Antelope Valley East Kern Water Agency strikes deal with Tejon Ranch
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 25, 2008 at 2:21 pmFrom the Antelope Valley Press:
Drought conditions and other circumstances have forced water purveyors in Southern California to wheel and deal everywhere imaginable to service their customers.
In response to this year’s water shortage, Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency board members on Tuesday night unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding with Tejon Ranch Corp. for the transfer of 8,393 acre-feet of supplemental water that Tejon Ranch had purchased as backup but does not need anytime soon.
So Tejon will deliver the water to AVEK beginning Sept. 30, with the entire transfer completed by Dec. 31. An acre-foot equals 325,851 gallons, or enough water to supply an average single-family household for one year.
AVEK General Manager Russ Fuller considered the arrangement fair to AVEK and Tejon Ranch. “This is one of the best deals that we have seen for a dry-year water supply,” he said. “We appreciate Tejon making this water available,” and making all the connections to make this work.
Read more from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.
Palmdale Water District approves rate study; firm will study tiered rate structure
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 14, 2008 at 7:02 amFrom the Antelope Valley Press:
Water rates could change for customers of the Palmdale Water District once a study of the rate structure has been completed, but which way is unknown.
The district board, on a 5-0 vote on Wednesday night, approved an agreement with Raftelis Financial Consultants, Inc., a nationwide firm with an office in Pasadena. Raftelis will prepare a water rate study for the district at a cost not to exceed $136,000.
Among its services, the water and wastewater financial consulting firm, conducts studies of water rates and develops a model by which to calculate rates.
If implemented, a tiered rate structure would assign a water use budget to district customers based on the number of people living in a home, the amount of landscaped area on the property and daily evapotranspiration data - the amount of water needed to keep a lawn green during day-to-day weather changes.
Water district customers would be expected to stay within their allotted amount of water use as a means of conserving water - a resource currently in short supply because of a two-year drought compounded by pumping restrictions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta mandated by a U.S. District Court judge to save the delta smelt.
Read more from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.
Antelope Valley groundwater adjudication: Best water deal won’t flow from courtroom, says editorial
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 11, 2008 at 6:15 amFrom the Antelope Valley Press, this editorial:
After nine years of legal maneuvering over rights to pump water from the Valley’s underground aquifer, Antelope Valley water districts, cities, farmers, property owners and others go back to court next month for a new phase of trial - but still no conclusion is in sight. It’s time for the Valley’s leaders to stop this slow, costly, cumbersome attempt to rely on a judge to solve the Valley’s water problem and solve it themselves.
Farmers and Lancaster city officials have endorsed a proposal that is a worthwhile starting point for a negotiated settlement.
The proposal is to allow pumping to continue at current rates while an independent expert monitors well levels. If well levels drop, that would indicate what’s called an overdraft, in which more water is being pumped out than is replenished from rain or other sources. Water districts, farmers and other well users then could meet again to agree how necessary cutbacks in pumping should be shared.
Using observations of well levels, taken over several years, would provide hard evidence that well pumping is too great, as opposed to the theoretical calculations of replenishment rates advanced - and disputed - by numerous studies over past decades.
Collecting data on well levels could mean no final apportionment of well pumping rights for 10 years or so, but the court battle is unlikely to provide a final resolution before then, at the rate it is progressing.
Read more of this editorial from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.
California City concerned about water supply, availability
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 6, 2008 at 7:17 amFrom the Antelope Valley Press:
As in communities all over Southern California, water supplies and availability are a pressing concern for California City, and one residents will have to consider more often as supplies tighten.
Public Works Director Michael Bevins presented a status report and forecast on the city’s water supplies during Tuesday’s regular City Council meeting.
The city depends on the Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency for 25% to 33% of its water supply, Bevins said. The remainder is pumped from the aquifer below the city by a series of wells. A study commissioned in the 1990s recommended the city draw as much water as possible from the water agency, which has resulted in lower pumping rates in the recent years, Bevins said. Although California City’s supply is reasonably secure now, that is not the case across the region.
“The issues with water are regional, they’re not just local,” Bevins said. “The actual supply of available water has been dropping the last couple year,” Bevins said, with Northern California reservoirs - from which the southern half of the state draws much of its water - are already depleted, he said.
In addition, the pumps used to move water through the system from the north to the south have been found to be harmful to the endangered Delta smelt fish, causing such pumping to be greatly curtailed under a court order. These two issues combined mean there is much less water available from the state system, Bevins said. AVEK is cutting its deliveries to 10% to 15% of normal.
Read more from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.
Antelope Valley officials weighing costs as water rates rise; who should pay for the needed water infrastructure?
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 1, 2008 at 7:02 amFrom the Antelope Valley Press:
As Antelope Valley cities and water agencies dig deep into their pockets to pay for water banking projects, recycled sewage facilities, distribution pipelines and other water infrastructure worth millions of dollars, all water users may feel a pinch on their own budgets.
