[Water_news] 2. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: SUPPLY - 3/9/09

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment 

 

March 9, 2009

 

2. Supply –

 

Water bond plans come at critical time for Delta

The Stockton Record

 

Local water system not as susceptible to drought

The Salinas Californian

 

State must solve water supply issues

The Fresno Bee

 

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Water bond plans come at critical time for Delta

The Stockton Record – 3/07/09

By Alex Breitler

 

SACRAMENTO - No fewer than five versions of a multibillion-dollar water bond have been introduced by state legislators, a first splash in what observers believe will be a big year in the water world.

 

The proposals range in size from $9 billion to $15 billion and cover every aspect of water, including storage, quality, conservation and recycling.

 

The Legislature failed to pass such a water bond last year. But with the budget battle over the state stuck in a third year of drought, water stands to be one of the biggest issues lawmakers tackle.

 

"If there's a time for the Delta community to speak up, it's 2009," water analyst Mindy McIntyre of the Planning and Conservation League told a crowd from Stockton-based Restore the Delta last week.

 

The largest slice of the proposed bonds is storage, including new reservoirs in the Sacramento Valley and east of Fresno. Billions would also go to improving the Delta: its fish, its levees, and the quality of its water.

 

Bond money is not supposed to go toward the design, construction, operation or maintenance of a peripheral canal. The bond measures say that the canal, which is in the planning stages, must be paid for by the water users who would benefit.

Nevertheless, some of those critical of a canal are equally critical of at least one of the proposed bonds, that introduced by Sen. Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto.

 

"This plan will not cause one more drop of water to fall from the sky. It will, however, cost billions," the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance warned in a statement.

 

Cogdill's proposal had earlier been praised by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who said he hoped it would get the ball rolling again after reforms proposed by legislators more than a year ago failed.

 

Among the other legislators jumping into the pool is Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis, who represents a majority of the Delta. Her proposed $9.98 billion bond would, among other things, allocate $1.9 billion to Delta sustainability, $3 billion to water storage, and $1.5 billion to assist regions with water supply reliability.#

 

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090307/A_NEWS/903070322/-1/rss02

 

Local water system not as susceptible to drought

The Salinas Californian – 3/09/09

By Bob Perkins

 

The slogan, "food grows where water flows," is part of a water education campaign by the California Farm Water Coalition (www.CFWC.com). You've probably seen it on signs and banners in the San Joaquin Valley. It's just as true in the Salinas Valley.

 

There are some important differences here.

 

Water for farms doesn't flow in Salinas Valley so much as it moves underground and is pumped from wells to irrigation systems.

 

Salinas Valley remains largely agricultural, so farms don't face the same competition with urban users for available water that other regions face.

 

We don't depend on water imported from other places. Monterey County land owners, including farmers, ranchers and rural residents, had the foresight to build a system of reservoirs to store water, prevent floods and replenish the underground supply. The latest improvement to that system, the Salinas Valley Water Project, is under construction.

 

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a drought emergency, he was confirming the obvious for most of the state. Careful management of water in the Salinas Valley makes us much less susceptible - but not impervious to - a lengthy drought.

 

The effects of the drought in neighboring San Joaquin Valley are dramatic. Farmers who rely on federal and state water deliveries may have to fallow 847,000 acres. That means they won't be producing food on that land. It also means they won't be buying equipment and supplies and they won't be hiring farm workers. The University of California estimates up to 80,000 jobs will be lost, crippling rural communities that depend on agricultural employment.

 

The drought is largely a regulatory drought. In the decades since California last built a major, statewide water facility, court rulings have allocated 48 percent of developed water to environmental uses and the state's population has tripled. Both are demands on California's water supply that should have been - but weren't - met with new storage and delivery.

 

Both environmental and urban uses share a common feature: Their water needs can't easily be reduced during a shortage.

 That means cutbacks largely come from agriculture.

 

Competition with urban uses for water is a big concern for agriculture even in the Salinas Valley. It's worth repeating that when water is short, people will get the water and farms won't. Our population continues to grow. The development of a regional water program could add new demands on Salinas Valley water from coastal urban populations.

 

Various interest groups have stymied water development or buried potential projects with regulatory costs and court challenges. Across the country, these interest groups have backed efforts to "save" rivers by removing dams and exposing both fish and farms to devastating floods and droughts. These same forces have blocked most water solutions along the Central Coast.

 

Monterey County agriculture can be proud of its foresight in meeting water needs here and will be closely involved with future discussions to solve water problems. Along with all Californians, we need to rethink our priorities and continue to invest in water solutions that benefit farms, fish and people.#

 

http://www.thecalifornian.com/article/20090309/NEWS/903090310

 

State must solve water supply issues

The Fresno Bee – 3/07/09

Opinion By Dan Walters

 

Nine days ago, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a statewide "drought emergency," citing a third winter of subnormal precipitation and the precariously low levels of major reservoirs.

 

"Even with the recent rainfall, California faces its third consecutive year of drought and we must prepare for the worst -- a fourth, fifth or even sixth year of drought," Schwarzenegger said.

 

It's more or less been raining ever since he uttered those words, either an ironic quirk of nature or a testament to the governor's persuasive powers.

 

The late winter rains may be a welcome, albeit partial, relief from the looming water crisis, but as Schwarzenegger also said on Feb. 27: "This is a crisis, just as severe as an earthquake or raging wildfire, and we must treat it with the same urgency by upgrading California's water infrastructure to ensure a clean and reliable water supply for our growing state."

 

As Schwarzenegger issued his declaration, the Legislature's perpetual political struggle over water policy resumed. And the often-heavy rains are themselves evidence that the state has been irresponsibly neglecting its water infrastructure.

 

When the skies opened, the Sacramento River that flows just 10 blocks from the state Capitol and is the state's most important source of water began rising.

 

The Sacramento didn't get anywhere near flood stage, but it rose high enough that the flood bypass channel that protects the capital was opened. Even so, as much as 50,000 cubic feet a second surged past the city.

 

Let's put that in perspective. A least 500,000 acre-feet of water flowed past Sacramento in the first week after Schwarzenegger's drought declaration, half the capacity of Folsom Lake. But the most interesting aspect of that flow is that it didn't come from Folsom or the other two major dams on the Sacramento River system, Shasta and Oroville.

 

The operators of all three dams shut outflows to a trickle, rightly seeing the storms as an opportunity to replenish their seriously depleted reservoirs. All three quickly jumped from about one-third full to over half-full.

 

Virtually all of that water gushing down the Sacramento River to San Francisco Bay and the sea was storm runoff from below those dams, a clue that we need more ability to capture winter rains and hold the water for drier periods. In other words, we need to build the off-stream reservoir north of Sacramento that the state has long proposed, but that environmental groups have shortsightedly opposed.

 

What happened in early March was a harbinger of what lies ahead for California if the theories about global warming prove true. We will get more of our precipitation in the form of rain and less in the form of snow, which means we will need more water storage capacity as the natural reservoir of the Sierra snowpack shrinks.

 

It's ironic that the folks who raise alarms about global warming are the same folks who oppose our preparing for its consequences.#

 

http://www.fresnobee.com/columnists/walters/story/1246189.html

 

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