Delta Vision taskforce wraps up meeting with list of recommendations
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2007 at 11:53 pmFrom the San Francisco Chronicle:
A state advisory panel called Friday for a new system of delivering water to urban users from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, but stopped short of backing an updated version of the peripheral canal proposed in 1982. The much-anticipated report from the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force, which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed in February, said the current system for providing delta water to cities in the East Bay, the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California is no longer sustainable.
The panel, which will undertake the job now of trying to put their plan into motion, asked state and federal water officials to assess the options for a new water-delivery system and report back to them by June. But the panel said any new facilities aimed at fixing delivery issues must be built in concert with measures that restore the delta’s ecosystem. “The two are co-equals,” said Phil Isenberg, chairman of the task force. “You cannot address the water supply issues without also addressing the restoration issues.”
To read the rest of this article from the San Francisco Chronicle, click here.
The panel did not endorse or reject the peripheral canal idea, but did make twelve specific recommendations, some of which are recapped in this story from the San Jose Mercury News:
— Government agencies must better support native species, recreational fishing and natural flood flows in the delta ecosystem. Invasive species must also be reduced.
— Require communities from Sacramento to Bakersfield to take less water from the rivers that flow into the delta during certain times of the year. Also reduce exports to the Bay Area and southern California.
— New dams and facilities should be built to channel water to the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California.
To read the rest of this article from the San Jose Mercury News, click here.
How safe is Southern California’s water?
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2007 at 11:46 pmFrom the Los Angeles Times, on the heels of last week’s story about contaminated water 20 to 30 years ago in the San Fernando Valley & San Gabriel Valley, today a story about just what is in Angeleno’s water:
For years before the mid-1980s, groundwater in parts of Southern California was contaminated with toxic solvents, yet the federal body responsible for tracking this didn’t investigate the potential health threat to people who were drinking contaminated tap water. A congressional committee is now investigating why that neglect occurred.
Here’s a closer look at what scientists know about the main solvents of concern and their health effects.
Trichloroethylene (TCE) and the related compound tetrachloroethylene, also known as perchloroethylene (PCE or PERC), are industrial solvents still used to clean up grease and to dry-clean clothes. For a long time, their use was unregulated and many companies across the nation disposed of them in such a way that they leached into drinking water sources.
In 1980, the Environmental Protection Agency started a Superfund project to clean up a variety of chemical pollutants. The effort includes getting the perpetrators of improper TCE and PCE disposal, many of them defense contractors, to help remove the worst of the contamination across the country.
So should you be drinking bottled water? No need for that, officials say:
Researchers and the EPA say there’s no need, because even with the contamination, people in Southern California are drinking solvent-free water.
Not all water sources in the L.A. area are contaminated. Also, although not all of the groundwater in regions of concern in the L.A. area have been treated to contain less than the federal limit of 5 parts per billion, what comes out of your tap is not the same as what’s in the groundwater.
To read the rest of this story from the Los Angeles Times, click here.
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2007 at 11:10 pm
From Dan Bacher at IndyBay.org:
Bureau of Reclamation and DFG staff met today with Bob McDaris, owner of Cliff’s Marina in Freeport, Bob Simms, KFBK Radio Outdoor Program host and Jerry Nash, local angler, at the Bureau of Reclamation offices on Cottage Way. A total of 15 people showed up for the meeting.
Jeff McCracken, Bureau spokesman, said he had already consulted with the Solicitor’s office and the Department of Justice to get the go-ahead for the rescue. McDaris explained that he already had a pipe ready to transport fish through from the island to Miner Slough, so he could begin the rescue this afternoon. The volunteers will transport the fish in ice chests or small kid’s swimming pool placed on ATVs and send them through the pipes into the slough. McDaris and volunteers are also ready to install another pipe to put oxygen in the water at the island.
When I went to the Slough with McDaris on Wednesday, the vast majority of fish that were still alive were striped bass. Jeff Nash also reported big schools of threadfin shad and silversides in a sump on the island.
