California Water News
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
August 4, 2009
2. Supply –
Cities to water agency: Turn on the pumps
Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Officials plan to ease water pressure
Santa Clarita Valley Signal
West Basin water district gets final desalination plant approval
Torrance Daily Breeze
Ely (Nevada) struggling to meet water demand this summer
S.F. Chronicle
NM city launches conservation effort
Mercury-News
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Cities to water agency: Turn on the pumps
Santa Rosa Press Democrat-8/3/09
By Bob Norberg
Cities and districts Monday asked the Sonoma County Water Agency to provide extra water during hot spells when demand strains the transmission system.
“We have a responsibility to make sure we have enough water to meet public safety needs and to meet peak demand,” said Santa Rosa Mayor Susan Gorin, vice chairman of the Water Advisory Committee.
The committee, which represents the major cities and water districts from Windsor to San Rafael that buy water from the agency, passed a resolution asking for the peak-demand increases.
However, that request to turn on pumps that pull water out of aquifers beneath the Russian River met with resistance from the agency’s general manager, who said it could cost too much and that cities still aren’t doing enough to conserve.
Two weeks ago, the agency issued a warning during a heat wave that the transmission system’s tanks were getting too low.
The agency has shut off some pumps and booster stations as a cost-cutting move, saving $1 million, but also restricting the amount it can deliver on a daily basis to 53 million gallons. During the heat wave, peak demand hit 60 million gallons per day.
Randy Poole, the Water Agency general manager, said the agency has laid off maintenance, operations and management worker as it tries to pare its budget, and that impacts the ability to operate additional pumps.
Members of the advisory committee, however, said the additional sales of water should be enough to offset the increased cost.
Poole also said he didn’t believe the cities and water districts were doing enough to meet a goal set by the state Water Resources Board to cut all water use by 25 percent.
The state at the same time allowed lower summer flows in the Russian River, which is conserving water in Lake Mendocino for the fall run of chinook salmon, and ordered the Water Agency to cut the amount of water it takes form the Russian River by 25 percent.
“We are concerned the cities are not serious about doing the 25 percent conservation and that is a big concern,” Poole said.
Although Poole said he was disinclined to grant the request, the advisory board unanimously passed a resolution making the request and asking for an answer in writing.
Jake Mackenzie, a Rohnert Park councilman and chairman of the advisory committee, said all of the agency’s customers were committed to meeting the conservation goal.
Individually, Rohnert Park reports June conservation of 27 percent, Santa Rosa 32 percent and Petaluma 29 percent over June 2004, but overall figures for all of the Sonoma County cities and water districts have not been compiled.
“It would be useful to the ratepayers and the public to know how the cities are doing,” said David Keller of Friends of the Eel River. “If one agency is not pulling its weight, it’d be up to the others to make up for it.”#
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090803/ARTICLES/908039925
Officials plan to ease water pressure
Santa Clarita Valley Signal-8/2/09
By Brian Charles
As San Joaquin Valley farmers struggle with water shortages, and the city of Los Angeles has imposed mandatory water conservation, the Santa Clarita Valley's five water suppliers have launched an ambitious water recycling plan.
"There are essentially three sources for water: the State Water Project, groundwater and recycled water," said Paul Novak, planning deputy for Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich.
"Gradually, we will move to more recycled water."
Currently, the Santa Clarita Valley's four local water retailers deliver to customers a mix of about 50-percent groundwater and 50-percent State Water Project water.
The State Water Project water is provided by wholesaler Castaic Lake Water Agency and comes from northern California through the Sacramento Delta.
A mix of environmental concerns about over-pumping the Delta, as well as lawsuits restricting water use, have put the squeeze on water supplies to Southern California, said Dan Masnada, Castaic Lake Water general manager.
Novak seconded Masnada's concerns.
"There are obviously questions with water availability because of the issues with the Sacramento Delta, the drought and environmental concerns," he said.
On July 28, on a motion by Antonovich, county supervisors agreed to request a study on beefing up recycled water use. Supervisors expect a report within the next few weeks, Novak said.
Back in 2003, Castaic Lake Water and the valley's four retailers embarked on a 30-year, $100 million recycled water capital improvement project.
Phase I of the project, which will deliver up to 3,000 acre feet of water to the SCV, is set to be finished by 2013, said Dan Masnada, Castaic Lake Water general manager.
Currently the Tournament Players' Club golf course receives 400 acre feet of recycled water and is the only place in the Santa Clarita Valley using recycled water, Masnada said.
The county's role in providing the SCV with domestic drinking water is currently limited to Los Angeles County Waterworks District 36, the valley's smallest water provider, but that will change as recycled water becomes more common, Novak said.
"We have a direct involvement through the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District," he said.
The Sanitation District operates the Valencia and Saugus treatment plants, Novak said. Any plans to use recycled water starts at the plant.
"The treatment plant is the hub of the system," said Steve Cole, general manager of Newhall County Water District. "The pipes are the spoke."
