California Water News
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
July 13, 2009
2. Supply –
Feds document shrinking San Joaquin Valley aquifer
Sacramento Bee
Some want drought considered in Westside development
L.A. Times
Drought emergency preparedness
Ukiah Daily Journal
Hot water on demand more affordable
L.A. Daily News
State's water woes flashback to 1970s
North County Times
Sutter Pointe searching for water
Marysville Appeal-Democrat
Watershed group to discuss supply, sources
Marin Independent Journal
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Feds document shrinking San Joaquin Valley aquifer
Sacramento Bee-7/13/09
By Matt Weiser
California's San Joaquin Valley has lost 60 million acre-feet of groundwater since 1961, according to a new federal study. That's enough water for 60 Folsom reservoirs.
This is among the findings in a massive study of groundwater in California's Central Valley by the U.S. Geological Survey. It helps shed light on the mysteries and dangers of California's groundwater consumption, which is mostly unregulated.
According to the study, groundwater pumping continues to cause the valley floor to sink, a problem known as subsidence. This threatens the stability of surface structures such as the California Aqueduct, which delivers drinking water to more than 20 million people.
The Central Valley is America's largest farming region; it's also the single-largest zone of groundwater pumping. About 20 percent of groundwater pumped in America comes from under the Central Valley, said Claudia Faunt, the study's project chief.
In the Sacramento Valley, the study found groundwater levels have remained stable. Virtually all of the groundwater loss has occurred in the San Joaquin Valley, where aquifer levels have dropped nearly 400 feet since 1961, she said.
The current drought has aggravated this problem.
"In most years, especially in the San Joaquin Valley, the groundwater pumping exceeds the recharge," said Faunt, a USGS hydrologist. "With recent times, those groundwater levels have dropped back down close to historical lows."
The study is part of a project by the USGS to update groundwater data around the country that dates to the 1980s. USGS chose to begin in the Central Valley because the region is so important to the nation's food supply. The study took five years and cost $1 million.
California is the only state in which groundwater use is almost completely unregulated. California well owners are not required to report pumping or consumption patterns.
The study relied, in part, on indirect measurements. State monitoring wells provide a peek at regional groundwater behavior. Researchers also tapped into more than 8,500 well-drilling records dating back to 1900, as well as land-use patterns and surface water recharge data.
After 1900, when large-scale farming began in the Central Valley, water tables dropped significantly as wells were drilled to feed crops. Aquifers eventually dropped about 400 feet compared with pre-1900 levels. This was part of the impetus to build the state and federal canal systems in the 1960s that divert water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Switching farms to this new surface water supply allowed aquifers to recover.
Then drought came in the late 1970s, and surface water diversions were cut back, as they have been during the current three-year drought. In both periods, farmers relied more heavily on groundwater, and aquifers declined again.
Between 1961 and 2003, the period covered by the new study, groundwater levels in the San Joaquin Valley fluctuated depending on drought, Faunt said. The current drought has caused aquifers to drop again by nearly 400 feet, to near the historic low.
"Overall, there's a loss in groundwater," she said, amounting to about 60 million acre-feet since 1961.
An acre-foot of water is enough to serve two average California households for a year. That groundwater lost from the San Joaquin Valley was enough for every California household for 10 years.
One consequence has been land subsidence over vast areas of the San Joaquin Valley. The most severe drop is about 29 feet near Mendota, which occurred before the canals were built, said Al Steele, an engineering geologist at the state Department of Water Resources in Fresno.
"That's a three-story building, almost," he said.
The land generally does not recover from this subsidence, and the compacted aquifer often loses its ability to store water.
It was assumed that subsidence had stopped after about 1970. But both Steele and Faunt said it has continued because of periodic droughts.
This threatens the 444-mile California Aqueduct, built in part to address groundwater shortages in the San Joaquin Valley.
As the Associated Press reported last week, officials recently learned that the canal may be subsiding due to modern groundwater pumping. As land subsides, the canal drops with it. This slashes the canal's water capacity by creating low spots, which reduce flow rate. It also could crack the structure.
"There's incomplete data that shows subsidence during periods when there is increased groundwater pumpage is alive and well," Steele said. "It's still occurring."
He said Caltrans land survey data shows highways 198 and 152 near Fresno have subsided "a number of feet" in the past four decades. How much the canal has subsided is unclear.
