In the Antelope Valley, drilling deep wells for water faces myriad problems
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 13, 2008 at 11:45 amFrom the Antelope Valley Press:
Antelope Valley may be sitting on 52 million acre-feet of water, enough to cover the Valley floor 30 feet deep. Enough, some say, to quench the needs of a growing population for 300 years, maybe more. But at what cost?
Sinking wells thousands of feet deep to reach the deepest water means higher pumping costs, and also draws up water more likely to be contaminated with naturally occurring arsenic and other substances.
In addition, pumping more groundwater than is replenished by rainfall or other sources can result in subsidence: a slow compaction and sinking of the earth’s surface, which can damage buildings and roads and permanently reduce the water storage capacity in the Valley’s aquifers - underground layers of rock and sand that hold water in their pores.
“There will always be water in the aquifer,” said Adam Ariki, Los Angeles County Waterworks assistant deputy chief. “If we extract all of it … the soil’s going to crash on us and we’re all going to sink.”
However, water officials, farmers and others disagree about how much water can be safely pumped from wells without damaging the aquifers and leading to subsidence. Estimates vary from 30,000 acre-feet to as high as 120,000 acre-feet, Ariki said, but most people seem to accept a range of 70,000 to 80,000 acre-feet. (An acre-foot equals 325,851 gallons, enough to supply an average Antelope Valley household for a year.)
If water districts, farmers and other well owners collectively agree to pump about 90,000 acre-feet per year, it will be equivalent to the amount returned to the groundwater basin from rain and manmade activities, Ariki said. “Logically the amount should be equivalent to how much water is being put in the groundwater basin,” he said.
But farmer Gene Nebeker, a former water-quality official, says: “Nobody really knows how safe the yield is, until we take better data over a period of time.”
Accessing the water requires drilling deeper wells and requires more electricity to pump the water out. The deeper water in the aquifer is of poorer quality, of a higher salinity, and possibly tainted with arsenic. Read more from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.
Water dispute may get more hostile as the long-standing adjudication case in the Antelope Valley continues
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 12, 2008 at 11:07 amFrom the Antelope Valley Press:
Hostility is likely to grow worse between farmers and public water providers as the Antelope Valley groundwater adjudication case rages on unless all parties can reach an amicable solution, one Valley alfalfa rancher says.
In order to achieve satisfactory results for everyone, Lancaster alfalfa rancher Gene Nebeker has asked the Palmdale Water District board of directors to “minimize the role of lawyers and technical advisers” in the adjudication, which has dragged on nearly a decade.
The legal snarl began in October 1999 when Diamond Farming Co. filed suit against Lancaster, the Antelope Valley Water Co., the Palmdale Water District and three other water purveyors. Since then, hundreds of entities and individuals have joined the suits and counter-suits.
People lack confidence, Nebeker told the board, that “the judge or any court” could arrive at a knowledgeable ruling to establish equitable groundwater pumping rights.
“They will come knocking at your door, incredibly angry, if they realize your board will set them back to less than 50% of their pumping,” Nebeker said.
In a show of unity, members of the Los Angeles County Farm Bureau and other landowners packed the water district boardroom on Wednesday night as Nebeker presented their position to the board. He said farmers and other landowners, whether or not within the water district boundaries, will be adversely impacted by this case, especially if limited to half of their current pumping capacity.
Nebeker estimates that between 150,000 and 160,000 acre-feet of water gets pumped from the ground each year; others in the Valley put the figure closer to 120,000 acre-feet. Each acre-foot equals 325,851 gallons, the amount of water used in an average Antelope Valley home in one year.
The alfalfa rancher wants his estimate used as a basis for the adjudication equation, and then raised or lowered depending on data gathered from a monitoring system.
He admonished the water district for joining forces with a group dubbed Public Water Suppliers, which includes the Quartz Hill Water District, Littlerock Creek Irrigation District and Rosamond Community Services District. Nebeker claims the group has waged battle with or will initiate a lawsuit against the owners of 190,000 parcels of land in the Valley.
More from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.
In a related story also from the Antelope Valley Press, farmers are infuriated that their water might be cut 50%:
Half the normal amount of water to grow crops means half the yield at harvest, which amounts to a 50% financial loss, according to some Antelope Valley farmers. They worry their livelihood will take a huge hit if the judge’s determination in the Antelope Valley groundwater adjudication case favors the counties, cities and water suppliers such as the Palmdale Water District.
Julie and Gailen Kyle raise hay and alfalfa on nearly 1,600 acres at several sites on the east side of Palmdale and Lancaster. Richard Miner grows alfalfa and hay on 400 acres in the Willow Springs area of Kern County. They’ve heard talk that once the court rules on groundwater rights, they will be restricted to 50% of their current pumping capacity. “If you cut my water in half, you cut my income in half,” said Gailen Kyle, whose family has farmed in the Antelope Valley for 75 years.
