Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
June 16, 2009
5. Agencies, Programs, People –
Blame 'shortage' on misguided environmentalists
Agribusiness puts subsidized crops ahead of people
Government vs. geese
Work crews to improve
The Press Democrat
State water department to hold workshop June 30
San Diego Union-Tribune
Dams put in place along
The Press Democrat
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Blame 'shortage' on misguided environmentalists
Opinion
By M. David Stirling
Special to The Bee
The question now arises: Is the record-setting, federally mandated reduction of Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta water exports to the Bay Area, the Central Valley and as far south as San Diego the result of a third year of diminished precipitation in Northern California, or is it the result of political or man-made factors?
Even though the state has dealt with drought conditions for three years running, Californians are experiencing a water shortage created in large part by a powerful federal statute known as the Endangered Species Act.
For more than 30 years, the federal Central Valley Project and
More than 23 million Californians – two-thirds of the state's population – and tens of thousands of industrial and business users consume 70 percent of the transported water, while 30 percent goes to irrigate more than a million acres of farmland that make California the No. 1 food producer in the country. The projects – the world's largest water storage and delivery system – also generate hydroelectric power, improve water quality in the Delta, control flood waters, provide recreation and enhance fish and wildlife.
Considering the enormity of the critical tasks the water projects have performed for the state's population, which has increased by 66 percent over more than three decades, it is remarkable that there have been no notable malfunctions or lapses in performance. So reliable has been the projects' delivery of water to
And the state's periodic droughts have not significantly reduced the projects' water deliveries. For the most part, voluntary water conservation practices have been a sufficient response to diminished water supplies. Then what is so different about the current water shortage that it is having such serious economic and social impacts on agriculture-based Central Valley communities, as well as reduced Delta water deliveries to households and businesses in Bay Area and
For the past 36 years, some environmentalists or hardcore "greens" have used the heavy hand of the 1973 federal Endangered Species Act to elevate plant and wildlife species above the economic, social and even physical needs and endeavors of people.
This began in earnest with the first U.S. Supreme Court case testing the Endangered Species Act's scope and authority (Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill, 1978). The court declared that by enacting the ESA Congress intended to preserve listed species at "whatever the cost."
While it is curiously troubling that the Supreme Court viewed a law like the Endangered Species Act as beyond challenge on costs to taxpayers, this court-created fiction about the inviolability of the ESA continues as judicial precedent. As a result, the lower federal courts regard the ESA as a "super statute," enabling species preservation to trump human interests and endeavors in nearly all circumstances.
The vast majority of Americans know little, if anything, about this powerful "species-first, people-last" statute. While many relate to endearing images of charismatic species like the grizzly bear, the gray wolf mom with her pups and the bald eagle, few understand that the ESA also puts people's interests below those of a maggot like the Delhi sands flower-loving fly, which delayed for more than a year the construction of a much-needed hospital in an economically depressed California community; an insect like the North Valley longhorn elderberry beetle, which enabled the 1997 deadly levee break on the Feather River; and a tiny fish like the Delta smelt.
The Delta smelt is a fragile fish about the size of an adult's little finger. Despite years of work by federal and state wildlife agencies to determine the causes of, and reverse, the Delta smelt's decline, little success has been achieved. Between 1973 and 1993, when the smelt was listed as "threatened" under the ESA, the tiny fish's population dropped tenfold. And now the Delta smelt's numbers remain precariously low. In a 2005 biological opinion, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found several contributing factors in the Delta smelt's long decline, including the projects' pumps near Tracy that transport Delta water south. But the opinion also found that the pumps, while taking some smelt, were not killing so many as to cause the smelt's extinction.
(David Stirling is Of Counsel with Pacific Legal Foundation, a public interest legal organization that defends private property rights and advocates for balanced environmental regulation. PLF (www.pacificlegal.org) is representing several
http://www.sacbee.com/740/story/1942919.html
Agribusiness puts subsidized crops ahead of people
Opinion
By Jim Jones
Special to The Bee
In the fight over the future of
"This federal biological opinion puts fish above the needs of millions of Californians and the health and security of the world's eighth largest economy," Schwarzenegger said June 4.
The governor should know better. Certainly, his secretary of Natural Resources, Mike Chrisman, and director of Water Resources, Lester Snow, do.
Apparently the governor thinks growing water-thirsty alfalfa and taxpayer-supported cotton in the
The recent report from biologists at the National Marine Fisheries Service suggested a 5 percent to 7 percent reduction in water deliveries to
A far more responsible response to the biological opinion came in a statement from Donald Glaser, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's regional director: "We have to just find better ways to make efficient use of the water we have," he said.
That presents the governor with a great opportunity, if only he is willing to first recognize, then embrace it.
