Department of Water Resources
California Water News
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
August 4, 2009
5. Agencies, Programs, People –
Neighbors watching and reporting water wasters
Riverside Press-Enterprise
NID asking for water conservation in Alta Sierra
Grass valley Union
Reality absent from new water report
Woodland Daily Democrat
Senator Boxer pledges support to Pajaro River levee project during Watsonville visit
Santa Cruz Sentinel
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Neighbors watching and reporting water wasters
Riverside Press-Enterprise-8/1/09
By Sarah Burge
Consumers can be fined these days for repeatedly sprinkling their lawns at high noon or hosing down their driveways instead of sweeping.
But water districts have few -- if any -- "water cops" to police the new conservation rules.
That means officials rely on residents to turn in chronic water wasters through telephone hot lines or online reporting forms on water district Web sites.
Back-to-back record-dry years, rapidly decreasing reservoir levels and court-ordered water pumping restrictions have left the state facing what officials describe as one of the most severe water crises in decades. In response, water districts have instituted new requirements that typically mandate nighttime landscape watering, or, in some districts, watering only on certain days of the week.
They also prohibit excess runoff from over-watering or malfunctioning sprinkler heads.
Western Municipal, Elsinore Valley Municipal and Rancho California water district officials say they have no designated water cop patrols.
Perry Louck, director of planning with Rancho California Water District, which serves a roughly 150-square-mile area that includes Temecula and parts of Murrieta, said the employees out performing maintenance and meter reading are their "eyes and ears." If employees notice violations, they will note them and issue a warning. Repeat violations can lead to fines that increase for additional offenses.
For customers of Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District, for example, violations can carry fines up to $250.
But water district officials say they give customers every opportunity to shape up before fining them.
Tim Barr, water-use efficiency manager for Western Municipal Water District, which serves retail customers in part of Murrieta and in the Orangecrest, Woodcrest and Lake Mathews areas, said a customer would have to commit the same offense three times in a 12-month period to be fined.
"It's very much a last resort," he said, adding that only "egregious" violators risk a fine. "This is not about penalties," he said. "This is about reducing water (use)."
Eastern Municipal Water District has two "water cops" who patrol a couple days a week looking for violations, said spokeswoman Betty Gibbel. But the district serves a 555-square-mile area from Moreno Valley and Perris south along Interstate 215 to Temecula, plus Hemet and San Jacinto.
"Is there a certain amount of honor system in this? I would say yes," Gibbel said.
Juan Del Val, one of the water cops for the district, said he focuses his patrols on one city each day and typically finds about a half dozen violations. The most common ones are water runoff and allowing sprinklers to spray onto streets and sidewalks, Del Val said. When he finds a violation, he takes pictures and includes them with warning letters.
Gibbel said the district focuses not on penalizing customers but on educating them about the urgent need to use water efficiently.
"As people begin to realize how critical the situation is, they're more likely to comply," Gibbel said. "But if there is continual abuse, I definitely think we want people to call and report it."
Water-waste reports may be submitted to Eastern Municipal Water District by calling the district water cops or filling out an online form that asks for details about the times and places water waste was witnessed. Photographic evidence is also encouraged. Usually it takes a day or two for a district employee to investigate a report.
Gibbel said that even without much promotion of the online water-waste form, the district receives reports of violations of the mandated water-saving measures every day.
"(The water shortage) is something that affects everyone," she said. "People are trying so hard to really be ethical ... Then to see somebody else who doesn't care pour water down the street. It kind of irritates some people."
Western Municipal and Rancho California water districts also encourage people to report violators. Rancho California Water District has an online form. Western Municipal Water District, encourages people to call its water-waste hot line, which, in recent weeks, has been receiving about 10 calls each day from people reporting violations, Barr said. The most common complaint is about people watering their landscaping in the middle of the day.
District officials all said that official warnings and fines are never issued based merely on the say-so of citizen observers. A district employee must visit the place where the water wasting is alleged to see it first hand. Typically, district officials send out courtesy letters pointing out the rules when they are unable to find evidence of a reported violation.
Greg Morrison, a spokesman for the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District, which covers a 96-square mile area that runs mostly along the Interstate 15 corridor from northern Murrieta to the Temescal Canyon area and east to Canyon Lake, said his district has had mandatory restrictions in place since November, but the district has not begun a concerted enforcement effort.
Officials expect to launch an online reporting form on the district Web site and a designated telephone hot line in September.
Even without a reporting hot line, the district has received a few calls reporting water wasters, but officials have yet to issue any fines, Morrison said.
"We rely on people's good conscience and good will to do the right thing."#
http://www.pe.com/localnews/temecula/stories/PE_News_Local_S_swater02.43dce68.html
NID asking for water conservation in Alta Sierra
Grass valley Union-8/3/09
The Nevada Irrigation District is asking water users in the Alta Sierra area to conserve water this week while a new transmission main and pressure reducing station are connected.
“We're asking folks to conserve water between the hours of 8 p.m. today and 10 a.m. Thursday,” said NID Water Superintendent Larry Markey. “This will help us preserve water storage and fire flow availability during the tie-in.”