To find out, DWR hired USGS to monitor the canal by satellite.
The new USGS study also includes a mathematical modeling tool that can help water officials manage groundwater. This could help target the best locations for new groundwater banking projects and also could prevent land subsidence.
Officials could use the model to determine where and when groundwater pumping most threatens the canal. The state could then manipulate surface water delivery in those areas to prevent groundwater pumping.
Another option might be to stop farming in threatened areas.#
http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2020696.html?mi_rss=Top%20Stories
Some want drought considered in Westside development
L.A. Times-7/9/09
Some neighborhood council members on the Westside are saying there is too much development planned for the area and that such projects could cause a drain on water supplies. They are recommending that high-density projects be reexamined to consider the consequences of drought conditions.
Read more on the water-development issue in the Argonaut:
They say that because the city government has moved to Phase III of the municipal water ordinance that includes mandatory conservation measures, high-density projects should be reexamined, scaled back or have water agencies and planners include the effects and consequences of the drought.
Westchester resident David Coffin thinks that city leaders have not taken the water shortage into account regarding large-scale development, and he disagrees with those who suggest that state laws that direct cities and counties to request that developers obtain a water assessment prior to approval are sufficient. “They are relying on water management plans that are four years old,” said Coffin, a member of the Neighborhood Council of Westchester-Playa.#
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/07/westside-water.html
Drought emergency preparedness
Ukiah Daily Journal-7/13/09
By Zack Cinek
As water experts eyed charts showing the mathematics of how Lake Mendocino could have been close to dry now, talks were held to document the need for drought assistance from emergency services several months ago.
Months ago earlier in 2009 water district managers, supervisors, department heads and water politickers talked during two meetings at county offices about the need to document the area's drought related needs.
Lake Mendocino holds more than 50,000-acre feet of water currently as rain, regulatory measures and conservation have kept it looking better than the worse-case scenario it looked to become with no conservation and some rain.
The Redwood Valley County Water District provides water pumped from the lake to the people of the Redwood Valley community. Redwood Valley water manager Bill Koehler said that he is optimistic but still cautious about seeing the situation through.
"If we are lucky we will not need it," Koehler said, about a wish-list of fixes he requested in the County Water Agency's Drought Action Plan.
"It has to be submitted through the CEO's Office," Roland Sanford, water agency general manager said.
Tom Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer of the county, said his office is involved in coordinating with state agencies for possible funding sources and assistance in processing necessary permits.
A draft of the plan has already been given to the Office of Emergency Services for information.
If need be, possibilities for emergency aid include: either a temporary or permanent connection to Millview County Water District water through Calpella County Water District or adding another pump at the lake to reach low water, Koehler said.
Included in an order from the state for keeping more water in Lake Mendocino was a request for a 50 percent savings of water for Ukiah-area people.
From April through the end of June, Redwood Valley water reports it has met a 50 percent cut back compared to 2004, the year used to calculate the district's 50 percent from.
But as the state struggling with its budget problems the chances of getting emergency services aid or financial assistance for selling less water could be scarce.
"It does not help if we get an IOU," Sanford said.#
http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/ci_12824574
Hot water on demand more affordable
L.A. Daily News-7/10/09
Waiting for hot water at the sink or shower can waste thousands of gallons of that precious resource every year.
Over the past two decades "hot water on demand" systems have flourished, becoming simplified beyond belief. Cost really has come down, while installation has become something that most modestly skilled DIYers can do themselves in an hour or two.
Auxiliary water tanks
When hot water on demand is mentioned, some think of a small auxiliary water heater placed beneath the sink that provides hot water at all times - a secondary water heater if you will.
These work well to solve the problem at a given sink. However, shower water - where most waste occurs - cannot be so easily retrofitted with such a unit.
Another drawback to auxiliary heating tanks is that electricity is required for each unit - usually a dedicated circuit because of the great amount of current required to heat the water.
Our idea of hot water on demand is a bit different than adding tanks.
We're guys - we like adding motors instead. Also, our choice of new technology involves that once used by only the wealthy, but with a couple of really cool twists that makes it inexpensive to purchase and easy to install. And all without hot water pipe No. 2, we might add. The theory is a brain twister because it is so simple.
