Department of Water Resources
California Water News
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
August 27, 2009
2. Supply –
Will El Niño deliver deluge?
Cautious optimism wet winter can halt drought
Stockton Record
Water sales = $6.8 million
SSJID windfall allows more water conservation
Manteca Bulletin
Los Angeles residents reducing water and power use
L.A. Times
Dramatic drop in LA water, power consumption
Oakland Tribune
Redding group sues over subdivision – again
Redding Record Searchlight
Hoopa Tribe, back at the table
Eureka Times-Standard
You really don’t need to water grass
Crescent City Triplicate
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Will El Niño deliver deluge?
Cautious optimism wet winter can halt drought
Stockton Record-8/27/09
By Alex Breitler
Could this winter be a drought buster?
One San Joaquin County water official said he's "fairly confident" California will avoid a fourth consecutive dry year, thanks to the emergence of El Niño, a periodic warming of the Pacific Ocean that has triggered some of the state's wettest winters.
The currently weak El Niño is forecast to grow to moderate or even strong over the winter. If history is any indication, one strong El Niño year could bring more rain in a single season than Stockton has seen in the past three years put together.
And there is plenty of room in our reservoirs to catch that water. New Hogan Lake, on which Stockton relies greatly, was at just 22 percent of capacity and 52 percent of average Wednesday.
Cautious optimism seems to be the theme, since predicting changes in precipitation over months or years involves many moving parts. El Niño and La Niña conditions vary year to year, but longer-term fluctuations of flow and currents in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans can also have a great impact.
This year, both oceans appear to have shifted to what's known as a cool phase, which also favors greater precipitation in California, San Joaquin County Water Resources Coordinator Mel Lytle told water commissioners at a meeting last week.
Experts also have their eye on sunspots in an attempt to glean some long-term climate insight. There have been remarkably few sunspots this summer, meaning less solar energy to heat the Earth and its oceans and, some scientists believe, trigger precipitation.
And for some really long-term perspective, an Oregon State University study released this month says Earth should soon begin shifting toward the next ice age because of changes in the planet's rotation and axis, though greenhouse gas emissions and global warming could slow down that transition.
At any rate, the idea of a strong El Niño this year sounds good to water managers.
"If this all works out, I'll be a believer. It all sounds very promising," said Kevin Kauffman, general manager of Stockton East Water District, which ships water to east side farms and the city.
Without at least an average winter, the district will be forced to draw more from its wells, shrinking the aquifer, which is akin to a reserve bank account for the region.
Maury Roos, a hydrologist with the state Department of Water Resources, said none of the near-term or long-term forecasting tools is perfect.
"I think that if the El Niño builds up to the strong category as they've forecasted, then we've got a better chance," he said. "If we had a year above average - one year - I think that would get most people out of the drought."
It won't, of course, solve the state's water infrastructure problems, which boil down to increasing demand and a static water supply.#
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090827/A_NEWS/908270328/-1/NEWSMAP
Water sales = $6.8 million
SSJID windfall allows more water conservation
Manteca Bulletin-8/27/09
Aggressive conservation efforts by South San Joaquin Irrigation District ditch tenders and farmers has helped free up 30,000 acre feet of water to assist other regions hard hit by California’s third straight year of drought.
The SSJID board this week completed transactions that will send 4,000 acre feet to the City of Stockton for municipal water uses and 1,000 acre feet to the East Stockton Water District for agricultural purposes.
That is in addition to 25,000 acre feet that was part of an emergency deal to the San Luis-Delta Mendota Water Agency that is helping keep thousands of acres of permanent crops alive in the water starved western side of the Northern San Joaquin Valley.
SSJID General Manager Jeff Shields said the district “absolutely” has enough water to get through its current water season.
Shields noted the district was also aided by a fairly cool summer that lacked a high number of days with dry winds that accelerates water losses.
The water sold to San Luis-Delta was at $250 an acre foot and generated $6.25 million.
The City of Stockton paid $150 an acre foot to provide the SSJID with $600,000. The East Stockton Water District paid $20 an acre foot is bringing in $20,000.
The district wills use the additional income to redouble its efforts to conserve water and improve delivery to district farmers.
An example of how they put such revenue for water sales to work can be found in the project now underway southwest of Manteca in district nine.
There are serious problems due to salinity that is caused by ground water being pumped with irrigation water to provide adequate supplies for crops. The need to supplement the surface water is based on the fact district nine is at the end of the system.