New ordinances are cracking down on water wasters, and tiered rates used by some water agencies are designed to keep overuse in check. Developers are paying higher fees to build new homes and may be asked to pony up more money to finance retrofitting of older homes’ inefficient toilets, shower heads and appliances to free up water for new use. Cities may be forced to cut programs or services to pay for water projects just to sustain their existing residents, businesses and parkland, officials fear. And more collaboration between cities and water agencies may be required to pay for a slew of projects as future water demand outstrips water supplies.
“The elected officials have to make the tough decisions. That’s the bottom line,” Lancaster Vice Mayor Ron Smith said. “What are we going to have to do? We’re going to have make cuts someplace else. There’s only so much of the pie. We’re not like the federal government where we can just print our own money. So if you want a million dollars here and you don’t have it, that means you have to cut a million dollars there,” Smith said.
Whether or not the Antelope Valley adds more homes and inhabitants, the price people pay for water is going up. Moving water from Northern to Southern California is getting more expensive as energy costs go up. Treating water to meet stiffening health standards is more expensive.
“As we lose water for environmental reasons in Northern California, it has to be made up. All that water is much more expensive. So without any additional growth in the Valley, you’re still going to see increased water costs,” said George Lane, an Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency director.
Read more from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.
Antelope Valley officials mull takeover of L.A. County Waterworks
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on August 24, 2008 at 5:16 amFrom the Antelope Valley Press:
Twenty-two years ago, Lancaster officials tried to take over the county water district that serves much of the city, but backed off after opposition from Palmdale and local water agencies. Now, as water supplies become less reliable and adequate storage and delivery systems are lacking, that effort may be revived.
With the Antelope Valley served by numerous water districts and private water companies, some local officials believe the Valley would be better off if Lancaster and Palmdale were to take over Los Angeles County Waterworks District 40, which supplies water to most of Lancaster and west Palmdale. It’s a decision Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris said he “absolutely” supports, but said the two cities must act jointly. “I think that the region should take over County Waterworks,” Parris said.
“There’s a benefit to the city having a single water purveyor within the city limits,” Lancaster Councilman Ed Sileo said. “Now the argument is, should District 40 expand to cover the whole city, or should the city take it over? “There’s no reason to believe that if we took over the water district that we wouldn’t do an equal or better job for the same or less amount of money,” he said, noting that Lancaster once paid the county to perform its public works services like street maintenance, but now does the work itself.
Los Angeles County Waterworks District 40 has stopped promising water to new developments due to court-ordered cutbacks in deliveries from the California Aqueduct. The order is meant to protect the Delta smelt, which live in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and get sucked into the giant pumps that send water south through the California Aqueduct.
Some city leaders believe supply is not the only problem. They argue the water district has not kept pace with needed storage facilities, water tanks and pipes to serve existing customers and to deliver water to growing areas. Not until three years ago did the waterworks district begin collecting water supply fees from developers to pay for water banking, recycling and groundwater supply.
“I do think there will continue to be discussions because local control is always better in these kind of service-providing situations,” said Randy Williams, Lancaster’s Public Works director. “It would help us to better be in a position of continuing to take care of citizens and to take care of new development at the same time.”
Read more from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.
In water fight, Antelope Valley home builders seek solutions
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on August 18, 2008 at 6:29 amFrom the Antelope Valley Press:
Can the dream of homeownership - at least in the form of a new Antelope Valley tract home - still be a reality despite the Valley’s water woes? Home builders say “yes,” and insist they are part of the solution by helping build new water supply infrastructure and in bringing in water-saving technology and less-thirsty landscaping for new homes.
But developers caution that turning off the spigot to new building also will turn off new jobs, shopping opportunities and other commercial and recreational amenities.
“I have great concerns that next year I could go to brush my teeth or turn on the shower and not have any water come out of the tap. And so I understand when a homeowner says, ‘Well you know, I need to protect mine right now and I don’t think we should allow any new homes to go in,’ ” said Tom DiPrima, North Division President for KB Home, which has developed subdivisions for thousands of homes in the Antelope Valley over the last 20 years. “Unfortunately those are the same homeowners saying, ‘Why are we not getting any more new retail and why are we not getting any new employers?’
“If we get to a point where we have a moratorium on growth, that moratorium will be very broad based. It won’t just be new homes. It will be on retail, it will be on commercial and valuable jobs we need,” he said.
Executives of companies considering opening new stores or plants in the Valley examine population growth projections, DiPrima added. “Those companies that look to invest in communities, and open a new store, they look at new rooftops. They don’t look at existing rooftops,” he said.
Read more from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.
Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency faces possible shakeup
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on August 16, 2008 at 6:33 amFrom the Antelope Valley Press:
For the first time since Neal Weisenberger gained a seat on the Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency board of directors, he faces an election challenge.
Lancaster resident Marlon Barnes, a 47-year-old Northrop Grumman Corp. firefighter and Air Force veteran, has put in his bid for AVEK’s Division 6 seat, a post Weisenberger has occupied for 11 years.