Our first choice is one that involves the installation of a motor at the water heater and a small plastic pipe under the sink, known as a crossover.
First, a very small high-speed, low-volume (extremely quiet) pump is added to the outgoing hot water line at your water heater. We took about 20 minutes to install ours. The pump is regulated by a simple timer that causes it to run during those times of the day or night when you feel you will want hot water on demand. We had to use an extension cord to provide 110v power to our unit.
The pump can be set up to run for as little as 15 minutes once a day or 24/7 - you choose when you will need or want the convenience of automatic hot water when you turn on the faucet.
In these systems, there is no need for a secondary hot water line. Instead, there is a 6-inch-long plastic "crossover" pipe that connects to the faucet that lies farthest from the water heater - thus impacting all fixtures in between. The crossover connects the hot and cold water together and contains a check valve so that the cold water won't back up into the hot water line.
The crossover is also thermostatically controlled. When it senses cold water in the hot water line, it opens and lets the water silently run into the cold water line (and back into the water heater). This simple process continues until the hot water arrives at the faucet.
Instant hot water comes to at every location in your home with two simple additions - a pump and a crossover.
When the crossover senses the heat it shuts off. The process repeats when the water cools (as long as the timer is set in the on position). What could be simpler?
The Grundfos kit, with a pump and a crossover, retails for about $450.#
http://www.dailynews.com/search/ci_12813211?IADID=Search-www.dailynews.com-www.dailynews.com
State's water woes flashback to 1970s
North County Times-7/12/09
By Thomas D. Elias
Opinion
We are starting to see the summer water picture for California ---- and it's looking a lot like the late 1970s. Or, to put it another way, it's beginning to look a lot like Bolinas almost did.
That's right, chances are much of the rest of California will soon be following the plan put in place and later rescinded by Bolinas, the funky town not too far north of San Francisco in coastal Marin County. Best known for its populace of aging hippies, artists, lawyers and others seeking refuge from crowded urban life, Bolinas was rescued by an unexpected late-March storm that suddenly refilled its key reservoir.
Bolinas isn't often first with anything. But because it has no access to supplies from the state Water Project, the federal Central Valley Project or the San Francisco-owned Hetch Hetchy reservoir system and aqueduct, Bolinas uses only local supplies.
Before the unexpected late-season rains, the key Bolinas reservoir was at risk of running dry before the next rainy season, likely to start in November or December.
So Bolinas adopted California's toughest water rules: Residents were to use no more than 150 gallons per day, 4,500 per month. That amounted to about a 25 percent cutback from normal usage of about 208 gallons per day per water hookup. Violate the rule once or twice and nothing much would happen to residents. But supplies could be cut off on a third violation.
The Bolinas rules are now in abeyance, but they were only a little bit tougher than what many other places might soon be seeing, despite a few late rains.
In the Central Valley, cities like Folsom and Roseville are weighing water use cutbacks. Farmers are fallowing fields because allocations from the state Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project remain low. The East Bay Municipal Utility District, covering much of Alameda and Contra Costa counties, has now raised prices because water use there has been cut back so much. That's right: Use less and pay more.
But the most visible water-use reductions might be coming soon in Los Angeles, which has its own aqueduct running from the Owens Valley on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Despite heavier than usual rains in February and March, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has not backed off proposed water use restrictions involving a tiered pricing system punishing consumers and businesses that fail to conserve even beyond today's levels, which see average use down almost 15 percent from the levels of the 1960s.
"The level of severity of this drought is still severe," he said. "We have to move quickly."
No one can be sure whether Villaraigosa's plan was not at least partially motivated by politics. Just re-elected to a new four-year term as mayor he had been seen as a strong contender for the Democratic Party's nomination for governor, until he back out of the race last month. Had he entered, he would have been the only Southern Californian in a crowded field running for an office that's been held exclusively by Southern California politicians since the 1960s.
No Los Angeles mayor, not even the long-serving Sam Yorty or Tom Bradley, has ever been elected governor. That's been partly because of regional animosity stemming from a Northern California sense that water from that region has been "stolen" by Central Valley farmers and Southern California cities.
A vigorous approach to water rationing can only help Southern Californian politicians in the north, where Southern California is viewed as a profligate water waster ---- even by people who use unlimited water during droughts because their homes don't feature water meters.