Though Miner’s “hay operation” is about a quarter the size of the Kyles’, he said his concerns are just as significant. Miner has been working his farm on Tehachapi Springs Road since 1975. Each year he uses an average of 7 acre-feet per acre of groundwater to grow alfalfa. For 400 acres, that totals roughly 2,800 acre-feet of water in a year. An acre-foot equals 325,851 gallons, the amount used in the average Antelope Valley home in one year.
Julie Kyle said they use about the same amount of water per acre each year as Miner does but have nearly four times the land.
“If the cities think the farmers will accept a 50% cut, this (adjudication) will go on a long time,” Gailen Kyle said.
Read the rest of this story from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.
Who should get underground water? Good question to ponder as Nevada wants to pump from aquifers on border
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 7, 2008 at 6:36 amFrom the Deseret News:
As Nevada jockeys for water to quench a thirsty, growing Las Vegas, officials in Utah have spent about half of a $3 million budget to study valuable aquifers along the border.
Utah Geological Survey researchers are midway through a project that involves digging monitoring wells south of the Dugway Mountain range and near Nevada’s Great Basin National Park to study the quality, quantity and connectivity of aquifers that for decades have supplied Utah water rights holders. “Westerners realize water is limited,” said Lucy Jordan, a UGS hydrogeologist. “So, as a Westerner we all need to make the most out of those supplies.”
Utah lawmakers appropriated $3 million for the study after the Southern Nevada Water Authority filed for rights to 110,000 acre-feet of water on their side of the border:
Does Nevada have the right to go after 110,000 acre-feet of water so close to the border? “That’s an interesting question,” Jordan said. “It depends on who you ask. That’s where the big problems come in. Whose water really is it?”
In talks about who should have access to groundwater that flows underground on both sides of the state line, Jordan said. Nevada officials have maintained water is flowing from their state into Utah. Jordan noted in an interview Friday that Western water historically has gone to whomever began using it first.
Monitoring will continue, with results up until now showing that two aquifers studied are flowing from one to the other and that the quality is good. Jordan said they’ll be looking closely at how spring runoff impacts the volume of those aquifers, which have yet to be tested by any large-scale pumping project.
Read the full text of the story from the Deseret News by clicking here.
Indian reservation asks judge to determine their water entitlement; ruling could affect 6 water agencies & 2900 property owners
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 29, 2008 at 6:26 amFrom Riverside’s Press-Enterprise:
On the edge of a dirt road, Anthony Madrigal Jr. peers over the same sage-covered, boulder-strewn land that his Cahuilla ancestors have lived on for thousands of years. But it’s not the tribal land that’s got residents of Southwestern Riverside County so concerned as much as the water beneath it — and who will get the right to use it.
Cahuilla Creek, a mostly dry riverbed that snakes through the reservation near Anza, belies the amount of water in an aquifer below. Concerned that development in the area will draw on groundwater that belongs to them, the Cahuilla Band of Indians and a smaller nearby tribe asked a federal judge to establish just how much water they’re entitled to.
Although it is unclear what that amount will be, the tribes’ request comes at a time of drought and legal restrictions that have cut water supplies to the Inland region. The ruling could affect thousands of property owners and as many as six major water agencies across much of the 750-square-mile watershed of the Santa Margarita River that stretches from the Anza Valley to Camp Pendleton.
The tribes recently notified the agencies and some 2,900 property owners along the rural back roads of Anza, Aguanga and Sage to the vineyards and avocado groves of Temecula and beyond that they are being added as defendants in the decades-old court case.
Madrigal said tribal members want to legally define the amount of water they are entitled to so they have certainty and the necessary resources to live on their homeland for generations to come. “The tribe can’t sell the reservation. We don’t have the luxury of picking up and moving,” he said.
Some homeowners who are nervous about losing some of their water have formed groups to share legal fees and hire attorneys. The Anza-Aguanga Citizens for Water Rights already counts 1,700 members. The rural areas near the tribal reservations depend solely on local water supplies for drinking and to irrigate crops, and don’t have the infrastructure to import supplies like most urban areas.
“More than anything else, there is this honest fear they have their life savings in their home and they’ll be left without water,” said Jackie Spanley, who used to be an Anza Valley Municipal Advisory Council member and is organizing another citizens group.
Read the rest of this story from Riverside’s Press-Enterprise by clicking here.
