Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
June 30, 2009
1. Top Items–
Water activists to rally in
The
Farmers angry over water restrictions
KGO TV
Still more action needed on water issues
The
Governor appoints point person on water issues
S.F. Chronicle
State budget threatens local water agencies
Santa Clarita Valley Signal
'Two Gates' project could ease water crisis
The
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Water activists to rally in
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, expected
The
By Robert Rodriguez
Organizers of a second Rally for Water are expecting several hundred, if not thousands, to descend on downtown
Farmers, workers and elected officials have been invited to attend the noon rally in front of City Hall. A march around the downtown area will follow.
Mario Santoyo, a member of the Latino Water Coalition and organizer of the event, said the group wants to continue the momentum it gained from a four-day protest march in early April.
Several thousand participated in the march that began in Mendota and ended at the base of the San Luis Reservoir with a rally that drew Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"We are not going away and we want to continue to keep this issue alive," Santoyo said. "We hope that this will help expedite getting a solution to the problem."
Water continues to be the hot topic for the
Santoyo said Sunday's visit to
Salazar spoke to about 800 people at
"Having Secretary Salazar here was not because he penciled it into his schedule, it got penciled in," Santoyo said.
But several farmers said that while they appreciated Salazar's appearance in
"We are glad he came out but he did not offer any real fixes to our situation," said Ryan Ferguson, a west
A shortage of irrigation water on the west side has caused farmers to fallow thousands of acres and lay off or reduce the hours for many farmworkers in the area.
Salazar did, however, list several actions that he is taking or plans to take, including assigning Interior Deputy Secretary David J. Hayes and Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Mike Connor to work with state officials on short- and long-term water supply plans, and continuing efforts to distribute $160 million in federal Recovery Act funds to the federal Central Valley Project.
Also Monday, Schwarzenegger announced the appointment of Lester Snow as a new state coordinator on issues relating to the water shortages. Schwarzenegger said Snow, of the Department of Water Resources, will coordinate work on long- and short-term fixes on the state government side.
Westside grower Frank Williams said it was important for Salazar to visit the Valley.
"I think he understands that this is real and we are hurting," Williams said. "And we are hoping that our concerns will gain traction and momentum among legislators, because something has to change.#
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/1505288.html
Farmers angry over water restrictions
KGO TV-6/29/
By Mark Matthews
Bus loads of Central Valley farmers brought the battle for water to
The farmers say they're being cut off from water supplies by federal regulations protecting endangered species like Chinook salmon.
Story continues belowAdvertisementA couple of hundred farmers and farm workers marched in front of the
"I've grown onions, garlic, tomatoes, cotton, wheat, barley and safflower," said
Walls is a third generation farmer in western
The federal government has been cutting back on water for farming in order to protect fish like the Chinook salmon.
"The more water they've taken away from us, the worse the situation has gotten with the fish," said Walls.
Walls said pollution or something else must be killing the fish because cutting back on water for farms hasn't help restore the salmon runs.
"It just doesn't make any logical sense that the more water they've taken away from the farmer, the more the fisheries have declined. Those two just don't add up," said Walls.
But the Sierra Club's expert on
"The simple fact is we're in the middle of a drought and there's not a lot of water to go around," said Jim Metropolus from the Sierra Club.
Metropolus doesn't dispute that pollution in the Delta is a factor but it's not the primary cause of the salmon's decline.
"The water itself coming from the delta is very high quality water. That's why people in southern
"The courts have looked at it for three years, the scientists have looked at it for three years that under current conditions in the Delta, salmon cannot survive," salmon fisherman Dick Pool.
A federal judge agreed and ordered water allocations must take into account the Delta smelt and the Chinook salmon.
Pool says there are 23,000 salmon fishermen who have gone two years without a salmon season.
"It's not a few fish versus people. It's people versus people, jobs versus jobs and food versus food," said Pool.
It's not just salmon and smelt that are declining. Last week, State Fish and Game closed the commercial herring season off the coast.
