Governor Schwarzenegger’s letter to Senators Perata, Steinberg & Machado, outlining peripheral canal study plans and calling for a 20% reduction in statewide per capita water use by 2020
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 29, 2008 at 3:33 pmFrom the Office of the Governor:
Governor Schwarzenegger Outlines Comprehensive Actions Needed to Fix Ailing Delta
Governor Schwarzenegger sent the following letter to Senators Perata, Steinberg, and Machado in response to their unfounded concerns that his administration is “unilaterally” beginning work on a so-called “peripheral canal.” Consistent with the extensive work done by his administration over the last two years to gain consensus on a bipartisan legislative solution for a comprehensive plan to upgrade California’s water infrastructure, Governor Schwarzenegger detailed his agenda in the following letter:
February 28, 2008
The Honorable Don Perata The Honorable Darrell Steinberg
President pro Tempore California State Senate
California State Senate State Capitol
State Capitol Room 4035
Room 205 Sacramento, California 95814
Sacramento, California 95814
The Honorable Mike Machado
California State Senate
State Capitol
Room 5066
Sacramento, California 95814
Dear Don, Mike and Darrell,
My administration has been working on solutions for addressing California’s water supply and the environmental crisis in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta for more than two years. As you all have acknowledged during our negotiations on a comprehensive water infrastructure package over the last year, the heart of California’s vital water supply system is in jeopardy of collapse without both immediate action and long term solutions to restore the ecosystem and protect water supplies.
I created the bipartisan Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force by administrative action in 2006. The Task Force has issued its Vision and will develop a Strategic Plan to implement the Vision by the end of this year. In its recommendations, the Task Force identified a series of near-term actions that should be taken to protect the estuary, including studying the options for improving water transfer in the Delta. Far from acting unilaterally, my administration has been transparent in working with stakeholders and legislators on identifying both administrative and legislative actions that will be necessary to address the recommendations of the Task Force. As part of that effort, I will continue to negotiate in good faith with legislators on a comprehensive water infrastructure package.
To clarify the administrative actions we are considering as part of a comprehensive solution in the Delta, let me outline some of the key elements under development: Read more
Metropolitan Water District responds to the Governor’s press release
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 29, 2008 at 3:33 pmLOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Timothy F. Brick, chairman of the board of directors of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, issues the following statement regarding Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s letter to the state Senate leadership addressing the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta:
Gov. Schwarzenegger has outlined the kind of comprehensive path to a fix in the Delta that both the ecosystem and water system need. This is not a problem that will be solved with a single solution. The Delta needs more habitat, improved levees, better land use protections and a smarter way to move water supplies that is in harmony with the estuary.
The public needs an open process that examines the range of options so that there is confidence in the eventual package of solutions. We need to maintain a bipartisan approach and continued leadership from the Legislature and the governor in solving the water problems we face. The strategy outlined by the governor is moving the Delta process in all the right directions.
“Metropolitan welcomes the governor’s call for all Californians to be wiser users of water. With the governor initiating what is hopefully a fruitful discussion, we can create a legacy in water conservation to match his and the Legislature’s efforts addressing climate change.
In Metropolitan’s six-county service area, per-capita water use has declined dramatically since 1990, allowing the region to meet its current water needs with the same amount of imported water used nearly 20 years ago, even though our population has grown by more than 4 million people. While urban Southern California is ahead of most other regions of the state, an approach that identifies local opportunities and creates incentives to promote conservation would be particularly effective.”
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a cooperative of 26 cities and water agencies serving 18 million people in six counties. The district imports water from the Colorado River and Northern California to supplement local supplies, and helps its members to develop increased water conservation, recycling, storage and other resource-management programs.
Association of California Water Agencies responds to Governor’s press release
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 29, 2008 at 3:33 pmSACRAMENTO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) today urged lawmakers to continue working with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to reach agreement on a bipartisan plan to address a deepening crisis in the Delta.
“Everyone understands the Delta is rapidly deteriorating,” ACWA Executive Director Timothy Quinn said. “ACWA strongly supports moving forward based on a bipartisan agreement in the Legislature to deal with this crisis.