Borrego Spring’s aquifer is drying up; residents ponder their dry future
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 4, 2008 at 6:24 am
From the San Diego Union-Tribune:
The desert oasis of Borrego Springs has long seemed immune to Southern California’s periodic water shortages, thanks to an aquifer that keeps the town’s groves, yards and golf greens lush even in the searing summer heat.
Borrego Springs residents use about twice as much water on average as homeowners elsewhere in San Diego County, according to the Borrego Water District. The agency has some of the lowest residential rates in Southern California, giving its customers little financial reason to cut back.
The search for a stable water supply has pitted farmers, homeowners and developers against each another. Each year, water users in the Borrego valley remove roughly five times more water from the aquifer than it collects. “People have taken the idea that there is plenty of water here pretty seriously,” said Richard Williamson, the district’s new general manager.
But Borrego Springs’ mentality about water is changing as the volume of its aquifer – the town’s sole source of water – is shrinking rapidly. In recent months, the push for conservation and the search for ways to secure a stable water supply have sometimes pitted farmers, homeowners and developers against one another.
The community’s water officials have held several public meetings to discuss possible solutions for the water crisis. They’re looking at raising water rates and tapping water from the Colorado River, which would require spending about $60 million to install a major pipeline.
“Borrego is a microcosm of what’s happening through the Southwest,” said William Mills of Yorba Linda, a consultant for the Borrego Water District. “There is just a conflict over water being used for the environment, water being used for agriculture and water being used for the growing population.”
Read the rest of this article from the San Diego Union-Tribune by clicking here. For more on the Borrego Springs water situation, visit The Borrego Water Underground.
Picture of Borrego Springs by flickr photographer kbaird.
Yucaipa City Council approves $3.6 million for project to provide flood protection, recreation, and aquifer recharge
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 27, 2008 at 8:10 pmFrom the Inland Daily Bulletin:
Yucapia - The City Council approved a contract for about $3.6 million to begin building the Oak Glen Creek Basins Project - a string of three holding ponds that will catch rainwater and improve the area’s flood-drainage system.The primary purpose of the project - near Bryant Street and Oak Glen Road - is to provide flood-control protection for residents near the area. It will also add trails and rest areas for visitors.
Including design work, the cost to build the first phase of the project is estimated at $5.4 million, said Ray Casey, director of public works.
“With this project completed, the Dunlap area should be removed from the (Federal Emergency Management Agency) flood map,” he said. “But the most important thing is it will prevent the flooding in Dunlap.”
The project also provides another purpose - an eventual source of drinking water. The retention basins are designed to collect rainwater runoff in three basins. The water will leach into the ground, flow into the aquifer, and eventually be tapped as a source of drinking water by the Yucaipa Valley Water District, Casey said.
Corona-based KEC Engineering is set to begin construction in mid-April.
Read the rest of this article from the Inland Valley Bulletin by clicking here.
City hopes Antelope-Valley East Kern Water Agency will help fund recharge project
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 17, 2008 at 12:54 pmFrom the Antelope Valley Press:
City officials continue on their mission to lure partners for the design and construction of a water recharge project. In that quest, they hope help will come in the form of money. So Leon Swain, Palmdale’s director of Public Works, presented the city plans for the Upper Amargosa Recharge and Nature Park to the Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency board of directors at their meeting Tuesday night.
That project carries a price tag of $14.5 million, and Palmdale has committed to paying $2.5 million of the cost. Swain said the city is seeking $3 million from Proposition 50 funds and hoping for another $350,00 in an Environmental Enhancement and Mitigation Grant from the state for highway landscaping and urban forestry projects.
But an $8.6 million shortfall remains and the share sought from partners has not yet been determined.
Swain described the merits of the water recharge project. “It meets all five water management strategies” cited in the Antelope Valley Integrated Regional Water Management Plan, he said.
The plan involved a meeting of the minds of representatives from all Valley water suppliers, government agencies at city, county and state levels as well as members of the building industry.
Swain identified the following management strategies the Upper Amargosa project would satisfy: water supply management; water quality management; flood management; environmental resource management; and land use management. “This is exactly what the Valley needs,” Swain said.
The project could help close a deficit in between water supply and demand in the valley that, if nothing is done, could mean not enough water in the Antelope Valley in 2035. To read the rest of this story from the Antelope Valley Press, click here.
Measuring groundwater in Nevada: an inexact and controversial science
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 28, 2008 at 5:13 pmFrom Las Vegas City Life:
An interesting story on how things have changed in last 50 or so years. Nevada’s groundwater basins were originally mapped back in the 1960’s, using techniques of the time. Basically back then, they spent a couple of months in a basin studying vegetation and making crude estimates of how much water might lie beneath.
