Bad News for State’s Water Supply Future; Dry March/April leaves snowpack well below normal for the year

Posted by: Maven on April 30, 2008 at 3:44 pm

From the Long Beach Water Department, this press release:

LONG BEACH, CA – The Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners are again calling for more aggressive action from southern California on the eve of the California Department of Water Resources May 1st Sierra snowpack survey announcement. Tomorrow, it will be announced that Sierra snowpack is now roughly 67 percent of normal for the year, following a dry March and April. Just two months ago, statewide snowpack was 116 percent of normal. Additionally, Lake Oroville, the primary reservoir for the State Water Project, is lower today than any April 30th since 1991. In fact, the volume of water stored in our most critical supply reservoirs is, collectively, 2.4 million-acre-feet (28 percent) less today then at this time last year.

Meanwhile, the State Water Project allocation (the amount of water State alots to the San Francisco Bay Area, the Central Valley and to southern California cities) remains at a meager 35 percent, meaning southern California is, today, expected to receive only 35 percent of normal imported water deliveries from the California Bay Delta. The State Water Project allocation has not been this low since 1991, at the end of the 1987-1991 drought. Last year, State Water Project deliveries were around 60 percent.

“Once again, we call on the Metropolitan Water District and the southern California water supply community to join Long Beach and take a more aggressive, long-term, public stance on the need to immediately implement extraordinary conservation measures,” stated Bill Townsend, President of the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners. “We continue to deplete our State’s water reserves at an alarming rate,” said Kevin Wattier, General Manager of the Long Beach Water Department. “Bold action is needed now by water agencies throughout southern California to reduce demands on our rapidly depleting water resources.”

In March, during a joint Senate Committee hearing held in Sacramento, Roger Patterson, Assistant General Manager with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD), read a prepared statement into public record, stating that his agency “is rapidly depleting its existing water supply reserves with no relief in sight.” The MWD wholesales imported water supplies to communities throughout southern California, who are dependent on imported supplies. Fifty percent of Long Beach’s water supply is purchased from the MWD.

In June of 2007, the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners implemented extraordinary conservation measures, including enforcement of new citywide restrictions on certain outdoor water uses. These efforts have achieved an additional 7 percent reduction in water use citywide through March of this year.

The Long Beach Water Department is an urban, southern California retail water supply agency and the standard in water conservation and environmental stewardship.

See illegal uses of water, HERE

Ryan J. Alsop
Director of Government & Public Affairs
Long Beach Water

Odds and ends: MWD, economics, and water; plus water conservation, the LA Aqueduct yesterday and today, and a hat tip to the Pastie Lady

Posted by: Maven on April 29, 2008 at 2:50 pm

Interesting tidbits this week out there in the blogosphere:

Metropolitan Water District the topic of dissertation: Aguanomics blog writer and newly minted PhD David Zetland has posted his dissertation (economics, I believe) on Metropolitan Water District. Congratulations, Dr. Zetland, is it? He has posted his abstract and a link to download a copy. Writes David: This case study explains how MET—as a cooperative—is inefficient and how its member agencies suffer from this inefficiency. I show that MET is inefficient by demonstrating that its members have heterogeneous preferences over outcomes: Members that are more dependent on MET prefer policies that increase water supply; others prefer lower rates. He also writes:I use 60 years of panel data to show that water increases land value, dependency lowers it, and water may have been misallocated during the 1987–1991 drought. I describe how marginal water can be auctioned after inframarginal, “lifeline” water is allocated and present experimental results for “water” auctions in which water managers suffer endowment effects but compete more (relative to students). [Huh? I say, blowing the dust off my economics book....] You can read it all from the Aguanomics blog by clicking here.

More economics & water: Water Wired’s Michael Campana weighs in on Jeffrey Sach’s new book, Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet, which discusses water issues, among other things. Writes Michael: If the [Newsweek] article is any indication of what Sachs thinks about water and the solutions we need, then it’s nothing new for us Water Wonks. Yeah, things are bad and will probably get worse. But perhaps Sachs’ book will convince others – politicians, “regular people”, et al. – that action is needed. If it does that, then he’s done us all a service. Michael goes on to say that what the United States needs is a national water policy – not a plan but a policy. Check it all out from the Water Wired Blog by clicking here.

