Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
May 14, 2009
1. Top Item–
Rising Calls to Regulate
The New York Times
The
Seawater treatment plant gets panel's OK
The
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Rising Calls to Regulate
The New York Times – 5/13/09
By Felicity Barringer
That is 50 percent more than he used to take, because the water that once flowed to the farm from snow in the
Since 2006 the surface of the aquifer, in the Kaweah subbasin of the
If he lived in almost any other state in the arid Southwest, Mr. Watte could be required to report his withdrawals of groundwater or even reduce them. But to
Although
Recent scientific studies indicate that in the long term, climate change is diminishing the potential for the Sierra snowpack to generate enough runoff. Aquifers are thus a crucial insurance policy for water users.
Critics argue that refusing to monitor and regulate groundwater could prove catastrophic to the state’s real estate sector and its $36 billion agricultural economy.
“We really have reached the limit of surface water in
“The answer so far has been to drill deeper,” he said. “This can’t continue.”
The opening volley in the current campaign to change the system was fired last fall by Catherine Freeman of the state Legislative Analyst’s Office, a nonpartisan advisory agency. In a report, she recommended that the Legislature regulate groundwater pumping statewide.
Then Fran Pavley, a Democratic state senator, proposed a bill requiring that the state measure groundwater usage — a proposal that has been made on and off for half a century.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, vetoed similar legislation in 2005, 2006 and 2007, saying that a state-run system would be too expensive and cumbersome.
But even Mr. Schwarzenegger is heeding the growing drumbeat on groundwater. Issuing an emergency drought declaration in February, he asked local governments and water districts for the first time to supply the state with data on groundwater supplies.
Compliance so far has been spotty, said Mark Cowin, deputy director of the state’s Department of Water Resources. “In a lot of cases,” Mr. Cowin said, “it’s simply a matter of the information not existing.”
On the grass-roots level, resistance to monitoring is based not just in a property-rights credo but also in a belief that the state can ride out any dry spell.
Older Californians are quick to recall more severe droughts. Heavy groundwater pumping in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s caused large overdrafts, meaning the groundwater pumped out exceeded the natural recharge of water percolating down from the surface. Some water tables dropped 400 feet; in some areas the ground itself sank as much as 50 feet.
Beginning in midcentury, the state enjoyed a respite with completion of the Central Valley Project, a large hydroengineering effort to redistribute surface water around the
But this year, the Westlands water district — the state’s largest, in the
This has led Tom Birmingham, the water district’s general manager, to a subtle shift in his thinking. “Westlands would be opposed to the control of groundwater by a state agency,” Mr. Birmingham said. “However, that doesn’t mean that collecting information is necessarily a bad thing.”
Don Mills, general manager of the neighboring
Regulating demand, Mr. Mills said, “is the tough part.” Some farmers have been phasing out row crops and vegetables in favor of fruit trees, for example; leaving an orchard dry for a year is not an option.
“After one year of no irrigation, it’s firewood, not peach trees,” Mr. Mills said.
Developers have also benefited from groundwater policies as
“Unless you can provide water, you can’t subdivide,” said Bob Link, the city’s vice mayor. But aggressive measures like this are the exception.
Landowners and farmers like Mr. Watte say it should be up to them to manage the aquifers.
“When government gets involved in control and oversight, it’s fraught,” Mr. Watte said.
Ms. Pavley, the state senator who proposed the water monitoring bill, predicted a “very tough fight” and said, “Dealing with climate change is easy compared to this.”
Desalination Plant Is Approved
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The water board here gave final approval for construction of the largest water desalination plant in the
The $320 million project proposed by Poseidon Resources could be operational by 2012 in
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/science/earth/14aquifer.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
The
Reporting from
Proponents say the plan could provide more than 56,000 acre-feet of drinkable water by 2012, enough to satisfy the needs of more than 100,000 families.
Connecticut-based Poseidon Resources has been planning the project for a decade and has been navigating the complex permit process for five years.
But environmentalist activists, who believe the project would harm the coastal environment, plan to appeal to the State Water Resources Control Board and to continue at least three lawsuits aimed at blocking the project.
Under the plan, the plant would be built next to the Encina power plant in
The plant would turn salt water into fresh water through a reverse osmosis process. Poseidon has yet to announce its full financing plan for what is proposed to be the nation's largest such project.
Several suburban water districts have shown interest in buying some of the water from Poseidon.#
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-desalt14-2009may14,0,6045334.story?track=rss
Seawater treatment plant gets panel's OK
The San Diego
By Michael Burge
The developer of an ocean-water desalination plant hopes to break ground by the end of the year after a regional water-quality board unanimously approved the
The panel's decision means Poseidon Resources can move ahead on its plan to turn 50 million gallons of ocean water a day into drinking water on the grounds of the Encina Power Station at Agua Hedionda Lagoon.
The plant would be the first large-scale desalination plant in
Peter MacLaggan, Poseidon's senior vice president, said yesterday's vote completes the permitting process.
“What this action today means is we are now able to move forward with a new water supply – the Pacific Ocean – and protect the environment in the process,” he said.
The political battle over plant approvals pitted the region's need for water against its desire to protect the ocean environment.
The San Diego Regional Water Quality Board's approval requires that Poseidon create 55.4 acres of wetlands in
The board also requires strict monitoring to assure that the new wetlands produce enough fish to offset the loss, about 3,775 pounds of marine life a year.
The plant will be built on the grounds of the Encina Power Station and share its intake and outfall pipes. If the power plant closes, Poseidon will have to return to the regional board for a new permit.
Marco Gonzalez, an attorney for the Surfrider Foundation and San Diego Coastkeeper, environmental groups that oppose the plant, disagreed that the plant represents the best possible environmental design.
“It doesn't come as a surprise to us,” Gonzalez said of the approval. “The ability of a large corporate entity to get a large project approved is not new in
Gonzalez said he would appeal the regional board's decision to the State Water Quality Control Board, which oversees the regional boards. He also has two lawsuits pending against the project.
Poseidon has lined up nine local water agencies to buy water at a price no higher than they would pay the San Diego County Water Authority, the region's wholesaler.
The city of
Some regional board members expressed ambivalence about the wisdom of using the
“We waste too much water in landscape irrigation,” said David King of
Members also rejected a last-minute objection raised by Peter Douglas, executive director of the California Coastal Commission, in a letter.
“For Mr. Douglas to continually inject himself into this process by a letter and never come (to a hearing) is an enormous act of arrogance and bureaucratic sloth,” King said.
MacLaggan said that
“It appears to me what (commission) staff is trying to do is subject their own will that they weren't able to impose on their commission or the regional board, and I don't think that's appropriate,” MacLaggan said.
He said the company is lining up financing for the $320 million plant and is considering IDE Technologies or Tetra Tech as the builder. #
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