“They spent a couple months in a given basin using a standard approach, but they didn’t have a lot of data to go by,” says Andrew Burns of the Southern Nevada Water Authority. “In terms of an estimate, it’s pretty decent, and since that time a lot of additional data has been collected.”
The statewide “reconnaissance” survey from the ’60s was a piece of thumbnail-sketch science that went broad, but not very deep. But the results are nothing to sniff at; heck, they’re what the state engineer uses as a guide when deciding how to dole out groundwater rights. The comprehensive water portrait shows that Nevada has more than 230 groundwater basins. Now, more than 40 years later — in a rapidly growing state where water is gold — scientists still refer to that dated snapshot of our groundwater situation. There hasn’t been a statewide inventory of water since the ’60s. Since then, a patchwork of studies have offered updates here and there, but the overall picture isn’t as clear as you’d think.
“The interesting thing is that, obviously, some of that data is old,” says Allen Biaggi, director of Nevada’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. “And there are some new methods of evaluating basins.”
To date, only 81 of Nevada’s groundwater basins have been mapped using modern technology. The need exists for a more comprehesive evaluation, but finding the funding is difficult. Several bills have been introduced in the state’s legislature, but none have passed as of yet. Another attempt is planned for 2009.
Meanwhile, not only our techniques for mapping groundwater basins has improved, so also has our understanding of groundwater dynamics:
While water officials and scientists offer reassurances that there’s plenty of water out there in Nevada — in fact, many studies have found there’s more than previously thought — the most recent research has shed further light on a new conception of groundwater. It’s decidedly different than the popular idea of groundwater as big bathtubs of liquid, static and placid, just waiting for someone to dip in.
Even when the money’s there to plumb the desert depths for water, the science isn’t always crystal clear. A case in point resides to the north, where from 2005 to 2006, federal scientists were dispatched to study the area where the Southern Nevada Water Authority wants to tap rural groundwater. The $6 million study scrutinized 13 basins straddling the Nevada-Utah border. The Basin Area Regional Carbonate Aquifer System Study (aka BARCASS), paid for by an amendment to the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, was seen by critics of the rural pipeline plan as a scientific sop to skeptics and a Pass-Go card for the water authority — There, there, now. There’s plenty of water in the area, see?
The good news is there seems to “extra” water flowing out of the 13-basin study area. But the study also had the perhaps ironic effect of reinforcing another idea that’s quickly gaining traction — and one that might make water authority officials squirm. The emerging idea is that groundwater, scientists are finding, isn’t merely confined to a basin as though it were sitting in a sink. Rather, the water slips and slides around beneath the earth in larger patterns called regional flow systems. The inconvenient result: Pumping water at Basin A could spell trouble for Basin Z — or, say, the endangered species of fish that call Basin Z home. Indeed, some critics think BARCASS raised more questions than it answered.
“These aquifers are all connected, and they’re the source for surface water, including rivers that feed Lake Mead, and springs and seeps that are critical habitat for rare plants and animals,” says Launce Rake of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, a foe of the rural pipeline plan. “We don’t understand what’s happening out there. Some scientists are getting a grasp, and the more we know, the more fragile those interconnected environments look.”
Read the full text of this story from Las Vegas’s City Life by clicking here.
Photo illustration by Bill Hughes and Las Vegas City Life.
Desert Hot Springs city councilman calls for groundwater adjudication in the Coachella Valley before the situation becomes dire
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 21, 2008 at 8:54 amFrom MyDesert.com, this commentary from Karl Baker, a city councilman for Desert Hot Springs regarding the serious groundwater overdraft and water use in the Coachella Valley:
… it is this writer’s opinion that unless water is rationed in one form or another, all of the “conservation talk” will fall on deaf ears - especially those whose landlords pay the water bill as well as those who insist on having green lawns and golf courses.
May I suggest a couple of proposals? Treated sewage water is now in use in a moderate way. This water is piped through “purple pipes” and is definitely non-potable but perfectly suited for landscape and irrigation uses. If all new developments were required to have purple pipes alongside potable water pipes - one pipe for inside usage and one for outside usage there could be a tremendous savings of water. Given the advances in technology this purple water
could be piped into the toilets in every home - the dogs might not like it - but inside the home, toilets use the largest amount of water. For example, if the proposed new development in Indio for an abundance of new houses as well as a golf course had “purple pipe” water available, the need to draw from the aquifer would be drastically reduced.