“Time is not our friend on this issue. Every day is a day of lost water supply and further deterioration of the environment. There are two very good public processes under way, but they are lengthy. The governor’s decision to get the ball rolling on environmental documentation makes sense, provided there is opportunity for that work to be informed by negotiations in the Legislature and within the Delta Vision and Bay-Delta Conservation Plan processes.
“Since the governor has directed state agencies to analyze four options for addressing Delta conveyance, there should be plenty of room for negotiations to continue to achieve a comprehensive plan with broad-based support.”
ACWA is a statewide association of public agencies whose 450 members are responsible for about 90% of the water delivered in California. For more information, visit www.acwa.com.
People of the Sea: High Country News covers the people side of the Salton Sea
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 29, 2008 at 3:26 pmFrom High Country News:
The village of Bombay Beach, Calif., is quiet, save for the occasional screams of gulls on the nearby Salton Sea. It’s 10:30 a.m. on a winter morning. Gusts of wind flecked with sand and salt whip for-sale signs in front of broken-down mobile homes and boarded-up bungalows. Front yards and empty lots are strewn with the relics of lost hope - an abandoned green motorboat tagged with graffiti, lifeless sedans, rotting camper shells, piles of used clothing, filthy couches, broken bottles, plastic garbage bags.
Eight years ago, census takers counted 366 residents in Bombay Beach; it’s unclear how many live here now. Bombay Beach does not attract many newcomers. The current townies tend to stick to themselves, gathering for entertainment at the town’s popular bar, the Ski Inn, where Mayor Wacko holds court.
On this particular morning, Wacko sits on a barstool, sipping a pink drink. His real name is Wayne Graham, but he prefers his nickname, which someone gave him years ago for reasons he can’t remember. He is not really the mayor, either; his bar friends gave him the title and it stuck. He is 70, thick-set, with a gray walrus moustache and sad blue eyes. He struggles to compete with a TV tuned to a World War II movie with lots of explosions and a woman at the end of the bar who’s bellowing that she’s thinner than most of the old cows in Bombay Beach.
Wacko has been enchanted with the Salton Sea for 35 years, ever since he worked for the telephone company in Long Beach. He remembers the waning heyday of the Sea, back in the 1970s, when it was still known as California’s Riviera. Cars lined up for miles to get a beachside camping spot. Tourists came to fish for orange-mouthed corvina, to race speedboats and water-ski, to spot celebs like Sonny Bono and Frank Sinatra. They came to escape the frenzy of Los Angeles, just 180 miles or so to the west.
Read the full text of this story from the High Country News by clicking here.
Water back in focus in Sacramento
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 29, 2008 at 3:21 pmFrom the Capital Ag Press:
Stalled efforts to deal with California’s water woes got a boost last week as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein met with state lawmakers and water stakeholders at the Capitol to reinvigorate the debate for a state water bond.
Schwarzenegger and Feinstein expressed optimism after the meeting that consensus on a comprehensive water fix can be found to place a bond on the November ballot.
Feinstein, in an audio statement issued by the governor’s office, said a legislative solution appears to be best way to forge ahead with a plan to address all of the state’s plumbing and environmental problems. She was heartened by the discussions with both Democratic and Republican leaders. “If that is transparent, everybody has an opportunity, but there has to be something that is bipartisan that comes out of it,” Feinstein said. “I found it very productive and very constructive and I think the key is to keep it together, to keep these people together.”
So far, progress has been elusive, with the main sticking point being dams. Republicans want them and the Democrats do not, saying that conservation efforts and ground storage will be enough. Feinstein supports building new reservoirs, saying that climate change conditions will demand more surface storage.
Schwarzenegger, who called a special session of the Legislature last year to deal with water issues, remained hopeful that progress can be made to craft a water deal even as the state faces a massive $15 billion budget shortfall.
“Despite our current budget emergency, we still must address the severe water shortages that we are facing with court-ordered reductions in deliveries to Southern California, the Bay Area and the Central Valley,” Schwarzenegger said in a statement. “It is critical that we stay focused on rebuilding our water infrastructure - the economy, the environment, hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland and 25 million Californians depend on us finding a solution. The longer we wait the worse and more complicated the problem will get.”