It's the first time that's ever been done. The herring population that spawns in
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/state&id=6890554
Still more action needed on water issues
The
Editorial
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar offered some federal assistance to ease the
So far, lawmakers in
At a town hall in
Salazar also named Deputy Interior Secretary David J. Hayes as the "water czar" who will coordinate solutions between federal agencies and state officials.
The interior secretary also reminded farmers that on Wednesday, pumps in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta will be turned on, and will operate for the rest of this year. That will help some, although the action should have come sooner.
Farmers have targeted environmentalists and the Endangered Species Act as the villains. But it's the Legislature and governor -- both past and present -- who have failed to meet the growing water needs of the state.
But state lawmakers continue to dodge this issue, fearing that they'll anger one of the many interest groups involved in the issue.
We believe that agricultural, urban and environmental water needs can be accommodated with a comprehensive water plan. There would have to be compromises by all parties to the water debate.
The solution must include building dams, expanding underground storage through water banking and dramatically increasing water availability through conservation efforts.
The local congressional delegation, especially Reps. Jim Costa and Dennis Cardoza, played a big role in getting Salazar to
http://fresnobee.com/opinion/story/1504966.html?storylink=mirelated
Governor appoints point person on water issues
S.F. Chronicle-6/29/09
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has appointed a new state coordinator on issues relating to the water shortages.
The appointment of Lester Snow on Monday comes a day after Interior Secretary Ken Salazar named his chief deputy, David Hayes, as the federal point person coordinating federal action on the state's water problems.
Salazar says Hayes will work to hurry the permit process on projects that could expedite the flow of water through state and federal canals south of the troubled Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Schwarzenegger says Snow, of the Department of Water Resources, will coordinate work on long- and short-term fixes on the state government side.
Job loss on farms and in the fishing industry are spurring officials to act.#
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/06/29/state/n161012D17.DTL
State budget threatens local water agencies
State may snatch millions from Castaic Lake Water Agency
Santa Clarita Valley Signal-6/29/09
By Brian Charles
Water rates will spike and capital improvement project will be frozen if the state snatches $17 million in property tax from Castaic Lake Water Agency, a water official said.
"Under the worse possible scenario, we would raise rates for retailers and we would indefinitely suspend some of our capital improvement projects," said Dan Masnada, Castaic Lake Water Agency general manager.
The Water Agency sells state project water to the four water retailers in the Santa Clarita Valley.
While the state Legislature has not proposed using proposition 1A, which allows it to raid the coffers of special districts to help balance the state budget, the weakened state finances makes such a move possible, Masnada said.
"There's always the possibility," Masnada said. "If the state doesn't get its finances in order, we could be in jeopardy."
The California Senate on Monday approved a Democratic budget-balancing plan that faced a certain veto from Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. A state budget impasse frightens Newhall County Water District General Manager Steve Cole.
The resolution may be borrowing property tax revenue from water districts to balance the budget, Cole said.
Masnada's nightmare scenario would be the state borrowing all of the Water Agency's $17 million in property tax revenues. The state is allowed to borrow property tax revenue to balance its budget.
The money borrowed from special districts must be repaid within three years.
Public water agencies are often in the state's crosshairs during fiscal crisis because the agencies have the ability to recover lost property tax revenue through water rate increases, Masnada said.
The Water Agency plans to propose a rate increase in July. However, the proposed increase won't make up for a $17 million loss.
"There would need to be a steeper rate increase," Masnada said.
Any increase by the Water Agency would eventually trickle down to customers through increases at retail water rates, he said.
The Water Agency would have to look beyond rate increases to balance the books if the state borrows all $17 million in tax revenues. Several capital improvement projects planned for the near future would be scrapped.
"We couldn't start those projects until we knew we're getting the money back from the state," Masnada said.
The Water Agency would delay upgrades to its headquarters and to improvements to its computer systems. However, the Water Agency won't postpone any improvements to water infrastructure.
"We wouldn't delay our Rio Vista Treatment Plant upgrade," Masnada said.
