A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
April 9, 2009
2. Supply –
The
April showers bring ... irrigation water
The
REGION: MWD seeks 10 percent cut
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By Michael Burge
SAN DIEGO – The San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board on Wednesday all but approved an ocean-water desalination plant proposed for
The decision brings Poseidon Resources to the brink of financing and building its $300 million plant on the south
The decision also essentially ended a debate over whether Poseidon had under-calculated the number of fish that would be killed by the desalination process.
Poseidon Senior Vice President Peter MacLaggan said the project will go out to bid next month and begin construction by the end of the year. Poseidon plans to begin delivering water in 2011.
The board's decision “moves us one step closer to getting under construction and being able to supply
Meeting in
However, it accepted a staff proposal to increase the monitoring of the new wetland to assure it generates new life, and to try to match that with the fish the new plant will kill.
The plant already has approvals from the city of
The plant would be built on the same grounds as the Encina Power Station in
The regional board had previously given Poseidon a permit, with the condition that the plant minimize the flow of water into the plant so it cuts down on species killed.
Wednesday's hearing focused on calculations regarding potential fish kills.
The regional board staff, citing faulty math on Poseidon's part and a contradicting opinion by a scientific expert, proposed that the company add 21 acres to the 55 acres of wetlands Poseidon had promised as compensation for damage to marine life.
In the end the board indicated, without a formal vote, that it accepted Poseidon's argument that the data didn't require the company to increase the amount of new wetlands habitat it will create.
The board didn't formally vote because of a glut of information that has come in during the past week, which will require a response that Poseidon will submit for a later meeting.
When the plant goes into operation it will produce 50 million gallons a day of drinking water. Nine water agencies have signed up to buy the water, with
MacLaggan said that NRG Energy, the owner of the Encina Power Station, plans to replace its water-cooled generators with air-cooled turbines in about a decade, eliminating the use of ocean water for cooling.
He said when that happens Poseidon would implement a system in the desalination plant that doesn't kill fish. In the meantime, the company is spending $20 million to $30 million on a habitat restoration program that will only be needed for 10 years.
“That threatens the economic viability (of the desalination project) that's already overburdened with mitigation requirements,” he said.
The dispute over the data came to light during the past two months, prompting a scientist from the Coastal Commission to say in a letter to the regional board that Poseidon might need to return to the commission for additional review.
However, San Diego Councilman Ben Hueso, a coastal commissioner, wrote the board to say he didn't agree, and that the new data didn't demand an increase in the 55 acres of new habitat. #
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/apr/08/bn08desal-plant-approve/?zIndex=7957
April showers bring ... irrigation water
Late storms, more snowpack may mean districts get full allocation
The
By Ross Farrow
After thinking that the
"We're on the edge of whether we're going to get water at all," said Ed Steffani, general manager of the North San Joaquin Water Conservation District.
The recent showers, expected to persist through Friday, have nudged the state closer toward getting out of a drought, but this year's rain and snow levels are still below normal.
Steffani said he thought for most of the winter that his district, which serves farmers north and east of
But this week's storms and the recent snowpack reading in the
North San Joaquin is entitled to 20,000 acre-feet from the
EBMUD officials say they still consider the area to be in drought conditions, according to spokesman Charles Hardy. Its customers in
Water and snow facts for Mokelumne River
Snow depth: 61 inches, or 88 percent, the average of weather stations at
Water content: 91 percent of average.
Pardee Reservoir storage: 89 percent of normal.
Camanche Reservoir storage: 51 percent of normal.
Source: East Bay Municipal Utility District
"We're still in drought emergency unless the (EBMUD) board declares it otherwise," Hardy said.
The
In
Woodbridge Irrigation District is entitled to 60,000 acre-feet during years that at least 375,000 acre-feet flow into Pardee Reservoir, east of Clements. If less than 375,000 acre-feet flow into Pardee, the
However, Kevin Kauffman, general manager of the Stockton East Water District, says it looks like another drought year.
"There's no miracle on the Delta this year," Kauffman said. "No matter how much water we get the rest of the year, it won't change the water situation."
