Department of Water Resources
California Water News
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
July 20, 2009
1. Top Items–
House passes bill that could help Westside farmers
Hanford Sentinel
Are we adding to the demise of the Delta?
Sacramento Bee
Striking a balance in solving Delta water crisis
Santa Clarita Valley Signal
Canal deserves study
Stockton Record
Fawning over farmers, fighting against fish
San Jose Mercury News
Action brings sense to muddy water issue
Visalia Times-Delta
Eye on the Environment: Though wiser about water, we should do more
Ventura County Star
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
House passes bill that could help Westside farmers
Hanford Sentinel-7/18/09
By Seth Nidever
The House has approved a $33.3 billion water and energy bill that includes provisions to ease the strain on drought-stricken Westside farmers, according to Westlands Water District officials. The district includes about 30,000 acres of land in Kings County.
Reps. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, and Jim Costa, D-Fresno, successfully added amendments designed to speed irrigation transfers to parched farmers. The proposed legislation now moves to the Senate for consideration.
One of the amendments is supposed to make it easier to transfer water from wetter parts of the San Joaquin Valley to the Westside.
The other amendment directs $10 million toward projects that would increase pumping and build infrastructure.
Some of the money would go toward the Two Gates project, a proposed plan to put underwater gates in front of pump intakes in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River delta.
The idea is to keep the endangered delta smelt fish away from the pump intakes and potentially increase the amount of water sent south to millions of urban residents and dozens of Westside farms.
Officials are limiting the pumping in an effort to protect the smelt and other fish species such as Chinook salmon and steelhead.
Other money would help finish a canal linking the state-run Delta -Mendota Canal and the federal Central Valley Project, according to Sarah Woolf, Westlands spokeswoman.
The project delivers water to several Westside farms in Kings and Fresno counties, but water allocations are only 10 percent of the contracted amount this year because of drought and pumping restrictions designed to protect endangered species.
The amendments are too late to help this summer, but could add 100,000 acre-feet of water to Westside agriculture by next year, according to Woolf.
An acre-foot of water is enough to cover an acre of land to a depth of 12 inches.#
http://hanfordsentinel.com/articles/2009/07/18/news/doc4a614d6be44c8943299019.txt
Are we adding to the demise of the Delta?
Sacramento Bee-7/19/09
Editorial
A new study of local waterways has made some troubling discoveries about a widely used group of pesticides and the role of homeowners and businesses in putting them there.
The findings should prompt many people in this region to reflect on their household practices. It also should lead to further scientific investigation of the role these pesticides are playing in the multifaceted crisis of the Delta.
The study, led by a UC Berkeley toxicologist and reported in Tuesday's Bee, focused on pyrethroids. These are man-made pesticides commonly used in household insecticides, lawn care products and pet sprays. Before the study, what happened to these substances after they killed unwanted pests was something of a mystery. Now it's a worry.
That's because the study discovered three things that hadn't previously been known about pyrethroids' penetration of local water systems.
It found that these pesticides, in the American River, were present in sufficient quantities to poison the tiny shrimp that are among the early links of the aquatic food chain. That may come as a surprise to many people who view the American River as more pristine than it apparently is.
The study also found the pesticides were present in all the urban runoff flowing out of regional storm drains. And pyrethroids were routinely detected in local wastewater.
Experts hastened to point out that this doesn't necessarily mean the pesticides play a key role in the devastation of the Delta ecosystem, including the decline of nine fish species ranging from the tiny Delta smelt to the giant green sturgeon. That will only be resolved by further study.
But according to a local group called Pesticide Watch, urban areas use more pesticides per acre than agricultural ones. Since we now know that one group of those pesticides is more pervasive, and harmful, than we'd recognized, the least we can do is handle the products that contain them more prudently.
That can mean a variety of things: Use less water on our lawns and driveways. Plant more native, pest-resistant plants in yards. Spray smaller quantities of these insecticides around homes. Dispose of them at household hazardous waste sites rather than pouring them down the drain.
Many residents here are already practicing such stewardship. Sadly, not enough. The pesticide study is a reminder that everything we do in this watershed has consequences for the Delta.#
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/story/2035750.html?mi_rss=Opinion
Striking a balance in solving Delta water crisis
Santa Clarita Valley Signal-7/18/09
By R.J. Kelly
Opinion
In all the debate over what should be done to resolve the crisis in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, it’s important the end result is an ecosystem solution that protects a variety of species — including people.
A great deal of energy and political capital have been expended in the effort to protect wildlife like the Delta smelt, a small fish unique to the Delta that typically only lives through one annual spawning season.
Not to belittle the importance of the 3-inch fish; we should, of course, always consider the impacts of human activity on wildlife.
