Department of Water Resources
California Water News
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
August 11, 2009
5. Agencies, Programs, People –
Blue Lake to discuss budget
Eureka Times-Standard
Trinidad still considering water rate changes
Eureka Times-Standard
Some rebel, some adjust to Simi water rules
Ventura County Star
American Leak Detection to Offer Leak Surveying Seminar at Water Conference
The Desert Sun
A zanjero is remembered for keeping one step ahead of the water
San Bernardino Sun
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Blue Lake to discuss budget
Eureka Times-Standard-8/11/09
The Blue Lake City Council will be discussing its budget, public safety services and a water rate increase at its meeting tonight.
According to the meeting agenda, the council will discuss the proposed 2009-2010 budget, while also considering the mailing of a request for proposals for city audits.
The council will also receive and discuss a water rate analysis and recommendations provided by SHN Consulting Engineers and Geologists, and announce a public hearing on the water rate increase.#
http://www.times-standard.com/ci_13035934?IADID=Search-www.times-standard.com-www.times-standard.com
Trinidad still considering water rate changes
Eureka Times-Standard-8/10/09
By Jessie Faulkner
While the details of a proposed new water rate structure have not been finalized, the Trinidad City Council has agreed that water conservation, lowering charges for customers outside of the city limits, and raising revenue to support the system are the primary objectives.
The issue will be revisited at Wednesday's council meeting, with the agenda item suggesting scheduling a public hearing on Oct. 21 at 7:30 p.m.
At the last meeting, the council considered a rate structure establishing a $24 monthly base rate, first 200 cubic feet at $3 per 100 cubic feet with the per cubic feet rate rising thereafter and that out-of-the-city customers pay 25 percent more on all costs, down from the current rate that is 50 percent higher.
The council had, according to the staff report, asked for information on how this proposed rate structure would affect all customers.
”That report could not be generated by the current software billing system,” City Manager Steve Albright's report stated, “and would need to be done by hand (looking at each individual account for 12 months). As a result, this information is not available.”
The proposed change in the rate structure may also require the city to seek voter approval, under the provisions of state Proposition 218, a matter the city attorney is reviewing.#
http://www.times-standard.com/ci_13029564?IADID=Search-www.times-standard.com-www.times-standard.com
Some rebel, some adjust to Simi water rules
Ventura County Star-8/10/09
By Anna Bakalis
Chris Biller refuses to abide by Simi Valley’s new watering rules.
Biller was told by the city years ago that he had to plant more than $21,000 worth of trees, shrubs and flowering vines outside his store, Greta’s Guns on Los Angeles Avenue. Since 2003, he’s been watering consistently to keep it green and lush.
Now, the city says he can water only three days a week.
“It’s unreasonable, and I’m not going to do it,” Biller said. “My trees are dying.”
So every morning at 5 a.m., he runs the irrigation system for 15 minutes. “If they are going to fine me, go ahead and fine me,” he said.
Simi Valley declared a “Level 1” water-shortage emergency effective Aug. 1, limiting outdoor water use to three days a week in the summer and two days in the winter.
Some residents are upset about the new rules, which restrict outdoor watering to before 9 a.m. or after 5 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Others are calling the city’s water conservation hotline, asking how they can change watering habits to comply.
No citations have been issued yet for overwatering in Simi Valley. City officials say they are interested in getting the word out though an educational campaign, not through fines.
Four inspectors take turns responding to calls and e-mails about the restrictions, said Wanda Moyer, manager of the city’s water conservation program.
She said of the 354 calls and e-mails the city had received through last week, 286, or 81 percent, were inquiries, while 68, or 19 percent, were either complaints about the restrictions or tips about possible water abuse and leaks.
Moyer said about 40 percent of the complaints involved businesses, 29 percent were about residences, 13 percent were about public areas and 18 percent involved homeowners associations.
The majority of the calls involve people who want to do the right thing and be in compliance, Moyer said. “We’re all in this together,” she said.
Other cities that receive water from the Calleguas Municipal Water District have approved similar restrictions, including Thousand Oaks and Camarillo. Calleguas is mandated to cut usage by its supplier, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Given the state’s severe drought, Metropolitan’s goal is to reduce total water deliveries by 15 percent by June 2010.
Some cities have multiple sources of water, but Simi Valley gets almost all of its supply from Calleguas.
Biller, 70, said he didn’t want to put in a row of $600 trees when the city required him to do it, and is frustrated now that the city isn’t allowing him to keep them well- watered.
Many businesses and developers are required to include such landscaping as part of development agreements with the city.
But irrigation requirements for residents and businesses will not change, said Jerry Clark, a landscape architect with Simi Valley.
“The ordinance the city adopted deals with existing landscaping and just getting everyone through this crisis mode,” Clark said.
He said the state by next year will require more drought-tolerant plants to be used in development landscaping. For now, Clark said, people need to adjust their watering practices.
“They’re probably overirrigating anyway,” Clark said. “Proper management is the best cure for plant materials.”
Rob Giberson, a Simi Valley resident, is aware he lives in a desert climate and has designed his yard accordingly, with succulents such as aloe vera and blue agave. He even has a rock garden.
“You can beautify without abusing the landscape,” Giberson said.
He believes people should be able to plant and water however they wish, but for him, a $500 water bill last year was the push he needed to take out his rose bushes and put in cacti. He sticks to the city’s rule of watering three days a week and still has a little patch of lawn for his dog.
Calleguas, which supplies most of Ventura County, reported a 15 percent decrease in overall usage in July, the first full month of monitoring since cities established water conservation programs.
Simi Valley decreased water use by 13 percent last month, just missing the mark, public works officials said.
