Department of Water Resources
California Water News
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
June 4, 2009
2. Supply –
Kansas weather hits Humboldt
Eureka Times-Standard
Colton gives final OK to ordinance doubling water rate
Riverside Press Enterprise
Yolo steps up water release
Ukiah Daily Journal
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Kansas weather hits Humboldt Eureka Times-Standard-6/04/09 By John Driscoll
Thunderstorms with lightning, heavy rain and hail continued to move though inland Humboldt County and Trinity County Wednesday. The National Weather Service on Wednesday afternoon received reports of golf-ball sized hail in Hyampom while quarter-sized hail and high winds were reported in the area of Willow Creek. Coastal residents reported thunder and lightening. Christina Deveraux, a chef at the Willow Creek Golf & Country Club, said that 10 to 15 minutes after the storm struck, the golf course clubhouse kitchen and bathrooms flooded with about two inches of water. The hail, Deveraux said, "looked like snow out there on the golf course." National Weather Service meteorologist Matthew Bloemer said the flooding event was likely caused by the combination of heavy rains and small hail stones which can form small dams and exacerbate flooding conditions. "Golf courses and roads are able to handle runoff pretty well, but sometimes the solid (hail stones) act like a dam and you get more flooding than you would if it was just heavy rain," Bloemer said. Lightning sparked three small fires on the Six Rivers National Forest's Mad River Ranger District, said fire management officer Fred Hays. There is little potential for any fire to become large as the fire danger is currently very low, he said. Most lightning in the area has been from cloud to cloud, and the few strikes to the ground have occurred in the Ruth Lake area, Hays said later in the afternoon. Half-inch hail has accompanied the storm cells that have moved through, he said. The National Weather Service was watching for the possibility of a tornado 23 miles south of Willow Creek, but issued only a severe thunderstorm warning after it was determined a twister was unlikely to develop, said chief meteorologist Nancy Dean. The storms had been moving fast enough so that no flash flooding materialized, Dean said.# http://www.times-standard.com/ci_12517273?IADID=Search-www.times-standard.com-www.times-standard.com |
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Colton gives final OK to ordinance doubling water rat
Riverside Press Enterprise-6/02/09
By Darrell R. Santschi
After months of rancorous debate, the Colton City Council has granted final approval Tuesday night to an ordinance doubling water rates over the next three years.
The council approved the ordinance without comment, in contrast with earlier meetings when debate lasted late into the night. The final vote was 5-2, with council members Deirdre Bennett and David Toro opposed.
The rate increase means that customers with three-quarter-inch meters will see their rates climb from $11.78 a month to $17.03 when the ordinance takes effect next month.
The rate will then increase to $19.60 a month in January 2010, to $22.53 in 2011 and to $24.75 in January 2012.
The increases are the first for the utility's almost 10,000 customers since 1998, said Eric Fraser, director of Colton's water and wastewater operations.
He told the council earlier that the increases are needed because the cost of powering the city's water delivery system has climbed $1.2 million a year over the last several years.
The city also has been engaged in a prolonged legal battle over the clean-up of city well water contaminated with perchlorate.
Critics, including Bennett, argue that the department waited too long to try to fix its budget problems and would be saddling ratepayers with hefty increases at a time when the economy is in recession and residents are facing large electric rate increases approved in March.
Differences among the council members on the issue have been sharp.
When Mayor Kelly Chastain cut off questioning late in a meeting in April to bring the matter to a vote, Bennett walked out.
One of the few aspects of the rate increases that has generated agreement among all seven council members is that they did not want to see the department's budget balanced by laying off more workers.
As originally requested, the first water rate increase would have been imposed this month but the prolonged council debate pushed it back.
Assistant City Manager Mark Nuaimi warned earlier that the delay would prompt the water utility to borrow money to meet operating expenses and delay some maintenance and repairs.#
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_N_ncolton03.13cc949.html
Yolo steps up water release Ukiah Daily Journal-6/03/09 By Tiffany Revelle The amount of water being released into Yolo County from Clear Lake is on its way up, according to water officials in Lake and Yolo counties. The third straight year of drought conditions limits the amount Yolo can take to 25,733 acre-feet for the year, according to Lake County Water Resources Engineer Tom Smythe. The Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District has the right to take 150,000 acre feet from Clear Lake when the lake level is full, which measures 7.56 on the Rumsey Gauge. An acre-foot is the amount of water that would cover an acre of land with a foot of water. "I get phone calls from people who want to know what the lake level will be on Labor Day, and should they plan on being here and bringing their boat," Smythe said. Jennifer Reed, project manager for the Yolo district, said Lake County residents can expect the district to take calculated monthly percentages of the amount the district is allowed this year under the Solano Decree. The district began drawing lake water at a rate of approximately 45 cubic feet per second (CFS) on May 20. "Two hundred seventy CFS would fill your average backyard swimming pool in 10 seconds," Smythe said. The release decreased to approximately 30 CFS for a day on May 21, then increased to approximately 50 CFS until Tuesday, when Yolo began to draw approximately 140 CFS. Thursday, the flow was up to approximately 250 CFS. The water is released through Cache Creek Dam as early as April, extending through October each year. The Solano Decree also says Yolo can only draw Clear Lake's water if the lake reaches 3.22 on the Rumsey Gauge by May 1. "Yolo is prohibited from lowering the lake below 0 Rumsey," Smythe said. "Evaporation is about 3 feet per year, during the summer. The amount of water they are taking amounts to almost 8 inches of water." Smythe said that will drop the lake level to approximately 0.15 on the Rumsey Gauge. He estimated Yolo will draw 70 percent of this year's allotment by mid-July. Smythe said he is developing a projection for what the lake's levels will be during the summer. Information about dam releases is available online at http://watershed.co.lake.ca.us by clicking on the "Current Clear Lake Dam Releases, USGS" link. |
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http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/ci_12513285?IADID=Search-www.ukiahdailyjournal.com-www.ukiahdailyjournal.com
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