Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
June 24, 2009
5. Agencies, Programs, People –
Going against the flow: City program provides free water-use analysis in conservation push
Husband killed by exploding pool filter
Tri-Valley Herald
Water aerobics offers cool exercise for seniors
The
Pa. man monkeys with sprinkler, floods police HQ
Ancient well, and body, found in Cyprus
The
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Going against the flow: City program provides free water-use analysis in conservation push
By Alex Breitler
Julie Low's toilet earned applause from a city worker carrying a clipboard.
"Now this is a good toilet," the man gushed, admiring its 1.6-gallon flush.
But outside Low's north
At least two other communities in
"Oh, my goodness," Low said, genuinely surprised by the test, since the sprinklers normally go off at 4 a.m. "Look at all the water wasted. It's like a river."
But since Mike King's visit last week, Low, 74, has already adjusted her sprinklers and fixed the broken pipe that was the source of the mysterious "spring."
For the first time, the city is offering free surveys to anyone interested in reducing water waste. The idea is not to condemn but to critique your water habits constructively.
No, they won't write you a ticket. If anything, with a proposed rate increase looming, a water survey could help Stocktonians save money.
"We're not brow-beating anyone here," program manager Melissa Price said. "It's about educating customers and changing people's behavior."
Since the program started in May, the city has received 104 requests, and 26 surveys have been completed. The goal is to reach 15 percent of residences by 2017, Price said.
Low's hourlong survey began with a quick huddle at her dining room table, where King explained trends in her water usage. Low used just one unit (748 gallons) of water in February, but once her sprinklers were on she was taking 20 to 30 units. (To Low's credit, that's not bad. King said he's seen residences gulping down 80 to 90 units a month.)
After the meeting, some freebies: King gave her aerators to attach to her indoor faucets, reducing their flow by a gallon a minute. And he brought a pressure nozzle for her hose.
They made the rounds in the house, where Low learned that she could be eligible for up to $300 in rebates thanks to recent installation of three water-thrifty toilets.
"I'll take you all out to dinner," Low joked with her guests.
Outside, King recommended drip irrigation for drought-resistant hedges and flower beds. As he fiddled with the sprinkler controllers - the most challenging part of his job - Low's water woes became apparent.
Ultimately, King said he believed she could save 10 units of water a month by making irrigation alone more efficient. At 2008 water rates, that would leave an extra $8 in her pocket each month, at least during the warm season.
"I think this is really a very helpful thing that the city is doing for the residents," Low said. "A lot of these things I just didn't know."#
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090624/A_NEWS/906240327
By Michael J. Williams
Residents will have a chance to voice their opinions on proposed water and sewer rate increases to the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District board Thursday.
A public hearing is scheduled for 4 p.m. at the district's headquarters,
The district is proposing to revise its five-tier water rate structure and also bump up the costs in each of those levels. Higher rates also are proposed for monthly meter and power charges, as well as for the district's sewer service. If approved Thursday, the changes would go into effect July 1.
District officials say the water-related increases reflect about a 20 percent escalation across the board to offset the rising price of the water it buys from Western Municipal Water District. Western, the retail vendor for distributors such as
About 60 percent of
Metropolitan hiked its price about 15 percent in January and plans an additional 20 percent boost in September, he said. Those increases reflect a pinched water supply due to drought conditions in Southern California and a reduction in imported water from
Given the constraints on the water supply,
The proposed rate structure and increases would have the least impact on households with low to moderate water use, but beyond that, large increases would kick in, officials said.
In a breakdown provided by the district, the average household now pays $49.95 per month, based on using 2,000 cubic feet. Under the proposed structure, that family would pay $60.28 per month in the summer and $67.24 in the winter, but would pay $55.08 in the summer if they cut their use back 10 percent and $59.72 in the winter, with corresponding reductions for conserving more.
Assistant General Manager Norris Brandt said most households fall in the three lower tiers, which allot a "reasonable amount of water for indoor use and a reasonable amount for outdoor use. If you use a lot more, you pay a lot more."
The rate structure is meant to encourage conservation, he said.
"Let's save more water and save more money," he said.
