Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
June 17, 2009
5. Agencies, Programs, People –
New water use rules go into effect Friday in Sacramento
City's water wasters, watch out
Desert Water Agency may tap cash reserves to slake financial thirst
The Desert Sun
Local students win honors from San Juan Water District
Burn season suspension ordered
Burn suspensions delayed by recent rain, temperatures
Monterey County Board of Supervisors OKs water deal, mulls wildfire protection plan
Mix-up with water directors' Web sites spurs objections
Proposed Los Cerritos Wetlands land-swap could include larger portion of site
Contra Costa Times
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New water use rules go into effect Friday in Sacramento
By Matt Weiser
The grand Craftsman for sale on
At 11 a.m. Tuesday, the 3,600- square-foot home was violating a
It also broke another rule in place for at least a decade: Sprinklers were flooding the gutter halfway down the block, violating a basic ban on water waste.
As the city rolls out new watering rules, it faces a daunting task: Sacramentans, who enjoy life at the confluence of two major rivers, have grown accustomed to limitless access to water – a regional perk that may now be history.
To hold onto its ample water rights, and to gain state approval for future water projects,
Spreading the gospel will be difficult.
Within just a few blocks in the well-educated neighborhood around the Craftsman, violations were easy to find.
The owner of the Craftsman wasn't home to answer questions about the over-watering.
Not far away, on
"I'll get that changed right away," Troxel said. "A lot of people are probably in the same situation as me. They're probably not aware of this yet."
Indeed, few
Odd-numbered addresses, whether home or business, may water on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Even-numbered addresses get Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. No one waters Mondays. What's new as of last Friday is that the daytime watering ban has been extended two hours in the morning; it now runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., even on designated watering days.
Also new: Cars can be washed only on designated watering days, and only with a shut-off nozzle.
The biggest change comes this fall. When standard time is in effect, usually November through March, landscape watering will be allowed only once a week: Saturday for odd addresses, Sunday for even. These are permanent changes, not drought-related, and apply only to property owners who pay water bills to the city of
Though much of
Instead, new rules are intended to move the city into alignment with standard practices throughout the state. Money savings are one benefit: The city could save millions of dollars in pumping and treatment costs.
City spokesman Maurice Chaney said employees have seen more water-waste reports to the city's 311 phone hotline since the new rules began Friday, and they have responded with more educational visits.
Because the rules have been in place only five days, he did not yet have numbers available to illustrate the increase.
The city has begun running public service announcements on two local radio stations, but has not yet directly alerted customers. That will happen with an insert in next month's utility bills, Chaney said.
The city also activated a new, educational Web site, www.sparesacwater.org.
"We have left some courtesy door hangers letting people know water waste was observed," he said. "Beyond that, our goal is to educate customers, so we haven't issued any violations at this junction."
The Utilities Department has three water conservation specialists to chase down violations. But all city workers and residents are being encouraged to report water waste.
Parks and Transportation personnel also are getting directives to improve conservation efforts. Landscaping will follow a three-days-a-week water schedule, and parks are to be irrigated at night.
An exception was seen Tuesday at
Maintenance foreman Sheryal Leonard said the system was being tested after a broken valve was replaced. That kind of maintenance-related water use does occur routinely in many parks, she said.
But parks are billed for actual water use by the Utilities Department, she said, so it has an incentive to conserve.
"Obviously it's more and more to our advantage to watch what we water," she said.#
http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/1952941.html
City's water wasters, watch out
New water conservation rules
New outdoor watering rules are in effect for all residents and businesses who pay water bills to the city of
Key changes:
• Watering banned from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Hose used for washing car must have shut-off nozzle.
• When standard time is in effect (generally November to March), watering allowed only one day a week (see below).
Continuing rules:
• Watering allowed only on alternate days: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday for addresses ending in odd numbers (Saturdays only during standard time); Wednesday, Friday, Sunday for even addresses (Sundays only during standard time); no one may water on Mondays.
• Watering days apply whether watering lawns or gardens; also apply to both sprinklers and hand-watering.
• Water waste prohibited: No one may willingly allow water to run off property into gutters or streets while irrigating landscaping.
• Washing driveways, sidewalks, parking lots is banned (except for health and safety reasons with prior approval).
Exceptions:
• New landscaping or garden plants may be watered daily for 21 days from the date of planting.
PENALTIES FOR WATER WASTERS
• First violation: Written notice.
• Second violation: $25 fine, waived upon completion of a water conservation class.
• Third violation: $100 fine.
• Fourth and subsequent violations: $500 fine.
