A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
May 18, 2009
2. Supply –
California
The Contra Costa Times
Long-planned reservoir is finally under construction
The
Millerton nearly full despite drought
The
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California
Near the end of a 117-mile canal that takes delta water to the heart of one of
The main artery connecting the vast farms of the western San Joaquin Valley to the heart of California's water delivery system — the delta — is going dry, leaving the nation's largest irrigation district without much of its most unpredictable commodity, water.
For farmers and their employee, the effects are dramatic. Unemployment in Mendota, the southern terminus of the
But even among the thousands of protesters who were preparing for a four-day march, one was as likely to find employees of farms with plenty of water as not. Those who retain historic water rights on the
Farmers with several water sources, those with their own reserves and those with older, more senior water rights will fare better than those who do not.
And so it is in a
In the Westlands Water District, the nation's largest irrigation district, things are bleak. It is heavily dependent on delta pumps, lacks its own storage and is a relative newcomer in its demand for water. The district is likely to get just 10 percent to 15 percent of the water in its contract amount this year, the worst supply in its history.
Endangered fish
The focus of marchers' ire was not the weather or drought, but new environmental regulations meant to prevent the dwindling population of delta smelt, which are threatened under the Endangered Species Act, from going extinct.
That anger was somewhat misdirected. The delta smelt rules, according to
The real reason for the shortages this year is a string of three dry years in a row and decisions, right or wrong, that have drawn reservoirs down to much lower than normal.
Still, the plight here is further evidence that the delta is broken, both as a water delivery system and as an ecosystem.
The largest estuary on the West Coast of North or South America is in a state of ecological collapse in which several fish species are in a nose-dive. For the second year in a row, regulators have banned salmon fishing in
When normal weather returns, the new environmental rules will make it harder for regions that rely on the delta, particularly
At least a couple of recent studies suggest California has, in recent years, bumped up against the upper limit of what it can take from the delta, and that the state's farms and cities may have to get by with less.
One solution, according to state government and many of the state's water agencies, is an initiative that seeks to revive the idea of building the peripheral canal, a highly controversial aqueduct around the delta that voters rejected in 1982. It would cost water users and taxpayers billions of dollars, and even then, it is possible cities and farms might not get more water, at least in dry years, as some experts contend.
Also, that course is controversial, particularly in the delta itself.
Even though the delta — a triangle roughly the size of Yosemite National Park with corners at Antioch, Sacramento and Stockton — supplies water to 23 million people and millions of acres of farmland, it remains a vague notion to millions of people who rely on it.
For those familiar with the delta, it is many things — water source, playground, ecosystem, enclave, home.
"This is a place where land and water are intertwined ... unlike any other place I've ever seen," said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla of Restore the Delta, a coalition of environmentalists, farmers and locals.
"It really feels endless and open and timeless," added Barrigan-Parrilla, who has lived in
While most river deltas fan out off the beach,
Humanity's impact
At the time of the Gold Rush, it was a vast marsh with sinewy rivulets, dense vegetation and birds, fish and other animals in abundance.
Settlers began pushing up berms of dirt to reclaim marshland they could farm. Behind those berms, the farmland was compacted, oxidized and eroded, and over time it began to sink. Farmers pushed the berms up higher.
Today, the delta is a vast complex of channels, levees and about 60 "islands" that are walled off from channels where the water is often 20 feet or more higher than the ground. And the old berms, now referred to as levees, are not sitting on engineered foundations, creating the potential for flooding from earthquakes or spontaneous failures.
It is in these channels between the levees that salmon migrate, smelt swim and water is delivered to the pumps near
One set of pumps is part of the Central Valley Project, which is owned by the federal government and delivers water to Contra Costa Water District and to
The other set of pumps is part of the State Water Project, which delivers water to districts in the
Since about 2000, the state-owned project increased pumping rates out of the delta and about the same time the populations of several fish species plummeted, including delta smelt.
Scientists studying the environmental collapse in the delta say, in general, that high pumping rates contributed to the decline of fish populations but that other stressors, including invasive, fish-food-eating clams, ammonia from sewage plants and other sources, are probably also to blame.
Still, the link between pumping operations and fish set up a train wreck in which courts, responding to environmentalists' lawsuits, found that the government was not adequately protecting delta smelt and various runs of salmon, steelhead and sturgeon.
That forced water managers to cut back on their water deliveries, inflaming big water users and sending shivers up the spine of water managers across
"We've been working it too hard for way too long," said Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies. "It cannot be both your infrastructure and natural habitat at the same time."
Quinn supports a plan being put together by state government and many water agencies to revive the peripheral canal, a 43-mile aqueduct project that was proposed in 1980, at the end of a years-long drought, to route fresh Sierra runoff around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Statewide voters defeated the plan two years later.