Water Conservation on the Surviving LA blog: Here’s a blog that has posted an article on water conservation. Says the writer: Water management has traditionally involved the manipulation of water supplies, rather than focusing on altering water demand. There are many advanced techniques and devices to help conserve water, such as greywater reuse, rainwater collection, water-conserving landscaping and irrigation practices, the installation of low-flow fixtures and appliances, and proper swimming pool maintenance, but few are taking such measures. The article discusses a myriad of ways to conserve water, and includes good ideas for homeowners with swimming pools. Click here for Surviving LA’s Water Wise Redux.

The Los Angeles Aqueduct through Elsmere and Whitney Canyon: Here’s a website which shows sections of the Los Angeles Aqueduct as it passes through the Santa Clarita area on the way to the Cascades facility. The writer describes the infrastructure extensively, and has historical photos of the construction, along with present day pictures of the area. Check it out by clicking here.

Pastie Lady, I owe you one …. On Saturday, I posted a story about the Ojai Pastie Lady – click here to read the post. I commented how posting pictures of girls would raise my readership, and quipped quite tongue in cheek at the end, “I’ll be sitting here, watching my sitemeter count soar … ” Well, that is exactly what happened. Seemed everybody, their brother and their dog were searching “pastie lady” over the weekend, and I got five times the usual number of hits. Traffic has been slowing down somewhat since then, but still remains busy. So, hat tip to the Pastie Lady!

Now if I could only figure out how to get rid of those darned hacker “Guru Sucks” ads…

Extensive video series on the Pacific Garbage Dump; and a trash-eating boat

Posted by: Maven on April 29, 2008 at 2:50 pm

I’ve covered the story numerous times about the swirling gyre of trash out there in the southern Pacific Ocean. Curious to know what it looks like? Now, via the Aguanomics blog, here’s an extensive video series on the situation from VBS.TV: Click here.

The New York Harbor gets a lot of trash in it, too. Trash-eating boats hauled in an average of 12 tons a day, according to the watercrunch blog. How do they do that, you ask? Check out video of Marine International’s Trashcat boat on the watercrunch blog by clicking here.

ACWA participates in scoping meeting on Bay-Delta Plan; Association calls process a critical step toward comprehensive water solution

Posted by: Maven on April 29, 2008 at 5:49 am

From Business Wire:

Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) President Glen Peterson today took part in the first in a series of scoping meetings in the environmental review process for Bay-Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP). The plan is a collaborative effort by state, federal and local agencies and environmental organizations to map out a comprehensive conservation plan for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

The BDCP process is aimed at protecting Delta species in way that provides for sufficient and reliable water supplies. Improving the sustainability of the Delta is a key policy priority for ACWA, and association members will be participating in scoping meetings around the state in the coming weeks. Peterson said ACWA members view the BDCP process as a critical step toward fixing the troubled Delta and the larger goal of securing a more sustainable water system for California.

“We welcome the start of this environmental review process because there is not a minute to lose when it comes to the Delta,” Peterson said. “We need to get moving on a solution because every day we wait is another day of environmental decline and lost water supplies. Improving the sustainability of the Delta is in everyone’s best interest. California simply cannot hope to achieve a comprehensive water solution without a plan to stop the Delta’s downward slide.”

He noted that without a sustainable Delta, important tools such as recycling and local surface and groundwater storage cannot work effectively in many areas of the state. Significant public investments in local programs are at risk as a result.

The scoping meetings continue through May 14. The environmental review process is expected to be completed in 2010.

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.

Lois Wolk discusses the crisis in the Delta and what the public can do to help in interview with California Progress Report

Posted by: Maven on April 29, 2008 at 5:46 am

Here is an excerpt from an interview with Lois Wolk, published on the California Progress Report:

Delta Protection has become your hallmark issue, those of us who went to Congressman Thompson’s fundraiser last weekend, learned a lot about efforts underway to protect the delta—how did you get involved in this issue, what are you looking for the state to do on this effort, and finally what can we as citizens do?

District 8 represents the northern part of the Delta. I have been very much involved in water issues and environmental issues from the time that I entered the Davis City Council. As chair of Water, Parks, and Wildlife, I know that the Delta is the heart and soul of the California water system. It is the core and it is in terrible crisis. That has not only a major environmental impact, but a potentially disastrous economic impact of the entire state.