• Fines are doubled during a declared water shortage.#
http://www.sacbee.com/city/story/1952944.html
Desert Water Agency may tap cash reserves to slake financial thirst
The Desert Sun-6/17/09
By Rasha Aly
Desert Water Agency officials are looking into dipping into the operating fund reserves for next year, fishing for $1.9 million to cover expenses for uncompleted capital projects.
The agency's board of directors approved a budget of more than $69 million for fiscal year 2009-2010 with a 4-0 vote during its Tuesday meeting. Board vice president Ronald E. Starrs was absent.
A number of things contributed to having to use the reserves, agency General Manager David Luker said.
The recession has not spared the agency, which serves
With an increase in home foreclosures, fewer people are paying water bills, Luker said. And the building industry, which has slowed considerably, no longer generates the amount of money it once did for the agency.
New expenses are another reason for using reserve funds, Luker said.
Officials have had to pay $70,000 “just to keep using the trucks we already have,” he said. They needed to retrofit the vehicles to meet new air-quality regulations that went into effect this year.
And while conservation helps with saving water, it also has an adverse effect on business, he said.
However, the budget can change, finance director Martin S. Krieger pointed out. With state officials trying to balance the state budget, the figures for the agency's budget could change depending on how much money the state needs.
This fiscal year has also been financially challenging for the agency.
Although the books haven't officially closed for the 2008-09 year, earlier this year the agency looked at taking about $6 million out of its operating and general fund reserves for this year ending June 30.
To keep up with expenditures, the agency also cut costs.
Two jobs in the engineering department were not filled, employee benefits were cut during the past two years and this year's employees did not receive cost-of-living increases, Luker said.#
http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009906170310
Local students win honors from San Juan Water District
By Kristin Withrow
With so much emphasis on saving water these days, San Juan Water District, in cooperation with other local water districts, recently announced the 2009 winners of its poster and science exhibit contests. The contest began 18 years ago and encourages fourth- through sixth-grade students to create posters urging water conservation.
The winners receive savings bonds and gift certificates from local businesses, and the teachers of the winning students receive $100 to use in their classrooms.
“We’re always amazed at the artistry and creativity of the students,” said San Juan Water District Customer Service Manager Judy Gagnier.
This year, 310 students participated in the poster contest. The water district also chooses winners for water related exhibits at
Each of the water agencies involved in the contest selects three winners. The winning posters are featured in the Water Awareness Calendar distributed to customers each year.
Winning Entries in the San Juan Water District Annual Water Conservation Poster and Science Exhibit Contest:
Poster Contest
Science Exhibit Contest (Cavitt Jr. High)
Burn season suspension ordered
Valley's dry conditions concern firefighters
By Sandi Hansen
Thursday afternoon's field fire in Schellville underscores the need for Valley residents to use caution during this fire season as
Firefighters from Schell-Vista and California Department of Forestry and fire Protection (Cal Fire) responded to a brush fire June 11, at about 3 p.m. at
Meanwhile, Cal Fire has issued a suspension of burning permits for all dooryard burning (yards, fields or garden areas near a house or other structure). The suspension took effect yesterday, June 15, and will be in place until the end of fire season is declared. The ban is in place for
Many homes throughout the state and in the Valley have been built in natural fire zones where fire-safe landscaping is crucial to home protection. The California Landscape Contractors Association has offered some advice to homeowners and landlords for creating a defensible space.
Tips includes removing all dead plants, trees and shrubs. With increasing dry and windy weather, the recommended defensible space around homes is 30 to 50 feet. As conditions get drier and hotter, the speed of fires increases. Thinning trees and brush around a home is advised, as is eliminating flammable grasses and plants growing under trees. Branches should be removed especially if they are hanging over structures, and highly flammable trees such as eucalyptus and pine should be avoided or removed if near structures.
Finally, make sure water sources needed to fight the fire are working and easy to access. Some type of rain harvesting or other water-storage system is recommended. And, as water becomes more scarce, it is even more important to conserve. The more resources available to help fight fire the better.
For more information about creating a fire-safe home, visit the Cal Fire Web site at www.fire.ca.gov.#
http://www.sonomanews.com/articles/2009/06/16/news/doc4a36f42ac9da7726482058.txt
Burn suspensions delayed by recent rain, temperatures
Because of recent rain and mild temperatures there is no date set to suspend pile burning in Tuolumne or Calaveras counties, Cal Fire Chief Steve Hollett said.
“Conditions out there are pretty good ... that could change quickly with a week of hot temperatures,” he said.