Salinity ultimately renders soil sterile.
The SSJID is putting in place a closed system. It reduces water waste through flooding and evaporation while also allowing farmers a way to control placement of water that they can also combine with liquid fertilizer.
Ultimately it means farmers will need less water to provide the same amount of yield from crops.
The district could opt to put in more closed systems throughout the South County further reducing water usage while at the same time protecting district farmers by assuring tight water times in the future won’t cripple them as it has in other areas of California.#
http://www.mantecabulletin.com/news/article/6518/
Los Angeles residents reducing water and power use
L.A. Times-8/27/09
By Phil Willon
Heeding calls to conserve water and power, Los Angeles residents have significantly reduced water use and installed enough energy-efficient appliances and compact fluorescent light bulbs to save an amount of power equal to that used by 53,000 homes, city officials said Wednesday.
"Angelenos didn't just meet the challenge, they exceeded it," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said at a Wednesday morning news conference.
With strict watering restrictions that limit landscape irrigation to Mondays and Thursdays, the amount of water used by city residents in July declined by 17% compared with the same month the year before, Villaraigosa said.
City officials also estimated that energy efficiency programs at the Department of Water and Power, which serves the city's roughly 4 million residents as well as businesses and government agencies, saved 318 gigawatt-hours in fiscal year 2008-09. Among those programs, the DWP has provided 2.4 million compact fluorescent light bulbs to 1.2 million residences, 13,650 free Energy Star-rated refrigerators in exchange for old models and provided rebates for energy-saving windows, air conditioners and swimming pool pumps.
During the news conference, the mayor also addressed a television news report that the Getty House, the mayor's official residence in Windsor Square, had repeatedly violated city lawn-watering restrictions. KNBC-TV Channel 4 showed that Getty House sprinklers were turned on in the wee hours of the morning on days when lawn watering is prohibited.
Villaraigosa said he had been unaware of the violations and has since found out that there was a "glitch" in a high-tech landscape irrigation system installed at the Getty House two years ago. He said the problem is being fixed.
The 22,000-square-foot property includes a backyard fountain, a tennis court and lush landscaping. It serves as both the mayor's private residence and as a public venue regularly used for official city events.
Because of the new water-efficient irrigation system, the mayor said outside water use at the Getty House has dropped 70% since he moved into the residence in late 2005. Water use inside the home has declined 67% during that same period, he said, although during that time the mayor separated from his wife and she no longer lives at the Getty House.
In 2007, The Times reported that Villaraigosa and his family, before moving into the Getty House, used almost twice as much water at their Mount Washington home compared with typical property owners with similar-sized lots in that area.
Villaraigosa blamed his comparatively high water use at Mount Washington on gophers that chewed holes through a rubberized drip- irrigation system, and said he did not notice increases in his water bill because his wife handled the payments.#
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-water27-2009aug27,0,355169.story
Dramatic drop in LA water, power consumption
Oakland Tribune-8/26/09
The nation's second-largest city cut water use by an overall 17 percent in July compared to a year earlier, officials said Wednesday.
Southern California is facing a water shortage because of drought and regulatory restrictions on supplies, and the city of Los Angeles has made broad appeals for conservation, imposed restrictions on landscape irrigation, raised rates and fielded inspectors to look for violators and issue fines.
The Department of Water and Power, which has 680,000 water customers and 1.4 million electric customers, said single-family homes cut water use nearly 21 percent, multifamily properties cut use more than 8 percent, businesses cut usage nearly 22 percent and government properties reduced usage more than 34 percent.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in a statement that he was encouraged because the city must reduce its reliance on imported water and the cutbacks came during the summer.
The reduction may have been aided by weeks of unusually mild weather before the onset of more typical heat this week.
Huge reductions in electricity usage were also reported.
The DWP saved a record 318 gigawatt-hours for the fiscal year ending June 30, an amount that equals removal of 53,000 households from the grid and avoids 178,700 metric tons of greenhouses gases.
"We are making healthy strides in the right direction," said David Nahai, the DWP's chief executive officer and general manager.#
Redding group sues over subdivision – again
Redding Record Searchlight-8/27/09
By Scott Mobley
For the second time, a watershed protection group has sued Redding and developers of a large west side subdivision, saying the city has yet to show an adequate long-term water supply for the homes.
Friends of Canyon Creek filed the suit in Shasta County Superior Court this week after the City Council's decision late last month to approve the 296-lot Westridge subdivision.