Terry Foreman, Fisheries Program Manager of the DFG’s Fisheries Branch, urged caution in doing the fish rescue to make sure that the fish were transferred into the slough alive. “If the fish die after being released, it won’t look good,” he said. In response to a direct question by McDaris, “Can we do the rescue today?,” Foreman said that he couldn’t give approval since the levee repair was a Bureau project, not a state project. “We’re giving you information,” said Foreman. “We are not giving you permission to do the fish rescue. We are just consulting with you before you do it.”
He made it clear that the DFG wouldn’t have staff assisting with the rescue, but that game wardens would be on site during the rescue.
To read the rest of this story from Dan Bacher at IndyBay.org, click here.
Solutions needed for California’s water crisis
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2007 at 5:52 pmFrom the Capital Ag Press:
California farmers and ranches are hoping for a white Christmas to soften the blow of what could be one of the bleakest water years ever. Severe drought conditions last winter and a federal court decision three months ago have left major reservoirs in the state depleted as farmers prepare for their 2008 growing season.
As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and key legislative leaders huddled in Sacramento earlier this week to try and reach consensus on a fix to California’s severe water crisis, worry rippled across farm country. This is the time for farmers to make planting schedules, get their capital in place and set their course for the new year. But 2008 will be anything but easy for California agriculture. In fact, it could be an outright disaster.
Hanging over the state are two droughts: one imposed by Mother Nature, and another imposed by U.S. District Court Judge Oliver Wanger, who in August, ordered massive pumps near Tracy shut down to restrict water exports from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Steve Patricio, chairman of Western Growers Association, said the farmers are finding ways to cope with the upcoming cutbacks:
Like they have always done, farmers are trying to cope. They are drilling new wells, deepening old ones and installing water-conserving irrigation systems to try to stave off the effects of drought. Some are contemplating selling what little water they get to forgo the misery in 2008.
Western Growers has estimated that 82,000 acres of farmland could be fallowed next year even if the state gets average rain and snow this winter. That will inflict at least a $69 million hit to farm production, according to a Western Growers study.
To read the full text of this article from the Capitol Ag Press, click here.
Engineering our way out of climate change
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2007 at 5:47 pmFrom the Island of Doubt blog, a post about “geo-engineering”. Some sectors of the scientific community have given up trying to reverse global warming and instead, are trying to figure out ways to deal with it instead. From the blog:
Among the ideas floating around — and considered at a recent conference in Cambridge, Mass. — are injecting into the atmosphere enormous quantities of heat-reflecting aerosols, sending millions of tiny mirrors (or building a few very big ones) into orbit to divert some of the sunlight, installing floating pipes in the ocean to drawn down CO2-rich waters to the depth, and seeding those same oceans with plankton to absorb carbon in hopes they fall to the seabed when they die.
No one really knows exactly how any of these ideas will actually work or what unintended consequences come with them. All very theoretical, at this point. The thing they all have in common is degree of confidence in science and technological R&D to solve the problem of climate change. Sheril describes proponents of such plans as “folks who believe ’science will solve all our problems, so why worry?’ which sounds to me like suggesting we need not take responsibility for our actions in the here and now.” And she’s bang on.
The obvious problem with any approach that relies on tinkering with the planetary ecosystem is we know so little about the thing in the first place. We just have no bloody clue what will happen to our air if we fire millions of tonnes of sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere. Did someone mention acid rain? And what about the oceans? Counteracting the effects of greenhouse gases in the air will be do nothing to stop the falling pH of the oceans, with the likely massive loss of biodiversity that will bring.
To read the rest of this article from the Island of Doubt science blog, click here.
Holy smokes! The most important drought story of the year and somehow I missed it!
