Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
April 15, 2009
5. Agencies, Programs, People –
Eye in the Sky Aids Water Conservation
The Voice of
Feds pay farmers to till arid land
The Associated Press
Distressed Central Valley residents start four-day trek demanding water
The Contra Costa Times
Our View: The real victims of water crisis
The
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Eye in the Sky Aids Water Conservation
The Voice of San Diego
By Rob Davis
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BLINKLISTTuesday, April 14, 2009 | With a mouse click, a satellite image of an El Cajon restaurant pops up on Jeff Barnes' computer screen.
The archived image looks like any overhead satellite picture, except that it's stained red, blotchy from an infrared layer atop it, which shows how much solar radiation bounces off the parcel. Different plants -- grass, shrubs, trees -- reflect different amounts of infrared. Barnes, a water conservation specialist with the Helix Water District in
"We can see the bulk of the water use is right here, this turf area," Barnes said, pointing at a blood red patch behind the restaurant. "Over here" -- near the street -- "is a lighter shade of red. It's probably shrubs."
Another mouse click. The restaurant's water-use history pops up. It has a meter dedicated to measuring its irrigation. Its sprinklers have been spraying an average of 25,000 gallons outdoors each month. A graph reveals that's way too much for such a small parcel.
A $380,000 program developed by the San Diego County Water Authority and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation tells Barnes how much landscaping the restaurant and every other parcel in the Helix district have, down to the square foot. The program uses an equation to account for the climate zone each parcel sits in and how much water its landscaping demands annually. It then provides an estimate of much water a given property needs to keep its grass green in every two-month billing period -- even accounting for seasonal variations.
On average, the restaurant used 25,000 gallons a month. The program estimates that it needed just 6,100. "They're way over budget," Barnes said, by 420 percent. Voiceofsandiego.org agreed not to identify the specific restaurant in exchange for a behind-the-scenes look at how Helix uses the software.
That restaurant and 877 other Helix customers like it with meters only measuring irrigation will receive notices in the next two months containing that information for their property. It's called a water budget -- a guideline to help people understand not only how much water they use, but how much they should be using.
As
"We certainly think water budgets are the direction to head in to help the public understand how much water they're using," said Ken Weinberg, water resources director at the San Diego County Water Authority, "and to measure performance and tie it to water rates."
Starting July 1, Helix plans to require that small group of 878 irrigation users -- about 1.5 percent of its customer base -- to stick to their budgets. Those who go over will pay rates as much as twice as high as those who stay within their targets.
That narrow user group consumes 747 million gallons annually, or almost 6 percent of the district's water. It includes single-family homes, parks, schools, CalTrans and commercial buildings. Homes can get irrigation meters to separate their exterior use; other property owners use them to separate what rental tenants may consume inside from shared external use.
Not all of Helix's customers who will get water budgets are over their allocation. Some use half of what they'll be allowed. Others, like the restaurant, use far more water than they need.
The imagery and software that makes the budget possible holds promise for the region, potentially putting water budgets a mouse click away. Helix Water District and nine other local water agencies are testing the technology.
But for now, the process of creating budgets is labor intense. Helix needed a year to develop water budgets for its 878 irrigation customers. Two district employees have gone out to every site to double-check the accuracy of the satellite imagery.
Mark Weston, Helix's general manager, said the district has no immediate plans to implement budgets for all of its 55,000 accounts. "It is something we're going to have to watch," he said.
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The program's kinks would first need to be ironed out. For example, some landscaping can be obscured by roof overhangs. "You find a lot of little nuances when you visit the sites," Barnes said.
Mayda Portillo, senior water resources specialist at the water authority, the region's water wholesaler, said neighborhoods managed by homeowners associations can also pose challenges, where slivers of common space wind throughout. "You can't just apply a broad stroke," she said.
The technology demonstrates one possible path the city of
The Irvine Ranch Water District, which serves 91,000 customer accounts in
The infrared technology has other applications, helping water agencies pinpoint inefficient irrigation. The imagery can reveal where sprinklers are over-spraying or under-spraying on a large parcel.
"Football fields, I love," Helix's Barnes said, and zoomed in on a local pitch. The field looked a fiery red; a dark magenta streak stretched from the 50-yard line toward each end zone.
"It's always the center of the field that's weak," he said. "When you turn on the infrared, it's night and day."#
http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2009/04/15/environment/848helixwater041409.txt
Feds pay farmers to till arid land
The Associated Press – 4/15/09
By Garance Burke
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — As drought forces families in the West to shorten their showers and let their lawns turn brown, two Depression-era government programs have been paying some of the nation's biggest farms hundreds of millions of dollars to grow water-thirsty crops in what was once desert.