Under the water districts' recycled water plan, Newhall County Water, Valencia Water Company, Castaic Lake Water and County Water Works will build a parallel system along the east end of the SCV to deliver recycled water for outdoor use.
"The water is for HOAs (homeowners' associations), city- and county-maintained open spaces," Cole said.
There are no plans to use recycled water for residential use.
The parallel water system, commonly referred to as "purple pipe" due to the color of the pipes, will eventually provide the Santa Clarita Valley with 22,700 acre feet of recycled water by 2030, Masnada said. Even with its $100 million price tag, recycled water makes sense, he said.
Of the 22,700 acre feet of recycled water planned for use in the Santa Clarita Valley, more than 7,000 acre feet of recycled water will be used in the Newhall Ranch development, Masnada said.
The 22,000-home development wedged between Highway 126 and Interstate 5 is still in the permitting process. "With the demand on the Delta, buying water will become more difficult and more expensive than developing our own local source," he said.
Castaic Lake will burn most of its reserves paying for its share of the purple pipe program, Masnada said. However, the water agency is looking for help from state and federal government.
"We haven't received any help from the state, but we aren't giving up on that," he said. "We've gotten some help from the (Environmental Protection Agency) in the past and we will continue to look for federal money to help pay for the project."
Castaic Lake Water applied for money in the federal stimulus package to help pay for the purple pipe project, but it was denied, Masnada said.
That won't stop Castaic Lake Water from looking for federal money if another stimulus package comes down the pipe, he said.
Don't rule out state money, Novak said. Proposition 50 allocates money for projects that improve water supply.
Even with the state in financial ruins, state grants for water projects are still available, he said.#
http://www.the-signal.com/news/article/16334/
West Basin water district gets final desalination plant approval
Torrance Daily Breeze-8/3/09
By Melissa Pamer
A regional water agency has received the go-ahead to build a temporary facility in Redondo Beach that will turn seawater into drinking-quality water.
For Carson-based West Basin Municipal Water District, the demonstration desalination project is one step toward a goal of obtaining nearly a tenth of its water supplies from the Pacific Ocean.
The district last month received the final approval it needed from the Regional Water Quality Control Board. The California Coastal Commission and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers signed off on the plant in April.
The $8.8 million project, set to be housed next to the Los Angeles Conservation Corps' SEA Lab, will filter about 580,000 gallons of water daily through an old power-plant intake pipe.
A fine mesh will seek to minimize the intake of tiny ocean organisms - a concern for environmental groups that have argued more emphasis should be placed on conservation and recycling.
Water from the demonstration will not be used for drinking. Instead, the project will be used for research, particularly on water intake technologies, district officials said.
The project is intended as a temporary precursor for a full-scale desalination plant - likely in El Segundo - that would filter 20 million gallons of seawater per day and provide 9 percent of the district's water supplies.
The goal is to reduce reliance on water imported from outside the region, district officials said.
"You can look at ocean desalination, at recycling, at conservation none of them is the silver bullet," said Paul Shoenberger, assistant general manager of West Basin, which distributes water to most of the cities in the South Bay area.
"We believe in a diverse portfolio of water. The more sources you have, the more reliable you are. And ocean desalination fits the bill."
The rising cost of imports, along with the dropping cost of desalination, have made desalting attractive to an increasing number of water agencies, Shoenberger said.
The Redondo Beach desalination project will take about a year to build and will run for at least two years, he said.
The district is currently in the process of dismantling a small pilot desalination plant that was built in El Segundo in 2002 in preparation for the upcoming demonstration plant, which will be 10 times as large.#
http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_12985198?IADID=Search-www.dailybreeze.com-www.dailybreeze.com
Ely (Nevada) struggling to meet water demand this summer
S.F. Chronicle-8/3/09
Ely, Nevada, is still struggling to meet the rising demand for water this summer.
Ely City Engineer Dean Day recently told the municipal utility board that the south side tank almost went dry — with levels falling to just 2 feet — at one point during July.
Day says those levels have rebounded, but only because the city has been pumping water from its wells.
Also, flows from Murry Springs, the city's primary water source, have dropped to about 900 gallons a minute. The level was 1,200 gallons per minute in June.
Day says it's the first time in two decades that he's seen those flows drop below 2,000 gallons per minute.#
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/08/03/state/n103105D22.DTL
NM city launches conservation effort
Mercury-News-8/4/09
Wireless irrigation control units have been installed on all of Rio Rancho's parks and recreational facilities as part of a new water conservation initiative.
The control units will allow the city to delay or stop watering cycles when it is windy or raining by simply calling a phone number and entering a code.
City Councilor Steve Shaw says the new equipment allows the city to conserve its most precious natural resource and reduce irrigation costs.
The city purchased 55 irrigation control units from Albuquerque-based Contact Wireless. The equipment supplied by the company was developed through a $500,000 award from Gov. Bill Richardson's Water Innovation Fund.#
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12988852?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com
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