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2007 at 5:42 pmI heard it from JFleck Inakstain, who heard it from Waterblogged, and I have to agree, it is, like, the most important drought story missed by Aquafornia! This, from ABC News:
Sheriff Garrett Roberts hasn’t needed a machete to cut any of the scrawny marijuana plants he has confiscated this year. A severe drought that has parched corn and soybean fields across the Southeast has also scorched marijuana crops, leaving plants that should be 10 feet tall so puny that Roberts and his deputies simply pull them up.
“The plants we’ve seen have been anywhere from 2 inches to 5 1/2 feet tall,” said Roberts, the chief law enforcer in eastern Kentucky’s Lawrence County. Kentucky, one of the nation’s top producers of marijuana, has seen a sharp decrease in production of the illegal crop this year. The weather there and in neighboring states is cutting into the supply, and street prices for the drug could rise, authorities say.
For the rest of this news story from ABC News, click here.
And, well, while I’m at it, what’s cool about a drought? Waterblogged asked the same question:
… We were puzzled when we saw it, not only because we don’t recall using the word cool in any of our entries, but also because dude, what could possibly be cool about a drought? After an emergency meeting about the matter, the Waterblogged.info editorial team determined that either this visitor is an idiot, or worse, knows something about long periods without normal precipitation leading to severe water shortage that we don’t. After putting our crack team of researchers to work we’re embarrassed to report that the latter is true. The web abounds with cool facts about Georgia’s drought and, with deep apologies for not having done so earlier, proudly present the ten coolest.
Click here to read the rest of Waterblogged’s post about what is cool about the Georgia drought.
Salton Sea Spectacular, part 1
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2007 at 10:15 am
Here’s the first post in a series of three posts today regarding the Salton Sea. First, from MyDesert.com, some good news that the tilapia count in the Salton Sea is at it’s highest in five years:
More tilapia means more pelicans. State officials recorded 6,000 brown pelicans at the sea this year, the most since 2000. And 14,000 American white pelicans spent time at the sea, the most since 2001.
But the good news is only temporary, as the sea’s steady deterioration continues. “The sea is going to die here in the next decade - that’s a given if nothing is done,” said Dale Hoffman-Floerke, head of the state Department of Water Resources’ Colorado River and Salton Sea office.
The sea’s steady drop in elevation has produced one of its first major impacts - there’s no longer an adequate boat-launching facility to get out on the lake, Nicol said. It’s a bitter reality for a sea that in the 1950s abounded with marinas, boating and fishing.
A thriving sport fishery that once included corvina, sargo and croaker is also a thing of the past, Nicol said. “The marine sport fishery has been undetectable since 2003,” she said. “That means in our gill nets we haven’t found any, and no anglers have reported any. So for all intents and purposes, it no longer exists.”
California’s largest lake, the Salton Sea has been slowly dying for decades as water salinity increases. The sea is expected to shrink significantly by 2018, when water transfers will reduce agricultural runoff, its primary source of water. Fish and bird habitats could be severely impacted, and an exposed dry lake bed could spew dust into the air for miles into the Coachella Valley.
The sea’s salinity rose this year to 50 parts per thousand, Nicol said. That’s more than the ocean but far less than that of Utah’s Salt Lake and Israel’s Dead Sea.
When the full impact of a 2003 water transfer agreement comes in 2017, the Salton Sea’s salinity is expected to rise above 60 parts per thousand, when biologists believe tilapia will no longer be able to reproduce, she said. Once the fishery is gone, the birds - more than 400 species that travel along the Pacific Flyway and visit the sea - will go with them. “Other factors could come into play to make that happen sooner,” Nicol said.
To read the rest of this story from MyDesert.com, click here.
The current restoration plan would cost $8.9 billion over 75 years. A bill to provide funding to get started was stalled in the legislature last year, and so far just $23 million has been earmarked to begin the process. The ambitious plans call for over 50 miles of dikes and a much smaller sea area, maintaining only a recreational lake and bird habitat, and applying dust control measures to the rest of the dried lake bed. This option has not been popular with many residents, and even some state officials remain skeptical.