Customers are asked to turn off automatic outdoor sprinkler systems, refrain from outside watering and postpone tasks such as car or driveway washing.
The conservation call is related to the current Dog Bar Road/Alta Sierra Pipeline Project, which will supply more water and better pressure to parts of Alta Sierra.
On Wednesday, Hansen Brothers Enterprises of Grass Valley, will be installing a new pressure reducing station off Dog Bar Road and connecting a new transmission main to the existing water system.#
http://www.theunion.com/article/20090804/NEWS/908039959/1053
Reality absent from new water report
Woodland Daily Democrat-8/4/09
By Mike Wade
Opinion
Claims that California farmers can conserve more than 4-million acre-feet of water in a report scheduled for release this week lack any relationship to reality, according to the largest farm water organization in the state.
The report was compiled by the Pacific Institute, which issued a similar report last year that was heavily criticized by representatives from the University of California and California State University systems.
The assertion that California farmers can conserve 4-million acre-feet of water is absurd and borders on pie in the sky reasoning. The report clearly demonstrates that its authors lack a thorough understanding of California agriculture or the markets that our farmers serve around the world.
The report, for example, calls for a shift from field crops to vegetable crops. This scenario totally ignores market demands, which are the things that dictate what crops a farmer grows.
If our farmers follow the institute's suggestion then grocery stores would be glutted with more vegetables than anyone wants to buy. Prices would collapse and the crops would be wasted. This new report bears no resemblance to reality.
Wade further noted that much of the information used to formulate the conclusions in the report is several years old. Technology is constantly changing and affecting how farmers apply their irrigation water.
Previous studies conducted by expert economists and resource specialists as part of the CalFED process indicated that on-farm changes by California farmers could result in a savings of 240,000 to 600,000 acre-feet of water.
The Pacific Institute also calls for farmers to turn away from crops that are irrigated with flood irrigation.
Most often flood irrigation is the only avenue to irrigate these crops. In addition to providing the water needed for the plant to grow, the water also seeps into the underground and provides a recharge to the groundwater.
The institute is calling for farmers to turn away from recharging the underground water supplies which could result in overdrafting our aquifers. It just doesn't make sense.
A preliminary version of the report that was reviewed by multiple individuals last month bore a striking resemblance to last year's report, Wade indicated.
Entire sections from last year's report were realigned within the newest version. Cultural practices undertaken by California farmers are swept aside by the report as new scenarios are offered that would require farmers to discard years of proven practices.
The Pacific Institute dusted off its earlier report, added a few words and is offering the same conclusions that drew a sharp rebuke from members of the academic world who are experts on real-world irrigation research. This new report does nothing to advance credible water policy discussions.#
Mike Wade is executive director for the California Farm Water Coalition
http://www.dailydemocrat.com/ci_12988524?IADID=Search-www.dailydemocrat.com-www.dailydemocrat.com
Senator Boxer pledges support to Pajaro River levee project during Watsonville visit
Santa Cruz Sentinel-8/2/09
By Ariana Smith
Sen. Barbara Boxer pledged her support in getting funding to begin the flood control project on the Pajaro River levee, while speaking in Watsonville on Saturday.
Boxer promised that the levee project would be a top priority this year and in the years to come, and hopes construction will begin in the next two years.
"I know the fierceness of water. I know what it is to worry about your kids in school," Boxer said, "I will do all I can to make ensure that this project has the resources it needs to move forward."
This week, the Senate passed the Energy and Water Appropriation bill, which included $425,000 in funding for the Pajaro River project. So far, the money has helped support some environmental review and other pre-construction evaluations.
The levee was built in the mid-1940s to provide flood protection to urban areas. But in 1963, a report by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers concluded that the levee system was inadequate. Since 1995, when the levee broke in eight places leading to floods that devastated the town of Pajaro, residents have been waiting for better protection.
"If we ever have another break, it could contaminate the soil so we may not be able to continue agricultural production," said Santa Cruz County Supervisor Tony Campos who attended the event along with a host of other politicians from the region. "We cannot afford to have another break."
The project recently got a $5 million boost from the new state budget, which is expected to get the long-delayed flood control project on track.
The project is designed to replace an aging levee system on the Pajaro and two of its tributaries, Salsipuedes and Corralitos creeks.
Insufficient federal funding has stalled the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer project in the design and evaluation stage for the past few years. The federal government has promised to pick up 75 percent of the $150 million or so tab.
The Pajaro River drains a basin of more than 1,300 square miles. It is approximately 88 miles long, covering portions of four counties: Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Benito and Santa Clara.
"The worst thing for a senator is to have four different counties pulling me in different directions," Boxer said, "So the fact that everybody came together has been such a help to me. I want to commend the four counties in the Pajaro River Watershed for taking the initiative."
The senator went on to address her support for the economic stimulus bill, as well as her advocacy for implementing dramatic changes in the national healthcare system.
The Santa Cruz County Democratic Party sponsored a visit from Boxer to Santa Cruz on Saturday evening. The three-term senator was expected to speak at the Dream Inn about the environment, health care reform and other legislation pending in Washington.#
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