Records obtained by The Associated Press show that the federal government handed out more than $687 million in subsidies over the past two years to hundreds of farmers in
One program pays farmers for planting water-needy crops such as cotton and rice, which are largely grown by flooding the fields. The other provides cut-rate water for irrigation.
Farmers and government officials strongly defend the double-dip subsidies, saying they produce an abundance of food and jobs.
But now, with the West booming in population and the region gripped by both recession and a dry spell, environmentalists, city dwellers and members of Congress are demanding the government end or scale back this decades-old practice that essentially rewards farms for using water, not conserving it.
"With our weather patterns, with climate change, and our population growth, we've got to look at how we use every drop," said Rep. George Miller, a Democrat who represents part of the
Since the drought began in 2007, the government has steered about $79 million in water subsidies to
Exactly how much
The cutbacks are leading some farmers to switch to less-thirsty crops or leave their fields fallow.
East of the Rockies, other rice- and cotton-growing states, such as
President Barack Obama recently called some of the nation's crop programs unnecessary, and proposed cutting or capping them.
Over the past quarter-century, Congress has considered eight bills that would bar the double dipping practiced by
Agriculture takes up to 79 percent of all water federal and state officials manage in
USDA officials acknowledge that even during the drought, the system has encouraged farmers to sow cotton and rice, which require more water per acre than other major commodities grown in
The USDA's chief economist, Larry Salathe, said a surging population and dry weather — not the agency's programs — are causing water shortages.
"We're concerned about the availability of water in the West, but we were growing rice and cotton in
Agriculture is a $36.6 billion industry in
Jim Hansen, a 69-year-old cotton grower in
"Lots of farmers are already saying that these government programs aren't enough to make them stay in the business," said Hansen, co-owner of Hansen Ranches, the state's fourth-largest recipient of crop subsidies. "I just don't think that taking the No. 1 ag state and drying it up is a good long-term answer for our country. I mean, people need food."
But as the recession intensifies and mandatory water rationing hits some cities in the Bay Area and outside
"If farmers' business model depends on getting taxpayer-subsidized water to grow taxpayer-subsidized crops and they still say they have a hard time making it, there's something wrong," said Bill Walker, campaign director for the Oakland-based environmental law firm Earthjustice. "Why do we let them buy water so cheap?"
This summer, federal supplies are expected to run so low that officials in suburbs outside
"We still haven't gotten into a situation where we're fighting directly with agricultural users over the same bucket of water, but I think we're going to see that in the future," said John Coppola, principal engineer for the Sacramento Water Agency.
Daniel Errotabere, a third-generation farmer in
"Everyone is going to have to give something up," he said.#
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gEKf49jeTzqQoBBA11L0V7LRCQuAD97IHAM00
Distressed Central Valley residents start four-day trek demanding water
The Contra Costa Times – 4/15/09
By Mike Taugher
Beginning in Mendota, an agricultural hamlet where the water shortage is acutely felt and the unemployment rate is estimated at 40 percent, the scene was reminiscent of a civil-rights protest as politicians, farmworkers and comedian Paul Rodriguez railed against environmental rules they said were depriving them of water.
"We have a deep recession throughout this country and this state," said Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno. "Here, it's a Depression." Their ire was directed mostly at Delta smelt, a 3-inch fish whose precipitous decline has triggered tougher environmental protection rules.
Rodriguez complained that for too long the public has heard more about "the snail darter, the spotted owl and the Delta smelt," instead of the plight of hardworking farmers whose water supplies have been cut.
Thousands roared in approval and began chanting "Water, water," after Rodriguez told them, "We're not going to stop until we open those pumps at San Luis Reservoir," the destination of the four-day march scheduled to conclude Friday with an address by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Left unspoken at the rally, rules to protect Delta smelt have had very little effect this year compared with other factors, including a shortage of stored water and long-standing regulations to protect water quality in the Delta. Water rights are also based on seniority, so some water districts will get all the water they need while others nearby could get none.
"I've got water and I've got a job, but there's a lot of people that don't," said Art Hernandez, irrigation manager for Giffen and Jolley Farms, where 400 acres of tomatoes were recently planted.
He said he has been seeing about three people each day asking for work.
Located in one of the richest agricultural regions in the country, Mendota was the site of a recent food giveaway where hundreds of baskets were distributed until the supply ran out, Costa said.