The idea of sustaining the Salton Sea by bringing in water from the Gulf of California remains popular among locals. So, today, let’s take a look at the pipeline concept in this multi-post Aquafornia discussion of the Salton Sea.
Salton Sea, part 2: An open waterway (or pipeline) from the Gulf of California
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2007 at 10:15 am
Options for saving the Salton Sea have been being discussed for nearly forty years now. At one time, there was even discussion dating back to 1971 about building a shipping canal to the area. Pipelines and canals that would draw water from the Gulf of California in various forms are alternatives that are still favored by many local residents.
Back in August, I wrote an article regarding the feasibility of a pipeline from the Gulf of California to the Salton Sea. In my post, I quoted Indio resident Richard B. Speed, who believes passionately in an open waterway solution to the Salton Sea. Read on for Richard’s remarks about my article, my response to Richard, and even read comments from Rick Daniels on the canal/pipeline idea. Read more
Salton Sea, part 3: The ‘Dead Sea’ option
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2007 at 10:15 am
Jim Cornett, a writer from the Salton Sea area, recently took a trip to the Middle East, and when he returned, he wrote a column paralleling the Dead Sea with the Salton Sea, which appeared on MyDesert.com recently.
The Dead Sea has been gradually losing water as diversions for irrigation and municipal use have taken most of the Jordan River, the Dead Sea’s source of water. As a solution, a canal is going to be built from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea (the “Red to Dead” canal), and Mr. Cornett sees a similar solution for the Salton Sea:
There are many great features with regard to this particular solution. First, the water will flow mostly downhill into the Dead Sea. There will be relatively small amounts of energy to pump water. In fact, the force of the falling water will be used to generate electrical energy resulting in a positive energy balance. There are no foreseeable ecological issues, the sea is already dead.
Finally, the solution is based upon natural processes (gravity) and the acceptance of the inevitable increasing salinity of an enclosed desert basin. No one in Israel or Jordan has any desire to forever use precious monetary and energy resources to fight the natural process of desert basin salinization. On the contrary, both countries are capitalizing on the therapeutic benefits of very salty water. That the cost of channel construction will be partially be offset by the generation of electrical power is an added bonus.
Friday’s odds and ends from the blogosphere
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2007 at 9:00 amIt’s Friday desktop cleaning time, so here are some interesting blogs I’ve come across this week.
My new favorite blog, Waterblogged, has a story about the most dangerous dam on the planet, which happens to be in Iraq. The dam is so bad, a concrete mixture must be continuously injected into it so that it doesn’t collapse. Now that’s bad! They follow it up today with a post about the most hated dam on the planet.
How much water is used to download a song? Doesn’t seem connected at first, although it is true that there is a big connection between power and water use, as water is a necessary component for electrical generation - and I’m not talking about hydropower. Check it out watercrunch’s blog about water use and song downloading by clicking here.
Officials are starting to use the “R” word (rationing), but this blogger says maybe they should be using the “M” word - for moratorium. Is excessive development straining our limited resources? Check out this Westchester Parents blog post by clicking here.
Finally, check out this potentially life-saving inflatable bikini, brought to Aquafornia’s attention by the always refreshing Trout Underground blog - another one of my favorites, and I don’t even fish. Hey, I don’t even eat fish! Click here for a life-saving device that will ensure you’ll have a seat on the rescue boat (if you’re a woman, that is) …..
ACWA conference discusses California’s water crisis
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2007 at 8:37 amFrom MyDesert.com, a story on the ACWA conference, which has been happening in Indian Wells this week:
Worry over California’s future water supply has reached “crisis” levels in government and among water agencies. But concern by most Californians over the issue is still at a trickle, officials said at the Association of California Water Agencies’ annual fall conference on Wednesday. “Despite intense media attention, a governor that put his star power on the line traversing the state talking about water problems and a Legislature that was really engaged, the public is still unaware of the problem,” association spokeswoman Jennifer Persike said.
