Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
June 22, 2009
5. Agencies, Programs, People –
SalmonAid organizes to fight threat of extinction
Schwarzenegger sends aid to drought-stricken areas
The
Water bills on the rise
Water deliveries back at lake
Riverside Press-Enterprise
Riverside Press-Enterprise
Lights out at Pharaoh's
Destroying Levees in a State Usually Clamoring for Them
New York Times
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SalmonAid organizes to fight threat of extinction
By Sean Maher
The plight of declining salmon populations and the commercial fishers they support up and down the West Coast drew hundreds of people to
The festival featured food, music and a message of conservation. Some salmon populations around the
The issues facing wild salmon throughout California and as far north as Alaska involve many local interests represented by more than 2,000 small nonprofit organizations. The foundation first put together the event last year to unite their voices and help consumers, politicians and the media understand the enormity of the issue, Rosenfield said.
"One of the major issues we're asking the state and federal governments to tackle is water management in the state of
"For example, you're seeing a lot of water used to grow grapes, which need a constant water supply to grow," he said. "We don't need to be growing grapes in the desert during a drought."
Salmon don't need a lot of tender care to survive, Rosenfield said — they are "a hearty, tenacious, adaptable
species." They just need access to their spawning grounds and relatively clean water in the rivers they travel to get there. But as rivers dry up or are blocked by dams, or are even pushed into reversed flows by powerful pumps, that access gets cut off, and generations fail to reproduce.
"It's hard to predict extinctions to some degree, or sometimes to know if it's not already too late to stop them from happening," Rosenfield said. "But as a Ph.D. conservation biologist, I think that unless we seriously turn things around in the next four or five years, we'll begin to see extinctions occur on a grand scale, across an entire family of species. We're witnessing an ecosystem in collapse."
Meanwhile, the rise in farmed salmon has begun to threaten natural food supplies and an industry and tradition of outdoor, open-seas fishing, said restaurant owner Kenny Belov of the nonprofit Fish or Cut Bait.
The nonprofit began with four partner restaurants last year and has expanded to 26, including Baja Taqueria in
"Salmon are carnivorous fish, so to feed them in farms, we're going out into the ocean and pulling out millions of anchovies, herring and smelt to feed the salmon. These are fish we could be using to feed the world — they're very healthy for you," Belov said. "But instead we're using them to feed farmed salmon, which either escape or end up on people's plates full of chemicals and hormones that aren't healthy."
Wild salmon is much more expensive than farmed salmon, and Belov conceded that may make choosing wild salmon a harder choice for restaurants and consumers in a troubled economy.
As a partial solution he suggested buying other locally caught wild fish as they come in season, such as halibut and albacore tuna. A full list of sustainable fish and the calendar for their seasons is available online at www.focb.org. The SalmonAid Foundation's Web site is www.salmonaid.org.#
Schwarzenegger sends aid to drought-stricken areas
The
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has issued a statewide executive order to send drought-stricken communities money to help fill their food banks.
Schwarzenegger says the state will send between $3 million and $4 million in emergency food and unemployment assistance to local governments and nonprofits.
Also on Friday, the governor petitioned the White House to declare
Three years of lower-than-normal precipitation have reduced state and federal water deliveries to many
Farmers south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta will receive just 10 percent of their water allocations, although the amount could increase slightly this summer.#
http://www.fresnobee.com/384/story/1484719.html
Water bills on the rise
By Megan O’Neil
Foothill water officials on Tuesday called for a significant overhaul of the way consumers are billed in order to cope with major price increases for imported water.
Customers can also expect to see higher bills as the Crescenta Valley Water District passes on at least a portion of the cost of more expensive water imports to residents, officials said.
The water district’s Board of Directors on Tuesday heard the bleak assessment as it worked to craft a new budget strategy for the upcoming fiscal year and beyond.
About 50% to 60% of the district’s water comes from local sources including wells and the
The Southland wholesaler is raising its rates 20% later this year, and then again in January 2011. Those costs, in turn, will be passed on by Foothill Metropolitan to its own customers, including
Operation costs, especially for electricity, will also continue to be a heavy burden. Crescenta Valley Water District spends roughly $750,000 a year to power its water pumps, and the cost for electricity continues to rise, General Manager Dennis Erdman told the board.
The water agency also pays
While the district has a cash reserve, it’s not enough to take the brunt of rising prices, which will have to be passed on to customers, officials said.
At the meeting, staff presented three budgeting options. One proposal included a 7% rate increase for customers over the next five years. Another, which received a warmer reception among board members, proposed a 5% rate increase over the next two years, followed by a 6% to 8% rate increase in subsequent years.
Crescenta Valley Water District Director Richard Atwater suggested adding a line to customer bills indicating which charges come from which water agency.