To read the full text of this article from the Capital Ag Press, click here.
Schwarzenegger to move ahead on peripheral canal study
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 29, 2008 at 6:48 amFrom the Sacramento Bee:
Despite stalled negotiations with Democrats on a comprehensive water plan, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger intends to move forward on studies of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, including a controversial canal, as well as call for a 20 percent per capita reduction in statewide water use, according to a letter he sent Thursday to Senate Democrats.
Department of Water Re- sources Director Lester Snow compared the water conservation proposal to a 2006 law that requires the state to reduce state greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent by 2020.
The Republican governor’s four-page letter came after leading Democrats alleged Wednesday that he was working “unilaterally” to pursue a canal that would move water around the Delta, a sensitive ecosystem that provides water to 25 million California residents and 2 million acres of farmland.
In a copy of the letter obtained by The Bee, Schwarzenegger wrote that he intends to direct DWR to begin federal and state environmental reviews on at least four Delta canal alternatives. Those include no new Delta transfer system, a two-part system with a canal and pumps, a stand-alone canal and substantial improvements to the existing pumps. The studies could take two to three years and cost more than $100 million, paid for by water users under existing contracts, Snow said.
When the news broke earlier this week, senators were reportedly angry, and three of them sent a letter to the Governor, telling him to back off. However, at least one of those senators seems to be moderately okay with this:
Sen. Mike Machado, D-Linden, said he was satisfied the governor answered questions posed in the letter he sent with Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, and Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento. Machado said he was particularly concerned beforehand that the governor sought to pursue only one Delta option that involved a canal and water pumps, but he believes all options need to be considered.
“I’m glad he’s finally being open with that, but I’m going to reserve my praise until I see what actions will be taken that improve the Delta,” Machado said.
Get the whole story from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.
Backers of water storage projects seek support on Capitol Hill
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 29, 2008 at 6:34 amFrom the Fresno Bee:
Supporters of two water-storage projects proposed in the central San Joaquin Valley are looking for help this week on Capitol Hill.
The Tule River Tribe wants to gather water in a new reservoir. Madera County officials want to collect water underground. Both require congressional help, and both face Bush administration skepticism. The Porterville-based tribe’s proposed reservoir would pool water from the Tule River flowing from the Sierra Nevada. Ultimately, the proposed reservoir could cost roughly $150 million. For now, the tribe needs $3 million for a feasibility study.
The proposed Madera County water bank — a $90 million project — would percolate water into underground aquifers near Highway 99 and release it during dry years. “It is part of our plan to stop the over-drafting of ground water in our district,” Madera Irrigation District board president Carl Janzen told a Senate subcommittee Thursday.
The projects have different histories, but they face similar hurdles.
One of those hurdles:
So far, the Bush administration opposes the Tule River feasibility study, with Bureau of Reclamation official Robert Quint last year calling it “premature” and potentially costly. On Thursday, Quint was voicing similar reservations about the Madera County water bank project.
Indian water rights is a significant issue here in the Western U.S. In fact, western governors list Indian water rights as one of their major issues. Check out Water Wired’s analysis by clicking here, or check out the USA Today’s article by clicking here.
Water: the ultimate liquid asset, and maybe the ultimate investment vehicle?
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 29, 2008 at 6:24 amFrom Money & Markets:
Two centuries ago, people in New England were harvesting a resource for practically nothing and selling it at a fat profit in such distant locales as Calcutta, Martinique and Havana. As the wheel of history turns around, it may be time to start harvesting and selling that resource again. I’m talking about water — the ultimate liquid asset.
If you believe, correctly, that gold, oil and wheat are some of the most valuable commodities on Earth, think about water for a moment!
Today, I want to tell you more about this valuable natural resource … its colorful history as an investment vehicle … and how you can capitalize on what just may turn out to be the most lucrative commodity of the 21st Century.