Water agency board members in 1997 appointed Weisenberger to fill the vacated seat of Duard Jackson, a retired California State University, Los Angeles professor who moved out of the area. Since being appointed to the board, Weisenberger, a 52-year-old Antelope Valley College agriculture and landscape professor from Lancaster, has run unopposed.
In fact, director Dave Rizzo, also up for re-election, considered Weisenberger to be lucky in the 1998, 2000 and 2004 elections for not having to campaign. “Now he has to earn his position like everyone else,” Rizzo said with a smile, adding that he was kidding.
But neither Rizzo nor Weisenberger is laughing too hard. They believe a politically motivated strategy is behind an effort to unseat them and longtime board member George Lane, who has served as a board director since 1977.
“I heard rumors that there were certain people looking for someone to run against me,” Weisenberger said. Therefore, when Barnes filed his papers, he added, “I wasn’t surprised … because of the rumors.”
Taxes, groundwater adjudication and water quality are expected to be the main issues. Read more from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.
Antelope Valley recycled water proposal available for public review
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on August 14, 2008 at 4:00 pmFrom the Antelope Valley Press:
With water in short supply throughout the Antelope Valley, the proposal for a backbone system to distribute recycled water is moving along.
Los Angeles County Waterworks District 40 staff have prepared a draft environmental impact report on the proposed project, the North Los Angeles/Kern County Regional Recycled Water Project. The draft EIR is now available for public review. The 60-day public review period will end on Oct. 3, said Dave Rydman, a civil engineer and water resources manager for L.A. County Waterworks.
A public workshop is set for 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 11, and a public hearing for 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18, in City Council chambers at City Hall, 44933 Fern Ave.
“Recycled water projects tend to initiate a lot of interest from the public,” Rydman said. “We will hear and document all comments.”
Since the review period for the draft EIR began a little more than a week ago, Rydman said that L.A. County Waterworks has already heard “a lot of good comments from the public. We’ve got a lot of support because of the water issues in the Antelope Valley - the fact that the demands which have been identified can’t be met with the available supply.”
The document was prepared in cooperation with members of the Antelope Valley Integrated Regional Water Management Plan, including Lancaster and Palmdale; the Palmdale Water District; the Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency; the Quartz Hill Water Agency; the Rosamond Community Services District; and L.A. County Sanitation Districts 14 and 20, Rydman said.
“Recycled water was a major component of the (plan),” Rydman pointed out. “This EIR covers the full scope of the (Valley’s) regional recycled water project.”
The project would encompass the Rosamond, Lancaster and Palmdale wastewater treatment plants, and run through portions of unincorporated Los Angeles County, including Quartz Hill.
The water will be used for irrigation of greenbelts and parks, industrial use, agricultural irrigation, cooling water for power plants, and groundwater recharge. Read more from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.
Water issues tax Antelope Valley’s growth
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on August 10, 2008 at 9:00 amFrom the Antelope Valley Press:
Earlier this year Palmdale was told that its General Plan - the city’s blueprint for growth - was not viable considering the area’s limited water supplies and lack of facilities to store supplies. That news came from consultants who prepared a regional water management plan to help solve the region’s water shortage and provide reliable supplies long into the future.
Palmdale’s General Plan, which is being updated, calls for a total build-out within the 174 square miles of the city and surrounding areas of 139,205 housing units and a population of 441,280. In 1980, Palmdale had 4,658 housing units compared to 24,439 in 1990. The estimate in 2000 was 39,468 units. “Growth is not our problem,” said Councilman Mike Dispenza. “The use of water in that growth is our problem.”
According to the regional water management plan, the inability to approve new development within the city could hurt the economy and affect all water users in the Antelope Valley if water deliveries are cut back or rationing occurs.
According to a Greater Antelope Valley Economic Alliance report, retail sales in the Antelope Valley grew from $2.5 billion to $3.5 billion from 2002 to 2005, and over the same time period the number of new housing units grew by more than 300%. If a moratorium on development were imposed in 2010, this increase in revenue growth would likely flatten or decrease, says the regional water management plan.
While the economy has slowed projected growth and Los Angeles County Waterworks has stopped promising water to new development, Palmdale leaders are optimistic that a change in building standards and conservation measures will help free up water for new building projects.
Part of the problem is the amount of water - about 70% of all water use - that is sucked up outdoors for landscaping, Dispenza said. While the downturn in housing and the real estate markets mean less pressure is placed on water supplies, “We need to learn during this time so we will be able to handle growth in the up cycle,” he said. When the housing market improves, “hopefully some of the steps we put into place will show we can live with growth,” Dispenza said. “This is not easy. That’s the reason it’s so exciting.”
Read more from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.