The good news about this year's storms is that farmers don't need irrigation water this week, leaving more water for later in the irrigation season or leftover water for next year, Kauffman said.
"Everyone who was going to irrigate this week let it irrigate from the sky," he added.
Droughts differ from typical emergency events such as floods or forest fires, in that they occur slowly over a multi-year period, according to the California Department of Water Resources. A drought's impact increases with its length, as carryover supplies in reservoirs are depleted and water levels in groundwater basins decline, according to DWR.#
http://www.lodinews.com/articles/2009/04/09/news/3_water_090409.txt
REGION: MWD seeks 10 percent cut
Key water allocation decision on tap
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By Dave Downey
Southern California's primary water supplier will take up a staff recommendation next week to cut the amount of water it delivers to the region by 10 percent, a decision that likely would trigger mandatory conservation in the cities of
If approved, as expected, by the Metropolitan Water District board on Tuesday, the cut would mean area residents would have to reduce their consumption by 6 percent to 8 percent this summer, or face sharply higher water rates.
A move by Metropolitan to trim deliveries 10 percent wouldn't trigger rationing in the truest sense, in that the big Los Angeles-based wholesaler wouldn't turn off the faucet if people used more water. But Bob Muir, a spokesman for Metropolitan, said the district's member agencies would pay dearly if they exceeded their allocations.
"Here we are. This is what we have been preparing for," said Ken Weinberg, director of water resources for the San Diego County Water Authority.
It means mandatory conservation is coming to city dwellers across
He said the authority's board will consider how much to slash local deliveries on April 23, and whether to move San Diego County from level one and voluntary conservation on its four-stage drought index to level two and rationing.
Similarly, Metropolitan's decision would result in a 6 percent to 8 percent cutback for customers of Western Municipal Water District in
Western serves the area west of Interstate 215.
In a staff report Wednesday, Metropolitan Water District managers asked the agency's board of directors to set a delivery target of 1.98 million acre-feet for the 12-month period that begins July 1, 10 percent below the region's anticipated needs of 2.2 million acre-feet.
An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons, or the amount it would take to cover a football field one foot deep. It is roughly what two families use in a year.
If the board ratifies the plan, it would mark the third time Metropolitan has cut deliveries to the region.
Metropolitan reduced allocations 17 percent in 1991 and 10 percent in 1977, at the peaks of earlier droughts.
The latest reduction plan, outlined in a letter from Metropolitan General Manager Jeff Kightlinger and Assistant General Manager Debra Man, was prompted by the state's April 2 finding that
Metropolitan pipes in water from the Sierra Nevada and Colorado River to 20 million people spread from
Those distributors would pay the regular rates of $412 per acre-foot for untreated water and $579 per acre-foot for treated water if they stayed within their allocations, Muir said.
But if they went over, the extra water would cost them the $412 or $579, plus a penalty of $1,056 per acre-foot, Muir said. That would bring the total cost for untreated water, for example, to $1,468 per acre-foot.
Agencies that went more than 15 percent over would be slapped harder.
Besides the cost of the water ---- the $412 or $579 baseline fee ---- they would pay penalties of $2,112 per acre-foot, or a total of $2,524 per acre-foot for untreated water, Muir said.
"So you can see, there isn't a lot of wiggle room for us to say that we can just absorb it," said Peter Odencrans, spokesman for Eastern Municipal Water District, which serves parts of Temecula, Menifee and Murrieta. "There really is not a way for them to say you can't use more than you want, but if you do you're going to pay a hefty penalty."
The region would not run out of water if allocations were ignored, Muir said.
"But we would be using critical reserves," he said.#
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DWR’s California Water News is distributed to California Department of Water Resources management and staff, for information purposes, by the DWR Public Affairs Office. For reader’s services, including new subscriptions, temporary cancellations and address changes, please use the online page: http://listhost2.water.ca.gov/mailman/listinfo/water_news . DWR operates and maintains the State Water Project, provides dam safety and flood control and inspection services, assists local water districts in water management and water conservation planning, and plans for future statewide water needs. Inclusion of materials is not to be construed as an endorsement of any programs, projects, or viewpoints by the Department or the State of
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