"Are the people of Redding going to have enough water for 20 years with this project?" said Leila Moncharsh, an Oakland-based attorney representing Friends of Canyon Creek.
"We have a water problem throughout the state," Moncharsh said. "If I were a citizen of Redding, I would be very concerned that because of another 300 homes, every year we're going to have to go through droughtlike rationing."
Rick Duvernay, Redding's city attorney, said the Friends of Canyon Creek's second lawsuit lacks merit.
Environmental documents show adequate long-term raw water supplies for the subdivision, Duvernay said. He called concerns raised in the lawsuit about water treatment capacity to serve growth "red herrings."
Westridge homes would get water from the Centerville Community Services District, which relies on the Clear Creek Community Services District treatment plant.
The Clear Creek district has said its treatment plant will reach capacity by 2016, making additional service to Centerville difficult.
The initial environmental impact report for Westridge did not acknowledge this limit on water supply and did not describe the environmental costs of expanding the plant, according to the first Friends of Canyon Creek suit, filed in July 2007.
Shasta County Superior Court Judge Molly Bigelow last year ordered the city to revise the Westridge EIR to better address the water supply issue.
The revised document, completed late this spring, said Centerville will have enough treated water to serve the subdivision through 2014.
That's a change from the earlier EIR, which said Centerville water supplies would be adequate through 2025, Moncharsh said.
The new water supply study includes so many substantial changes that the city should reissue the EIR and restart the comment period, Moncharsh said.
"They scrapped most of what they had come up with in the past and put in new information," Moncharsh said. "When you do that, you have to go back and circulate a new draft EIR so the public has an opportunity to vet the information. Here they gave us something like 10 days. They tried to cut corners."
Duvernay said there are no substantial changes between the first document and the revised version.
"The petitioners specifically requested the opportunity to provide input and comments on the revised final EIR," Duvernay said. "They hired experts to ask 'new' questions, the city provided responses to the 'new' questions and they now cry foul in a lawsuit that the process contained 'new' information."
The Greenview Development Co., Richard Guiton and Paul Gerboth collectively plan to build ridgetop homes between the Country Heights and Ridgeview subdivisions off Placer Street, around the headwaters of Canyon Creek in southwest Redding.
Signature Northwest, which developed Country Heights, is the largest partner in Greenview Development.
The subdivision would include walking trails and a 13-acre city park.#
http://www.redding.com/news/2009/aug/27/redding-group-sues-over-subdivision----again/
Hoopa Tribe, back at the table
Eureka Times-Standard-8/27/09
By Leonard Masten
Opinion
California's water bank is running dry and the Trinity River can't afford to issue any more loans.
California water contracts exceed the amount of water available by more than eight times. Our state's crisis pits stakeholders against each other and leaves water regulators baffled over how to solve the problems their agencies created decades ago.
But the real burden doesn't fall in the laps of Sacramento or Washington D.C. bureaucrats. It churns in the algae ridden pools of shallow rivers. It multiplies with columnaris bacteria in the gills of salmon, as witnessed by our people during the 2002 fish kill. It aches in the hearts of the people who have lived in these communities since time immemorial.
Everybody on the North Coast needs to know that the future of the Trinity River is being written today. Big plans for California water are in the works. The Bay Delta Plan and the Klamath River deals both affect the Trinity River.
We refuse to be left high and dry so Central Valley agriculture interests to the south and power companies to the north can continue to siphon more water away from the North Coast.
For decades, the government diverted up to 90 percent of the Trinity River to quench the mounting thirst of Central Valley agriculture. Mandated protections for the Trinity River were largely ignored, depleting the Klamath-Trinity fishery.
Within 10 years after the Trinity River Division began operation, 80 percent of the Trinity River's fishery resources were destroyed. We have been at the forefront working to restore them ever since.
Commercial fishermen, tribal fishermen and recreational fishermen rely on the Trinity River's production of salmon, but the Trinity River watershed will continue to ail until the 2000 Record of Decision (ROD) is fully implemented.
The ROD is a document that provides assurances for adequate flows and the restoration of the Trinity River. It was signed in 2000 by then Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt. Water interests in the Central Valley challenged the ROD, but the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld it in 2004, saying that Trinity River restoration is “unlawfully long overdue.” Reclamation then released prescribed flows down the river, but never fully funded restoration efforts.
While the Trinity now gets the flows called for in the ROD, the North Coast is still entitled to an additional 50,000 acre feet guaranteed by Congress back in 1955, water the county fought tooth and nail for when the Trinity River Division Act was passed.