"To have people in food lines because there's no water for them to grow the crops, it's more than an irony, it's a human tragedy," Costa said.
Hundreds of attendees wore blue T-shirts with the emblazoned message: "No water. No jobs. No hope. No future. Turn on the pumps."
An airplane flew overhead trailing a banner that said, "We need water 4 jobs."
On the ground, Highway Patrol officers tried futilely to keep marchers away from the highway, leading to a traffic snarl.
Along the 7-mile route from Mendota to Firebaugh, another farm-dependent town reeling from water cutbacks, Albert Escobedo, a 55-year-old retired farmworker who has been collecting disability since he was injured on the job, pointed to an abandoned processing warehouse.
"You see that a lot?" he said, shaking his head. "All of my friends, none of them are working. None of them."
A representative of the Bay Area's Santa Clara Valley Water District, told the crowd the
"We will do whatever it takes to make sure people in
Mendota Mayor Robert Silva said the turnout was far more than he expected.
"All we need is a comprehensive water plan where everybody has their fair share to water," Silva said as he walked with the mass of farmworkers and others.
California is in a third consecutive dry year, and although the Sierra snowpack is near normal the state's major reservoirs are still far below normal storage for this time of year.
Tougher rules to protect Delta smelt were issued in December, but they have had little effect on the water supply picture so far this year.
The bigger problem is more complicated for parts of the
Water quality rules that ensure Delta farmers and the Contra Costa Water District are not overwhelmed by saltwater from San Francisco Bay, the lack of water in storage and the need to keep water behind reservoirs to keep salmon habitat cold enough for the fish to survive the summer are taking a bigger hit.
Another issue is a system in
So, while farmers in the Westlands Water District that have always depended on Delta pumps, they are expecting no water at all this year while farmers in neighboring irrigation districts with much longer histories are getting all the water they can use.
Brian Howard, an irrigation foreman for one of those districts, the Central California Irrigation District, said he attended the march to show support for his neighboring water districts.
"This valley doesn't exist if we don't have water," Howard said.
"I feel sorry for those guys."#
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_12141546?source=rss
Our View: The real victims of water crisis
Farmworkers, whose livelihoods depend on irrigation, start four-day march today across Valley.
The Merced
In the long-standing battles over water in
Farmers and their wealthy allies in the business world square off against well-heeled environmentalists and their political allies in
We rarely hear from the people most profoundly affected by water policy and politics: the farmworkers whose very livelihoods -- and the lives of their families -- depend on reliable supplies of water reaching the fields where they make a living, planting, nurturing and harvesting the food we eat.
Changing that focus is the goal of organizers who've planned a four-day march across the Valley's west side this week.
The California Latino Water Coalition has joined with farmers and others to promote what they hope is a massive turnout of farmworkers, farmers, small business people, elected officials and politicians and other civic leaders.
They want to bring attention to the desperate conditions facing
We urgently hope they succeed.
The short-term goal of the marchers is to get immediate relief in the form of increased water supplies from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Legal battles and a court order have shut down the supplies for west-side farms this year, driving many farmers to fallow their fields. That puts thousands of farmworkers out of a job and consigns their families to real misery.
Unemployment in Mendota -- where the march starts today -- is already officially at 40 percent, and is likely higher. That exceeds the worst of the Great Depression.
Legal protections for threatened species of fish in the delta led to the court's ruling shutting off the pumps and the water flow.
But it's people here in the Valley who pay the price for that decision. And there has to be a way to mitigate that impact. If it means a short-term easing of environmental regulations, so be it.
Some measure of water must be moved to the west side to ease the terrible burdens facing those who've been put out of work by the failure of elected leaders and the intransigence of special interests.
It may already be too late to salvage most of the growing season for many crops, but some of the damage may be avoided.
And by damage, let's be clear what we're talking about: This is about people's lives and the lives of their families.
For the long term, we have long endorsed the goals being advanced by the water coalition.
That comprehensive solution won't be achieved until all the parties understand that there must be compromise.
It is difficult for us to believe that, with all the skills and talent arrayed on both sides of the water issue, it's not possible to find a compromise that meets most of our needs for reliable water supplies and a healthy, sustainable environment.
And we hope the world's attention is focused on the marchers as they deliver that message in their 50-mile trek from Mendota to the San Luis Dam near Los Banos. They and their families have gone unnoticed for far too long.
It's time their needs are factored into the equation. #
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/177/story/789914.html
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