Namely, a recognition that fish are long overdue to be placed on equal footing with agriculture. And they certainly should be given a higher status than the thousands of acres of the
The dirty but not-so-little secret of San Joaquin Valley agriculture is that a great deal of it has nothing to do with putting food on the tables of Americans and more to do with propping up water-wasteful, welfare-farming operations that would not exist except for direct and indirect taxpayer support.
The collapse of the salmon run correlates perfectly with an increase in Delta diversions to record levels to water those crops. Drivers heading south on Interstate 5 pass field after field of newly planted grape vines, fruit and nut trees stretching to the horizon. Nine hundred thousand acres of the
A new public awareness coupled with a shift in the governor's approach to water leadership would make available a substantial quantity of water to meet California's water needs – more than would have been provided by an Auburn dam. And one that doesn't require the billions of dollars, and unpredictable, but potentially catastrophic environmental risk associated with building a huge concrete-lined channel bypassing the Delta.
The damage being done by irrigation practices in the
Perhaps even more fundamental is the compelling evidence compiled by Jeffrey Michael, director of the
But some good may yet come from the real drought if there were a shift in
Of course, that's a big "if" – dependent on a newfound public awareness of the distinction between farming and "farming." With the natural drought and the ongoing litigation over the future of the Delta, the public is paying increased attention to the fight over
(Jim Jones is past president of the Save the American River Association).#
http://www.sacbee.com/740/story/1942918.html
Opinion
By Rick Lantz
Enter first comment. Increase Font Decrease Font email this story print this story As many of you know, conservation rules and rate/service charges increase dramatically July 1 for
If you have not studied the fine print on the "Proposed Utility Rates" brochure mailed with your last water bill, you will be in for quite a shock come July, regardless of how much water you conserve.
The average single-family household can expect to pay 40 percent more for water and sewer even with the new conservation rules. For those of you with larger parcels, the new "tier rate" structure will significantly increase your water bill because it does not take into account property size, only water use.
The premise behind water conservation is accountability for your water use, but the "tier rate" does not fully take this into account. A one-acre parcel owner who has landscaped with drought tolerant and water conservation methods would conceivably use less water per square foot than a quarter-acre parcel owner who makes no effort to reduce water use. Yet with the new "tier rate," the large parcel owner is penalized excessively to maintain a landscaped property.
The City of
Now is the time to act. The protest period to these changes ends June 23.
If you would like to express your concerns, you must send a signed letter to the City of
(Rick Lantz lives in
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2009/06/16/opinion/commentary/z6add3bf01c4de71a882575d1007d419a.txt
Government vs. geese
Plan would stop fowl from fouling up Napa River bank
By Kevin Courtne
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is going to war against the gaggles of geese that hang out on the
These ravenous birds threaten corps plans to restore trees and other greenery wiped out by the flood control project, said Rick Thomasser, the local flood district’s operations manager.
The corps awarded a $1.25 million contract last fall to revegetate the east bank from
Trees, including oaks, elderberry and walnut, were planted during the winter at the top of the east bank’s flood terrace.
Now the second phase — the planting of more delicate tules and cattails in the lower marsh plain terrace — is about to begin. That raises concerns about the geese, Thomasser said.
“We’ll be using tender new plantings. These guys will come up and graze them off,” Thomasser said.
A few years ago, local Kiwanians planted hundreds of tules in the mud flats that are inundated twice a day by high tides, Thomasser said. The geese quickly nibbled them to nubbins, killing them all, he said.
“That was a sign we’ve got a problem here,” Thomasser said.
The corps tried a small-scale planting of tules a year later. Most plants near
The corps needed a new plan if it is to make good on its obligation to restore vegetation wiped out by the recontouring of the river to carry flood flows, he said.
Officials briefly considered killing or relocating the geese, Thomasser said. The public wouldn’t stand for extermination, it was decided. As for relocation, who would take on that difficult job?
The new plan calls for wire fencing and decoys to protect the young plantings for the first few years of their growth.
Fencing will be placed around the tules and rushes until the fall flood season, when it will be removed. When the flood threat is over next spring, it will be reinstalled, Thomasser said.
The corps hopes to mess with the geese’s minds by installing silhouettes of feared predators: eagles, coyotes and owls. They will be bigger than life size.
Such decoys have been used with some success elsewhere, Thomasser said. “Apparently the geese aren’t so smart,” he said.
Many people wish the
Establishing tules at the base of the promenade from Napa Mill up to
The hope is that the new plants will establish enough of a root system to handle flooding next winter.
Earlier in this decade, the corps paid for a similar revegetation effort along the river at
The public could do its part to support the greening of the downtown river banks by not feeding the geese, Thomasser said. These geese no longer migrate because downtown living is so easy, he said.
Thomasser said he has seen restaurant employees dump baskets of bread into the river, which only encourages the geese to hang around.