However, at the same time as reductions in pumping of water from the Delta have been ordered to protect the smelt and other fish species, those reductions coupled with an ongoing drought have had significant impacts on the state’s human residents.
That’s why the Castaic Lake Water Agency and other State Water Project contractors are providing financial and technical support to the California Department of Water Resources’ Delta Habitat Conservation and Conveyance Plan process, which aims to not only restore wildlife habitat in and around the Delta, but also to ensure and protect a valuable source of fresh water for people.
The timing of this effort is crucial. What happens now and over the next couple of years will have lasting impacts on the future of California, for wildlife and human beings alike.
The Delta is a vital location; it’s an estuary and river delta where the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers meet and connect to the San Francisco Bay. It’s not only a wildlife habitat, but also a major source of water for 25 million Californians and more than a million acres of farm land in the San Joaquin Valley.
Thanks to timely water supply acquisitions by Castaic Lake Water, we here in the Santa Clarita Valley have had the good fortune to avoid extreme measures like mandatory reductions in water use as we cope with the drought and the Delta water pumping restrictions that have been imposed over the past two years to protect smelt, salmon and other fish species.
Nonetheless, we are strongly advocating an ongoing ethic of smart water use and conservation, as it’s important to use the resources efficiently even in wet years.
But elsewhere in the state, the direct impacts of the drought and the regulatory decisions are serious, real and immediate.
According to the Association of California Water Agencies, some 49 agencies throughout the state have been forced to resort to mandatory reductions in water use, affecting the quality of life for millions of Californians.
For some, the impacts go well beyond minor inconveniences and forced conservation.
Farmers tell stories of drought-stricken wells going dry and “sucking air.” Farm workers in agricultural communities are out of work as land is fallowed.
In Mendota, a rural town west of Fresno that has become a sort of “poster city” for the drought, The Associated Press reports the unemployment rate is hovering at a staggering 40 percent.
And the University of California, Davis, has reported that as of May, water shortages in the San Joaquin Valley have cost an estimated 35,000 jobs and $830 million in farm revenue.
The economic impacts trickle down — or, perhaps, up — from there, as everything including property values, state services, employment (directly and indirectly tied to food supply) and prices at the grocery store can be impacted by a lack of water.
For courts and regulatory agencies to ignore the very real human impacts of this crisis and focus primarily on the health of fish is unbalanced and unsustainable.
In addition to the much-publicized series of U.S. District Court rulings over the past two years that are designed to protect the Delta smelt by ordering reductions in water pumping, state water providers also face additional cutbacks ordered by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Last month a biological opinion aimed at protecting Chinook salmon, steelhead and green sturgeon called for water deliveries to be cut by an additional 10 percent — on top of those cuts already ordered — to protect the smelt.
Fortunately, there is a path where long-term solutions can be worked out.
The Delta Habitat Conservation and Conveyance Plan is a planning an environmental permitting process to restore habitat for Delta fisheries in a way that reliably delivers water supplies to 25 million Californians.
With the support of a wide variety of agencies — including Castaic Lake Water, which has contributed technical support and funding for the process — a joint state-federal environmental impact report/environmental impact statement is being prepared to analyze the impacts of the options for the Delta.
These activities are challenging. The Delta faces pollution, rising sea levels due to climate change, impacts from non-native species that don’t necessarily coexist well with the native ones, and the drought itself.
Further, many of the water delivery and storage systems in use throughout California were designed decades ago, when the population was much smaller. In addition, aging levees in the Delta are not considered to be up to the task of withstanding a major earthquake.
The Delta Habitat Conservation and Conveyance Plan process is scientifically comparing a variety of solutions, including proposals to build a peripheral canal that would route fresh water from the Sacramento River around the Delta and reduce the impacts of the State Water Project and Central Valley Project pumps on the Delta’s fish.
It would also improve the quality of water and benefit our region by reducing the levels of chloride in our imported water supplies.
Twenty-seven years ago the state’s voters defeated a proposal to build a similar peripheral canal, along with a number of other water infrastructure projects, in part because of the projected costs.
In hindsight, those investments may well have helped California avoid the current environmental and water supply crisis.
What exactly is the solution? We believe the elements of the solution have already been identified.
However, it’s too soon to say exactly what form the solution will take because the ideal combination of those elements will be identified through the Delta Habitat Conservation and Conveyance Plan process.
As such, the DHCCP process provides the best chance at arriving at that solution — one that will work for the wildlife, protecting ecosystems and sensitive habitats, and will work for the humans, too, finding an environmentally responsible way to ensure that the water from the Delta region continues to be available as a precious resource to Californians for many years to come.
We need to strike an equitable balance between environmental impacts and human impacts as we decide how best to manage the Delta’s resources — and the DHCCP process seeks to do just that.