Antelope Valley water leaders call for unity
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on August 7, 2008 at 11:35 pmFrom the Antelope Valley Press, a recent workshop in the Antelope Valley provided water officials and residents to discuss the vital issues facing the Antelope Valley water supply, which include heavy dependence on imported water and the current groundwater adjudication case, currently dragging itself through the court system. A brief history of water development in California was given by Ron Davis, state legislative director for the ACWA:
Davis said 20th-century solutions “focused on resource extraction for utilitarian purposes” whereas 21st-century solutions “must invest in sustainability (requiring) comprehensive investment plans.” He cited water conservation, recycling and desalination as some possibilities, along with increased surface storage.
He told the crowd they “need leadership like (California) had in the early 1900s” in order “to move forward.”
Laura King Moon, assistant general manager of the State Water Contractors Association in Sacramento, concurred. “There’s a lot of politics involved” with water decisions, she said. The impact of a water shortage hasn’t yet been felt locally, Moon said, “because water agencies have been digging into their drought reserves.”
Some problems are regional in nature:
“The biggest challenge facing water in the Antelope Valley is trust or lack of trust,” said Curtis Paxton, assistant general manager of the Palmdale Water District. “People have been fighting over water many years. There’s been several efforts over the past 20 years … that fell apart.”
From PWD’s perspective, Paxton said, administrators must strike a “balance between what’s best for our district and what’s best for the region.” Water suppliers and land-use planners have been at odds, with a wide gap separating them, according to Paxton. “The Grand Canyon has existed between the two groups,” Paxton said, adding that recent legislation has forced them to work more cohesively.
However, the adjudication lawsuit remains. “Adjudication is a knife to our necks,” alfalfa rancher Gene Nebeker told the crowd. “During these stressful times, it’s important to work together. Collective efforts can best serve the region.”
In theory, no one disputed that.
Read more from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.
Officials: Look locally for water supply; Recycling proposed as one solution
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 28, 2008 at 11:33 pmFrom the Antelope Valley Press:
California’s powerful economy and explosive population were built by bringing water from areas with abundant supplies to serve as a lifeline for drier regions. But as demand increases and as drought, environmental considerations and other factors make the water supply less reliable, state and local water experts think communities should look closer to home for new water supplies.
“It’s important that we raise awareness of how fragile our water system is because a lot of our water comes from long distances. And we could lose that supply from a natural disaster or a political disaster,” said Lancaster City Councilman Ed Sileo.
Court-ordered cutbacks restrict how much water can be pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta into the California Aqueduct. The restrictions are meant to protect the Delta smelt, a fish species threatened with extinction.
Those restrictions, along with drought conditions, mean the Antelope Valley will have access to less water from the aqueduct next year. About 80% of the Valley’s water supplies come from the California Aqueduct.
To date the water cutbacks have cost the state economy nearly $400 billion, according to Lester Snow, Department of Water Resources director.
“In the 20th century we got water by building dams and pulling it out of the natural environment. That is not how we’re going to get water in the 21st century. We’re going to get water from investing in local resources like recycling plants,” said Timothy Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies.
Recycled water is obtained by treating sewage to remove impurities and sediments for reuse. The level of treatment depends on the quality of the initial water and how it will be used. Recycled water is not potable - it cannot be used for drinking or bathing - but it can be used for irrigating landscape and crops that people don’t eat, such as alfalfa, as well as for industrial processes, recreational uses and flushing toilets.
“We need to double, triple and quadruple our efforts to recycle and reuse water, and agencies throughout California are ready to do so,” Quinn said. “More water reuse is absolutely critical to meeting water demands as the state’s economy grows in the future,” he said.
Local city and water officials agree.
Read more from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.
Water needs pit north vs. south; Antelope Valley faces 80% reduction by next year
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 27, 2008 at 10:27 amFrom the Antelope Valley Press:
When Realtors were marketing California City in the 1960s, they were not allowed to use the word “desert.”
“We were the Antelope Valley,” Public Works Director Michael Bevins said. “We also have this wonderful lake, this beautiful golf course, and people would come and just be totally amazed with it.” Trouble is, the marketing strategy was not based in reality. “It was a fraud in the years of ‘65 and ‘70 and it’s not changed at all.”
Bevins wants to stop referring to the area as the Antelope Valley: “This is the desert; water doesn’t exist here.”
While Bevins’ version may seem extreme, the reality for California is that two-thirds of its water originates in Northern California, while 80% of the demand is in the southern two-thirds of the state.
Farmers compete for water with residents, businesses and industry, while environmentalists keep new storage and distribution systems in check to protect sensitive environments.
Next year, local water experts are predicting that the half of the Valley water supply coming through the California Aqueduct will be reduced by 80%. Kern County Supervisor Don Maben is so worried about how the cuts will affect the economy, he called a water summit nine days ago to discuss strategies with local city and water officials. Palmdale Water District has called its own water briefing for this week.
“You remember what happened in 1990? The housing market collapsed, the savings and loans failed … the economy here in the Valley, in the high desert in general, suffered greatly from those results, and, as Yogi Berra said, it’s déjà vu all over again: We have a state budget that’s in the tank, the housing market is gone, financial institutions are failing,” Maben said.