Read the rest of this article from Money & Markets by clicking here. (Note: no endorsement given or implied.)
Business backed coalition drops plan to put water bond initiative on the November ballot
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 29, 2008 at 12:20 amFrom Riverside’s Press-Enterprise:
A coalition of business and farming groups said Thursday it is dropping plans to put a water bond initiative before voters on the November ballot.
The group said it instead will work with Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein to negotiate a compromise that can be passed this year by the state Legislature.
The coalition, dubbed “Californians for Clean and Reliable Water”, had proposed a $11.6 billion ballot initiative that included funding for reservoirs. The initiative met with much criticism, and generated little support. However, the coalition is not abandoning the cause:
The business groups still believe more reservoirs and new aqueducts to move water around the state must be part of any compromise, coalition consultant Rick Claussen said.
“An unreliable and outdated water supply system leaves California just one earthquake or flood away from a massive catastrophe,” Claussen said in a statement announcing the group would drop its initiative.
Drought, climate change and recent court decisions requiring more water to protect fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are endangering the water supply for California residents, he said.
Get the rest of the story from Riverside’s Press-Enterprise by clicking here.
Weird happenings in the water wars, says Hank Shaw. Will anything substantive emerge from all of this? He consults his magic 8-ball on these ‘curious events’ and reports on his blog - click here.
Mexican developer wants to build desalination plant in Baja California, possibly to swap water with a U.S. urban water agency
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 29, 2008 at 12:09 amFrom the Voice of San Diego:
The developer behind the Bajagua Project LLC, the controversial effort to boost Tijuana’s lagging sewage treatment infrastructure, has come up with a new proposal to build a desalination plant in Baja California.
The proposal from San Marcos businessman Enrique Landa has been dubbed Nevagua. It calls for the city of Tijuana to use water from a Baja California desalination plant. In exchange, the Mexican government would give up an equal amount of its annual slice of the water it receives from the Colorado River. Instead of flowing to Mexico, that swapped water would be stored in Lake Mead, a massive reservoir east of Las Vegas, where a United States-based urban water agency would tap into it. If it succeeded, the proposal would give water agencies from across the arid West a way to tap into the Pacific Ocean without having to shoulder the impractical costs of directly connecting pipes to the ocean.
Landa’s group would guarantee the water supply to the yet-to-be-identified urban agency, while building and operating the desalination plant, according to a 13-page presentation the developer prepared in March 2007.
Craig Benedetto, a spokesman for Landa, said the proposal was a back-burner idea that had never gained traction with any water suppliers in the United States. This project is nothing,” Benedetto said. “It’s going nowhere, it’s gone nowhere.”
Interesting he should mention that. I wouldn’t count that option out yet. I attended the Southern California Water Dialog meeting on Wednesday, and one of the speaker presentations was on the upcoming meeting with Mexico on March 11th to discuss Colorado River issues. Desalination plants are on the agenda. From the article:
Mexico’s share of the Colorado River has been a controversial subject with the United States for decades. The United States and Mexico signed a treaty in 1944 that guaranteed Mexico 1.5 million acre feet of water from the Colorado each year. (An acre foot is about 326,000 gallons, enough to supply two families for a year.)
But as the United States increased its dependence on the Colorado, the water that flowed into Mexico became saltier and seriously declined in quality. The United States eventually agreed in the early 1970s to build a desalination plant in Yuma to improve water quality. The treaty and subsequent negotiations have given Mexico a valuable trading chip as the West faces its predicted dry future.
“The Mexicans have 1.5 million acre feet that they can use for trading purposes. If the price is right, why not?” said Steve Erie, a political science professor at University of California, San Diego, who has studied water politics.
Building a desalination plant would be easier and less expensive in Mexico than in California, he said, because “you don’t have the regulatory system down there that you have here. You don’t have the speed bumps. All of the hoops that Poseidon has gone through with the Coastal Commission (to permit its Carlsbad desalination plant) aren’t there south of the border.”
Poseidon currently operates six desalination plants in Baja California. Get the full story from the Voice of San Diego by clicking here.
Snow survey: reason to party or reason for concern?
