$4.3-billion water retrofit is ready to get underway

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 20, 2008 at 5:55 am

From the Milpitas Post:

MILPITAS residents might not have noticed but a week ago two San Francisco boards gave their final decisions in two areas which now permit the huge seismic rebuilding of virtually the entire San Francisco water system. Targeted completion date is 2014 construction will take that long. And the costs of paying for the $4.3 billion will have to be shared by Milpitas and its fellow water users in 27 other cities and special districts throughout the Bay Area.

Final decision on how and when to begin collecting for the huge project have been deferred by the city council here after major protests deluged city hall. But it is likely that the newly elected council (which will only have one new member) will have to come to grips with that deferral in the coming year.

Two Oct. 30 actions in San Francisco saw that city’s planning commission approve the final environmental impact report for the set of 37 construction projects along the 170 miles of pipelines, dams, power plants and the like. The same day, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission that runs the water system from Yosemite National Park down to the users, wrestled with a knotty dilemma of keeping adequate flow for the rapidly diminishing Tuolumne River salmon. That decision limits the needed growth in the supply for the next 10 years.

Read more from the Milpitas Post by clicking here.

November 20, 2008 · Filed Under Bakersfield

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Lois Henry: Water in the river still a possibility

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 17, 2008 at 6:12 am

From the Bakersfield Californian, this column by Lois Henry:

We still have a shot at getting real river water back in that dry, brown gulch running through town. But you — yes, you — have to pay attention and stay involved.

The State Water Resources Control Board is still deciding if it will hold a hearing on whether river water forfeited by a local irrigation district last year may be claimed by the city of Bakersfield, which has vowed to run it down the natural channel. I know, I know — glaciers have formed and melted while this board ponders a hearing. Makes you wonder if we get a hearing, how long it will take to get an actual ruling. Don’t ask.

I’m being told there may be a decision soon, so this is where you come in. Notes, e-mails, postcards, smoke signals — send them. Even if you’ve written before — if you really want that river — write again, call, stand on the Padre and holler until Sacramento hears you. Our voices count, but we have to amp up the volume.

Because despite what local ag water districts have said — that the Kern is all tied up and there’s not a drop to spare — there is something known as the public trust doctrine that figures heavily into the mix. That doctrine holds that rivers belong to all the people and, coincidentally, the board has a duty to protect that right. But the public has to demand its share.

Read more from Lois Henry in the Bakersfield Californian by clicking here.

Hat tip to Lloyd Carter’s Chronicles of the Hydraulic Brotherhood.

September 17, 2008 · Filed Under Bakersfield

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Power plants and water treatment facility clogged by debris in upper Kern

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 17, 2008 at 7:00 am

From Bakersfield Now:

Thunderstorms have hit areas recently burned by wildfires north of Kernville, and that run-off has ended up in the upper Kern River. The river was running a dark brown through Kernville on Wednesday afternoon. It looked like liquid mud where Patrick McCaughey was fishing in the park. He’d never seen the water like this on this part of the river. “Not with so much silt and all in it,” he told Eyewitness News.

Some of the river water is pulled out for treatment at the California Water Service plant in Kernville. The plant was making some water Wednesday afternoon, but only about one-third of their usual supply.

Technicians say the dirt-filled water clogs the plant in-takes from the river. Cal Water said the plant usually produces 1,000 gallons of water a minute. But as of Wednesday, it was down to about 33 gallons a minute.

Cal Water put out the word, they want people in Kernville and Wofford Heights to cut back water-use as much as possible. “I think it’s a good idea,” Riverkern resident Shelby Eller said. “We don’t need to use that much water, anyway.”

Not only has the dirt & silt caused problems for the city’s water treatment plant, but also for local power plants as well:

.. the dirty water in the upper Kern River has also forced the closure of the hydro-electric power plant just north of Kernville. Southern California Edison says that plant was shut down on Tuesday, the first day of bad water on the upper Kern.

“It gets into the tunnels and it just mucks everything up.” SCE spokeswoman Deborah Hess told Eyewitness News. “You’ve got to worry about all the mechanics, so you’ve got large logs and such that can get in and wreak havoc.”

The power plant above Kernville usually makes 36 megawatts of electricity. Hess says it was down to 15 megawatts just before the bad water. She says a megawatt can supply enough power for about 650 homes. Hess says SCE hopes to get that plant back on line soon.

But, river water is also still bad in the lower Kern River — and that’s forced the closure of an SCE plant in the canyon.

That’s KR-1, and it’s being clogged by run-off from the “Piute Fire” — the same run-off that caused problems in the community of Lake Isabella. Hess says KR-1 usually produces about 25 megawatts of power.

Read more from Bakersfield Now by clicking here.

July 17, 2008 · Filed Under Bakersfield

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Flash flood run-off makes trouble for Bakersfield drinking water

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 15, 2008 at 6:59 am

From Bakersfield Now:

Flash floods in the mountains are causing problems for Bakersfield drinking water. Dirt and silt are being washed down the Kern River, forcing California Water Service to shut down one water treatment plant — and cut back another to 10-percent.

Floods have washed water down Erskin Creek near Lake Isabella during thunderstorms Saturday, Sunday, and again Monday afternoon. That sent families for higher ground — and eventually filled the Kern River with dirt from the recently-burned areas of the Piute Fire.

That river water is used for drinking in several parts of Bakersfield, but they can’t treat water with as much sediment as it has now.

