[Water_news] 5. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: AGENCIES, PROGRAMS, PEOPLE - 4/03/09

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

April 3, 2009

 

5. Agencies, Programs, People –

 

Amid Silicon Valley drought, commercial pool owners fret about new safety law

The San Jose Mercury News

 

L.A. water agency ordered to return nearly $30 million to customers

The Los Angeles Times

 

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Amid Silicon Valley drought, commercial pool owners fret about new safety law

The San Jose Mercury News – 4/03/09

By Karen de Sá

 

Even as Silicon Valley is poised to ration water for the first time in two decades, public pool owners are dumping millions of gallons of water into the sewers in order to comply with a new federal law designed to reduce drowning hazards.

 

The potential draining and refilling of thousands of commercial pools and spas around the county has environmentalists fretting and pool owners griping about the cost amid a worsening economy.

 

Susan Siravo, spokeswoman for the Santa Clara Valley Water District, described the potential dumping as "a significant amount of water."

 

Under the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, which took effect in December, all commercial pools and spas must be equipped with anti-entrapment drains or external pumping systems that automatically shut down when blocked.

 

The powerful suction pressure of drains is strong enough to kill children caught by the hair, a limb or bathing suit strap.

 

The Consumer Product Safety Commission reports dozens of so-called "entrapment" injuries, and at least nine deaths, in pools and spas between 1999 and 2007. When such a horrific fate met the 7-year-old granddaughter of former Secretary of State James Baker at the bottom of a whirlpool spa at a friend's house in 2002, the family pushed for a law to prevent any more unnecessary deaths. Former President George W. Bush signed the act in 2007, but local jurisdictions are only now starting to comply.

 

With swimming season weeks away in Santa Clara County, environmental health inspectors have just completed visits to most of the 3,092 commercial pools and spas at schools, health clubs, community centers and apartment complexes. Under the law, until new drains are in place, pools cannot open this season or continue operating, but local authorities have little enforcement power and will not padlock pools that have yet to make the change, said county consumer protection director Philip Smith.

 

Yet the pressure to correct drainage systems continues to grow, he noted, as insurers increasingly demand compliance. And a bill introduced in the state Assembly last month seeks greater state enforcement power. "If someone hasn't already contacted us," Smith said, "we'll be knocking at the pool door soon."

 

Although few argue with the safety aims of the new law, enforcement in pool-rich California has met controversy. First, there were not enough specially-designed drain covers being manufactured to meet the need. Then, the recession's wrath made it difficult for many pool owners to afford the often-costly repairs, which can run anywhere from $500 to $6,500, depending on the size of the pool. Still others chafe at the waste: Most retrofits now involve draining and refilling pools that each can contain as many as 300,000 gallons of water.

 

"I'm just blown away that in the midst of a drought, thousands of pools are going to have to be drained," said Don Tanner of Santa Clara, whose homeowner's association faces a $5,000 retrofit he says it can ill-afford.

 

Drew Anderson, president of Campbell-based Scuba Pool Repair, said the new law is "unconscionable" — if pools are drained. But he says companies like his offer an alternative. Anderson's divers work under water, allowing drains to be changed without wasting pool water.

 

But Dick Nichols, president of Genie Pool and Spa Service in San Jose, said his company is draining a pool each weekday thanks to the new law. Only a fraction of his 300 Santa Clara County clients are compliant so far; many are struggling just to afford basic maintenance. Nichols said the new federal law is "overkill" in a state like California that already has effective pool-safety requirements in place.

 

San Jose's six public swimming pools are now being inspected by health officials, and retrofits are planned at a to-be-determined cost to the city. "We are sensitive to the fact that there is a drought, so we are not going to drain our pools," said city parks and recreation spokesman Ed Bautista.

 

Both the city and San Jose Unified School District, the county's largest district, say they will use scuba-diving services to repair their pools. San Jose Unified has 12 pools to bring into compliance but has yet to begin the process.

 

Child safety advocates agree that efforts to spare water can — and should — be taken. But they want the focus to remain on eliminating danger, noting that in the two years the pool and spa act worked its way through Capitol Hill, two more children met death by drain suction.

 

"This is a particularly horrific way for a child to die," said Alan Korn, public policy director for the nonprofit Safe Kids Worldwide, which worked with the Baker family to pass the federal legislation. #

 

http://www.mercurynews.com/nationworld/ci_12058271?nclick_check=1

 

L.A. water agency ordered to return nearly $30 million to customers

A judge tentatively rules the Department of Water and Power must pay back funds set aside to help balance the city budget. If the decision is upheld, refunds or credits on future bills may be issued.

The Los Angeles Times – 4/03/09

By David Zahniser

A Superior Court judge has issued a tentative ruling ordering the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to repay its customers nearly $30 million that city officials had hoped to spend on other services.

The tentative ruling, which was issued last week, said the DWP's long-standing practice of moving money from its water fund into the city's general fund -- which pays for such services as police, fire protection, street maintenance and libraries -- violates provisions of the anti-tax measure Proposition 218.

 

 The ruling calls on the city to recalculate its water rates for the 2006-07 fiscal year -- when the money was collected -- and give customers either refunds or credits on future bills.

If upheld, the decision would represent a major victory for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., which said the state Constitution bars municipal utilities from overcharging ratepayers for water and then using the surplus to pay for other city programs.

"They can only charge those customers for the commodity that they're selling to them," said Tim Bittle, the group's lawyer.

 

The Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles also opposed the transfer.

The city has until Thursday to respond to the proposed decision.

"We have received the tentative ruling and are studying its ramifications," DWP General Manager H. David Nahai said in a prepared statement.

For years, mayors and council members have relied on transfers from the DWP to address the city's budget woes. Last year, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council agreed to take $196 million from the utility's electrical power fund.

In 2007, the DWP went to court to determine whether transfers from the water fund would withstand judicial scrutiny under Proposition 218, which was crafted by the Howard Jarvis group and passed in 1996.

Because the transfers from the water fund were considered legally vulnerable, the DWP held off on moving the money to the general fund and did not spend it.

Since the money has been collected over three years, more than $100 million could be due to ratepayers by the time the litigation is resolved, Bittle said.#

 

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dwp-refund3-2009apr03,0,1419985.story?track=rss

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