[Water_news] 4. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS-WATERQUALITY-7/28/09

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

July 28, 2009

 

 

4. Water Quality –

 

Historic workshop between Woodland, Davis focuses on water pact

Woodland Daily Democrat

 

Humane Society says manure piles endangering Central Valley water

Central Valley Business Times

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Historic workshop between Woodland, Davis focuses on water pact

Woodland Daily Democrat – 7/28/09

By Melody Stone

 

Editor's note: This is one of a continuing series about the Woodland-Davis Surface Water Project and the JPA.

The Woodland and Davis city councils will meet for a workshop regarding a possible Joint Powers Agency for a water project poised to solve the region's water quality and reliability issues on Tuesday in Davis.

Bob Weir, the Davis Public Works director said, "I think both agencies see the need for reliable high quality water and that's what this projects all about."

Woodland and Davis currently get water from failing wells. Public works officials said the levels of salt is already too high for regulatory run-off standards (although fine to drink) and the levels of nitrates is rising at a steady rate. Drilling deeper wells solves the salt and nitrate problem but introduces other chemicals which were unacceptable to drink.

Dick Donnelly, Woodland's deputy public works director said, "Long term reliance on ground water supplies is putting all your eggs in one basket."

Failing wells don't pose a current threat but won't last forever.

"If you don't have water you don't have a town," Donnelly said. "It's a basic human need."

Cleaning up the ground water, Donnelly said, is an expensive and wasteful processes called reverse osmosis. Surface water, which originates from rivers and streams is cleaner and more reliable than the wells because it's mostly snow melt and doesn't have chemicals leach in from the ground.

Over the past decade both cities worked to fix the problem. In 1989 Davis drafted a Water Master Plan, and, knowing about potential ground water pitfalls, Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District put in an application for water rights to the Sacramento River on behalf of the cities.

The agreed on intake point is near Interstate 5 on land owned by Reclamation District 2035. As drivers cross the Vietnam Memorial Bridge headed north on I-5 off to the left they can see a small pagoda on the river. This is an intake apprentice owned by RD2035 built in the early 1900s. The pagoda needs to be replaced and Davis and Woodland want to build a brand new intake structure in the pagoda's place. There is yet to be a formal agreement between the cities and RD2035

The surface water project means building the intake structure in the river and running underground pipes to the two cities to provide citizens with quality reliable water -- indefinitely.

"We've had a wonderful working relationship with Davis on this problem to date," Donnelly said, although purely on a technical level, now the cities are ready to take their relationship to the next level.

The Implementation

The cities want to create an agency to construct, own and operate the surface water project. This agency would be equal parts Davis and Woodland elected officials. They would also hire a manager and city staff would work on the agency.

This concept of two entities with the same powers pooling their powers to solve a regional problem is called a Joint Powers Agency.

This meeting is a joint study session with both city councils and the public to hash our details and ask questions. They will give the public works departments feed-back and are recommended to vote to approve in concept the revised draft Woodland-Davis Water Supply Joint powers Agreement. If the councils like what they see in September they will vote to approve the JPA.

"We are moving from a three legged race to a two legged race," said Donnelly.

One of the benefits of pooling powers into a JPA is the agency can better compete for government grants and funding than the individual cities.

The Cost

The overall funding is split between the cities. Woodland's portion being 156.8 million, Davis paying 151.2 million and University of California Davis paying 17.2 million. Financing for the project would come from loan interest loans, savings, grants and water fee increases.

"We're going to be doing as much as we possibly can to reduce capital funding cost through grants and low interest loans," Weir said. "The average citizen has a hard time hearing the large capital costs and ultimately down the road that will reflect in their rates. Our challenge is to keep everybody informed about the reasons for the project and the value and cost of water in California."

Yolo County has some of the lowest water rates in California. Donnelly said either way the rates will increase. However Greg Meyer, Woodland public works director, believes that going ahead with the surface water project is going to keep rates lower than if they stayed with ground water, and the product will be a higher quality.

He said this option is "less expensive than the treatment method we would resort to in order to meet regulatory requirements [for ground water]."

If a JPA is approved the cities can move forward with the project and have a new water source for Woodland, Davis and UC Davis by 2016. #

http://www.dailydemocrat.com/news/ci_12928594

 

Humane Society says manure piles endangering Central Valley water

Central Valley Business Times – 7/28/09

 

The Humane Society of the United States has filed a petition with the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board seeking an investigation of a major egg farm’s practice of dumping manure on the ground next to a ditch that drains directly to the San Joaquin River.

The waste is from the more than 700,000 hens housed at the French Camp facility operated by Olivera Egg Ranch Inc.

The petition alleges that manure from the facility may contaminate the local residential water supply, which may have happened in recent weeks. It also says that Olivera recently used a backhoe to dig out tons of wet and solid manure from its 16-acre manure cesspool and then dumped it within feet of a ditch connecting to the San Joaquin River.

Local residents and the HSUS filed suit against the facility in October 2008 over the smells from the operation as well as what the lawsuit contended was exposure to toxic pollutants, including ammonia, in violation of federal and state environmental law. #

http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=12650

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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.