It’s been a relatively mild year, so far, for fires ignited by escaped debris from burns, Hollett added. But that “is one of our trigger points” to suspend burning.
Since May 1, Cal Fire has required burn permits. Information about obtaining a permit, and terms and conditions, are available by calling Cal Fire at 754-6600 in
Permit holders are still required to adhere to Air Pollution Control District burn day guidance, listed daily in The Union Democrat.
Escaped debris burns cause large fires in
To avoid this, Hollett said, don’t burn during high winds, limit the size of the burn and remove all flammable material and vegetation from the area within 10 feet of the outer edge of the fire.
Also, burn only clean and dry brush. Avoid burning piles of pine needles and oak leaves, which smolder and spread dense smoke. If necessary, burn pine needles with other vegetation.
Someone must be near the pile with a shovel and water until the fire is completely extinguished.#
Monterey County Board of Supervisors OKs water deal, mulls wildfire protection plan
Three county agencies to seek alternatives to Cal Am desal projects
By Jim Johnson
Primary elements were front and center Tuesday at the Board of Supervisors meeting, as the board approved a controversial regional water agreement and agreed to consider a wildfire protection plan.
Despite a firestorm of protest prompted by proposed last-minute changes, the board unanimously approved a planning and joint analysis agreement that will allow the county to join two local water agencies to study regional water supply solutions.
The agreement between the Monterey County Water Resources Agency, the Marina Coast Water District and the Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency is seen as a way to devise a publicly controlled alternative to California American Water's desalination projects in Moss Landing and north
The proposed Regional Water Project would combine a publicly owned desalination plant in
All three projects include water storage and recovery from the
One of the proposals will be chosen by the state Public Utilities Commission to be the Coastal Water Project, which is intended to replace Cal Am's pumping from the
The agreement comes a month before the PUC is set to consider a draft environmental impact report for the three proposals at a meeting in
Supervisor Lou Calcagno hailed the agreement as a historic achievement, noting the amount of work and negotiation between county officials and community groups that was needed to move it forward.
In April, opposition from several agricultural and environmental groups forced a postponement of the agreement, and county officials spent the intervening time working on a compromise.
"We just made history," Calcagno said, "because this is the first time a regional (water agreement) in the county has been approved."
But the agreement narrowly avoided another delay — or possible failure — when last-minute changes raised the hackles of several people. They include the unlikely pair of
Engell told the board that the changes were an "end run" around eventual environmental review of any future regional project. Perkins said the changes appeared to "take a step backward" from the goal of ensuring further county review and threatened the public's trust in the county's deliberation process.
In response, county Water Resources Agency board member Steve Collins proposed the changes be stricken, and the supervisors approved the agreement.
The board approved a less controversial regional recycled water agreement among the same three agencies. Last week, Marina Coast Water and the Water Pollution Control Agency approved a joint agreement that sets the stage for the regional urban water augmentation project, which provides recycled water for
Also Tuesday, the board reviewed a proposal to consider amendments to the county's draft general plan update, known as GPU5, to address wildfire protections and a draft Community Wildfire Protection Plan. The wildfire plan has a special poignancy for many county residents as the one-year anniversary of the Basin Complex Fire approaches.
A group of community leaders and public agency officials have assembled a plan to help residents manage removal of vegetation around their homes in an attempt to safeguard them against wildfires.
But residents argued that regulations intended to protect plant and animal species, and their habitats, tend to discourage needed wildfire "fuel reduction" efforts, and that attempts to preserve the environment actually ended up harming it while endangering lives and property. So they asked the board to include specific language to ease those restrictions in GPU5.
Cal Fire Assistant Chief Bob Taylor told the board "we're sitting on a time bomb here in
"We're not advocating clear-cutting,"
In response, the board agreed to forward the proposed amendments to the Planning Commission to include in its review of GPU5. But several supervisors indicated they wanted to avoid major changes to the general plan update so it wouldn't have to be recirculated to the public.#
http://www.montereyherald.com/local/ci_12606673?nclick_check=1
Mix-up with water directors' Web sites spurs objections
By Alisha Semchuck
Two Palmdale Water District directors said Web sites promoting their re-election campaigns went up prematurely, without their permission and with misleading information that claimed the California Teachers Association endorsed them.
Paul Scott, regional executive director for the
Also listed as an endorser of both candidates is the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the union of which Gomez is a member.
"I'm not part of their campaign," said Scott, a member of the Antelope Valley College Citizens Oversight Committee, which keeps tabs on the college's spending of Measure R bond funds. "I'm not personally endorsing them and neither is CTA."