We’ve asked the Delta to do many things and many of them are incompatible with each other. We want it to supply an unending or increasing supply of water to Southern California and to the Bay Area. We want it to be an extraordinary estuary to breed and facilitate fisheries. We want it to be the repository of agricultural and urban runoff. We want it to, I don’t, but it has become an area of increasing urbanization. We’ve asked it to do far too many things and it is dying, it is absolutely dying. Of course it is surrounded by levies that are basically 19th century piles of dirt, and they are failing. And it is seismically at risk. You can’t imagine an area that is of more significance and at risk.

What can we do? We can do a number of things. The people of the state of California voted for a bond in 2006 to repair the levies and to begin the process of improving the water quality in the Delta, and the fisheries, the habitat, and the agriculture. What we can do is to try to raise the profile of the delta. Most people know where the coast is and know why it’s important to protect it. Most people know about the Sierra Nevada, and they will protect it. They know about Yosemite and they will protect it. They know about their local parks and they want to protect those. But the Delta has very few people in it and very little political clout. So we need to be able to raise the profile of the Delta so that it takes its place as the key water and environmental issue for California.

Then we need to put in place structures that will protect it. It needs are steward. There is no steward—no body, no agency—whose sole purpose is to protect the delta. And if I’m elected to the Senate, that’s what I’ll spend many years trying to accomplish. It won’t be easy, but there has to be a body like the Coastal Commission that focuses exclusively on the Delta and has responsibility for all water decisions and all environmental decisions that affect it. That won’t be easy to do, but I am convinced that has to occur.

The average person needs to educate themselves and speak to their representatives. Here we are very blessed with a delegation that understands all of that—both in the surrounding Assembly Districts and the Senate Districts. And at the Congressional level—Mike Thompson and Doris Matsui have been strong supporters of the Delta—they know where it is, they know how important it is to our region. But we don’t have the same recognition other places. That’s very hard for citizens here to accomplish. We have to educate those in the Bay Area, further in the southern part of the Central Valley, in San Diego, in Los Angeles, to the importance of the Delta to them but to California as a whole. And we’re trying to do that. We’ve been working very carefully with members of my committee who represent those areas, in educating them about the Delta.

Hurricane Katrina had an effect in that area. After Katrina, people were suddenly aware that the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta was in fact at greater risk than New Orleans. And look what happened to New Orleans, so that recognition has helped us with flood protection, it’s helped us with environmental legislation in the Delta; it’s helped us get resources to the Delta. Every cloud has a silver lining, Katrina really the knowledge of how fragile this area is. We have to continue that because we need resources from those who might want to put those resources elsewhere.

Read the full text of the interview with Lois Wolk from California Progress Report by clicking here.

Can you get by on just 5 gallons of water per day? A British woman tries it out

Posted by: Maven on April 29, 2008 at 5:28 am

From AlterNet:

Full marks to those who keep a tight rein on their carbon footprint, but don’t relax just yet: water is the new carbon, and our engorged water footprints need to be scrutinised before the rivers really do run dry. At the World Economic Forum in January, the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, warned that water and food shortages would be the crises of 2008. Last week we watched the escalating food crisis reverberate around the globe. Conflicts fuelled by water shortages may well be next, triggered by climate change, population growth and poor water management.

The phrase “water footprint” was coined to describe the embedded or “virtual” water in a food or industrial product — the real volume of water used to create that product. It is difficult to avoid using products which have not been involved in a water-intensive process somewhere along the line, and the figures are staggering: it takes 1,760 litres to get one pint of milk out of a cow and into your fridge; a kilogram of cheddar swallows up 5,000 litres.

There is also, of course, plenty of water embedded in everyday activities other than eating, such as washing, cooking and cleaning. The average Brit splashes about 155 litres of water each day, compared with 20 litres for most people living in sub-Saharan Africa. Water might flow freely from our taps, but our small island is not immune to global shortages. Water is a limited commodity, and is becoming more expensive as its supply grows more difficult to guarantee.

How do we get through almost nine times more water each day than someone living in Africa? Thirsty Planet, a bottled water brand which donates part of its profits to the charity Pump Aid, challenged me to survive on 20 litres for 24 hours to find out.

Read the rest of this story from AlterNet by clicking here.