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 28, 2008 at 11:57 pmFrom the San Jose Mercury News:
We all know it’s been wet this winter. But has it been wet enough? As state snow surveyors measured the snowpack at a meadow along Highway 50 in the Sierra Nevada today, the answer - for the first time this year - was yes. The snowfall season should end above-average - and that means Californians, warned to brace themselves after an exceptionally dry 2007, almost certainly won’t face water shortages this summer.
That’s right. No dirty cars. No brown lawns. And no saving the bath water. “Fears should be put to rest,” said snow surveyor Dave Hart of the state Department of Water Resources. “There’s no way you could say we’re in any kind of drought.”
Mostly because of three heavy storms that smothered the high country with snow in January and February, the Sierra snowpack is 118 percent of normal for this date, officials from the Department of Water Resources reported. By comparison, last year at this time the snowpack was 63 percent of normal.
“It’s a good positive sign for water supplies for the summer,” said Frank Gehrke, a hydrologist with the state Department of Water Resources, as he measured the density and water content of the snow at Phillips Station in El Dorado County near South Lake Tahoe.
More from the San Jose Mercury News by clicking here.
But wait, before you head out to fill up the swimming pool and fire up your decorative fountain, the San Francisco Chronicle’s article says not so fast:
The Sierra snowpack continues to exceed normal levels, meaning good news for skiers and the state’s water users, but state water officials say more above-average snowfall is needed this season to wipe out the state’s water-supply deficit.
A sampling of four Sierra monitoring stations Wednesday and today showed snow levels ranging between 110 and 138 percent of normal for this time of year, compared to a 74-85 percent subnormal range at the same time last year, according to the state Department of Water Resources. Estimated water content of the snowpack is at about 120 percent of normal, compared to 68 percent last year, said Elissa Lynn, a meteorologist with the state Department of Water Resources. “That’s so much better than a year ago,” she said.
Today’s results are the latest in monthly snowpack surveys. The results for all of the Sierra’s 260 monitoring stations showed the snowpack water-content at 131 percent of normal for end of January, Lynn said. But even with the extra snow, the state’s reservoirs are not expected to fill up this year because of the shortages last year, when the water content of the peak snowpack on April 1 was only 40 percent, she said.
More from the San Francisco Chronicle by clicking here.
The farmers are happy, according to the Fresno Bee:
Recent storms have boosted southern Sierra Nevada snowpacks, raising hopes for many farmers who saw their water deliveries slashed last year. “The snowpack is the key for us,” said Kathi Woodward, an Easton-area farmer and dairy operator. “It means we’ll have to pump less ground water, it’s better for the environment, and it’s a lot less costly for us. All around, it’s been great.”
Thanks to the snowpack — which already exceeds typical annual peaks — the Fresno Irrigation District will begin delivering water Saturday, two months earlier in the season than last year, officials said this week.
A dry year that severely limited Kings River runoff meant farmers received just three months of water deliveries last season. This year, they’re expected to get water for six months. But with reservoir levels still recovering from last year’s parched conditions, it may be too early to say that California’s water outlook is back to normal. Despite the larger snowpack, water worries remain, particularly for growers on the Valley’s west side. Much of their water comes through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
“The delta is still the Achilles heel in this thing,” said Mark Borba, a Riverdale grower. Protections of the delta smelt last year brought restrictions in deliveries of water to west side farmers. And still more curbs could result from the listing this month of the longfin smelt by the state as an endangered species.
You can read the full text of the story from the Fresno Bee by clicking here.
So is the drought over? Depends on which paper you’re reading. The other piece of news these articles fail to mention is that the Wanger court-mandated pumping restrictions went into effect today, curtailing pumping from the Delta by 25% for at least the next seven days. (See press release from DWR below.)
CORRECTION: Pumping has been cut to 25% of normal for up to seven days.
DWR releases results of third survey; Delta pumping restrictions have gone into effect
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 28, 2008 at 5:33 pm
From the Department of Water Resources, the results of today’s snow survey, plus the announcement that Delta pumping restrictions have gone into effect. From the press release:
Results of today’s snow survey by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) show Sierra snowpack conditions at 118 percent of normal for this time of year.