It’s our best hope.#
R. J. Kelly is president of the Castaic Lake Water Agency Board of Directors. His column reflects the agency’s views and not necessarily those of The Signal.
http://www.the-signal.com/news/article/15782/
Canal deserves study
Stockton Record-7/19/09
Editorial
To the surprise of absolutely no one who's been paying attention, state officials next month will start looking for possible intake sites for a peripheral canal.
This will be done by drilling a series of test holes into Delta river bottoms as part of on-going on-site analyses and surveys.
The peripheral canal, of course, is the hotly disputed idea of building a water conveyance system around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. A through-the-Delta system also is being studied.
The idea is to figure out how to more efficiently send Northern California water south and to the Bay Area and at the same time enhance the health of the state's largest estuary.
Critics claim the peripheral canal is just an underhanded way to rob the north state of water in a way that will reduce flows through the Delta, thus hastening an environmental decline already under way. They claim its health can be improved only by reducing the amount of water being taken out for cities and farms.
Supporters say such a canal holds the promise of more efficient water use while increasing the health of the Delta, which is slowly being destroyed. Delta water flows can actually be increased with a peripheral canal in place, they claim.
Who is right has been debated for decades. Likely, it will be decades before it is resolved, if it can be resolved at all.
But we gain nothing - not more water supplies, not better health for the Delta - by simply arguing.
What we need is information, on-site examinations of the Delta ecosystems as well as a close examination of alternative solutions, including how to improve and maintain the fragile latticework of levees spread across the estuary.
River drilling by the state Department of Water Resources as well as ongoing surveys on private lands through which some sort of conveyance canal might run are part of those studies.
To just say no, to fight any objective engineering and scientific examination of options, is short-sighted and gets us no closer to finding a workable solution. We must base decisions about the Delta on facts, not emotional knee-jerk reactions.#
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090719/A_OPINION01/907190313/-1/NEWSMAP
Fawning over farmers, fighting against fish
San Jose Mercury News-7/19/09
Opinion
There's little doubt that the No. 1 issue in the 2010 gubernatorial campaign will be the state's fiscal mess. But No. 2 just might be water.
This year has been a terribly thirsty one for farmers, especially those in the western part of the drought-stricken Central Valley. Farmers there have fewer rights to the water from the Sierra snowpack, and thousands of jobs have been lost as fields lie fallow.
So it's no coincidence that gubernatorial candidates are flocking to the valley — particularly the hard-hit Fresno area. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom held a town-hall meeting there in late April, soon after announcing that he was running for governor. During the meeting, he refused to rule out building more dams — something farmers love and environmentalists hate.
Steve Poizner, the state's insurance commissioner, has been to Central Valley farming towns 12 times — six to Fresno alone — since he became a candidate in fall 2008. Fellow GOP hopeful Meg Whitman, the former eBay CEO, has been to the valley six times since March.
"Water'' is an enormously complex issue involving environmental problems in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, plunging groundwater levels and an aging system of dams, canals, pumps and reservoirs. But the real red meat for farmers and politicians is the delta smelt, a finger-long fish being protected by pumping restrictions mandated by the Endangered Species Act, or ESA.
In short: More water for the fish means less for farmers.
In early June, Whitman was the first to say publicly that she favored easing the pumping restrictions. Her message: "Let the water flow."
Last week, Poizner traveled to Firebaugh, west of Fresno, and demanded that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi support legislation to exempt California water projects from ESA requirements.
The third major Republican candidate, Tom Campbell, three weeks ago also called for easing ESA rules.
But a lot of how the issue plays next year might depend more on the rain gods than on Pelosi. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is now saying conditions are shaping up in the Pacific for an El Niño year, which usually means lots of rain.
If that's the case this winter, drought might no longer be the problem. Instead, politicos might be railing against the inadequacy of California's flood-control system.#
http://www.mercurynews.com/internalaffairs/ci_12862313?nclick_check=1
Action brings sense to muddy water issue
Visalia Times-Delta-7/20/09
By Don Curlee
Opinion
It might be just a trickle, but a stream of hope for improving California's overly regulated water supply began to flow recently.
The crack in the levee occurred because of two important decisions.
Judge Oliver Wanger, a U. S. district judge in Fresno, has been intimately involved in decisions involving water and who controls its flow. He ruled against those who want to prevent water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta from flowing south where farmers and 23 million people in Southern California can make good use of it.
The judge said the federal Endangered Species Act has been improperly applied as a means of shutting off the pumps that send water down the California Aqueduct. Retaining it in the Delta supposedly preserves habitat for the delta smelt. The smelt is classified as threatened in its ESA listing.