The weeklong conference attracted more than 1,600 local water deliverers and experts to the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort and Spa and Hyatt Grand Champions Resort and Spa in Indian Wells.
A survey conducted before the association launched a public awareness campaign this fall found that most people were unaware of the water crisis. The campaign has since increased awareness, which officials will continue to work on.
Paul Mandabach, a political consultant who helped put together the campaign, said the debate over how bluntly to put the state’s water woes was short-lived.
“There is a crisis,” he said. “The crisis is not looming. It is now.”
To read the rest of this article from MyDesert.com, click here.
Weather in the Sierras: dry now, but who knows what the season will hold
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2007 at 7:45 amFrom the Tahoe Bonanza:
With Thursday’s snowpack at 4 percent of average and Lake Tahoe two feet lower than last year at this time, the calendar year 2007 is in the running to be the second driest winter for weather records. However, weather in the Sierra is always a wild ride. “We’re definitely way, way down. If December got zero precipitation, which would really be amazing in Tahoe, this would be the second driest year in 70 years (for Reno),” said Jim Ashby, climatologist with the Western Regional Climate Center in Reno’s Desert Research Institute.
The driest year was 1976 with 9.34 inches of precipitation recorded at Lake Tahoe’s only outlet, the Truckee River in Tahoe City. Right now, 14.71 inches has been recorded in Tahoe City for the year - the long-term average is 32.6 inches of precipitation. But as weather watchers warn, you never know in the Sierra. The average precipitation in Tahoe City for December is 5.66 inches; however in 1989, there was 0 inches and in 1964, there were 27.55 inches in the wettest month of Tahoe City data going back 94 years.
“The point is, it could happen, it could be a monster month,” Ashby said.
To read the rest of this article from the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza, click here.
Mesa, Arizona: catching a wave in the wrong direction?
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2007 at 7:40 amFrom the New York Times opinion section:
The Atlanta metropolitan area has been hit by a drought so severe that Georgia’s governor has resorted to praying for rain. Lake Mead has been drying up so quickly that there is now a giant chalky ring around it.
Then there’s Mesa, Ariz., where voters this month overwhelmingly approved a water park called the Waveyard.
It is not a couple of water slides and a kiddie pool. Pictures from its Web site make parts of this sprawling water wonderland look like a surf break off Oahu, with tubular waves big enough to hide in, or a fish-dotted reef in the Bahamas, or a whitewater river in British Columbia.
In a region where yearly rainfall is about 8 inches, the Waveyard would use 50 million gallons of water on its first fill-up, then go through 60 million to 100 million gallons a year. About 50 million of those would be lost to evaporation, and 5 million to splashing.
Only as much water as an 18-hole golf course, it’s proponents say.
To read the full text of this editorial from the New York Times, click here.
To visit the website for The Waveyard, click here.
Following a drop of water through Yucaipa Valley’s water system
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 29, 2007 at 9:02 amFrom the Yucaipa/Calimesa New Mirror, an interesting article which follows the travels of water as it goes through the Yucaipa Valley Water District’s system - from the trip in from the mountains to the sewer output:
Reservoirs, pumps, faucets and valves do not make a water company. What does, however, can be seen by taking a lighthearted journey to unearth the process Yucaipa Valley Water District goes through to provide every day water. What also can be discovered is why the YVWD water resource is being jealously scrutinized by other water agencies.
It’s interesting to find what is done within YVWD’s system as each drop of water travels from the mountain streams, collectors, treatment plants, reservoirs, pumps, pipes, homes, faucets, businesses, and finally the sewers. The first source is the San Bernardino mountains.