“We’re treating, but we’re using emergency supplies in the Northeast treatment plant,” California Water Service District Manager Tim Treloar told Eyewitness News Monday afternoon. “As of right now, we’ve had to shut down our Northwest plant.”

Treloar is asking residents in the northeast and northwest part of Bakersfield to be judicious about their water use for the next few days. More from Bakersfield Now by clicking here.

July 15, 2008 · Filed Under Bakersfield, Drinking Water

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Water rationing isn’t in Bakersfield’s (immediate) future, but conservation is still needed

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 4, 2008 at 10:24 am

From the Bakersfield Californian:

Water rationing could be in California’s immediate future — if not this summer, quite possibly in summers not far distant. The Sierra snowpack is significantly down this year — again. It’s so far down that state and regional water officials have broached the subject of enforced consumption limits.

But not in Bakersfield. We’ve got more water than the typical California city. Surprised? Me too. We’re used to getting the short end of things here. The worst air, high rates of asthma, diabetes, infant mortality, you name it. I look at the dry riverbed we call the Kern River and assume we’re one harsh summer away from an outright ban on swimming pools.

But it turns out we’re water-wealthy — at least as water-wealthy as a desert city can be in the chronically parched American West.

“We have built systems that prepare for droughts,” says Florn Core, the city of Bakersfield’s water resources director. “We store so much of our water underground, we are pretty safe. It’s your coastal cities and metropolitan areas that might have problems. They rely on surface water. We’re able to store water underground here, thanks to our geography and geology.” And our foresight.

But the dry conditions are already forcing water officials to pump water from those underground aquifers. Allow those water levels to continue to dwindle each year and, if conditions persist, restrictions become inevitable. The water we’ve been saving for the proverbial rainy day — or, in this case, a devastating succession of non-rainy days — becomes an even more valuable commodity.

Read the rest of this article from the Bakersfield Californian by clicking here.

May 4, 2008 · Filed Under Bakersfield, Conservation

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Hey Bakersfield residents! If you want water back in the Kern River, act quickly

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 30, 2008 at 3:16 pm

From the Bakersfield Californian:

Rivers help define the cities they flow through, and in many cases the cities also define the rivers. St. Louis, Cincinnati, Sacramento — all are situated on rivers of historical import and aesthetic character. Bakersfield, by comparison, has the Kern River — or, more accurately, it has the Kern Riverbed.

Now, thanks to a recently settled lawsuit, Bakersfield may soon be able to enjoy the many benefits of a river. A wet river.

But we have to speak up, and quickly.

Californian columnist Lois Henry has stumbled upon a rare opportunity for this community to weigh in on the possibility of a flowing, trans-urban Kern River. In April 2007, a judge hearing a 12-year-old lawsuit between two local water districts found that one of the districts had forfeited its rights to some Kern River water. He said the Kern might no longer be “fully appropriated,” meaning some water might be available to a water district that did not previously have a recognized claim to it. He said it was up to the State Water Resources Control Board to decide.

The City of Bakersfield filed an application, asking that it be awarded this “spare” water. The city said it would run that water down the natural channel of the Kern River.

Allowing the water to run in the river again will help recharge the aquifer. If you want to help out, contact the State Water Resources Board in support of the city, but they are only taking comment through tomorrow. To read the rest of this editorial by the Bakersfield Californian, click here. To read the original article by Lois Henry, which includes talking points & contact info, click here.

January 30, 2008 · Filed Under Bakersfield

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Columnist dreams of the Kern River being a river again - and sees an opportunity for that to happen

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 28, 2008 at 5:08 pm

From the Bakersfield Californian:

I want a river. I want a river so bad I can taste it.

You can tell me all day long how much more beneficial it is to carve the Kern River into a Hydra of canals and ditches that help sustain our ag economy. And you’d be right — to a point. But isn’t there just a little water from the mighty Kern that can be set free down its ancient path?

Turns out there might be. Here’s why:

A 12-year-long lawsuit between two local water districts culminated last year in a judge finding one of the districts had forfeited its rights to some Kern River water. The judge also said the Kern might no longer be “fully appropriated” — in other words, there might be loose water available — but that was up to the State Water Resources Control Board to decide.

Once that happened, a flurry of petitions and applications were filed with the board, including one from the City of Bakersfield asking that the board a) declare the Kern not fully appropriated and b) give the forfeited water to the city. In its application, the city states it would run that water down the natural channel of the Kern River. Gasp!

It seriously made my heart beat faster when I read that. You may remember we had a river for a short time back in the spring and summer of 2006. The Corps of Engineers was concerned about Isabella Dam busting, so they lowered the lake, dumping water on us. So, it wasn’t exactly “natural” and there was some serious worry involved, but who cares!

We had a big, full, fat, lazy, beautiful river. And I swear it made Bakersfield a different city. I saw people on the bike path marveling at the water, the plant life, the wildlife. People canoed and kayaked and swam and picnicked on and around the river. It was amazing how this ribbon of water through the city changed things, lightened them, made a hot sticky day bearable, made the air seem clearer, made the blind see (OK, I’m exaggerating, but only slightly). Personally, I was spellbound.

I want it back. And here’s our opportunity.

Lois is looking for other supporters to send letters and emails to the State Water Resources Control Board on Bakersfield’s behalf. To read the rest of this article from Lois Henry and the Bakersfield Californian, and to find out how you can help, click here.

Picture of Kern River in the 1920’s by flickr photographer Beedle Um Bum.

January 28, 2008 · Filed Under Bakersfield, Environment & Water

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment