[Water_news] 5. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: AGENCIES, PROGRAMS, PEOPLE - 5/20/09

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

May 20, 2009

 

5. Agencies, Programs, People –

 

 

Capitol Rally Tomorrow (May 20) to Call for Action on Water

Press Release

Association of California Water Agencies

 

Opinion:

Harnessing the delta

Bypass system would yield water, protect species

Riverside Press Enterprise

 

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Press Release

Association of California Water Agencies – 05/19/09

Capitol Rally Tomorrow (May 20) to Call for Action on Water
Local Water Leaders to Gather on East Steps as Part of ACWA Conference

 

Sacramento — Hundreds of local water leaders and stakeholders will gather on the East Steps of the State Capitol tomorrow to call for action on long-term solutions to the state’s water supply challenges.

The rally, organized by the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA), takes place as water agencies around the state confront an array of challenges, including a third consecutive dry year and restrictions on water deliveries to protect fish species in the Delta. ACWA and its members are urging lawmakers to act on a comprehensive set of solutions that includes investments in the state’s water infrastructure, conservation, ecosystem restoration, water recycling and other strategies.

Legislators and key stakeholders will address the crowd and help raise the visibility of the water issue. Confirmed speakers include Assembly Members Michael Villines (R-Clovis), Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), Anna Caballero (D-Salinas) and Senator Dave Cogdill (R-Fresno).

ACWA President Glen Peterson will speak on the need for comprehensive solutions as well.

WHAT: Rally for Action on Water Now
WHEN: May 20, 2009, 1:30 to 3 p.m.
WHERE: State Capitol, East Steps

The rally coincides with ACWA’s 2009 Spring Conference & Exhibition this week at the Sacramento Convention Center and surrounding hotels. Prior to the rally, ACWA members will march en masse from the Sheraton Grand Hotel to the Capitol. #

http://www.acwa.com/mediazone/newsreleases/view_release.asp?ID=738

 

Opinion:

Harnessing the delta

Bypass system would yield water, protect species

Riverside Press Enterprise – 05/16/09
By THOMAS WAGONER

Thomas Wagoner is general manager of Lake Hemet Municipal Water District.

 

California faces a statewide drinking water shortage and its antiquated water collection and delivery system is in need of billions of dollars worth of improvements. Water shortages have already prompted water districts and agencies to tighten belts, impose tiered rate structures and press customers to embrace conservation measures.

 

No one argues with the need to use water wisely. Buy why not fix the infrastructure problems that make Californians vulnerable to fluctuations in weather patterns or to the availability of water from the Colorado River or the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta? This single theme is where Californians vitally need political leadership.

In the old days, groundwater and runoff from the melting Sierra Nevada snowpack was in plentiful supply. We also were able to import more than our legal share of water from the Colorado River, partly because Nevada and Arizona didn't use their full entitlements. It's a different story today. Groundwater basins in western Riverside County and in many other areas of California have been overpumped and need refilling.

 

supply cutbacks

 

An even more serious problem is looming in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which supplies water to 25 million Californians, including residents of western Riverside County. A federal judge has ordered a 30 percent cutback in the pumping of water from the delta to protect the delta smelt, one of several species of fish that are believed to be at risk due to falling water levels, not to mention water flow patterns that kill them by leading them directly into water pumps.

 

But water levels aren't the only threat facing the smelt. Quagga mussels have also established themselves throughout the delta and compete with the smelt for food. Meanwhile, as California's drought has continued, officials have reduced delta water deliveries to the state's water agencies.

 

While the plight of the delta smelt is of immediate concern, other problems include the delta's antiquated system of levees which could fail at any time if there is a significant earthquake or flood. Levee failures also have the potential of flooding farmland, while wasting much needed fresh water. This, too, is where immediate leadership is needed.

 

A bond initiative could provide funding to address these problems and pay for construction of a peripheral canal to carry fresh water around the delta. Many believe construction of a peripheral canal is the best way to protect the fresh water supplies that Californians depend on.

 

support builds

 

A peripheral canal would also give state officials a way to regulate fresh water flows needed to maintain healthy native fish throughout the delta. Northern California residents narrowly defeated a statewide ballot initiative to build a peripheral canal when it was first proposed in the early 1980s. But support for a peripheral canal is building again as more and more Californians realize that something has to be done to ensure the long-term viability of delta water supplies.

 

The governor's Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force, the Association of California Water Agencies, San Francisco-based Public Policy Institute of California, and others have supported the peripheral canal concept. Bond funding will be needed to implement these recommendations, and leadership is needed at the state level to make this happen. But so far, no one has stepped forward to fill this leadership void and transform these ideas into a bond initiative for voters. Nor has anyone taken responsibility for the production of engineering designs that could make the peripheral canal a "shovel-ready" project worthy of federal stimulus funds.

 

Leadership is vital

 

Meanwhile, as water agencies impose tiered-rate structures and residents cut back on their water use, state officials are allowing millions of acre-feet of drinking water to flow through the delta and out to the Pacific Ocean each year in efforts to protect the delta smelt. That is more than enough water to satisfy all of Riverside County's residential water needs.

 

It's time that our elected officials in Sacramento provide the necessary leadership to develop a bond initiative that's urgently needed to fix California's antiquated water collection and delivery system.

 

Thomas Wagoner is general manager of Lake Hemet Municipal Water District. #

http://www.pe.com/localnews/opinion/localviews/stories/PE_OpEd_Opinion_S_op_17_wagoner_loc.388a293.html

 

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