Melted ice and snow link up with rain water to travel downhill in streams both above and below the surface. This water follows the slope of the mountains to east of Oak Glen. Here, at the elevation of 5,400 feet, water meets Charlie Bailey, YVWD’s operations manager. He divides the water into two groups. One group will continue its freshness trek downstream to the aquifers and wells of the Oak Glen area, supplying campers, homes, businesses and helping to make those appetizing apples.
To read the rest of this article from the Yucaipa Calimesa Daily Mirror, click here.
Inland Empire water agencies react to low allocation from Dept. of Water Resources
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 29, 2007 at 8:52 amFrom the San Bernardino Sun:
The Inland Empire’s water supplies from Northern California next year are going to be cut in half thanks to a drought as well as an endangered fish swimming in a delta near Sacramento that needs the water.
In the face of less water flowing locally, landscapers, golf courses and even citrus growers might get socked with higher water bills. “We might hand water (with a hose) the dry spots,” said Bill Henning, superintendent of Shandin Hills Golf Club in San Bernardino.
The water cuts are the result of some of the driest weather in years. The Inland Empire’s apportionment of water next year has been cut because of the drought hitting the state, according to the State Water Contractors, a nonprofit of 27 public agencies that buys water under contract from the California State Water Project. San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District, which serves about 600,000 residents in an area from Fontana to Yucaipa, is part of this water group.
In 2008, the water district is expected to get 58 percent less water than this year from the state, said Randy Van Gelder, water district general manager. “I don’t know if there’ll be a raise in rates,” said Joe Zoba, Yucaipa Valley Water District general manager. “Just because there’s a shortage of water from the state doesn’t mean there’ll be an increase in water rates.”
To read the full text of this article from the San Bernardino Sun, click here.
Delta Vision task force to meet today, peripheral canal on the agenda
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 29, 2007 at 7:47 amFrom the San Francisco Chronicle:
A state advisory panel is expected this week to rekindle debate over one of the hottest political issues in state history - a peripheral canal to divert water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta largely for use in Southern California.
After nearly a year of study, the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force will hold its last two meetings beginning Thursday in Sacramento in hopes of reaching consensus on how to resolve the long-standing conflict in the delta: protecting a delicate ecosystem while providing water to millions of urban users across the state, including parts of the Bay Area.
Although the panel, appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, will offer a long list of recommendations, water and resource experts said Wednesday they expected the panel to vote by Friday to build a new system to deliver delta water to urban users that is physically separate from the delta itself - a system like the peripheral canal that California voters rejected 25 years ago.
A peripheral canal, or some sort of variation thereof, is certainly on the agenda. Bitterly fought over in 1982, many feel that much has changed in California since then, and the time may now be right for such a peripheral-type canal. But not all see the peripheral canal as the main solution:
State Sen. Mike Machado, D-Linden (San Joaquin County), a long-time Central Valley farmer, said he believes the most critical issue isn’t necessarily how water is moved but how the whole delta is managed. “The challenge is the governance issue - who is going to take control,” he said, adding that today there are more than 200 federal, state and local agencies that share some responsibility over delta activities.
“We all know the risks and what the fixes are,” he said. “We cannot continue to take the amount of water we are taking and still have a healthy delta. The question is who is going to enforce the laws we already have.”
To read the rest of this article from the San Francisco Chronicle, click here. Click here for coverage of this story from Inside the Bay Area.
Weblinks & resources for today’s Delta Vision Meeting
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 29, 2007 at 7:47 amMeeting materials, weblinks, and other resources regarding today’s Delta Vision meeting are available by clicking here (http://deltavision.ca.gov/).
The website has links to watch the meeting over the web if you are interested but cannot attend.