In addition, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proclaimed a statewide drought. Court-ordered restrictions on pumping water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta into the California Aqueduct are reducing the amount of water that is coming to the Valley.
With the extreme cutbacks forecast for the Antelope Valley, water agencies are looking for more water, but so is everyone else:
Fuller is expecting water agencies to be cut back next year to 10% of the water they are allowed to receive from the aqueduct, compared to a typical figure of 60% to 70%. AVEK is shopping for more water, but given all the other competitors that are looking for that water as well, Fuller said he doesn’t expect much success. “It’s going to be very, very expensive, but you know when you don’t have water, price is always relative,” Fuller said.
A 10% allocation for AVEK is 14,500 acre-feet, enough water for about that many families in Antelope Valley for one year.
“If we’re able to buy enough supplemental water, maybe to double that figure, or maybe even better than double, we’ll feel pretty good for next year, but that’s still a drastic cut from what people are used to,” Fuller said.
Los Angeles County Waterworks District 40, which supplies water to most of Lancaster and west Palmdale, is one of AVEK’s biggest buyers, but also pumps water from wells. The district has relied on water from AVEK for the past 10 years, when it’s available, conserving its groundwater supplies. “We use water conservation aggressively, then when the time comes to rely on groundwater supply, we reverse this process,” said Adam Ariki, assistant division chief for Los Angeles County Waterworks.
The Waterworks District has over the last several years supplied its customers about 60,000 acre-feet a year, of which two-thirds comes from AVEK, Lancaster Public Works Director Randy Williams said.
“If we experience a cutback in AVEK supplies to 10% of their contract value, Waterworks District will get 8,000, maybe 8,500 acre-feet,” enough to serve about 8,500 homes, Williams said. “That’s a far cry from the 40,000 acre-feet they normally get. … They’re not going to be restricted only to the 8,500 acre-feet, but they are going to be restricted to about 50% of what they had been serving for the past number of years,” he said.
Read more of this story from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.
Antelope Valley groundwater adjudication case drags on for nearly a decade, racking up millions in lawyer’s fees
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 23, 2008 at 6:51 amFrom the Antelope Valley Press:
After nearly 10 years, millions of dollars and at least 26 studies, the players in a legal battle over water pumping rights are still haggling. More than $5 million has been spent on the litigation by public agencies, with Los Angeles County Waterworks Districts at the top, spending about $2 million, and Palmdale Water District in second place at $903,799.
“It could buy a hell of a lot of water,” attorney Bob Joyce, whose client Diamond Farming Company launched the legal battle in 1999, said about the spending. “It could go a long way toward solving the problem.”
“This thing is an unfortunate waste of resources in my view, not only for taxpayers but for private capital. I’ve seldom seen money put in lawyers’ pockets that generates anything positive to the community or anything constructive. It is money that goes down a hole that never benefits anybody,” Joyce said. “Litigation is a poor vehicle for addressing and solving political problems.”
In a court document, Joyce accused water district officials of trying to wear down the landowner parties by making the groundwater-rights litigation - technically called adjudication - costly and lengthy. “This litigation pits the might and funding resources of the government against the separate individual property rights and limited resources of hundreds of separate landowners,” he stated.
A water district attorney denied the charge.
Attorney Tom Bunn, who represents Palmdale and Quartz Hill water districts, said adjudication is expensive, and water officials were surprised when Joyce’s client started this one. “We were brought into it against our will,” Bunn said. “Palmdale Water District did not favor an adjudication, in part because of the costs, but the direction we’ve had from our clients is to minimize the costs for all sides.” Bunn added: “We’re looking for a quick resolution, by settlement if possible, but otherwise by a judge determination.”
City and water officials said they dislike the case’s length, as well. “The only people who like adjudication are attorneys. We don’t like it,” said Jeff Storm, Palmdale Water District director. “It is a lawyer’s retirement act right now, like a fox in charge of the henhouse. When it stops being a cash cow, it will be settled,” Palmdale City Councilman Mike Dispenza said.
While the water districts and other public agencies have spent millions, the amount spent by farmers, property owners and others isn’t clear. Attorneys for Diamond Farming and Bolthouse Farms, which filed the original lawsuits over groundwater pumping rights in 1999 and 2001, respectively, would not disclose how much their clients have paid.
However, according to court records, Diamond Farming has spent more money on the legal battle than its land is worth “by a sum in the multiples.” Joyce said the sum is less than $1 million.
Aside from the carrot growers, other area farmers have spent tens of thousands of dollars on court costs. But they complain that as taxpayers in Los Angeles County and the Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency, they are also indirectly paying the costs of attorneys on the other side.