The planned $45 million upgrade will help the Water Agency meet peak demand.
Raiding the Water Agency coffers for $17 million isn't the only option the state has to help balance its budget, Masnada said.
Cole said the water district can only wait and see what the state budget looks like before planning capital projects for fiscal year 2009-10. "We have a pipeline project planned to start within the next two months," he said. "If the state decides to take the $500,000 in property tax revenue, the project will be put on hold."
Newhall County Water District's property tax allotment is much smaller than the Water Agency. But the money goes directly into capital improvements, Cole said. Without the money, all capital improvement projects would be suspended indefinitely, he added.
The other alternative is only borrowing a portion of the property tax assessment. In that scenario, the state would borrow $1.8 million, Masnada said.
"We could survive that hit with a little belt tightening," he said.
The capital improvement projects would be delayed until fiscal year 2010-11 when the Water Agency could adjust its budget, Masnada added.
Masnada vehemently opposes any option that allows the state to raid the special district to balance its budget.
"It's a form of taxation without representation," Masnada said. "Just because our finances are in order, the state shouldn't look to us to put their finances in order."#
http://www.the-signal.com/news/article/14986/
'Two Gates' project could ease water crisis
The
By Mark Grossi
A bold experiment in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta could protect threatened fish and ease
The idea is to submerge massive barriers in river channels to prevent the delta smelt from swimming toward certain death at water pumps in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
The experiment, called the "Two Gates" project, comes up at water rallies and political strategy sessions among
The gates -- which have not been fully detailed publicly -- would be mounted on sunken barges in two large channels in the central part of the delta. They would prevent turbid water from flowing south toward the pumps. The adult smelt tend to follow the turbid water, scientists said.
With the gates closed, the pumps could continue sending water south without harming the fish.
But there are serious hurdles ahead. The public hasn't seen any details. There is no funding yet for the $26 million project. And environmental analysis of such projects can take years.
Still, farmers and city officials hope the gates could be installed by December. A detailed plan might be available for public review in the next several weeks.
Politicians are pressuring government wildlife agencies to analyze it quickly. Water officials hope to tap federal stimulus money.
That's not enough to bring environmentalists and fishing organizations on board.
"This thing is an embryo right now," said Bill Jennings, chairman of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance in
The experiment is the brainchild of state and federal contractors -- farm and city officials -- who are coping with reduced water deliveries for smelt protection. Further pumping cutbacks are expected for other suffering species, such as Chinook salmon and green sturgeon.
The delta's pumps, long considered a factor in dwindling fish populations, send water into San Luis Reservoir. San Luis storage this summer is less than 30% of average because of delta pumping restrictions and the three-year drought.
The California Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation are studying the Two Gates proposal, which water contractors began assembling last year as water cutbacks continued.
City and farm contractors developed the idea with their own consultants and presented it to state and federal officials this year, said Tom Birmingham, general manager of the Westlands Water District.
Westlands and Metropolitan Water District of Southern California were among the water contractors that pushed the idea.
Michelle Light, state water resources regional planning officer, said the engineering and design work have progressed well. She said the state's analysis is moving quickly because of water shortages and the dwindling smelt population.
Katherine Kelly, chief of the federal reclamation bureau's Bay Delta office, added that there would be a July meeting of scientists to discuss the details of the proposal. No date has been scheduled yet.
Even if the project is completed by December,
"There is a perception that construction of this project will lead to an increase of water," he said. "This really is an experiment."
Two Gates would be an innovation compared to previous solid barriers that could not be easily opened and closed. Such solid barriers have been used in the past to protect fish, maintain water quality and keep water at desired levels in the sprawling river delta, according to the water resources department.
Dan Nelson of the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Authority, representing west-side farmers, said Two Gates is flexible by comparison. Besides opening and closing, the barges can be moved to see if they work better in other locations.
Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, said Two Gates has strong political support from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. He said he will continue to pressure wildlife agencies for a quick turnaround on their study of the project.#
http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/1505306.html
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