If people want to feed geese, they should go to the pond at
To imagine how beautiful the river in downtown could become, a person need only look at the sea of tule greenery on the river at Tulocay Creek, across from the old tanneries on
The corps’ $1.25 million contract requires the contractor to maintain plantings for three years to ensure their survival. The geese are considered an extraordinary threat not covered by the maintenance requirement, Thomasser said.#
http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2009/06/16/news/local/doc4a37163369425081753780.txt
Work crews to improve
The Press Democrat-6/14/09
By Bob Norberg
Work begins this week on 30 miles of
The annual summer work program by the Sonoma County Water Agency is expected to cost about $7 million.
“Without the work ... we would have the risk of flooding,” said Jon Niehaus, the Water Agency’s program coordinator.
In the past 12 years, however, the work has also been structured to accommodate fish habitat and nesting birds, said Keenan Foster, the Water Agency senior environmental specialist.
Workers will thin and remove arroyo willows, which are multi-trunked and catch debris and cause sedimentation. The trees will be replaced with single-trunk red willows and pacific willows, which will grow 45 feet high and create a 45-foot-wide canopy to shade the creeks, providing cooler water and better fish habitat.
Foster said 2,000 to 3,000 trees will be planted.
Crews will also remove 11,000 cubic feet of sediment from seven creeks, and use rock, erosion cloth, trees and shrubs to stabilize the banks on six creeks.
The work on three-dozen creeks from
Crews will begin by removing vegetation at Roseland and Piner creeks. The largest project will be three miles of Santa Rosa Creek from
“It is our biggest flood control channel, the backbone. We are working on two or three sections of Santa Rosa Creek every year,” Niehaus said.
That section of the creek is now choked with willows, which catch debris, cattails and sediment, Niehaus said.
The work is paid for with property taxes levied in flood control zones.
This year, there will be crews made up of 250 at-risk youths, ages 14 to 24, who will be paid as part of a $1.2 million program using federal stimulus funds. At the same time, the participants will be learning about stream ecology.#
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090614/articles/906149914
State water department to hold workshop June 30
The state Department of Water Resources will hold a public workshop in
The workshop will run from 9:30 a.m. to noon in the Gallegos Room of Caltrans Building 1,
Officials from the water agency will discuss water supply, conservation efforts, local groundwater conditions and other topics.
The past three-year period has been one of the driest in
Water agencies across the county have told customers to trim their usage by about 10 percent, and many of them have issued restrictions to promote conservation.
For each local water district's strategy, go to uniontrib.com/more/strategies.#
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jun/15/state-water-department-hold-workshop-june-30/
Summer arrives along the river
Dams put in place along
The Press Democrat-6/15/09
By Robert Digitale
The seasonal dams at Johnson’s Beach in Guerneville and down river at
But this year the Sonoma County Water Agency has warned that it may sharply curtail the river’s flows this summer from
“We’ve been working with the recreational folks and we understand their concerns,” said Brad Sherwood, a spokesman for the water agency. He said it was too early, however, to predict how much water will be flowing downstream from the Fourth of July through Labor Day.
“We’re hoping that in Guerneville that it (lower flows) doesn’t have an impact,” said Laura Wilson, a manager and co-owner of her family’s Johnson’s Beach & Resort. “And that’s due to the summer dams.”
In recent days, workers for the Russian River Recreation and Parks District installed parts of the dams. But Monday was the first day that the state Department of Fish & Game allowed the dams to begin holding back the flow, said Dana Zimmerman, chairman of the district’s five-member board.
The dams consist of steel pilings or A-frame braces, connected by thick wooden flashboards, some of them nearly 6 inches thick.
On Monday at
Nearby dump trucks backed across a moveable steel bridge to release gravel for what will become a summer road crossing.
At Johnson’s Beach, Zimmerman showed construction plans dated 1955 for that dam’s steel pilings. Others said the river has had summer dams for 80 to 100 years.
“This produces a lot of pleasure to a lot of people,” Zimmerman said.
Another summer dam is on schedule to be completed by the county on June 26 at Healdsburg, said Paul Kelley, a county supervisor who represents the city.
Meanwhile, the state Water Resources Control Board has given the Water Agency permission to lower the river flow starting July 6 to as low as 35 feet per cubic second below Dry Creek near Healdsburg. Such a low flow hasn’t been seen along the river in at least three decades.
The state, meanwhile, has told
Zimmerman called the minimum river flow this summer “nearly nothing.” Should such low flows occur, he said, a major issue “will be what quality the water is behind the dam.”
The state has ordered the county to increase its monitoring of the river for water temperature, bacteria and dissolved oxygen.
This month storage at
Business owners expressed optimism that such factors might allow the water agency to provide the water they need.
“We’re all hopeful that there may be enough that everybody’s happy,” said Linda Burke, who with her brother Bob owns Burke’s Canoe Trips near
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090615/ARTICLES/906159922
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