[Water_news] 5. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: AGENCIES, PROGRAMS, PEOPLE - 4/10/09

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

April 9, 2009

 

5. Agencies, Programs, People –

 

 

Coastal commission approves Redondo desalt plant

The Associated Press

 

State directive leaves water officials scrambling

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat

 

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Coastal commission approves Redondo desalt plant

The Associated Press – 4/10/09

OXNARD, Calif.—The California Coastal Commission has approved plans for a pilot Redondo Beach desalination plant.

 

It will be the second temporary ocean-water desalting plant in the area. The West Basin Municipal Water District already operates a smaller test desalination plant at the NRG power plant in El Segundo.

 

During their meeting in Oxnard on Thursday, coastal commissioners voted 9-2 in favor of the Redondo Beach plant, which will be on property next to the SEA Lab and the old Edison power plant.

 

The facility will draw in 580,000 gallons of sea water daily through small carrier pipes running inside the old power plant intake pipe. After testing, the salt-free water would be released back to sea.

 

The plant will operate for two years. #

 

http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ci_12115676?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com

 

State directive leaves water officials scrambling

Big changes ahead for water users in Sonoma, Mendocino counties as order signed affecting Russian River customers

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat – 4/09/09

By Bob Norberg

Sonoma County water officials struggled Wednesday to understand a conservation directive handed down by state regulators that on its face triggers drastic changes in the water-use landscape.

 

The order signed Monday night cuts the amount of Russian River water the Sonoma County Water Agency can deliver to its main customers -- 600,000 people from Windsor to San Rafael -- by 25 percent, sets overall conservation goals of 25 percent in Sonoma County and 50 percent in Mendocino County and prohibits irrigating commercial turf.

 

"All of us are scrambling to understand the language in the emergency order," Santa Rosa Mayor Susan Gorin said. "What does commercial turf mean? We don't have a plan. The 25 percent number is different than what we had been talking about. Right now we just have a lot more questions than answers."

 

State Water Resources Control Board spokesman Bill Rukeyser said the intent is clear: Get Sonoma County cities and water districts to implement overall summertime water conservation measures of 25 percent.

 

And that doesn't mean simply offsetting Russian River water with other sources, such as wells, he said.

 

"We are three years into a drought," Rukeyser said. "It is for locals to figure out, but we want 25 percent conservation, and not just 25 percent less than was pumped from the river. If you used 400 gallons previously, the goal is to use 300 gallons now."

 

The order required the Sonoma County Water Agency to immediately cut releases from Lake Mendocino into the river by half and to submit its conservation plan within a month.

 

Water Agency officials said they believe the conservation under the order is not mandatory, but achieving 25 percent conservation could require some mandatory measures. It represents a 66.7 percent increase in the amount of water to be conserved over last year's goal of 15 percent, and last year's goal included use of some supplemental water sources.

 

The ban on irrigating commercial turf is intended for such things as business parks and bank lawns, not municipal parks and similar uses, Rukeyser said.

 

"It does not apply to people's lawns, it is a prohibition against commercial turf," Rukeyser said. "With the drought, we came to the conclusion that was not reasonable use for Russian River water."

 

Twenty-five percent conservation could kick in mandatory water rationing, but municipal and water district officials said they were awaiting official word on their individual allocations of Russian River water before enacting measures under the order, which is in effect from May 1 to Oct. 2.

 

"At this point we still have not gotten the actual allocation," said Glen Wright, Santa Rosa's deputy director of water resources. "We'll evaluate that and figure out what we will do."

 

Santa Rosa and most of the other Water Agency customers have been under a 15 percent summertime voluntary cutback for the past two years, with some able to supplement the Russian River water with alternative sources of water, such as wells and reservoirs.

 

Santa Rosa is the largest of the Water Agency customers, which also include Windsor, Rohnert Park, Cotati, Sonoma and Petaluma and the Valley of the Moon, North Marin and Marin Municipal water districts.

 

Collectively, they reduced the amount of Russian River water used last year by almost 20 percent. The 25 percent order, however, is clearly intended to promote overall conservation, not just of Russian River water.

 

Sonoma County Water Agency officials said they had thought they might face a 20 percent cutback, the statewide conservation goal sought by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to deal with the drought.

 

"Twenty-five percent is going to be difficult, in my mind," said Pam Jeane, the Water Agency's deputy chief of operations.

The conservation mandates are part of an order signed Monday night by the state board in response to a Water Agency request to cut Russian River flows to save water in Lake Mendocino, which is critically low.

 

The Water Agency has been working closely with the state water board staff since mid-March on an urgency order to lower the required Russian River flows so that water could be conserved for the fall salmon run.

 

Without a change, the amount of water needed to keep the Russian River flowing at 185 cubic feet per second would empty Lake Mendocino by the end of September.

 

The Water Agency filed its petition Monday morning, asking to cut the flows to half now and half again on July 1. A similar petition was filed by the Mendocino County Flood Control and Conservation District a week ago.

 

The lower river flows also will complicate the ability of the Water Agency to make sure the river doesn't run dry when grape growers pump out water for frost protection.

 

The National Marine Fisheries Service has asked the water board to ban all frost protection this year, but the board said Tuesday it wanted a special task force of water officials and water users to come up with a plan before the next frost season.#

 

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090409/news/904091006

 

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