Overwhelmed by conservation, Yolo County wants a say; Supervisors consider local regulation of mitigation efforts

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 25, 2008 at 6:29 am

From the Sacramento Business Journal:

Yolo County officials and farmers are growing nervous as water utilities, housing developers and private conservation banks eye the county as a prime spot for wetlands mitigation efforts. Five proposed and pending projects would convert about 2,500 to 3,000 acres from farmland to riparian wetlands, vernal pools and other habitats, Phil Pogledich, senior deputy county counsel, wrote in a report to the Board of Supervisors.

And there could be more acreage on the way. The Bay Delta Conservation Plan, created by water agencies, environmentalists and state officials, proposes restoring and creating 100,000 acres of wetlands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Among the proposals: remove levees at the south end of the Deep Water Ship Canal, which connects to the Port of Sacramento, to inundate 2,000 to 5,000 acres of farmland.

County officials are concerned enough to consider regulating wildlife habitat projects. Although they have not proposed specific measures, they have suggested mimicking Solano County, which requires a conditional use permit for wetlands-creation projects. That approach means the project proponents have to prepare environmental reviews detailing potential impacts to adjacent farms and wildlife species.

Read more from the Sacramento Business Journal by clicking here.

November 25, 2008 · Filed Under Other Delta Issues, Sacramento

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Low Folsom Lake exemplifies water problems

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 21, 2008 at 11:04 pm

From Sacramento’s News 10:

State water managers were at Folsom Lake Friday morning to demonstrate how the low lake level impacts water supplies and reinforces the need to conserve.

The lake, which local water and irrigation distrcits rely on for much of their water, is at 25 percent capacity. That is the lowest level since the early 1990s.

Last summer Gov. Schwarzenegger declared the state was in a drought after two years of less-than-average rainfall. Thursday, the state Department of Water Resources warned of another dry year ahead and possible water rationing. A number of communities have enacted water conservation measures, Roseville and Folsom among them.

Read the rest of the story and view the newscast with footage of the low levels in Folsom Reservoir by clicking here.

November 21, 2008 · Filed Under Sacramento

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Average rain year won’t cut it; still, Sacramento area will fare better than most

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 5, 2008 at 6:33 am

From the Sacramento Business Journal:

California’s new water year started Wednesday with sunny skies and Folsom Lake storage at about half of average for this time of year.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation — which manages Folsom, Shasta, Oroville and other reservoirs in the Central Valley Project — classified the water year that ended Tuesday as “critically dry.” It cut back water allowances for municipal and industrial customers with Central Valley Project contracts by 25 percent and irrigation customers by 60 percent.

If Northern California receives average precipitation this winter, the Bureau of Reclamation might be able to provide full contract allocations next year, said Paul Fujitani, chief of water operations in the Bureau’s Central Valley operations office. But if it’s another dry year, water utilities and irrigation districts could face more cutbacks next summer.

“Folsom Reservoir, luckily for us, is one of the easier reservoirs to fill in the Central Valley Project,” Fujitani said. “If we get average (precipitation) this year, that would give us a real good chance of filling up the reservoir.”

Managers of some Sacramento-area water agencies that issued voluntary calls for conservation said they will probably keep those alerts in place for at least the next few months. They want to give the lake a chance to fill if there’s any rain.

But if Folsom fills up and the other reservoirs remain critically low, water contractors in the Sacramento region might still experience cutbacks. The bureau’s allocations apply to all Central Valley contractors, even if there’s more water in one area than another. “An average year won’t solve our problems,” said Shauna Lorance, general manager of San Juan Water District. “We need a very wet year, or several average years in a row.”

Read more from the Sacramento Business Journal by clicking here.

October 5, 2008 · Filed Under Sacramento, Water Supply

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Residents oppose Aerojet well to track tainted water

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 3, 2008 at 5:34 am

From the Sacramento Bee:

Plans to drill a well in Fair Oaks to monitor a plume of contaminated groundwater migrating from Aerojet’s Rancho Cordova rocket-engine facility have stalled over residents’ objections. “We won’t be drilling in seven days,” Aerojet’s Timothy Murphy told the sometimes angry and loud crowd who attended a community meeting Wednesday night.