The canal would take water from the Sacramento River before it reached the delta and deliver it in a new aqueduct to the
It would separate water delivery from the ecosystem and reduce the conflict between fish and water supplies, Quinn said.
Critics, however, say the delta could become saltier, more polluted and stagnant if too much freshwater is taken out from the
Several studies on the delta have concluded that, indeed, a new way of getting water through, or around, the delta is needed. But some of those also conclude that resuscitating the estuary will require water users to take less water from the region.
Today, there are at least a dozen active lawsuits on the delta winding through the courts.
That number is certain to climb.#
http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_12267223?source=rss
Long-planned reservoir is finally under construction
The
By Tony Barboza
A long-planned reservoir intended to supply water to protect homes that were destroyed in the
Work crews broke ground last week on a 2-million-gallon underground reservoir that will feed water to the upper Hidden Hills Estates neighborhood, a hillside community where 19 homes burned down in November's Freeway Complex fire.
Firefighters had to abandon the neighborhood after pumps that supplied water to homes and hydrants failed during the blaze and only air came out. Fire officials later said five homes could have been saved if they had had water.
The reservoir facility will cost at least $5 million and is scheduled to be completed by June 2010, according to the Yorba Linda Water District.
The Times reported in January that the plan to build a reservoir to give the neighborhood a reliable water supply remained stalled in bureaucracy for years, even after thousands of homeowners paid for it through property taxes and the agency responsible for it had $9 million in an account ready to build it.
Water officials had planned to build the reservoir since 1978 but repeatedly delayed the project because they were uncertain how many homes developers ultimately planned to build in the neighborhood -- and, thus, how large to build the tank.
After the fire, residents who for years had complained of spotty water service filed legal claims against the water district and the city, saying that if the reservoir had been built decades ago as promised, their homes might have been saved.
Water officials expedited the project in recent months, moving past land-use and environmental regulations.
"We're glad to see it finally get into construction," said Ken Vecchiarelli, general manager of the Yorba Linda Water District.
But even when the gravity-fed system is completed, there will be no guarantee every home will be protected, water officials said, as demand can exceed supply in a large-scale blaze.#
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-reservoir18-2009may18,0,3292960.story?track=rss
Millerton nearly full despite drought
The Fresno
By Mark Grossi
As
Millerton probably will fill and possibly spill excess water this week while many major reservoirs remain below 70% of capacity. The reason: Millerton is too small to capture the
For days, river water has been funneled into delivery canals to farm-irrigation districts and the city of
"We're very thankful for the chance to recharge the aquifers," said Lon Martin, the city's assistant public utilities director.
It's more than anyone expected in February when federal allotments were forecast at 25% for
Now, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, owner and operator of Friant Dam, hopes to deliver a 100% supply to the Class I or high-priority customers.
Lower priority or Class II farm customers use river water to percolate into the ground to help replenish their wells. They are receiving some water now, but there won't be much more available for them this year, officials said.
Meanwhile, west Valley federal customers, such as Westlands Water District, remain at a 10% supply. The west-siders' Northern California water comes through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, where drought and legal protections for fish are forcing huge cutbacks in water pumping.
Much of the west-side water comes from Shasta Reservoir on the
Millerton is nearing 100%, but that's a deceptive number because the reservoir is so small, water officials say. The reservoir is about half the size of Pine Flat on the Kings River, which has about the same annual runoff as the
Pine Flat's capacity is 1 million acre-feet -- each 326,000-gallon acre-foot amounts to a 12- to 18-month supply for an average family. Pine Flat is 61% full with plenty of room for more water. It is not expected to fill completely this year.
But Millerton, with a capacity of 520,000 acre-feet, spills over Friant Dam during spring runoff in many years. The government built it in the 1940s on a site that would not support a larger reservoir, officials said.
Federal officials understood the limitations, but the land was donated and the reservoir was sorely needed at the time.
Fresno Irrigation District, which delivers water in a 245,000-acre area that includes the Fresno-Clovis metropolitan area, is taking water from Millerton. General manager Gary Serrato, whose district is a Class II customer, said his agency this month will get up to 15,000 acre-feet of water.
In February, the district didn't expect any water by now, Serrato said: "We take advantage of every drop of water we can get."
To conserve, the city this year revised its water rules to prohibit outdoor watering during daytime hours. The revised rules also require the use of a bucket for car-washing, although a hose with a shut-off nozzle can be used for what the rules term a "quick rinse."
About 70% of residential water usage is for outdoor landscaping, said Ann Kloose, spokeswoman for the public utilities department. She recommended residents install drip irrigation and plant drought-tolerant vegetation.
She also said people can cut water usage indoors. "Take shorter showers," she said. "And shut off the water when you're brushing your teeth." #
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/1410238.html
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