Secondly, and probably more important, the one area of conservation that has yet to be mentioned in solving the water conservation problem is the matter of “aquifer adjudication.” Water law is extremely complex. However, there is a legal remedy available to any water user who draws water from an underground aquifer. The process involves getting an order from a Superior Court limiting all of the water users from a given aquifer - or sub basin - to an amount equal to their established “water rights.” Stated a little differently, if one supplier of water begins to draw water from an overdrafted aquifer (an aquifer where more water is drawn than being naturally or artificially replaced) so as to cause harm to the other water users from that aquifer - the court can limit the amount of water each agency can draw from the aquifer.
Currently the aquifer under the Coachella Valley is seriously overdrafted. The Coachella Valley Water District and the Desert Water Agency are buying water from the Metropolitan Water District to recharge the aquifer. Recent news stories indicate that that source of water (Colorado River) may disappear as early as 2013 and more probably by 2021. Therefore, the only real solution to the water problem in the Coachella Valley is “adjudication of the aquifer.” Developers, will scream, water districts will scream, businesses will scream, golfers will play in dirt and homeowners will have dead lawns. But, by limiting the amount of water that CAN be drawn from the aquifer all of the conservation measures being proposed will not only be desirable - but MANDATORY.
Read the whole text of Mr. Baker’s commentary from MyDesert.com, click here.
Picture of Palm trees in Palm Springs by flickr photographer Rob Lee.
City of Indio stops paying aquifer recharge fee; “We don’t think they are doing any groundwater recharge that benefits the Indio area”, official says
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 20, 2008 at 6:42 amHere’s one I missed, so it’s a little old. From the MyDesert.com:
Coachella Valley Water District and Indio officials are in another water fight.
The water district has filed a second lawsuit against the city, asking a judge to force city officials to pay the district a fee that enables the agency to bring in water from outside the valley to help replenish groundwater. Studies have shown groundwater overuse is causing subsidence, the literal sinking of the valley, which if left unchecked could cause millions in infrastructure damage to buildings, pipelines and roads. District general manager Steve Robbins said the fee is charged to all groundwater users who take more than 25 acre-feet of water a year, including farmers, industries and cities.
One acre-foot equals about 327,000 gallons of water, or the amount of water a typical Coachella Valley home uses in a year.
The district’s recharging fee in the east valley is $7.70 per acre-foot. With Indio Water Authority drawing about 24,000 acre-feet of water from the aquifer each year, the fee has meant about a $185,000 annual cost to the city, Robbins said. But Indio officials last summer stopped paying. According to Robbins, Indio owes the water district $130,000 in back fees, and the amount is rising.
“We believe we were paying a fee we were not getting any benefit from,” City Manager Glenn Southard said. “We don’t think they are doing any groundwater recharge that benefits the Indio area.”
District water officials dispute that assertion. Replenishing the underground aquifer is essential, they said. The valley’s growth has meant the district for years has used about 120,000 acre-feet of water more per year than is returning to the ground. “It’s hard to understand why (Indio) would not be supportive of that” recharging program, district board president Peter Nelson said.
Get the rest of the story from MyDesert.com by clicking here.
Monte Vista Water District implements new injection wells to store water in local aquifer
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 14, 2008 at 7:24 amFrom the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin:
The Monte Vista Water District has a new type of well designed to better store water in the region’s Chino Basin underground aquifer even as the region’s supplies from Northern California have been limited. The well, which injects imported water into the aquifer, will help the water district keep its share of the underground reservoir full for the future. The new injection wells, which would also be able to pump out water, will also help clean nitrate-rich water under the district’s eastern wells to be safe for the public to drink.
Half of the water used by the district is imported from Northern California and the other half is drawn from the Chino Basin, officials said.
Although water officials say there is enough water in the aquifer to support the Inland Empire, imported water from the north has been limited since last year’s court-ordered shutdown of pumps in the California Delta to protect a rare species of fish. The reduced supply of imported water has forced Southern California water agencies to conserve and find other reliable sources of water.
“This is a proactive measure to improve our supply ability and reduce our reliance of imported water supplies from Northern California,” said Monte Vista Water District General Manager Mark Kinsey. “It’s all designed to allow us to better manage our local supplies through reliability.”
To read the full text of this story from the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, click here.
Indio Water Authority approves conservation plan
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 13, 2008 at 6:14 amFrom MyDesert.com:
While stopping short of calling it a water crisis, Indio officials say they are concerned about a dwindling groundwater supply and approved a plan they say will help ensure sustainable levels in the future.
The primary source of water for the city and the surrounding area is a huge aquifer deep in the ground that runs the length of the valley. A report from U.S. Geological Survey recently revealed that land is sinking in parts of La Quinta, Indian Wells and Palm Desert as a result of water being pumped out of the ground faster than it is replaced.
The plan approved Monday by the Indio Water Authority encourages investigation of water management through regional cooperation, source substitution, groundwater recharge and water efficiency at the suggestion of consultants Black & Veatch.