Scott said the minute he learned that his name and that of the teachers union appeared on the Web sites, he contacted www.zamnem.com, the Web site operator, to immediately remove them.
"I talked to the vendor," Scott said. "The vendor told me (the site) was under construction. He thought because it was under construction, it couldn't be accessed."
The Wells and Gomez Web pages had been accessible on the Internet at least since late May and were viewable Friday, but were not accessible late Monday.
Zamnem is an online company heavily used by Democratic associations and candidates, according to the client list on its Web site.
"We are gearing up for Campaign 2009," one page of the Zamnem Web site states.
Site administrators charge $200 for a basic Web site design package that comes with 12 months of service, one domain name, two e-mail addresses and setup of five Web pages. For $350 clients could have two domain names, five e-mail addresses and up to 10 Web pages. And $500 gets customers the top package, which adds a couple of extra features, including up to 15 Web pages.
Wells said he didn't know how much his Web site would cost because Gomez was "the one setting up" the deal.
Wells was upset that the Web site developer let his campaign site become available to Internet users without first getting approval from the candidates.
"The site should not even be on yet," Wells said. "Someone put it up, and it's not supposed to be up. It wasn't ready yet. We were just talking about doing it."
Gomez excused the error, saying the site is under construction.
"All I did was get the spot."
"I haven't got together with the company," Gomez said, adding he just provided the Web site creator with some information. "I haven't looked at (the site). All I did was contact the company."
"Usually," Gomez told a reporter, "you're going to put a spin on something that isn't there."#
http://www.avpress.com/n/16/0616_s6.hts
Proposed Los Cerritos Wetlands land-swap could include larger portion of site
Contra Costa Times-6/15/09
By Joe Segura
City negotiators have revamped the controversial proposed Los Cerritos Wetlands land-swap deal to involve a larger slice of the ecologically sensitive site.
The City Council will get the details of the proposal during a closed session today, scheduled at 3 p.m., with City Manager Patrick West.
Councilman Gary DeLong, whose 3rd District includes the wetlands, estimated that only a few additional acres - possibly up to 10 - have been added to the 33.7 wetlands proposal.
"I'd be surprised if there are significant changes," he said Monday.
West could not be reached for comment Monday, but today's special closed-door session lists "a portion of the property bounded to the west by Pacific Coast Highway and Shopkeeper Road, to the south by the San Gabriel River, to the east by Studebaker Road and the southerly prolongation thereof to the San Gabriel River, and to the north by Los Cerritos Channel."
To date, the proposed deal - negotiated by Public Works Director Mike Conway - has drawn widespread criticism.
The proposed land swap has "serious risks" and could cost the city millions of dollars more than has been officially estimated, City Auditor Laura Doud said last month, after releasing a cost-benefit analysis of the controversial deal.
The previous wetlands deal would have exchanged 33.7 acres of the 189-acre Bixby Ranch portion of the wetlands in southeast
Doud focused on a risk that has been criticized time and again since the land exchange was announced last year - the fact that wetlands owner Tom Dean won't allow a delineation study or appraisal of his property to determine how much of it is actually wetlands and how much can be developed.
City officials have told the council the 33.7-acre wetlands area could be worth between $9.19 million and $36.78 million. However, Doud's report cites a 2003 appraisal for 189 acres of the Bixby Ranch wetlands that values the entire property at $14.25 million.
Depending on whether the 33.7 acres are developable, the true property value could range from $1.4 million to $5.4 million, based on the 2003 appraisal, Doud reported.
On top of that, city officials have said relocating, at least temporarily, the Public Service Yard functions to either a site at
Doud said the public service yard work and relocation costs would hit the general fund. Based on city management's numbers, that would total at least $5.25 million.
The auditor said another concern is whether Dean's company, LCW LLC, has adequate insurance to protect the city from issues such as environmental hazards at the wetlands site.
Los Cerritos Land Trust board member Tom Marchese has been insisting the city is not getting a good deal. He believes cleanup costs should be an important ingredient to a land-swap package - and that Dean should pick up the tab.
Marchese noted that, aside from the 10 idle oil wells, the 33.77 acres features numerous roads used by trucks to get to the 14 operating wells.
"If the city were doing it right, they'd be negotiating to remove those wells right now," he added in a recent interview.
The board member also said the city should seek the operational wells in a land-swap deal, using future resources to pump some life into the city's anemic general fund and to restore the wetlands.
"We deserve a better deal," Marchese said.#
http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_12596898?nclick_check=1
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