The meeting was hosted by the Fair Oaks Water District and Aerojet to inform area residents of the planned well at Park Avenue and Winding Way, a rural, residential area.

To serve as a monitoring well, the drilling site needs to be at a leading edge of the plume that has migrated under the American River and is advancing on Fair Oaks and Carmichael 250 feet underground. The well is planned as part of Aerojet’s $1.2 billion Superfund site cleanup of the rocket fuel contamination from its Rancho Cordova site.

If the monitoring well later is installed and confirms the edge of the plume, another well will be drilled next to it to extract the contaminated water and pipe it back underground to an Aerojet water treatment facility in Rancho Cordova.

Read more from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.

October 3, 2008 · Filed Under Sacramento

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Secretary Kempthorne announces $48 Million contract for Folsom Dam and reservoir modification project to improve flood control & safety

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 27, 2008 at 8:56 am

From the Department of the Interior, this press release:

Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne today announced that the Bureau of Reclamation has awarded a $48,745,838 contract for Phase II of the Joint Federal Project at Folsom Dam and Reservoir. The award, which is the second in a series of construction contracts for a new auxiliary spillway at Folsom, went to Oregon Mt. Construction of Redding, California.

“This project significantly enhances flood control and dam safety for downstream communities, including Sacramento,” Kempthorne said. “Because we are doing this work as a joint federal-state effort, the project creates cost efficacies that save American taxpayers a significant amount of money.”

The auxiliary spillway, or Joint Federal Project, represents an unprecedented partnership among Reclamation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Central Valley Flood Protection Board, and the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency. When completed, the project will address the hydrologic risk to Folsom Dam identified through Reclamation’s Safety of Dams evaluation program. Hydrologic risk refers to possible overtopping of the dams and dikes during an extreme storm event. The project also achieves the Corps’ objective of increasing flood control at Folsom.

The initiative consists of a water-side approach channel, a control structure with six submerged gates, a concrete-lined spillway chute about 3,000-feet long, and a stilling basin which acts as an energy dissipation structure prior to discharges converging with the American River below the main concrete dam. The project will be constructed in three successive phases by Reclamation and the Corps.

The Phase II contract with Oregon Mt. Construction Company includes additional spillway excavation, construction of a stilling basin coffer dam, relocation of a 42-inch water supply pipeline, and ancillary access roads. Work will begin in mid-winter 2008-2009 and will be completed in the summer of 2010. Phase III construction by the Corps will follow shortly thereafter, and the project is expected to be completed by 2015.

In addition to the Joint Federal Project, Reclamation will complete additional dam safety work on Dikes 4, 5, and 6, and the Mormon Island Auxiliary Dam. Additional information on the project is available on Reclamation’s website at http://www.usbr.gov/mp/jfp/index.html.

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Reclamation is the largest wholesale water supplier and the second largest producer of hydroelectric power in the United States, with operations and facilities in the 17 Western States. Its facilities also provide substantial flood control, recreation, and fish and wildlife benefits. Visit our website at http://www.usbr.gov.

September 27, 2008 · Filed Under Central Valley Project, Sacramento

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Editorial: Preventing floods, preserving farms

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 23, 2008 at 3:04 pm

From the Sacramento Bee, this editorial:

Can cities and farm regions in the Central Valley work together to preserve and protect both of their economies? They can, and the preservation of a 1,682-acre ranch in Yolo County shows how it can be done.

Helped by $5 million in state flood control bond funds and $3 million from the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency, the Sacramento Valley Conservancy and the Yolo Land Trust have completed purchase of the Knaggs Ranch north of West Sacramento.

Knaggs Ranch sits directly across the Sacramento River from North Natomas. Keeping this land in agriculture is essential for the protection of most of Sacramento.

If this ranchland were ever developed, its levees would have to be significantly upgraded. That would increase water pressure and flood risk on the levees in Natomas and other communities downstream. It would also divert funds that would be better spent on safeguarding existing urban areas.

Instead, the $11.9 million purchase of Knaggs Ranch – and a conservation easement placed on the land – ensures that it will remain in farming forever. Farmers can continue to grow walnuts, grain and other crops there, while getting help from SAFCA and other agencies.

Read more from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.

September 23, 2008 · Filed Under Agriculture, Sacramento

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