“In Indio’s case, we are going to … put forth conservation measures, we’re going to do all we can to make sure our water quality is second to none and work with our constituents for the future of our growth,” said Jim Smith, the city’s public works director.
To read the full text of this article from MyDesert.com, click here.
Indio preparing it’s own water plan, while some question why
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 11, 2008 at 1:24 pmFrom MyDesert.com:
Indio is creating a water plan that will help the city ensure a reliable water source into the future. At the same time though, the Coachella Valley Water District, with other valley water agencies including the Indio Water Authority, plans to develop an Integrated Regional Water Management Plan that addresses dissipation of the local water supply and the uncertainty of outside sources.
Urban development has contributed to a groundwater overdraft - the water pumped out of the sub-basin exceeds the amount of water recharged, or put back into it. The groundwater from a huge aquifer deep in the ground that runs the length of the valley is the city and valley’s primary source for water.
“We’re deeply concerned about that,” said Jim Smith, the city’s public works director. “I’m surprised that the Coachella Valley Water District and Desert Water Agency have not put forward an integrated plan for the valley.”
Steve Robbins, general manager of CVWD, said Friday that the valley does have a water plan, the Coachella Valley Water Management Plan of 2002, which outlines water management for the entire valley.
He questioned why Indio was preparing a water resources plan.
To read the rest of this story from MyDesert.com, click here.
Lawsuits filed over aquifer overdraft and land subsidence in Coachella Valley
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 11, 2008 at 1:21 pmFrom MyDesert.com:
A group of La Quinta homeowners took the first step to suing the Coachella Valley Water District on Friday, claiming the agency’s overuse of groundwater and the resulting sinking of the valley is damaging their homes. Officials predict it will not be the last lawsuit the water district faces related to subsidence - the sinking of the valley floor caused when more groundwater is used than returned.
It’s a potentially costly offshoot of a growing western water crisis caused by continuing drought, explosive growth, soaring demand and threatened water supplies.
Water district general manager Steve Robbins said he’s not surprised by the homeowners’ claim, a precursor to a lawsuit, served on the agency Friday. A December report from U.S. Geological Survey confirmed that subsidence is continuing in the valley, more than a foot in some places over the past nine years and 3 to 4 inches in just the past two years in the PGA West area. “I just expected whenever people have a problem with something, they always look for anybody they can go after,” Robbins said. “When the U.S. Geological Survey put the study out that said we have continuing subsidence, I figured it was a matter of time before somebody tried to sue somebody over it.”
Some homeowners claim they have extensive damage, including large cracks and fissures in both the interior and exterior of the house. For more on this story from MyDesert.com, click here.
Meanwhile, in other legal action, the Coachella Water District is suing the city and a developer over a large development project planned, which includes 3000 homes and a golf course, whose source of water will be the already-overdrafted aquifer. Also from MyDesert.com:
The Coachella Valley’s overused underground water source is at the center of another legal battle pitting the valley’s largest water agency against the city of Indio. The Coachella Valley Water District is suing the city and a developer over a large project planned for north of Interstate 10 called Citrus Ranch.
The project, on about 1,200 acres at the corner of Dillon and Fargo Canyon roads, is slated to include more than 3,000 homes and an 18-hole golf course. But what concerns water district officials is its plan to use the aquifer as its primary water source.
The district’s lawsuit states the developer’s required environmental impact report that was approved by city officials didn’t follow the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, and that the project in its current form “will irreparably harm the environment.”
To read this story from MyDesert.com, click here.
Litigants to try mediation in long-running Antelope Valley groundwater adjudication case
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 22, 2008 at 6:58 amFrom the Antelope Valley Press:
Attorneys involved in the Antelope Valley groundwater adjudication lawsuit returned to court Monday for the latest turn of events in the case.
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Jack Komar, who is presiding over the case at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles, listened again to the difference of opinions from a field of legal counselors speaking on behalf of plaintiffs, cross-plaintiffs, defendants and cross-defendants in a case initially filed in October 1999 by Diamond Farming Co. against Lancaster, the Antelope Valley Water Co., Palmdale Water District, Palm Ranch Irrigation District, Quartz Hill Water District and Mojave Public Utility District. Since its inception nearly a decade ago, that battle has grown and now involves hundreds of entities.
Komar asked San Diego-based attorney David Zlotnick for his response to some objections regarding a proposed notice intended for owners of small land parcels in the Valley, people who pump water from the ground on their property, according to the court transcript for that session.
Zlotnick represents Rebecca Willis, a Valley resident who owns 10 acres of land near 200th Street West and Avenue B - property where she doesn’t currently pump groundwater. But she entered the lawsuit about a year ago to protect her rights if she wants to pump groundwater in the future. The idea was to have Komar establish rights for a class of nonpumpers with the potential to pump, plus a separate class of small pumpers - landowners who already pump a little groundwater. Zlotnick said believes the main objection to the notice he drafted was that it “wasn’t clear enough” causing pumpers to be “treated as if they were nonpumpers” if they fail to return a response form to verify that they are already pumping.
Zlotnick said he considers the language in the notice he drafted to be adequate, and that adding “more verbiage” would make people less likely to read the notice.
Class certification is just one more issue muddying the complex battle over groundwater rights - who is entitled to pump and how much?
To read the full text of this article from the Antelope Valley Press, click here.
State considering not seeking Superfund status for old Rocketdyne site near Simi Valley
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 16, 2008 at 8:42 pmFrom the LA Daily News:
Vowing to conduct a strict cleanup of the long-troubled Santa Susana Field Laboratory, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday said the state wants to maintain authority over the site and won’t seek federal Superfund status for the area. State officials said they do not believe Superfund status is needed because they are already negotiating with property owner Boeing Co. to clean up the site to the highest standards.
The decision came as the governor also backed off an earlier plan to weaken the standards under which the contaminated rocket lab site near Chatsworth will be cleaned. “Recent state actions, we think, create an unprecedented opportunity to achieve an expedited cleanup of this site with full liability and costs to be assumed by the Boeing Company,” said Linda Adams, secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency.
The state actions were widely cheered Tuesday by neighbors and environmentalists, who said they believe the site is now finally headed for decontamination under the highest possible standards. “There was joy today in the long-suffering community surrounding this very contaminated site,” said Dan Hirsch of the activist group Committee to Bridge the Gap.
But why not the Superfund designation? From the Los Angeles Times:
Linda S. Adams, secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency, said the state might be better positioned to make Boeing more quickly remove the rocket fuel and nuclear test contamination that was left at the site near Simi Valley. “We want a little more time to determine if [a Superfund] listing will be advantageous or not,” Adams said during a conference call that included leaders from the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council. “We think it’s very important to partner with federal EPA but . . . we are concerned that [a Superfund] listing at this time might actually slow down the process.”
Cleanup efforts at several Superfund sites across the nation have been plagued by years of delay.
To read the full text of the Daily News article, click here. To read the full text of the article from the Los Angeles Times, click here.
Region’s water supplies are still low, despite recent rains
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 10, 2008 at 8:50 amFrom the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, this story which recaps water supply conditions for many cities in the area:
Officials across the region continue to struggle with low water supplies and prepare for potential rationing despite the recent rains. Many cities in the San Gabriel Valley are raising water rates and implementing conservation measures. Glendora is planning to dig deeper wells to access shrinking underground water supplies.
Last year’s winter - the driest in 130 years of record keeping - is in large part to blame. That parched season has had a continued impact on water supplies in the Southern California, where demand for water is increasing while supplies are decreasing. “We’re just praying for more rain right now,” said Kirk Howie, assistant general manager with the Claremont-based Three Valleys Municipal Water District. “If we do have another dry year as we did last year, then … there are going to be some hard decisions that need to be made.”
The region has received more than 7 inches of precipitation since the rainy season began, putting rainfall above average for this point in the winter. But the past weekend’s storms are just the beginning of what’s needed to make up for the deficit caused by last year, experts said. “It’s a drop in the bucket,” said Bill Patzert, a climatologist with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Ca ada Flintridge. “We crept into this drought and we will crawl out even more slowly.”
In the San Gabriel Mountains, the reservoirs which supply the valley were almost dry; the spigots at San Gabriel Dam have not been opened up in more than a year. Groundwater levels have dropped almost 60 feet the past year, and water to replenish groundwater basins has not been available. Rationing is a real possibility:
Unless this winter is very wet, water rationing is a possibility beginning next summer. That hasn’t happened since 1991. But officials will first have to wait for word from the MWD as to how much water it can deliver. The MWD distributes water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River delta and the Colorado River to 26 sub-agencies that serve 18 million people in six counties.
The MWD board will consider plans to implement rationing in February or March, spokesman Bob Muir said. “We’re going to put a water supply allocation plan together in case we do face those same challenges (as in 2007),” said Muir, adding that is was too early in the year to predict what conservation or rationing measures would need to be taken.
Conservation is becoming increasingly important:
“If the public actually starts conserving water, we will be in fairly good shape,” said Brad Boman, engineering manager for Pasadena Water and Power. “If people don’t conserve, it could turn into a crisis.”
