Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
March 18, 2009
3. Watersheds –
Who owns
Environmentalists and others like to gather it in containers for use in drier times. But state law says it belongs to those who bought the rights to waterways.
Water users file third suit on water cuts for smelt
CFBF Communications
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Who owns
Environmentalists and others like to gather it in containers for use in drier times. But state law says it belongs to those who bought the rights to waterways.
By Nicholas Riccardi
Reporting from
Holstrom's violation is the fancifully painted 55-gallon buckets underneath the gutters of her farmhouse on a mesa 15 miles from the resort town of
But according to the state of
What Holstrom does is called rainwater harvesting. It's a practice that dates back to the dawn of civilization, and is increasingly in vogue among environmentalists and others who pursue sustainable lifestyles. They collect varying amounts of water, depending on the rainfall and the vessels they collect it in. The only risk involved is losing it to evaporation. Or running afoul of Western states' water laws.
Those laws, some of them more than a century old, have governed the development of the region since pioneer days.
"If you try to collect rainwater, well, that water really belongs to someone else," said Doug Kemper, executive director of the Colorado Water Congress. "We get into a very detailed accounting on every little drop."
Frank Jaeger of the Parker Water and Sanitation District, on the arid foothills south of
"Every drop of water that comes down keeps the ground wet and helps the flow of the river," Jaeger said. He scoffs at arguments that harvesters like Holstrom only take a few drops from rivers. "Everything always starts with one little bite at a time."
Increasingly, however, states are trying to make the practice more welcome. Bills in
Organic farmers and urban dreamers aren't the only people pushing to legalize water harvesting. Developer Harold Smethills wants to build more than 10,000 homes southwest of
"We believe there is something to rainwater harvesting," Smethills said. "We believe it makes economic sense."
Collected rainwater is generally considered "gray water," or water that is not reliably pure enough to drink but can be used to water yards, flush toilets and power heaters. In some states, developers try to include a network of cisterns and catchment pools in every subdivision, but in others, those who catch the rain tend to do so covertly.
In
"If I decide to [take rainwater] in 2009, somewhere, maybe 100 miles downstream, there's a water right that outdates me by 100 years" that's losing water, said Kevin Rein, assistant state engineer.
State Sen. Chris Romer found out about this facet of state water policy when he built his ecological dream house in
"It was stunning to me that this common-sense thing couldn't be done," said Romer, a Democrat. He sponsored a bill last year to allow water harvesting, but it did not pass.
"Welcome to water politics in
Romer and Republican state Rep. Marsha Looper introduced bills this year to allow harvesting in certain circumstances. Armed with a study that shows that 97% of rainwater that falls on the soil never makes it to streams, they propose to allow harvesting in 11 pilot projects in urban areas, and for rural users like Kris Holstrom whose wells are depleted by drought.
In contrast to the high-stakes maneuvering in the capital, Holstrom looks upon the state's regulation of rainwater with exasperated amusement.
Holstrom, director of sustainability for Telluride, and her husband, John, have lived on their farm since 1988. During the severe drought at the start of this decade, their well began drying up. Placing rain barrels under the gutters was the natural thing to do, said Holstrom, 51.
"Rain out here comes occasionally, and can come really hard," she said. "To be able to store it for when you need it is really great."
Holstrom had a vague awareness of state regulations. She decided to test it last summer when she was teaching a class on water harvesting. She called the state water department, which told her it was technically illegal, though it was unlikely that she would be cited.
Holstrom is known in southwestern
She plucked a bit of greens from one plant and munched on it as goldfish swam in a small, algae-filled pond that helps heat the enclosure. "This has been my passion for a long time -- trying to live the best way I know how," she said.#
Water users file third suit on water cuts for smelt
CFBF Communications – 3/18/09
By Dave Kranz
A third lawsuit has been filed, challenging measures aimed to benefit the delta smelt. The Kern County Water Agency and water users represented by the group Coalition for a Sustainable Delta filed the suit last Friday in U.S. District Court in
The suit mirrors two others filed previously by customers of the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project.
In each case, the lawsuits charge that federal agencies have ignored or overlooked scientific evidence that points to multiple causes for the decline in delta smelt populations. Instead, the lawsuits say, federal agencies have focused solely on the pumps that deliver water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to farms, homes and businesses in the
Both the state and federal water projects have been required to reduce pumping to aid the delta smelt, which is protected as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act and was classified as an endangered species this month under the state ESA.
Operation of the water projects' pumping plants must conform to restrictions described in a "biological opinion" written by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The biological opinion has been enmeshed in litigation for years. Environmental groups sued to overturn the original opinion, leading to a revised document that has now been challenged by water agencies.
In announcing their lawsuit, the Kern County Water Agency and the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta said federal agencies "continue to ignore scientific data that point to a growing list of other factors or 'stressors' that are impacting the Bay-Delta and the native fish that live there." They say federal agencies "have done nothing" to address predation by non-native fish, habitat destruction, discharges of wastewater and storm water, and other factors harming the smelt.
The groups said they may also sue federal agencies for failing to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service when the other agencies took actions that might harm the smelt and other protected, native fish in the delta.
"The delta smelt face wide-ranging threats from contaminants to dredging activities," said Adrienne Mathews, president of the Kern County Water Agency board of directors. "We have no choice but to sue the federal regulators to get them to address these other factors. Californians cannot afford to have our economy further destroyed because federal regulators continue to ignore the real causes of the delta's decline and fail to coordinate their activities."
Coalition for a Sustainable Delta spokesman Michael Boccadoro said the actions by federal agencies have worsened a water crisis that has led to greatly reduced supplies for customers of both the federal and state water projects.
"Farmers are facing the loss of crops and fallowed fields. Additionally, tens of thousands of farm workers have lost their jobs because federal agencies have not done what they are required to do," Boccadoro said. "People are suffering because federal agencies are not doing their job and addressing the real issues."
On the same day the latest lawsuit was filed, attorneys gathered in a federal courtroom in
Chris Scheuring, managing counsel of the California Farm Bureau Federation Natural Resources and Environmental Division, said the hearing focused on whether the ruling overturning the earlier biological opinion might affect water contracts for CVP "settlement contractors" north of the delta. Scheuring said water users argued that those contractors hold water rights established before the CVP was built and therefore should not be affected.
U.S. District Court Judge Oliver Wanger made no immediate ruling on the issues raised at Friday's hearing. #
http://www.cfbf.com/agalert/AgAlertStory.cfm?ID=1273&ck=F91E24DFE80012E2A7984AFA4480A6D6
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