“Every entity that we’re fighting, whether it’s the county or the cities or the water purveyors, all their attorneys are being paid for by the taxpayer. And nobody wants it done faster than we do because we’re having to foot the bill ourselves,” said onion and carrot farmer John Calandri. “Nobody’s helping us. Believe me, when we get a bill, we’re scratching our heads wondering how long we can hold on.”
Grain and alfalfa farmer John Pierre Maritorena agrees. “We’re paying them to fight us.”
Read more from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.
At war over Valley water rights; Farmers fear they’ll get short straw in court fight
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 21, 2008 at 6:38 amFrom the Antelope Valley Press:
A farmer needs two things to produce his crops: his land and his water.
In the long, often contentious court battle to determine water rights in the Valley, local farmers are seeking rights to the water under their land and the ability to sell water from their wells for use within the Antelope Valley. They are suspicious of efforts to restrict access to the groundwater, which has allowed many of them to farm the Antelope Valley successfully for generations.
Last year, more than 16,000 acres of the Antelope Valley were farmed, producing crops that included alfalfa, onions, carrots and peaches. The Valley’s 2007 crops were worth more than $53 million, according to the Los Angeles County Agricultural Commission. Success of those crops depends on a reliable source of water - groundwater pumped through wells or water imported from north of the Sacramento Delta through the California Aqueduct.
Farmers are at odds with Los Angeles County, Lancaster, Palmdale and water purveyors, all of whom are fighting for their own water rights to satisfy a growing demand by residential customers, businesses and industrial users.
Farmers are also at odds among themselves regarding the right to sell well water. Most farmers want the ability to sell excess water under their land. But carrot growers, who lease much of the land they farm, fear water transfers will unfairly limit their access to available land by making water sales more lucrative to landowners than leasing.
Some purveyors and city officials think farmers want access to all of the groundwater, while the farmers believe the cities and purveyors are making a grab for water that belongs to them.
One source of conflict among farmers is the county’s claim that it has higher priority to the water in the Valley’s basin than farmers. But farmers claim owning land and drawing water for their own use outweighs this appropriation by the county.
Farmers are still bristling over comments made four years ago by Los Angeles County in a lawsuit brief alleging that using water “for irrigation purposes is unreasonable in the arid Antelope Valley and constitutes waste and unreasonable use … and is thereby unlawful.”
“I think there’s a lot of people who eat food that would probably disagree with that,” said John Calandri, a third-generation farmer who has been farming on the east side of Lancaster for 43 years.
The Calandri farm produces onions and carrots and ships onions across the United States and as far away as Australia and Italy. Local farmers scoff at the notion that the dry, windy Valley is not a good place to raise crops. “It’s a very difficult place to farm. But if you can get through the elements you can raise a really good commodity for the consumer,” Calandri said. “Quality-wise, it’s one of the most recognized areas in the United States for onions,” he said.
Read more from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.
Antelope Valley groundwater adjudication: Farm Bureau offers equitable water plan
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 21, 2008 at 6:33 amFrom the Antelope Valley Press:
The Los Angeles County Farm Bureau wants Antelope Valley farmers to get a guarantee that they can pump groundwater at historic levels, plus a right to sell water from their wells to water districts or others inside the Valley. Written by five local farmers, a policy adopted by the local bureau seeks to settle a nearly decade-old legal battle over groundwater pumping rights by establishing plans to manage the groundwater basin and ensure transferable water rights. Transferable water rights would allow farmers to sell the rights to the water under their land to a water purveyor or private party for use within the Valley.
Under the policy, landowners who are using water on their property would receive a share of the benefits of the use of storage space in the basin. Reserving water to replenish the basin would be a top priority, but water could also be stored for use by overlying property owners, such as farmers or other water users. Water storage could be rented to entities outside the Valley, or water could be imported and stored for future use.
“I’m afraid a lot of (water) suppliers want to cut landowners back to less than 50% of historical pumping,” alfalfa farmer Gene Nebeker said. “It’s going to be economically devastating to the Valley. I also believe that would stimulate court action that could go on for a decade, probably.”
Nebeker estimates that farmers pump about 105,000 acre-feet of water per year. (An acre-foot equals 325,851 gallons, enough to supply an average Antelope Valley household for a year.)
Additional court action would delay efforts to monitor groundwater pumping Valleywide, as well as delay storing water in the basin. It could also force water agencies to withhold water for new development and force them to recharge the groundwater basin, he said.
Most of the Valley’s farmers are squarely behind Nebeker’s assessment, but Nebeker has his detractors. “Nebeker is a very intelligent man, but he has his own agenda,” Palmdale City Councilman Mike Dispenza said. “We must all get past our own agenda. Everybody is not going to get their way.”
Read more from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.
Antelope Valley: Rosamond discusses water issues and growth, and Lancaster discusses conservation options
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 16, 2008 at 2:00 amFrom the Antelope Valley Press:
Although there’s currently a moratorium on so-called “will-serve” letters in Rosamond, the Rosamond Community Services District will be conducting public hearings in the next 90 days regarding the letters - notes from water agencies promising to supply new homes and businesses.