While this would normally be a positive indication that the state’s water supply is in good shape, DWR also announced that it will need to further reduce Delta pumping starting today to comply with a federal court order limiting water exports to southern California, the Bay Area and Central Valley.
State Water Project exports, which would typically be at about 8,000 cfs this time of year to fill south of Delta storage and provide water to communities and farms, will be cut to about one-quarter of that amount to protect Delta smelt that might be impacted by water project operations. This reduction initially will last up to seven days.
Today’s snow survey was the third of the 2008 snowfall season. The most recent electronic sensor readings show Northern Sierra snow water equivalents at 122 percent of normal for this date, the Central Sierra at 110 percent, and the Southern Sierra at 130 percent. Statewide, the percentage of normal is at 118 percent. Electronic sensor readings one year ago showed the Northern Sierra at 69 percent of normal, the Central Sierra at 64 percent and the Southern Sierra at 52 percent. The statewide average was 63 percent.
The Delta pumping reductions are a result of Federal Judge Oliver Wanger’s decision in December 2007 to curtail pumping by state and federal water projects to protect the threatened Delta smelt, a tiny fish vital to the ecosystem that has seen its population decline drastically in past years.
This year’s pumping reduction will reduce the amount of water that can be allocated to the 29 state water contractors this year between 11 and 30 percent.
Manual results from the February 28, 2008 snow survey
Location
Elevation
Snow Depth
Water Content
% of Year to Date Average
Alpha
7,600 feet
85.9 inches
30.8 inches
110
Phillips Station
6,800 feet
86.1 inches
33.7
136
Lyons Creek
6,700 feet
100.7 inches
35.2 inches
138
Tamarack Flat
6,500 feet
92.4 inches
29.7 inches
127
Central Valley Project farmers told they can expect 45% of their water allocations
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 28, 2008 at 5:19 pmFrom the Central Valley Business Times:
Farmers who purchase their irrigation water from the Central Valley Project can expect 45 percent of their allocations, according to the Bureau of Reclamation. But the Bureau says allocations for those north of the San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta may be subject to further review for Sacramento River water temperatures to protect salmon. The bureau is also implementing interim court-ordered measures this year to protect the delta smelt, and water supply for the allocations south of the delta could change.
Farmers south of the delta face an even more uncertain season for irrigation water, according to a Sacramento-based private water law attorney. Additional court decisions about endangered species protections for salmon and a new fish that may be added to the list could further reduce water flows.
“The Delta smelt interim decision regarding additional restrictions to protect Delta smelt is ongoing. There also has recently been a state decision on the longfin smelt and so we may get additional restrictions on the State [Water] Project,” says Becky Sheehan, a private water law attorney in Sacramento.
Get the rest of the story from the Central Valley Business Times by clicking here.
Measuring groundwater in Nevada: an inexact and controversial science
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 28, 2008 at 5:13 pmFrom Las Vegas City Life:
An interesting story on how things have changed in last 50 or so years. Nevada’s groundwater basins were originally mapped back in the 1960’s, using techniques of the time. Basically back then, they spent a couple of months in a basin studying vegetation and making crude estimates of how much water might lie beneath.
“They spent a couple months in a given basin using a standard approach, but they didn’t have a lot of data to go by,” says Andrew Burns of the Southern Nevada Water Authority. “In terms of an estimate, it’s pretty decent, and since that time a lot of additional data has been collected.”
The statewide “reconnaissance” survey from the ’60s was a piece of thumbnail-sketch science that went broad, but not very deep. But the results are nothing to sniff at; heck, they’re what the state engineer uses as a guide when deciding how to dole out groundwater rights. The comprehensive water portrait shows that Nevada has more than 230 groundwater basins. Now, more than 40 years later — in a rapidly growing state where water is gold — scientists still refer to that dated snapshot of our groundwater situation. There hasn’t been a statewide inventory of water since the ’60s. Since then, a patchwork of studies have offered updates here and there, but the overall picture isn’t as clear as you’d think.