His ruling stated that the effect of the pump shut-off on the lives of citizens has not been taken into account, as the law says it must be. As many as 30,000 farm workers and others are out of work because of the lack of water to irrigate crops.
In the same week Judge Wanger made his ruling, the public service law firm Pacific Legal Foundation in Sacramento filed suit against the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, saying that its basis for shutting down the water flow is unconstitutional.
The suit says Fish and Wildlife is allowed to exercise such control only when persons, things or activities affecting interstate commerce are involved. It points out that nothing about the Delta smelt even approximates interstate status.
The suit was filed in behalf of three farms in the Central Valley that have been severely affected by the water cutbacks. Almonds and pistachios are growing on those farms, but the man-made water shortage seriously threatens continuation of farming for dozens of other crops.
The lawsuit suit included an additional charge, that Fish and Game has not shown conclusively that restricting water to the Delta helps the tiny smelt. Proving that is incumbent on the agency.
Judge Wanger's temporary ruling ends June 30, or as soon as temperature in two Delta rivers reaches 77 degrees. Water that warm brings an end to the lives of the current smelt hatch.
Pacific Legal Foundation attorneys believe it will be at least a year before the U.S. District Court takes up its suit and its request for declaratory and injunctive relief.
Neither of the two actions promises to reverse the stifling effect of the federal government's overreaching control and distribution of water supplies.
Taken together, they are only the first ray of hope in agriculture's battle against oppressive and overbearing federal involvement.
Perhaps the feds and those in Congress who repeatedly create laws and regulations for the agencies to enforce will never "get real."
But if they insist on their "touchy-feely" approach to endangered species they should at least have to acknowledge its occasional detriment to humans, and play by the rules.#
Don Curlee is a freelance writer who specializes in agricultural issues.
Eye on the Environment: Though wiser about water, we should do more
Ventura County Star-7/19/09
By Marty Melvin
Opinion
With each passing day, we are more aware of the need for everyone to do more to conserve our precious water resources, use less material that might end up in landfills, and think about the energy and resources we consume in our daily lives.
The state of California is facing an unprecedented reduction in vital resources.
Water is the most prominent resource and has the greatest impact on our lives. While Californians in general and Ventura County residents in particular have made great strides on conservation efforts — for example, using low-flow toilets and shower heads — more can be done.
Currently there are several programs to assist homeowners and commercial property owners with landscape water efficiency. Nearly 60 percent of all water use by homeowners is for landscaping. Changes in watering times, application rates, sprinkler heads, weather-related timers and controllers can significantly reduce water use.
Landscape-irrigation evaluations can give commercial and residential water users the information they need to make such improvements.
Agriculture in Ventura County is doing its part. Changes from old-style furrow flooding and other high-water-use systems have already taken place. The agriculture community is working to make the most efficient use of this critical resource while providing food that is both nutritious and affordable for our growing population. Recent regulations from the State Water Resources Control Board require greater efficiencies for all ag producers in the county.
One example is the Best Management Practices Implementation Grant the state board awarded to the UC Cooperative Extension service in Ventura County.
The service, Ventura County Resource Conservation District, Ventura County Farm Bureau, Ventura County Irrigated Agricultural Lands Group and others are reviewing, recommending and implementing the best farming practices with the cooperation of the agriculture community. While it will mean additional costs for farmers, there is agreement on the need to sustain agriculture as a strong economic component of Ventura County and maintain environmental standards.
Energy is another vital resource that needs to be considered in the decisions we make every day. Examples include home energy use and transportation choices. Just switching from incandescent to fluorescent or LED lighting can make a substantial difference in energy demand. Several years ago, Brazil mandated changes in lighting, motion-sensor switches and other energy-efficiency improvements.
Energy use decreased so much that the nation actually began selling unused electricity capacity to neighboring countries.
There also is a critical link between water and energy. An estimated 30 percent of all electricity use in California is just to move water. Every time you turn on the tap, you are not only using a critical resource but also energy.
Recent changes in technology, the creation of materials with higher recycled content, and interest in the total energy demands of a product or service will help each of us do more with less and make a difference in our environment.
— Marty Melvin is district manager of the Ventura County Resource Conservation District.#
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2009/jul/19/though-wiser-about-water-we-should-do-more/
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
DWR’s California Water News is distributed to California Department of Water Resources management and staff, for information purposes, by the DWR Public Affairs Office. For reader’s services, including new subscriptions, temporary cancellations and address changes, please use the online page: http://listhost2.water.ca.gov/mailman/listinfo/water_news . DWR operates and maintains the State Water Project, provides dam safety and flood control and inspection services, assists local water districts in water management and water conservation planning, and plans for future statewide water needs. Inclusion of materials is not to be construed as an endorsement of any programs, projects, or viewpoints by the Department or the State of California.
No comments:
Post a Comment