Jack Stewart, Rosamond Community Services District interim general manager, told members of the Building Industry Association’s Antelope Valley Chapter about the concerns facing Rosamond during a BIA luncheon Wednesday at the John P. Eliopulos Hellenic Center.
The Antelope Valley groundwater case, scheduled to go to trial Oct. 6 in San Jose, sits at or near the top of that list of worries. “We’re concerned with the outcome. No one has a crystal ball,” Stewart said. Having sat in adjudication meetings the last two or three months, he said, he watched the attorneys representing the entities involved in suits and countersuits sit around talking without arriving at a solution.
The battle has been going since October 1999, when Diamond Farming Co. filed suit against Lancaster, the Antelope Valley Water Co. and Palmdale and Quartz Hill water districts and three other agencies. Hundreds of other landowners, farming interests and government agencies have joined the battle.
Stewart told the crowd he had little faith in the water attorneys. Instead, he recommended taking the water purveyors, users and farmers and locking them in a room for a few hours. That way, he guaranteed they would come up with a solution.
“We want to protect current landowners, stimulate housing and protect agriculture,” Stewart said.
Stewart noted that 63% of the water comes from groundwater, 37% from the Antelope Valley East Kern Agency, and that these supplies are inadequate for the future. Read the full text of this article from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.
Meanwhile, next door in Lancaster, officials held a water workshop to discuss steps to protect and conserve the water resources:
City officials say they are considering measures such as mandating separate water meters for indoor and outdoor water use; restricting the size of lawns and types of plants; requiring homebuilders to landscape back and front yards and to install water-conserving clothes washers; and requiring homebuilders to tell prospective buyers how much water their homes will use.
City officials said they expect to draft a proposed new-development water conservation ordinance and then circulate it among homebuilders, water agencies and other parties for comment.
Last week, the City Council unanimously enacted water-use restrictions that include a prohibition against watering lawns between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. The restrictions also prohibit residents or businesses from letting water flow for more than two minutes into gutters, or from using a hose to clean sidewalks or driveways.
Read more of this story from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.
Effort underway to recall three Palmdale Water District directors
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 15, 2008 at 10:51 amFrom the Antelope Valley Press:
Critics of Palmdale Water District directors Jeff Storm, Dick Wells and Dave Gomez are walking neighborhoods to collect voters’ signatures needed to demand a recall election against the trio. Recall committee members on May 14 received the go-ahead from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office to begin collecting signatures. The recall committee must obtain 7,061 valid signatures of citizens registered to vote within the water district boundaries by Sept. 11.
“The people we’ve spoken with have all been willing to sign, with one exception - someone who said he personally knew one of the directors,” said recall proponent Gordon Dexter, a former Palmdale Water District board member. “But he did sign the other two petitions.”
Dexter and Laura LaMoreaux, wife of Dennis LaMoreaux, the district’s ousted general manager, said they haven’t tallied the number of signatures obtained so far because the petitions were divided up between more than 100 precincts, with one person in charge of the group canvassing each area.
“We’re going to pull them all in at the end of July and see where we’re at,” Laura LaMoreaux said. “Then we’ll determine what approach we need to pursue in August.”
“We’re trying to maximize the number of people out collecting signatures,” Dexter said.
Asked to comment on the recall campaign, Wells said he appreciated the opportunity but added, “I don’t want to comment.” Gomez and Storm did not return calls.
In their formal responses to the recall charges, Wells, Gomez and Storm said the recall is an effort by district director Raul Figueroa and former directors Dexter, Ron Cunningham and Nolan Negaard to take over the water district. “This is not a recall. It is a coup attempt,” Wells wrote in his formal response. “It is an attempt to get by revolt what they couldn’t get at the ballot box.”
Recall proponents deny the accusation. They say the recall is also supported by former directors who have been off the board for years, as well as by district customers, by noncustomers who live inside the area in which the district collects taxes and by numerous district employees.
A majority of recall proponents say their main motivation is the ouster of Dennis LaMoreaux in a vote by Storm, Wells and Gomez. “I’ve known Dennis LaMoreaux for maybe 20 years. I think he’s one of the most knowledgeable people regarding water in this Valley. And we have a real water problem here,” said Joyce Freeman, widow of 12-year Palmdale Water District board member J.B. “Jay” Freeman. Freeman called LaMoreaux “one of the most conscientious people I’ve ever met. I went to a meeting. About 20 people got up and asked, ‘Why? Why do they want to replace him?’ To my knowledge, they never gave a reason.”
Get the rest of the story from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.
Mistrust creates water crisis: Insufficient storage facilities contributed to water loss
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 14, 2008 at 10:00 amFrom the Antelope Valley Press:
Antelope Valley has let at least $100 million worth of water slip through its grasp over the past 16 years, enough to supply several hundred thousand families for a year.