“The interesting thing is that, obviously, some of that data is old,” says Allen Biaggi, director of Nevada’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. “And there are some new methods of evaluating basins.”
To date, only 81 of Nevada’s groundwater basins have been mapped using modern technology. The need exists for a more comprehesive evaluation, but finding the funding is difficult. Several bills have been introduced in the state’s legislature, but none have passed as of yet. Another attempt is planned for 2009.
Meanwhile, not only our techniques for mapping groundwater basins has improved, so also has our understanding of groundwater dynamics:
While water officials and scientists offer reassurances that there’s plenty of water out there in Nevada — in fact, many studies have found there’s more than previously thought — the most recent research has shed further light on a new conception of groundwater. It’s decidedly different than the popular idea of groundwater as big bathtubs of liquid, static and placid, just waiting for someone to dip in.
Even when the money’s there to plumb the desert depths for water, the science isn’t always crystal clear. A case in point resides to the north, where from 2005 to 2006, federal scientists were dispatched to study the area where the Southern Nevada Water Authority wants to tap rural groundwater. The $6 million study scrutinized 13 basins straddling the Nevada-Utah border. The Basin Area Regional Carbonate Aquifer System Study (aka BARCASS), paid for by an amendment to the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, was seen by critics of the rural pipeline plan as a scientific sop to skeptics and a Pass-Go card for the water authority — There, there, now. There’s plenty of water in the area, see?
The good news is there seems to “extra” water flowing out of the 13-basin study area. But the study also had the perhaps ironic effect of reinforcing another idea that’s quickly gaining traction — and one that might make water authority officials squirm. The emerging idea is that groundwater, scientists are finding, isn’t merely confined to a basin as though it were sitting in a sink. Rather, the water slips and slides around beneath the earth in larger patterns called regional flow systems. The inconvenient result: Pumping water at Basin A could spell trouble for Basin Z — or, say, the endangered species of fish that call Basin Z home. Indeed, some critics think BARCASS raised more questions than it answered.
“These aquifers are all connected, and they’re the source for surface water, including rivers that feed Lake Mead, and springs and seeps that are critical habitat for rare plants and animals,” says Launce Rake of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, a foe of the rural pipeline plan. “We don’t understand what’s happening out there. Some scientists are getting a grasp, and the more we know, the more fragile those interconnected environments look.”
Read the full text of this story from Las Vegas’s City Life by clicking here.
Photo illustration by Bill Hughes and Las Vegas City Life.
Water conservation worked so well, rates are going up for some Northern California cities
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 28, 2008 at 4:41 pmFrom the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat:
Frugal water use last year helped the Sonoma County Water Agency achieve a state-mandated reduction in diversions from the Russian River. Now, the region’s primary water purveyor says it must increase wholesale rates to its customers - North Bay cities and water districts - in part to compensate for the lost sales.
Wholesale rate hikes of 6.7 percent for Santa Rosa and Windsor, 7.2 percent for Sonoma and 10.7 percent for south county cities including Rohnert Park and Petaluma are proposed for adoption in the spring. Officials in some cities said the increases will be absorbed but others said the higher costs are likely to be passed on to water users.
In Petaluma, City Council members said it was frustrating to learn that conservation efforts led to a rate hike - although city officials said it won’t be felt by Petaluma residents just yet. “You don’t want to get penalized for doing the right thing,” Councilwoman Teresa Barrett said at council meeting Monday.
Some cities planned ahead, and not all are considering passing on the increased costs - at least not yet.
“It’s an unfortunate paradox with conservation,” Ban said. “If the revenue goes down you still have to keep the pumps running and the equipment maintained.”
Read the full text of the article from the Press-Democrat by clicking here.
Climatologists declare drought over for Orange County
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 28, 2008 at 4:16 pmFrom the ScienceDude at the O.C. Register:
Federal climatologists today declared an end to Orange County’s long and damaging drought, reclassifying the region as abnormally dry, the lowest level of concern in a comparatively dry year.
Orange County thus becomes the last area of coastal Southern California to be removed from any of the drought categories that climatologists list on the U.S. Drought Monitor, which is updated weekly.