Writer sees comparison in California problems to Texas problems
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 29, 2007 at 7:22 amThe writer of this Capitol Weekly article, Rick Keene, recently went on a policy tour of several other states which are all experiencing similar issues and problems. The tour focused on the states of Texas, Florida and Virginia, which share similarities with California in terms of population, demography, infrastructure, education, public safety and other issues. From the article:
But what I found most useful was Texas’ approach to its water infrastructure problems. Like California, the state currently faces a rapidly growing population, recurring droughts, environmental concerns, and a water supply shortage that is increasingly unable to meet demands. However, unlike California, Texas is approaching the issue in a cooperative, comprehensive manner. In crafting a long-term solution to the problem, Texas policymakers have had the foresight to develop a 50-year planning period, project future populations and the corresponding water demand they will require, and plan for record drought conditions.
Texas’ plan to provide more water is a comprehensive one that includes many strategies; however, its main source of future water supplies will come from new reservoirs. The Texas Water Development Board (the equivalent to our Department of Water Resources), in conjunction with the Legislature, identified 19 potential new reservoir sites across the state to meet the its growing demand for water. This is a stark contrast to our Legislature, where Democratic leaders will not agree to three new reservoir sites in the state.
Texas has made surface storage part of their long-term plan, says Keene:
… the TWDB [Texas Water Development Board] identified the leading impediments to construction of water infrastructure; among the top reasons cited were environmental opposition, parochialism, and lack of public awareness of water supply needs. I found these reasons particularly applicable to California.
The water bond plan introduced by the governor and Senator Dave Cogdill, R-Fresno has been criticized by environmental alarmists who have no concern for the state’s water needs. It has also been written off by many urban lawmakers who oppose surface storage projects that are not in their districts and who fail to realize the statewide benefit that they provide. And finally, I believe that the public has not been made aware of the looming crisis that our water infrastructure faces.
To read the full text of this article from Capitol Weekly, click here.
Is the failure to reach compromise on water plan bad for California ? …
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 28, 2007 at 11:04 pmFrom the San Jose Mercury News:
Last week, Schwarzenegger and Perata seemed close to a deal. They had agreed in principle on a $10.7 billion bond proposal that included about $3.5 billion for surface storage and water transport projects - the things Republican legislators care about.
But partisan differences about oversight of the money derailed the compromise. Republicans wanted a “continuous appropriation” that would have given state water officials power to spend the project money without ongoing legislative review. That kind of blank check authority is a bad idea, and Democrats were right to oppose it.
All sides must recognize the growing urgency of California’s water problems. A dry year already has forced water use restrictions in some areas, especially in Southern California. If this winter is the same, rationing will be likely in parts of the Bay Area. Sharp cuts in the amount of water pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta are expected to start in January under a judge’s order protecting the delta smelt. The health of the delta is failing, risking water supplies for 25 million Californians. Global warming keeps shrinking the snowpack that supplies much of our water, and California’s population keeps growing.
Compared with this past year, it may only get tougher to secure bipartisan consensus, let alone voter approval of a bond measure next year.
To read the full text of this article from the San Jose Mercury News, click here.
… or is it better not to rush a hasty plan on to February’s ballot?
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 28, 2007 at 11:01 pmFrom Riverside’s Press-Enterprise, this editorial:
California needs to address soon the long-term challenges of ensuring a sufficient supply of water for a growing population living in an arid climate. But that complex task requires a coherent strategy; merely throwing taxpayers’ money at new water projects will not suffice.
So the Legislature’s failure to put a water bond on the February ballot gives legislators additional time to do the hard work they have so far sidestepped: crafting a consensus on the most practical, cost-effective way of bolstering state water supplies for the future. And the first step toward reaching that goal involves setting aside partisan prejudices in favor of hard facts.
Attempts to put a $10 billion water bond on the Feb. 5 ballot appeared to founder last week, as negotiations hung up on the same issue that stalled water bond legislation during the regular legislative session: new dams. Republicans wanted money to build two dams and expand a third. Democrats favor increased conservation and underground storage in place of new dams.
But delaying the bond until the June or November election could result in a more sensible and effective measure, if the Legislature can address the topic without the partisan blinders.
To read the full text of this article from Riverside’s Press-Enterprise, click here.
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