However, the proposal has been greeted with alarm by some, including John Cloughen, who said he is a retiree who lives in a home on 1 acre in Wildomar. He believes he will face an 80 percent hike and bills of more than $300 per month because of the amount of water his household uses.
"This was supposed to be our last home," Cloughen said. "I've bought a foreclosure. I've put a lot of work into it and landscaped it nicely. Now, I'm not going to be able to afford it. ... It's putting people like me into a bind because my income's going down."
Though the 66-year-old has used some plants that don't need much water and put in drip irrigation, he also has a grass lawn, which requires a lot of water.
"If you cut back on water usage and let yards go brown, that affects property values, too," said Cloughen, who plans on voicing his concerns to the board Thursday.
While district officials have designed the structure to throttle high water use by making people conscious of the costs, they also plan to make exceptions for hardships such as households with large families and other situations where it might be impossible to cut back and increases would cause financial hardship. Residents would be able to apply for variances with the district in those cases.
The proposed rate structure is divided into summer tiers, which are in effect May through September, and winter tiers, which apply from October through April.
"What we're hoping is people start thinking about it a little more as they turn on their faucets or operate their sprinklers to water their lawns," Brandt said.#
The City Council on Tuesday got an update on the region's water situation and appointed 10 people to fill open positions on two different city panels.
The League of California Cities is behind the potential lawsuit.
Area water officials have been warning for months that all of
Conservation became mandatory for
The agency, which serves more than 85,000 customers in
Water customers have been told to reduce their water use by 8 percent as a result of the drought alert.
On Tuesday, water authority Deputy General Manager Paul Lanspery and Betty Ferguson, who represents the local water district on the water authority's board, told the council that officials were pursuing alternative sources that could boost the local water supply.
The alternatives include water-buying contracts with Poseidon Resources, which plans to build a desalination plant in
Even so, Lanspery said, the need for water conservation is probably here to stay. He called on the city to do its part in getting that message out.
"As a municipality, (you need to be) walking the talk on conservation, doing those things that demonstrate there's a new water ethic," Lanspery said. "Because we really do have a new water ethic."
A list of conservation measures now in place can be found online at www.vwd.org.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed the state grab of local street money in May. He has suggested that
A report that
The voter-enacted measures allow limited loans only, according to the report.
Although the league sought a resolution authorizing
Those appointed to city panels include David Barker, Rick Barthel, and Charles Zahl, who will fill three vacant seats on the city's Budget Review Committee. Angela Silk, Karina Roselle Tanguilig, Jillian Freese, Alan Li, Nicholas Parillo, Ashley Doan and Hurjane Vongsachang were chosen to fill seven vacancies on the city's Youth Commission.#
Husband killed by exploding pool filter
Tri-Valley Herald-6/23/09
By Robert Jordan
It was the
The backyard pool was just an added bonus, a place to find relief from the sweltering summers. But now, 16 years after they moved in, that pool is a reminder of her grief and a source of activism for Sue.
Jim died almost three years ago, days after he was critically injured when the pool's two-piece, kettle style pool filter exploded and struck him in the head.
"Jim is with me" in that house. "All his things are with me. His shop is here, so walking away from that is like walking away from him, said Halverson, 62. "If I dwell on it, I would have to sell the house and move."
But Sue is focusing on getting the word out about the potential danger of certain pool filters.
In November, with the help of San Francisco-based lawyer Kevin Lancaster, who helped her win an undisclosed settlement with the filter manufacturer, she started a Web site (Poolsafetyadvocates.org) to inform the public about the danger this particular pool filter design poses.
Incidents tracked by the Consumer Product Safety Commission show there have been at least 22 similar incidents reported to the commission nationwide since 1982 — including four deaths.
A pool man in San Ramon suffered head injuries in November after a pool filter exploded.
That incident is under investigation by the state Occupational Safety and Health Administration. An OSHA spokeswoman said the department couldn't comment on the case until the investigation is complete.
In the nonfatal cases reported to the consumer commission, the majority involved severe injuries, including the loss of an eye or brain injuries.
All the injuries are a result of what lawyers who have filed damage claims say is a design flaw in the kettle-style or canister filters. In all cases, users were cleaning the cartridges inside the filter and had put the top back on when compressed air built up in the filters, resulting in explosions that detach the top portion of the two-piece filter away from the bottom.
