwise, said Don Mills, general manager.
Environmental rules have made water transfers more difficult, Mills said.
The Central Valley Project and the State Water Project -- the two massive systems that transfer urban and agricultural water from the wetter northern part of the state to the drier southern half -- both need additional storage "primarily because environmental demands have gone up" beyond what was originally expected when the system was built, Roos said.#
http://www.hanfordsentinel.com/articles/2009/02/24/news/doc49a4423b0cd3d876338870.txt
Likelihood of no water alarms CVP farmers
The
By Kate Campbell
News that
At the same time the devastating federal water allocation was announced last Friday, officials with the State Water Project said, based on recent storms, they'll stick by a 15 percent water allocation, at least for now.
But the CVP's initial allocation for agricultural service contractors north and south of the delta is zero, due to critically dry conditions. The allocation could increase to 10 percent for agriculture if forecast runoff levels reach average. Settlement or exchange contractors can expect 75 percent allocations if conditions remain dry, but 100 percent under average runoff amounts.
The allocation announced last week is based on runoff estimates on Feb. 1. Additional precipitation could increase final allocation amounts. Another snow survey that will reflect the contribution of recent storms will be taken about March 1.
State Department of Water Resources Director Lester Snow said during a Sacramento news conference, however, that there's only about a 10 percent chance storms in the next few months will bump up final water deliveries. He advised Californians statewide to immediately cut water use by 20 percent and prepare for rationing.
CVP Operations Manager Ron Milligan said these estimates of water deliveries to farmers are among the lowest in project history and reflect a third dry year, as well as increased demand from a growing population, more water for the environment and less flexibility to pump and store water due to system limitations and crippling court decisions.
Stressing that water reliability for Californians "has hit rock bottom," California Farm Bureau Federation President Doug Mosebar urged state government to take immediate, decisive actions to address
"It doesn't get any worse than zero," Mosebar said. "People are scrambling to find enough water just to keep their crops, farms and businesses alive."
"But, in terms of water quality, groundwater isn't friendly to the crops we grow," he said. "Many folks are going to be disappointed when they use groundwater on specialty crops because they don't respond very well."
On top of that, he said the groundwater table is declining, a problem that will be made worse by the additional pumping that will result from the likely zero allocation of federal irrigation water.
"There will be major fallowing on top of that and a lot of people will be out of jobs, including farmers themselves," he said. "I'm going to have to lay off half of my Westside workers who'd normally be helping in the vegetable crops."
The east side of
"This will go well beyond the farmgate before we get through this," Errotabere said. "We're losing our domestic food production capability and the safety of our food supply."
Farmers in the Westlands Water District have already begun destroying thousands of acres of almond orchards and plan on fallowing more than 300,000 acres of land, said Tom Birmingham, the district's general manager.
"Wherever possible, almond production will be stunted in hopes of keeping the trees alive through this desperate time. But there is no question that many years worth of investments will be lost. The human impact, however, is the worst," he said.
North of the delta,
"I need a minimum of a 10 percent water delivery just to cover everything and keep my orchards alive, even with my groundwater wells," he said. "I have one well we were trying to rework and see if we could get into service. I hooked up a tractor engine to test it and, after five minutes, it went totally dry."
Vereschagin said he expects what water he will have to be "five times more expensive than normal. I'm lowering the size of my sprinkler heads to reduce the gallons per minute I use. It's a serious situation here and, to tell the truth, we don't really know exactly what we're going to do yet."
Jeff Sutton, general manager of the Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority, said it's highly unlikely any new annual crops will be planted on the 150,000 acres the authority serves in the western
"We're looking to buy water to help our farmers protect their investments in permanent crops, which equates to about 50 percent of our acreage," Sutton said. "We're trying to figure it out and do what we can to avoid a complete disaster."
Water officials said last week that with statewide precipitation for the water year at about 75 percent of average, spring runoff predicted to be about 57 percent of average and statewide levels for major reservoirs projected to be at 43 percent of average, they also need to be mindful of needs in 2010, particularly if dry conditions persist.
Complicating the drought emergency are court rulings to protect endangered species, including delta smelt and salmon, which limit water transfers from the delta and impact reservoir storage.
CFBF President Mosebar said one of the ways the state can help in this emergency is to work with people who are willing to sell water to those who want to buy it and help move these transactions through without delay. He said reviews by the state water board are important to protect both water rights and people who might be indirectly affected by transfers, "but those reviews should continue at an accelerated pace."
Mosebar also urged the water board to provide the CVP and SWP with more flexibility to operate their systems to maximize water deliveries while avoiding unacceptable impacts on third parties or the environment.
He called on state water officials to "fast-track" design, permits and construction of pilot projects in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to create barriers that could keep fish away from delta water pumps and improve water quality and supply reliability. He said the state should also move rapidly to conclude long-term delta planning work and ongoing studies of new water storage facilities.
"Continued improvements in water-use efficiency will be crucial in meeting this short-term emergency and our long-term water crisis," Mosebar said. "The state must provide new strategies and incentives to encourage increased investment in water-use efficiency for every sector of society."
Finally, Mosebar urged the state Legislature to take urgent action to address
"It's obvious that
http://www.cfbf.com/agalert/AgAlertStory.cfm?ID=1242&ck=2DE5D16682C3C35007E4E92982F1A2BA
New well nearing completion will boost San Clemente
Well 8 is expected to produce 800 gallons of water per minute, 4 times production of well that it's replacing.
The Orange
By FRED SWEGLES
The city is spending $1.7 million on a new water well, called Well No. 8. The city currently gets 8 percent of its water from Wells 6 and 7. But Well 7 has a sand-intrusion problem, and officials believe it is more productive to build a new well than to try to make Well 7 productive again.
The new Well 8 is expected to produce 800 gallons of water per minute, four times what Well 7 would likely yield even if fixed, officials say.
"It's good-quality water," said David Rebensdorf, project engineer. Most of the water will come from 500 feet below ground, although the well goes as deep as 800 feet. Well 6 – drilled in 1958 – and the new one are expected to provide 10 percent of the municipal water supply.
For security reasons, the exact locations of the wells are not made public.
"It's much cheaper to produce our own water, compared to purchasing water imported from Northern California and the
Why not build more wells?
Even during drought years,
"Depending on what happens with rain in Northern California and the
"We're looking into expanding, adding another 1,000 acre-feet per year," he said. "We'll end up close to 25 to 30 percent (produced) locally if we expand our recycled-water system. That's pretty good for a city that doesn't have resources like in northern
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/water-well-feet-2316213-wells-year
No comments:
Post a Comment