“If the price of imported water goes up 100%, we are going to pass that through because the customers need to know the price of imported water,”
He also suggested creating a sort of financial cushion to protect against extreme price changes from Metropolitan.
Crescenta Valley Water District officials are scheduled to return with more refined budget proposals at the July 3 board meeting.#
http://www.glendalenewspress.com/articles/2009/06/20/politics/gnp-cvwd20.txt
Water deliveries back at
Riverside Press-Enterprise-6/20/09
By Bob Pratte
As predicted, after boat launching ended at stunning
Unexpectedly, about a week ago, Metropolitan Water District started pumping
Without the pressure of extensive fishing and boat traffic on the lake, which is 4.5 miles long and 2.5 miles wide, fish aren't spooked into deep water.
Story continues below
"The bass just finished spawning and they are eating everything they can find," said Mike Giusti, the state Department of Fish and Game biologist who developed the fishery. "It's not quite as good as when we first opened, but it's not that far off."
Giusti said he caught 25 bass in a day for a study. Four fishermen caught 96 crappie Thursday. Fishermen also are catching stripers, bluegill and big catfish. "There are people who are catching 20 to 50 fish in a day," he said.
Anglers can get on the water by renting boats from the
The closure of the lake to boat launching in October was decried in the
Bob Muir, an MWD spokesman, released glimmers of good news. He said that while water supplies remain low, the district does not plan to draw from the lake this summer, which will enable the rental docks to continue to float. The district's board this summer will discuss extending the ramp.
The lake level is at an elevation of 1,653 feet. The bottom of the ramp's elevation is high above, at 1,693 feet. The depth around the rental boat docks is down to a scant 9 feet. Away from the ramp area, the lake has depths greater than 100 feet.
Muir said MWD officials expected to receive only 10 percent of the annual allotment of water from the
Water from the
http://www.pe.com/columns/bobpratte/stories/PE_News_Local_E_ebob21.44b9127.html
Riverside Press-Enterprise-6/20/09
By Alicia Robinson
With water supplies under tight control and the threat of drought looming, the enemy -- lush, green and requiring countless gallons of water to sustain -- is grass.
The battlefields are city properties that have water-hogging grass but don't need it. The city has launched a campaign to save water and money by replacing the turf at some facilities with drought-resistant plants that sip rather than gulp liquid resources.
Early victories have been scored at four Department of Water and Power facilities, including a sewer booster station on
"Grass is everywhere," city water resources supervisor Rob Johnson said on a recent visit to two project sites. "People like to look at it. However, it soaks up a lot of water."
At the Promenade project, workers with
Once the grass has been removed, workers will retool the sprinkler system, changing from spraying heads to the kind that dribble water directly onto plant roots. Then the new plants will go in.
The city selected a special array of plants for their low water usage, low maintenance, color and size. When planted in a bed of mulch, they take about a year to mature and will display red, blue and purple blooms at varying heights.
Construction Superintendent Victor Zamora noted the water-saving
landscaping that's already in place at a
"This is a zero-maintenance project, so it does not require mowers, weed eaters (or) edgers," he said.
That project also uses recycled water, so it saves about 30,000 gallons of drinking water per month.
That was important because water providers are raising rates and making mandatory supply cuts.
"I think we're one of the few that said we need to take issues into our own hands real quickly at city facilities," Johnson said.
Residents, too, may be drafted.
Councilman Eugene Montanez said he plans to follow the city's example by tearing out the grass at his printing business and his front lawn at home. He'll probably put in rock landscaping at the business, and at home he's considering low-water plants, he said.
"I think most people think if you take out your lawn, it has to be cactus and dirt," he said. "You can make a very lush yard with low water."
Montanez and other
With water rates expected to increase after a council vote next month, the city is advising residents on how to cut their use to keep water bills down.
Johnson said if city-wide water use -- by residents and businesses as well as the city itself -- exceeds new limits set by water supplier Metropolitan Water District,
"We have to send that pass-through cost to our customers," Johnson said. "They can't afford that either."#
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_W_wturf21.4393dda.html
Lights out at Pharaoh's
The Redlands Planning Commission shouldn't debate long before revoking the conditional-use permit for Pharaoh's Theme and
Tuesday, the commission will vote on whether to pull the permit the defunct amusement park's operator uses to rent the facility out to promoters of all-night dance parties known as raves.
By now we've all heard from vocal city leaders who say the raves must come to a stop. Their argument is that these parties, which attract young teens and adults from all over Southern California, do not "fit" with
We'll leave the political platitudes aside and get to the point: These parties put kids at risk.
Lest any of you think we exaggerate, recall the two 14-year-old girls who went missing after a Valentine's Day rave only to turn up wet, cold and recovering from an Ecstasy binge two days later outside a Home Depot in
City officials have, to date, been unable to prevent park operator Shahvand Aryana from renting the park out to rave promoters.