"Most that I'm aware of involved maintenance issues where the covers were not installed properly after cleaning (locked down incorrectly, or insufficiently), or the system wasn't bled (depressurized) before maintenance was attempted," said Troy Whitfield of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The two-piece filter is held together by a fastener, in most cases a clamping system that critics say can become loose over time and not properly hold the top and bottom pieces together. Most filters have air-relief valves that sometimes fail to release the built up air.
"The original design is so dangerous," said Michael Workman, a North Carolina-based attorney who has handled more than a dozen cases involving this particular type of filter. "(Manufacturers) would say it is easier to clean if you just have to take off the clamp." Workman is an advocate for a filter that is bolted down.
An attorney for the Veen Firm in
Manufacturers need only report incidents to the CPSC if they settle or lose lawsuits involving death or injury with the same model of a product within a 24-month period, said
But the same filter design is used by many manufacturers, he said.
"When there is one death for a manufacturer's model in a certain period of time there is no need to report to the CPSC," said Lancaster, who has litigated six cases involving exploding filters. "So really, there are no statistics because they have to happen in clusters."
An exploding pool filter is a rare event. It took a series of phone calls by the Bay Area News Group to find someone at the CPSD who had heard of it.
Sue Halverson's current pool man had not heard of the problem before working for her.
"I don't know whether it was user error or a defective product because of a hush agreement in the case," said Jim Helms, who has owned Diamond Clear Pools for 11 years and has dealt with the Halverson pool since the accident. "I have never had an issue."
Before the accident, the Halversons cleaned their filter at least once a month.
The evening Jim Halverson, 78, was injured, he was cleaning the filter. Sue was watering plants.
Jim was putting the top back on the filter when Sue heard a loud explosion. She ran around back to check on Jim and found him unconscious.
Sue said it is tough walking by the area where the accident occurred.
"I live in fear of them," said Halverson of the filters. "I have hired someone to come in because I don't want to deal with them."#
http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/localnews/ci_12674303
Water aerobics offers cool exercise for seniors
The
Not all aerobic exercise is hot and sweaty.
One cool variant, a senior water aerobics class, is held every Tuesday and Thursday from 9 to 9:30 a.m. at Centennial Pool, Fourth and Flume streets.
The program is free to senior citizens.
Christine Rolan, three-year instructor and certified lifeguard, teaches the class.#
http://www.maderatribune.com/life/lifeview.asp?c=250650
Pa. man monkeys with sprinkler, floods police HQ
A southeastern
Robert Robertson III of
While he was at police headquarters, officials say, Robertson climbed the sides of his holding cell and fumbled with an emergency sprinkler which then went off, activating the station's fire alarm. Police say the sprinklers left 3 to 4 inches of water in parts of the station after just a few minutes.
Robertson waived his right to a preliminary hearing Tuesday and will apply for the accelerated rehabilitation disposition program, which could allow him to clear his record.#
Ancient well, and body, found in Cyprus
The
By Menelaos Hadjicostis
Archaeologists have discovered a water well in
Pavlos Flourentzos, the nation's top antiquities official, said the 16-foot (5-meter) deep cylindrical shaft was found last month at a construction site in Kissonerga, a village near the Mediterranean island nation's southwestern coast.
After the well dried up it apparently was used to dispose trash, and the items found in it included the poorly preserved skeleton of the young woman, animal bone fragments, worked flints, stone beads and pendants from the island's early Neolithic period, Flourentzos said.
The skeleton could be as old as the well itself, but archaeologists don't know how the girl died or when and why the skeleton was left there, he said. Radiocarbon dating found the well is between 9,000 to 10,500 years old, he said.
That was around the time migrating humans started to build permanent settlements on the island. Before then, temporary settlements were inhabited by sea-borne migrants using
Thomas Davis, director of the Nicosia-based Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute, said the well - which he called "among the earliest in the world" - offers proof of the "high level of sophistication" of the island's early Neolithic farmers.
"The fact that they were using wells and that they tapped into the island's water table shows heightened appreciation for the environment here," said Davis, who was not involved in the discovery. "This was a major investment."
Cypriot archaeologists studied the well in collaboration with
http://www.modbee.com/world/story/756628.html
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