Bureau of Reclamation officials say Humboldt County's water contract is subsumed in the ROD flows. But, the 1955 congressional act authorizing the Trinity River Division mandates separate flows for fish, wildlife and the future growth of Humboldt County and other downstream water users.
Humboldt County and the tribes deserve the water that is guaranteed to the North Coast.
The Trinity River produces more than 50 percent of the fall Chinook salmon stocks and the lion's share of steelhead stocks that make up the Klamath River's once world famous fishery. The two rivers cannot be treated separately.
Three weeks ago, we joined Klamath Hydropower Settlement Agreement negotiations. The KHA talks coincide with Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement (KBRA) talks. Together, the two deals, if passed by legislators, could pave the way for the removal of four dams on the Klamath River.
We support dam removal. But, we will continue to dispute the KBRA until adequate provisions are included to protect the Trinity River and its fish runs. Moreover, no dam removal agreement can come at the price of a waiver of our fishing rights. We also demand that sufficient interim measures be taken to protect the fishery until the dams come down. As it stands now, the deal guarantees water for irrigators, but fails to guarantee water for fish.
Even if the Klamath River dams come down, pressure on the North Coast's valuable water will continue.
As 'guardians' of the Trinity River, our efforts benefit the entire basin. Humboldt and Trinity Counties benefit, as well as ocean, recreational and commercial fisheries, not to mention the small businesses -- from rafting companies to restaurants -- that span the Trinity and Klamath Rivers from Weaverville to Klamath.
The communities of the North Coast need to work together to protect these rivers. This issue should not be simmered down to a tribal problem. Algae and fish diseases do not discriminate. We are in this together.
We remain optimistic, but the clock is ticking. We support healthy fish as well as healthy local economies and government accountability.#
Leonard Masten is an avid salmon and steelhead fisherman and a former law enforcement officer. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Hoopa Valley Tribe.
http://www.times-standard.com/ci_13213524?IADID=Search-www.times-standard.com-www.times-standard.com
You really don’t need to water grass
Crescent City Triplicate-8/26/09
By Inez Castor
Opinion
By now the dandelions should be going to seed above the lavender self-heal in your blond lawn, while bumblebees belly up to the bar for nectar. You may have wild strawberries in the dry grass and cobwebs on the lawn mower.
When did we begin calling the native plants and grasses weeds and become gullible enough to pay good money to have them eradicated? Since newspaper columnists are shiftless and irresponsible, we’ve got time to research this sort of goofiness.
It turns out that when the rich and powerful lived in English castles, they set animals to grazing near the walls. This kept meat on the hoof safely nearby in case of siege, and provided a clear view across the terrain so that invaders couldn’t sneak up on the castle. In no time at all, social-climbing peasant wives insisted that their men provide short turf around the hovel, and the rest is history.
Beginning in the 19th century, Americans took to lawns like fish to water — and both fish and water have been adversely impacted ever since. According to the National Gardening Association, we spend over $40 billion annually on the care and cutting of grass, not counting the $750 million we spend on seed.
Here comes the part you don’t want to hear, so feel free to cover your ears. If your grass is green and succulent, free of dandelions, self-heal and milkweed, you’re wasting precious water, polluting the air and contributing to the shortage of bees. A gas-powered lawn mower emits more than 10 times the air pollution of a new car.
Approximately 50 percent of our residential water is used for landscaping, and most of that is for lawns. Nearly 70 million pounds of pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals are applied to lawns each year.
Once released into the air, those chemicals travel substantial distances, even on windless days. Not only that, but they’re carried into the house on shoes, pets and children. Once they’re embedded in carpets and furniture, they don’t degrade nearly is quickly as they would outside.
Tom Cook, a biologist at Oregon State University, says we don’t need to irrigate lawns. During the rainy season, grass grows rapidly, both above and below the surface. When the rains end, the visible part appears to die, while the roots hunker down and become dormant. The grass will green up nicely as soon as the rains begin. And what does he suggest we do while our lawns are toasting to a nice, golden brown?
“I’d go fishing or play golf and not worry about the lawn,” he says. The contradictions in that statement mirror the American tug-of-war between those who love and those who hate lawns. There are no lawns more water-wasteful and pesticide-laden than golf courses.
A certain reversal is normal this time of year. Blond children have green hair after a summer of chlorinated pools, and green grass turns blond. Don’t sweat the small stuff.#
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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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