“Over the last 180 days or so, Orange County hasn’t done quite as well as other coastal areas when it came to rain, which is why it took longer for it to be listed as abnormally dry” said Brad Rippey of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is part of the U.S. Drought Monitor team.
The situation was eased, in part, by three modest, back-to-back storms last week.
The reclassification simply means that there are few lingering signs of drought, such as wildlands covered by dry grass. The county is now mostly green, and wildflowers are popping up everywhere, including the areas scarred by October’s huge wildfires.
Get the rest of the story from the ScienceDude by clicking here.
Salton Sea Authority hopes to remain a viable force in the face of funding difficulties
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 28, 2008 at 4:13 pmFrom MyDesert.com:
The Salton Sea Authority projects to have $97 in available funds by the end of April.
At their meeting today, Authority board members will discuss doing away with virtually all committees, and changing their meeting schedule from monthly to bi-monthly or quarterly.
Despite the agency’s continuing challenges, members said it’s important that they stick together, as the process for restoring California’s largest lake becomes more state-driven. “Eventually they are going to need us or somebody just like us to do anything out there,” said Riverside County Supervisor and Authority member Marion Ashley. “We have to hang around, stay a viable agency, stay involved in the issues, and be ready to act whenever the opportunity comes.”
Read the rest of the story from MyDesert.com by clicking here.
Webcast links for today’s Delta Vision Meeting
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 28, 2008 at 6:58 am
The Delta Vision Task Force will meet today to continue working on their strategic plan for implementing the vision. They will continue their meeting tomorrow.
Here are the weblinks:
Meeting Agenda: click here.
Link for the webcast for today’s meeting: click here.
Webcast for tomorrow’s meeting: click here.
You can visit the Delta Vision Task Force website by clicking here.
Also today: DWR’s snow survey. I’ll post the results once they’re in!
Delta photo by flickr photographer crumj.
Salton Sea Authority’s money is drying up
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 28, 2008 at 6:50 amFrom MyDesert.com:
As the Salton Sea slowly dries up and dies, members of a local group fighting to preserve it don’t want to see the same thing happen to their agency.
The Salton Sea Authority, without an infusion of cash from its members, expects to run out of funds by April. Its executive director and other paid employees have left the organization, leaving staff from member agencies in charge on a rotating basis.
While the group will discuss its future at its meeting today, its mission is as important as ever, Imperial County Supervisor and Authority member Gary Wyatt said Wednesday. “We need this vehicle to have a way for the region to be working together and be a cohesive force to drive the restoration efforts,” he said.
More on this story from MyDesert.com by clicking here.
Salton Sea picture by flickr photographer kallao.
Despite all the rain and snow, the drought is not over for Arizona
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 28, 2008 at 6:45 amFrom the Western Farm Press:
Winter has been a pleasant diversion with plenty of snow in Arizona’s high country and rain at lower elevations. Still, the long-term drought persists, according to the members of the Arizona Department of Water Resources’ State Drought Monitoring Technical Committee (MTC).
“The wet winter has definitely been a bonanza for us,” said Tony Haffer with the National Weather Service, chair of the monitoring committee. “But the Southwest in general, and Arizona in particular, has been in deficit for many years. Naturally, it will take many winters like this one to get us back into balance.”
“Reservoirs still are refilling and long-term groundwater deficits in the state will take many years to replace,” said Tom Carr, assistant director for statewide planning for the Arizona Department of Water Resources.
“We are entering our 14th year of drought,” said State Climatologist Nancy Selover. “I believe it started after the very wet winter of 1993, which was the end of the wet period. Lakes Powell and Mead were pretty full at that time.”
The wet conditions experienced across most of Arizona over the past two months have been unusual for a La Niña event of this strength and magnitude. Intra-seasonal variability related to pulses of moisture traveling across the Pacific Ocean, in conjunction with a persistent jet-stream pattern favorable for Arizona precipitation, have produced the welcome wet winter conditions.
Read the full text of the story from Western Farm Press by clicking here.
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