A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
March 25, 2009
2. Supply –
EID Board Declares Stage 1 Drought
Yubanet.com
Merced Irrigation District begins irrigation deliveries
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EID Board Declares Stage 1 Drought
Yubanet.com – 3/24/09
"Recent rain and snowfall aside,
"In the end, we're all in this together. Our declaration of a stage 1 drought today signals our intent to do our share in this dry year and ask our customers to cut back on their use of water."
The District's Drought Preparedness Plan, adopted by the Board in early 2008, describes different stages of drought. Each stage lists steps for the District and its customers to take to meet progressively higher targets for saving water.
In stage 1, customers are asked to reduce their water use-voluntarily-to help achieve a 15-percent reduction from the past three-year average use within the District's service area.
"We are fairly confident that our customers will meet the goal," said David Witter, director of EID's natural resource department. "We know that many District customers are already committed to saving water. And they have a good record. During the 1976-1977 drought, our customers reduced their water use by 46 percent. During the 1987-1988 drought, that figure was 60 percent."
"The Governor asked all urban water users to reduce their use by 20 percent," Witter said. "Through the cooperation of our customers and our water-efficiency programs like the installation of evapo-transpiration controllers and our conservation-oriented Irrigation Management Services program for agricultural landowners, we think we can achieve the Governor's target."
"The Governor's one-size-fits-all approach is unfair to agencies like ours that have worked hard to become more water efficient over the past 10 to 20 years," said Board Vice President John Fraser. "We need to make sure the Governor and appropriate state and federal agencies understand that water conservation, like this water district and our customers practice, should be recognized."
Wheeldon, Fraser, and Board members Harry Norris and Bill George approved the drought declaration. Board member George Osborne dissented after his proposal to delay the decision to the April 13 Board meeting was voted down. Osborne said he wanted to wait a few more weeks so that the most updated information on water conditions would be available.
The voluntary steps customers are being asked to take in the stage 1 drought are:
* Irrigate your landscape between the evening and early morning hours (8:00 pm - 6:00 am) to reduce evaporation losses.
* Inspect all irrigation systems, repair leaks, and adjust spray heads to provide optimum coverage and prevent avoidable overspray.
* Change the minutes of running time for irrigation valves to keep them consistent with fluctuations in weather as determined by evapo-transpiration data.
* Reduce minutes of running time for each irrigation valve if water run-off (gutter flooding) is occurring.
* Take advantage of water conservation incentive, rebate, and give-away programs to replace high water-using plumbing fixtures and appliances with water-efficient models.
* Do not refill a swimming pool that has been drained.
* Fix leaks.
*
Other common-sense practices include sweeping paved areas rather than washing them, washing only when dishwashers and clothes washers are full, and turning off the water while shaving, brushing teeth, and peeling vegetables.
Customers can also take advantage of discounts and rebates for water-efficient appliances and for evapo-transpiration controllers used on landscapes. To learn more, customers can contact the District's water efficiency staff or visit the EID website.#
http://yubanet.com/regional/EID-Board-Declares-Stage-1-Drought.php
Merced Irrigation District begins irrigation deliveries
Merced
On Monday morning, eastern
The Merced Irrigation District officially began its water year on Monday at 10 a.m. Although a storm passed through the
"We've been getting a few phone calls, not a lot yet," Eltal said.
>This year is looking like another drought year, with
Eltal said the last year the reservoir was nearly full was 2006. And although 2007 and 2008 were drought years, Eltal believes this year may be even worse.
"It's pretty grim," he said. "It's not even as good as 2008 so far."
Growers have been allocated 2.5 acre-feet of water per acre on gross acreage, instead of per irrigated acreage as in the past. In other words, if a grower owns 100 acres, but only farms 80 acres, in the past he received 2.5 acre-feet of water per acre for the farmed 80 acres. Now that grower will receive 2.5 acre-feet of water per acre for the entire 100 acres, farmed or not. That was decided at the March board meeting because some growers may put the idle acreage back into production.
An acre-foot is 325,851 gallons of water, or a year's supply for an average family in the Valley.
Growers are paying $18.25 per acre-foot of water, but that may change. A protest ballot went out to growers earlier this year that would allow the MID board to raise rates.
Wil Hunter, one of the board members, said the protest ballot wasn't necessarily the way to go. "The way the election is set up, it's doomed to fail," Hunter said. If a grower doesn't want a hike in water rates, that grower must send the ballot back into the MID. If the ballot isn't sent in, it's considered a "yes" vote on raising water rates.
Eltal said if the board is allowed to raise water rates, they could raise them as much as $5 per acre-foot. But that can be spread out over years, Eltal added. Or the board could vote not to raise water rates at all.
Hunter said growers are worried that if a water rate hike isn't passed, the MID board will choose to sell water out of district. "There's a good chance that the board could do that," Hunter said.
Hunter said that 2.5 acre-feet per acre is about what it takes to keep a crop alive and thriving, and growers have learned to deal with less water by making their water delivery more efficient.
"Growers have been asked to do more with less, and we have responded every time," Hunter said. "Hopefully, we will get some more help from the weather."#
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/story/754898.html
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