[Water_news] 5. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: AGENCIES, PROGRAMS, PEOPLE - 2/03/09

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

February 03, 2009

 

5. Agencies, Programs, People –

 

 

 

Our View: The other liquidity crisis

Merced Sun Star

 

Editorial: California residents need to start conserving water now

Inside Bay Area

 

Classroom steelhead rearing program getting under way after crisis

Eureka Times Standard

 

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Our View: The other liquidity crisis

Merced Sun Star – 2/3/09

 

The growing threat of drought in California is just another reminder of how badly the state has botched its handling of water policy in recent years.

 

State officials last week warned of the possibility we may be entering a third consecutive year of drought, noting that the Sierra Nevada snowpack -- California's principal source of water -- is less than two-thirds of normal right now, with dwindling chances of storms to bring fresh supplies in the eight weeks that remain in the rainy season.

 

The state needs -- and has needed for a long time -- a balanced approach to water:

Increased surface storage (new dams).

More underground storage (water banking).

Much greater efforts at conservation.

Instead, we get gridlock.

 

The imminent prospect of the state running out of money is not the only liquidity crisis we face. We're running out of water, too.

 

Farmers on the Valley's west side are facing the grim prospect of getting no supplies -- zero -- this year from the federal water system. That means much more pumping from an already depleted aquifer.

 

The State Water Project has told its customers in Southern California and Kern County that as little as 15 percent of normal summer deliveries may be available.

Some two dozen urban areas around the state have already begun rationing. Others are asking for voluntary cutbacks.

 

In Sonoma County, officials are preparing people for the prospect of a 50 percent cut in water deliveries. San Diego warned residents to expect rationing by July 1.

Through it all, the chances of getting a rational water policy for California remain as remote as ever. The issue isn't even getting lip service in Sacramento right now, with all the focus on the dysfunctional budget process.

 

We'll all pay for that neglect, with higher food prices, dead lawns, fewer showers, dying fish and the risk of greater fire danger next summer. #

http://www.mercedsunstar.com/181/story/670507.html

 

Editorial: California residents need to start conserving water now

Inside Bay Area – 2/3/09

THE MESSAGE from state water officials is clear: Start conserving now. Don't wait.

 

It doesn't matter where you live. If you aren't part of the solution, you're part of the problem. Don't flush your toilet if you don't have to. Turn off your shower while you soap up. Limit your yard watering. Stop washing your car at home and certainly don't hose down your sidewalks and driveways to clean them when a broom would work just as well. Fix leaky faucets.

 

Conserve. Conserve. Conserve.

 

Why? Because, "we may be at the start of the worst California drought in modern history," says Lester Snow, director of the state Department of Water Resources. "It's imperative for Californians to conserve water immediately at home and in their businesses."

 

And it's time for water districts across the state to start mandating conservation, with stiff penalties for those who don't comply.

 

California snow pack is only about 61 percent of normal for this time of year. January, usually the wettest month, was a bust — one of the driest first months of the year on record.

 

Last year at this time, the snow pack was 111 percent of normal, but the driest spring on record led to a second straight year of drought. Now we are probably facing a third.

 

If the skies don't open in a very major way soon, this drought will be more severe than those of 1976-77 and 1987-92, the worst in modern times.

 

It's not just the rain and snowfall shortage that's strangling the water supply. With more people and more permanent crops, there's greater demand for water now. Moreover, there's less water feeding Southern California from the Colorado River, meaning that there is greater demand on the Delta to help make up the difference. And we are in the first major drought since many fish species were added to the list of threatened and endangered species.

 

Our state's lack of restraint in recent years has contributed to a decline in Delta fish populations, including smelt, salmon and steelhead. Now major restrictions on delivery of Delta water are needed to help the wildlife recover.

 

The consequences of the water shortfall could be devastating. Saving that front lawn will be the least of our worries. As farmers fallow thousands of acres of row crops, tens of thousands of jobs will be lost and billions of dollars of income.

 

A state already ravaged by recession will face yet another financial kick in the stomach.

 

Make no mistake. State leaders should have taken more action by now to increase reservoir storage capacity. Farmers should have stopped wasting water by flooding fields and growing low-value crops. Cities like Sacramento should not have been allowed to wait nearly two more decades before installing meters for all customer accounts to ensure residents are charged for the water they use.

 

There is plenty of blame to go around and much need for drastic policy changes and planning for new facilities. But any new facilities planned now won't save us from what lies ahead this year. Nor can we count on a wet February or March.

 

The time for action is now. We must take personal responsibility and our elected leaders across the state, through rationing and fines, must insist on it.#

http://www.insidebayarea.com/opinion/ci_11611517

 

Classroom steelhead rearing program getting under way after crisis

Eureka Times Standard – 2/3/09

By John Driscoll

 

One by one, Jake Habib's second grade students lined up on Monday to get their steelhead started.

 

Each of the Dow's Prairie Elementary School students took a plastic spoon with a single orange steelhead egg in it from Jeff Self, who is heading up the Salmon in the Classroom program for area schools. They tipped the spoon into the water of a chilly aquarium and watched as the egg floated down into the gravel at the bottom.

The kids already know lots about salmon, including that the egg is a protective shell that also provides food for the fish in its earliest stages. Self explained how the steelhead will feed after the alevin stage, and how the fish breathe in oxygen from the water.

 

After the eggs were dropped into the tank, Habib placed a brightly colored cover over the tank to keep the light out.

”It's dark in there,” Self said. “It's like being under the gravel.”

 

Just a few months ago, it was almost lights out on this popular program. The California Department of Fish and Game told teachers from 33 classrooms in October that its key oversight position had been cut. But teachers rallied, and so did others who believe the program has too much to offer for it to be shut down.

”When the children heard that we weren't going to be doing this, they were so upset,” Habib said.

 

Recrafted with help from teachers, volunteers, the Humboldt County Office of Education, state Fish and Game, the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Green Diamond Resource Co., the program has stayed intact, and may expand.

 

Self told the children in Habib's class that writing, drawing, reading and math would be part of the curriculum, which will end when the children release the young salmon into the Mad River.

 

”Who knows where it will take us?” Self said.

 

He encouraged them to write down their first fish word in their salmon dictionary: redd, the gravel nest in which salmon lay their eggs.

The eggs are expected to hatch in the next three to five days, continuing the steelhead cycle for yet another year. #

http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_11615857

 

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