Aladdin Entertainment Group LLC, the park owner, offered to suspend the conditional-use permit, but that effort fell flat when a judge in March denied the company's bid for an injunction against Aryana.
In April, the city filed suit against Aryana, the park and land owners and rave promoters. The City Council also began examining revoking the park's CUP.
And earlier this month, the city cut the park's water supply for nonpayment.
Not to be deterred, Aryana brought in portable toilets and washing stations for a June 13 rave that drew 1,800 partiers. Meanwhile, he has brought his own suit against the city, claiming officials have violated his First Amendment rights.
As ardently as we support free speech and the right to assemble, it's difficult if not nearly impossible to rush to Aryana's defense.
This issue could have been settled months ago, without legal action or public hearings of a city commission, had Aryana found a way to work with officials to better control events at the park.
Aryana says he has a zero-tolerance policy for drugs at Pharaoh's, and that's likely true.
But time after time, he has let
He promised that no one under 18 would be allowed into raves, but anyone claiming to be 18 (no ID required) was waved through the door at one rave. And police report they've made about 100 arrests at the events.
Local law-enforcement officials say Aryana can't be held accountable for the drug use of others unless he "knowingly" allows it.
Routine arrests for drug use at raves and Aryana doesn't know it's a problem?
The Redlands Planning Commission can point to 32 other violations of Pharaoh's CUP. Like we said, we hope the commission doesn't debate too long before pulling it.#
Destroying Levees in a State Usually Clamoring for Them
New York Times-6/19/09
By Cornelia Dean
In the 1960s, a group of businessmen bought 16,000 acres of swampy bottomland along the Ouachita River in northern
Now two brothers who grew up nearby are undoing all that work. In what experts are calling the biggest levee-busting operation ever in
“I really did not know if I would ever see it,” said Kelby Ouchley, who retired last year as manager of the Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge, which owns the land. He pursues the project as a volunteer consultant in coordination with his brother Keith, who heads
The idea goes against the grain in
Yet at the same time, there is a growing awareness that
The parcel that the Ouchley brothers plan to restore, known as Mollicy Farms, was added in the 1990s to the federal Fish and Wildlife Service’s
The workers replanted cypress and tupelo in low areas, then oaks and green ash, and then sweetgum and pecans — “life-sustaining, system-supporting diversity,” as Kelby Ouchley called it in an essay.
Eventually, he predicted, the restored landscape would be home to black bear cubs, largemouth bass, fireflies, crawfish and “gobbling wild turkeys and cottonmouths with attitudes.”
Still, the brothers felt dissatisfied. A few years ago, Keith Ouchley said, “I was standing on the giant levees with my brother and I said, ‘Well, there is one thing missing here. The big challenge is restoring this floodplain.’ ”
Environmental scientists say the very notion of undoing levee construction may be the most important aspect of the Ouachita project. “The idea that we can take levees down — that’s a good thing,” said Denise J. Reed, a coastal scientist at the
Dr. Reed is also among those advocating levee-opening on the
The Nature Conservancy has already taken part in levee-busting projects on
The plan, designed by hydrology experts whose work was financed in part by $250,000 from the Nature Conservancy, was originally to use bulldozers to chew away at the levees in five places and then wait for spring floods to level them gradually, said George Chandler, the project leader for Fish and Wildlife Service projects in
The effort was to have begun last fall, he said, but heavy rains forced a delay until May, when unusual rains delayed it again. On May 23, the swollen Ouachita seized the initiative, breaking the levee and flooding the Mollicy acreage.
At first, Mr. Chandler said, people involved in the project feared that the flood would smother the newly planted trees with sediment from the river and dirt from the levee itself. But they emerged unscathed.
The plan now, he said, is to start bulldozing in late July or early August.
“We expect that next fall or winter whenever the river comes back up we will have normal flows of water that will return to these bottomlands out there,” Mr. Chandler said. “It will rise and fall with the rhythm of the river.”
The work is expected to cost more than $4 million.
Cristina Mestre, a spokesman for the conservancy, said her organization would monitor the site for four years. The conservancy hoped its work there would serve as a model for other restoration projects, Ms. Mestre said.
Project planners worry that the project could have unintended effects. For example, Kelby Ouchley said, it is theoretically possible that opening the levees could alter water flow enough to force the river into a new course. On the other hand, Keith Ouchley says, planners hope the project will reduce flood threats downstream “by providing more storage capacity in the river’s flood plain, like it normally would have.”
Mr. Chandler said recent events suggested that this hope was well founded. After the levee was breached in May, a flood threat to the downstream city of
In any event, Kelby Ouchley said: “If we make mistakes, other people will learn from them. It’s recognized here as a win-win thing.”#
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/20/science/earth/20levee.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
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