Vigorous is surely an accurate term for what Villaraigosa has instituted: sprinkler use limited to twice a week, with a likely cut to once; no hosing of sidewalks or parking areas; water use in decorative fountains and ponds only if they feature a recirculating system; no washing cars with hoses without a self-closing shut-off device; no watering lawns between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., and fines for allowing excess water to flow onto sidewalks, driveways, streets or gutters. If things get worse, there would be no refilling of swimming pools and spas.
All this implies imposing a "water cop" system like that employed in the '70s, when water department or water district inspectors roved widely looking for violations.
The ultimate penalty for repeated offenders would be a water supply cutoff.
That's the immediate water future for much of California. Not a pretty sight, but it worked in the 1970s and there's no reason to believe it can't work again ---- unless the rest of the state gets the same kind of reprieve Bolinas did.#
Thomas D. Elias is a Santa Monica-based political commentator and author. Comment online at nctimes.com or contact him at Tdelias@aol.com.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2009/07/12/opinion/elias/z3b3ce6ce163a5153882575dd007dd279.txt
Sutter Pointe searching for water
Marysville Appeal-Democrat-7/12/09
By Howard Yune
Sutter Pointe remains only a spot on the south Sutter County map. But a disagreement already has developed over whether the county — or a private company — will slake the planned city's thirst.
State utility officials may settle the dispute between the county and Golden State Water Co., which claims the right to provide water service to the Sutter Pointe site in rural south county. The conflict turns on control of surface water deliveries, which Sutter Pointe's planners say will be needed to fully build out a town planned to eventually include as many as 17,500 homes.
Sutter Pointe's environmental impact report projected annual water demand at full buildout at 25,199 acre-feet. An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons. A Golden State Water spokesman on Thursday downplayed any ill feelings but predicted company rather than county control of water service would let the community — and employment — grow as quickly as possible.
"This isn't adversarial," said Mitch Zak, spokesman for San Dimas-based Golden State Water. "This is a better way to help economic development and create jobs."
In letters to the county and filings with the state Public Utilities Commission, Golden State Water has said it can run water deliveries more cheaply than Sutter County. The firm plans to merge the future water network into its existing systems in Rancho Cordova and Arden, a web of about 16,000 customers it hopes will help lower construction and treatment costs.
Natomas Central Mutual Water Co. holds the rights to deliver agricultural water from the Sacramento River to the Sutter Pointe site, currently a spread of rice fields and orchards off Highway 99/70 and Riego Road.
Roland Tanner, a Golden State Water vice president, argued the district has the right to transfer water rights to the company while Sutter County can get them only by taking them through eminent domain. The transfer is part of a pact the companies made in March 2004, eight months before voters passed Measure M to approve the zoning for Sutter Pointe.
However, county officials recently have sought to reassert their control over water and other utilities in the future city.
"Our position is the Board of Supervisors will determine how the (surface) water is provided, to ensure future citizens have a water supply at reasonable costs," County Administrative Officer Larry Combs said in late June.
On Friday, Combs declined to lay out details of the county's claim but called negotiations with Golden State Water "fruitful."
The commission is expected to take at least a year to decide on the water rights.
Golden State Water plans to use the Natomas company's water rights to supply Sutter Pointe. The community, which also will include new retail and industrial districts, is expected to subsist on groundwater for about five years, then add surface water as more homes and industrial sites are built.
Golden State Water's local ambitions also extend to Robbins, a community of about 400 people near Yolo County. The firm has negotiated with the county to take over the failing Robbins water network from a county-supported district, where homeowners shot down a plan last November to raise monthly service rates as high as $100 to pay for repairs.
No construction at Sutter Pointe is expected until after 2011, when the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency is scheduled to finish upgrading local levees to 100-year flood protection levels.#
http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/sutter-84345-pointe-county.html
Watershed group to discuss supply, sources
Marin Independent Journal-7/12/09
The Friends of Corte Madera Creek Watershed board will discuss positions on the Marin Municipal Water District water supply, including the use of water from various sources, at a 7 p.m. meeting Thursday at the San Anselmo Historical Society meeting room at 110 Tunstead Ave. in San Anselmo.
The board will also discuss the Ross Valley watershed program and storm drainage fee.#
http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_12820436?IADID=Search-www.marinij.com-www.marinij.com
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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.
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