Since 1992, between 300,000 and 400,000 acre-feet of water has bypassed the desert through the California Aqueduct, all for lack of storage facilities to capture what local suppliers are entitled to take, said Russ Fuller, manager of the Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency. Lack of leadership, lack of trust among water users, and a lack of reliable data have been blamed for the Valley today facing cutbacks on water use, limitations on development and the inability to move forward on building water facilities needed to ensure adequate water supplies.
Court battles are being waged over water rights while simmering feuds continue between public agencies, farmers and private water companies over who should manage groundwater supplies.
Earlier this year, 11 agencies put their differences aside and adopted a comprehensive regional plan designed to help solve the Valley’s water shortage and provide reliable supplies long into the future.
But why did it take so long to get here?
Many say it boils down to poor relationships among government leaders and an unwillingness on the part of agencies to relinquish control in exchange for a united approach that would help solve the Valley’s problems region-wide. Despite contentious interactions over water for more than 20 years, some leaders say they simply didn’t believe there was a problem.
“I think the resources, at the time, we thought were infinite,” said Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford, who has been involved in Palmdale politics for 23 years. “We didn’t see a need to cut back. Our growth curve was at a point where we could sustain (ourselves) based on the water deliveries that were contractually in play. We just didn’t have an awareness, and the nature of this, the severity of this, was not I think fully understood by all parties.”
Lack of awareness is not limited to public leaders.
“Water is one of those things people just don’t think about until they go to get in the shower or flush the toilet or turn on the tap,” said Lancaster City Councilman Ed Sileo.
Read more from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.
Water: Is it drying up? Antelope Valley water boards say supply not enough for development
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 13, 2008 at 11:48 amFrom the Antelope Valley Press:
Antelope Valley is the last frontier for large-scale population growth in Los Angeles County with undeveloped land open for future residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural development. But can current and future water supplies sustain a region that is projected to house 1.2 million people by 2045?
Data outlined in a newly adopted regional water management plan for the Valley shows demand outstripping the supply. “We’re basically going to run out in 2008,” said Adam Ariki, assistant division chief for Los Angeles County Waterworks.
That doesn’t mean residents will turn on empty taps any time soon. But it does mean County Waterworks District 40, which serves much of Lancaster and west Palmdale, has stopped telling developers that water is available for new projects. Ariki said it would be irresponsible to promise water to new homes and businesses without first finding a new water supply. It’s a decision some Antelope Valley leaders find harsh.
“The moment word gets out that we’re somehow shut down for business, we’re in huge trouble and have got to fix that issue,” Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris said. “We’re going to respond with all of the resources we can muster,” said Parris, who is looking to Palmdale, sometimes an adversary, as a potential ally. “There are two major areas that the city of Palmdale and the city of Lancaster had better get married on, and that is crime and water,” Parris said. “And if we would do that, if we would come together and aggressively work together, because we are certainly going to die of thirst together, we could solve this tomorrow.”
Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford said a regional water plan adopted by 11 agencies earlier this year will serve as “a launching pad where we can now work collectively and without stepping on each other’s toes, recognizing the fact that we all share in this responsibility.”
Already, Antelope Valley and Southern California rely heavily on water that comes from Northern California through the California Aqueduct. But global warming and environmental problems are making imported water increasingly unreliable, which is changing the face of water supply and delivery. The changes mean that wheeling and dealing between water buyers and sellers is increasing outside traditional practices. Recycled water has become the “new” water, and water users may have to adjust to higher costs for a commodity that has been historically cheap.
Developers, who are hunting for their own sources of water, may have to resort to trade-offs such as retrofitting older homes with low flush toilets and low-flow shower heads to free up water for their proposed developments. New residents may have to give up their attachments to lush green lawns in favor of drought-tolerant landscaping and cut back on outdoor water usage. Existing residents may find developers willing to pay for their lawns to be ripped out and replaced with xeriscaping. And all residents will be asked to step up conservation efforts.
“The public needs to understand we have a significant challenge in managing our water resources,” Ledford said. “We don’t want them to panic, because that’s not necessary. But we do need them to help us by changing some of their behaviors and be partners in bringing solutions to this crisis.”
While this year has been tough, next year is a big concern:
Los Angeles County supervisors announced this month that if the drought continues into next year, Antelope Valley and other parts of the county may have to start rationing water. The Public Works Department says Waterworks District 40, which serves the Antelope Valley, would be one of the hardest hit water agencies if the State Water Project continues to cut supplies. The aqueduct supplies 80% of the water used by waterworks district customers.
Local water suppliers believe they can get through this year, but are worried about 2009.
The Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency, which supplies aqueduct water to smaller water districts, will fall short of meeting its customers’ demands this year, but “the really, really serious situation is ‘09,” AVEK General Manager Russ Fuller said. He expects the state Department of Water Resources to allocate only 5% to 15% of normal State Water Project supplies next year, due to a very dry spring this year. And what happens elsewhere in the state directly affects how much imported water will be available in Antelope Valley.
Read more on this story from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.