At this point, few cities have required mandatory conservation. But whether new rules are to be instituted on a wider basis may depend in large part on how much rain the region gets in the coming months. “If we have another year like we did last year,” Williams said, “everybody is going to start feeling the pinch.”
To read the rest of this article from the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, click here. The article has an extensive photo gallery of pictures taken at the San Gabriel reservoir, plus a video link as well.
Picture of the San Gabriel reservoir is by flickr photographer raphaelmazor. The picture is from a happier time, dated September of 2006, which was before the dry year last year. If you look carefully, you will see that the bathtub ring on the surrounding mountains is quite large, even at that time. Click on the picture to see it enlarged and to visit the flickr website, where you can see lots of great photos from this & other flickr photographers.
In the Santa Clarita Valley, recent rains used to recharge groundwater
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 8, 2008 at 8:41 amFrom the Santa Clarita Signal, news that some of the recent rainfall was used to recharge groundwater basins:
The rain was good news for the L.A. County Department of Public Works, which oversees the Val Verde Water District in the western part of the Santa Clarita Valley. Val Verde maintains various facilities that trap and store rainwater for later use.
A memo to the county Board of Supervisors from the DPW revealed that 8,700 acre feet of stormwater runoff was collected in the spreading grounds over the weekend, and an additional 5,700 acre feet was impounded in reservoirs. “The spreading grounds take stormwater that would otherwise run off to the ocean, and route it to the underground water supply, saving it from waste,” said Melinda Barrett, water conservation program manager for the L.A. County Waterworks Districts. “We’re saving as much stormwater as possible to replenish the groundwater basin.”
Though the majority of water used in the Santa Clarita Valley comes from Northern California Sierra Nevada runoff, about 40 percent is pumped from underground aquifers, natural reservoirs that store water as deep as 2,500 feet below the earth’s surface.
“Locally, the rain help is very beneficial and will help recharge the aquifers,” said Dan Masnada, general manager of the Castaic Lake Water Agency. The agency owns one of the four retail agencies which supply the Santa Clarita area.
Despite intense preparation and planning, the much-feared mudslides never occurred. Bouquet Canyon Road was closed for a short time Saturday because of a minor debris flow, but no major earth movement was seen in the recent burn areas. Firefighters were somewhat surprised but relieved by the lack of activity. “We were prepared, but thankfully nothing happened,” said Art Marrujo, spokesman for the L.A. County Fire Department.
To read the rest of this story from the Santa Clarita Signal, click here.
Land subsidence in the Coachella Valley a big concern
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on December 28, 2007 at 11:07 amFrom the Desert Sun:
Land is sinking in parts of the Coachella Valley where groundwater is being pumped out faster than it’s being replaced. If the excessive draw-down continues, infrastructure - including sewers, pipes and roads - could suffer significant damage, potentially costing taxpayers millions of dollars. That’s according to a recently released study by the Coachella Valley Water District and the U.S. Geological Survey.
Although Indio, the valley’s largest city, is being spared the brunt of this subsidence, it’s surrounded by areas in Bermuda Dunes, La Quinta and Coachella that have dropped by as much as a foot in some places. The water district provides drinking water to some Indio residences and delivers irrigation water to golf courses within the city.
Most of Indio, however, is serviced by the Indio Water Authority. The authority commissioned its own survey, with the results due on Jan. 14, said Jim Smith, Indio’s public works director. Water district and geological survey’s report released Dec. 17 studied a period between 1996 and 2005, and showed significant changes, or sinking of the land, in at least four areas: Indian Wells, La Quinta, Palm Desert and the Coachella-Indio area. “We have a problem,” said Steve Robbins, the district’s general manager-chief engineer. “It is a valley-wide problem we all have to deal with.”
To read the rest of this article from the Desert Sun, click here.
Coachella Valley sinking due to groundwater overdraft - more coverage
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on December 19, 2007 at 3:30 pmHere’s the Riverside Press-Enterprise version of the groundwater overdraft story yesterday. It includes a few more details:
Parts of the Coachella Valley have sunk more than a foot in nine years because too much water is being pumped from the aquifer below, according to a report released Monday by federal scientists and the valley’s largest water district. The findings raise concerns that streets could buckle, sewer lines could break and trenches could appear in the earth if golf courses, residents and businesses don’t conserve enough water.
The sinking is not irreversible, but water district officials said it will take projects worth $110 million to help stabilize the ground.
According to the United States Geological Survey study, the amount that the ground has dropped ranges from about 3 to about 13 inches between 1996 and 2005 in an area stretching from Rancho Mirage to Coachella.
To read the full text of this article from the Riverside Press-Enterprise, click here.