Moyer said the top question the city gets regards the exact days and times people can water. The city also gets numerous complaints about broken sprinklers on public property.
Just about every morning, John Robbins rides his Harley into Simi Valley at 6 a.m. from the Highway 118 offramp at Sycamore Drive. For several years, he said, he’s seen a stream of sprinkler water collect into a puddle on Cochran Street.
He said he’s reported it to the city three times but still sees the water every morning.
“It’s such a waste, especially now when the city is asking everyone to cut back on water,” Robbins said.
Public Works Director Ron Fuchiwaki said the city is aware of it and has contacted the property owners about the problem, which appears to be a case of overwatering. Fuchiwaki said his department’s policy is to “go out and fix leaks as soon as we can.”#
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2009/aug/10/some-rebel-some-adjust-to-simi-water-rules/
American Leak Detection to Offer Leak Surveying Seminar at Water Conference
The Desert Sun-8/10/09
American Leak Detection (ALD), the world leader in accurate, non-destructive detection of all types of leaks, is participating in the California-Nevada Section of the American Water Works Association's (CA-NV-AWWA) Educational Extravaganza, taking place Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at Santiago Canyon College in Orange, CA.
“We are looking forward to collaborating with the other water agencies and experts who will be on hand for this all-important conference,” says Jimmy Carter, Senior Director of Corporate Field Services for ALD. “California is facing one of the worst water crises in history, and now is the time for everyone, including those in our industry, to step up and do their part to conserve this most precious resource. We will share our approach on how to make that happen.”
The Educational Extravaganza is a one day event that features numerous technical programs that offer up-to-date information about the drinking water industry. The event represents a convergence of professionals from several different backgrounds, and provides an invaluable opportunity to network, exchange ideas, and learn about the future of drinking water.
Carter's seminar is titled “Introduction to Water Accountability and Leak Detection,” which will cover topics like water loss, pinpointing and estimating leaks and modern methods of leak detection. Carter is scheduled to speak from 1:40-2:30 pm and from 2:40-3:30 pm.
For more information or to register for the conference, go to ca-nv-awwa.org. For more information about American Leak Detection, call 800.755.6697 or visit www.americanleakdetection.com.#
http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009908100326
A zanjero is remembered for keeping one step ahead of the water
San Bernardino Sun-8/10/09
By Joe Blackstock
The race began the same way most summer mornings for James C. McCoy.
Each day about dawn for nearly three decades, he would throw open a barrier, sending a river of water cascading down the slopes of the Inland Valley in one of hundreds of irrigation ditches.
McCoy would then speed off in his truck into the agricultural fields of Ontario and Upland hoping to beat the water to his first customer.
If he was on time to each gate, the groves were irrigated; if he was late, everyone was in a mess of trouble.
Between 1935 and 1965, McCoy followed this hot weather ritual almost daily as part of his work as a zanjero. That position has lost its meaning today, but at the time it made him one of the most important men around.
The zanjero is a Spanish word used extensively throughout Southern California in the past describing the water master or manager in charge of a system of ditches that delivered water for agriculture and domestic use.
In Los Angeles about 1860, for instance, the zanjero was such an important position that it paid more than the mayor's job.
Working for the San Antonio Water Co., McCoy was charged with delivering water from a reservoir on 15th Street in Upland via a patchwork of small canals and ditches to lemon or orange groves.
This water, moved down the slope by gravity, was the way growers kept their trees alive during the months between Southern California's all-too-short rainy seasons.
In an oral history he gave to the Upland Public Library in 1978, McCoy said he drove 2,000 miles a month throughout Ontario and Upland, working every day without break during the summer for the water company.
And each day was the same race involving time and gravity.
"A zanjero delivered water just like an engineer starting out with a train of boxcars in San Bernardino, and when he lands in Los Angeles, he's supposed to have four boxcars for Los Angeles," he said. "He has distributed so many boxcars at different points along the way to Los Angeles."
McCoy would start the morning armed with that day's list of water orders from the various growers. Each delivery was calculated through a complicated formula based on the size of each gate regulating the water that went into the fields.
McCoy would let out the appropriate amount into the main canal, starting his liquid "boxcars" down the hill. He would race to the gate of his first customer, getting there in time to release the water into the grove. When the requested amount of water was delivered, he would close the gate again, sending the water down the main canal to the next grower.
"You had to stay ahead of the water, it's going to flood somebody if you don't have it under control at all times," he said.
McCoy became the zanjero about 10 years after he came to Upland from his native Indiana. As a young man, he joined the Army's Coast Artillery and was assigned to Hawaii. There he met his wife, and they married in 1925.
He quit the Army shortly thereafter and bought an orange grove at 7th Street and San Antonio Avenue in Upland. McCoy also took a job as a citrus grader for an Upland packing house, where he worked before becoming the zanjero in 1935.
By all accounts, McCoy was not only somebody the ranchers could absolutely count on to keep their trees alive, but he was also a very decent man.
While McCoy worked at the packing house, President Roosevelt declared a bank holiday in March 1933, freezing all U.S. bank assets for four days while the administration worked to prop up the failing banking system. It meant any money in the bank was inaccessible.
This was devastating at the packing house for three of McCoy's co-workers who had families and had no money at all. McCoy broke into a valuable collection of $5 gold pieces and gave one to each of his fellow workers to get by with until the banks reopened.
While the money was repaid by each of the men, the $5 gold coins had been spent by the families and were gone.
After he retired in 1965, McCoy stayed very active until his death on Nov. 12, 1979, by doing charitable work on the Navajo reservation in Arizona with the First Presbyterian Church in Upland.#
http://www.sbsun.com/search/ci_13031670?IADID=Search-www.sbsun.com-www.sbsun.com
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