Desalination can boost US water supplies, but more environmental research needed

Posted by: Maven on April 28, 2008 at 6:25 am

From Science Daily:

Recent advances in technology have made removing salt from seawater and groundwater a realistic option for increasing water supplies in some parts of the U.S., and desalination will likely have a niche in meeting the nation’s future water needs, says a new report from the National Research Council. However, a coordinated research effort with steady funding is required to better understand and minimize desalination’s environmental impacts — and find ways to further lower its costs and energy use.

“Uncertainties about desalination’s environmental impacts are currently a significant barrier to its wider use, and research on these effects — and ways to lessen them — should be the top priority,” said Amy K. Zander, chair of the committee that wrote the report and professor at Clarkson University, Potsdam, N.Y. “Finding ways to lower costs should also be an objective. A coordinated research effort dedicated to these goals could make desalination a more practical option for some communities facing water shortages.”

The report recommends that R&D efforts be overseen by the White House Office of Science and Technology, and that it be funded at $25 million per year. Currently, desalination research is funded by earmarks, which is not a steady source of funding. Currently, the private sector is funding much of the research.

Substantial uncertainties remain about the environmental impacts of desalination, the report says. Limited studies suggest that desalination MAY be less environmentally harmful than many other ways to supplement water — such as diverting freshwater from sensitive ecosystems — but definitive conclusions cannot be made without further research.

Researchers should investigate the extent to which fish and other creatures get trapped in saltwater intake systems in various settings, and seek ways to mitigate this and other impacts. Studies also should examine the long-term ecological effects of disposing of the salt concentrate that remains after desalination in rivers or the sea, a common practice. In addition, environmental evaluations of new desalination plants should be conducted, including ecological monitoring before and after the plant starts operating. The results should be synthesized with existing data in a national assessment that can guide future decision making, the report says.

Desalination also has raised concerns about greenhouse gases because it uses large amounts of energy. Seawater reverse osmosis uses about 10 times more energy than traditional treatment of surface water, for example, and in most cases uses more energy than other ways of augmenting water supplies. Researchers should investigate ways to integrate alternative energy sources — such as the sun, wind, or tides — in order to lower emissions from desalination, the report says.

Read the rest of this article from Science Daily, which has a lot of useful links for more information, by clicking here.

California water policy and fish: If at first you don’t succeed (in complying with endangered species laws) try, try again

Posted by: Maven on April 28, 2008 at 6:05 am

From the California Progress Report:

Following last week’s unprecedented cancellation of the salmon season and a federal court determination that operations of the two largest water projects in the state failed to comply with the Endangered Species Act, water operators have announced a series of workshops to prepare for their next attempt at complying with endangered species laws – the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP).

Beginning on Monday, the California Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will hold ten scoping meetings to begin their environmental review of the BDCP. The agencies are seeking a fifty-year permit which would grant regulatory “assurances” for Delta pumping that may limit future actions to protect threatened fish such as salmon and Delta Smelt for the duration of the permit, even if those populations continue to decline.

If ultimately approved, the BDCP will take the place of court-ordered operations of the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project. The court-ordered operating rules are the result of a 2007 judicial decision which found that water project operations jeopardized the continued existence of Delta Smelt, in violation of the federal Endangered Species Act. The same court is expected to issue additional operating rules, which may further limit Delta water exports, following last Wednesday’s decision to reject the Biological Opinion covering at-risk species of salmon and steelhead trout.

To read the full text of this article from the California Progress Report, click here.

Federal government’s commitment to Indian water rights settlements questioned

Posted by: Maven on April 27, 2008 at 7:59 am

The next big thing to affect Colorado River usage. In 1908, a Supreme Court decision guaranteed adequate water to tribal lands; however, when the Colorado River Compact was drawn up in 1922, Native Americans were simply left out of the deal. At a recent Western Governor’s Association meeting, Indian water rights were listed as a major concern.

This morning, a story from the Gallup (New Mexico) Independent, questioning the feds commitment to settling Indian water rights:

Last year, U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman introduced H.R. 1970 — the Northwestern New Mexico Rural Water Projects Act — which is currently pending in Congress and would authorize the settlement and the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project to provide safe drinking water to the Navajo Nation and Gallup. The Department of the Interior has testified against the bill, and the Office of Management and Budget has opposed funding despite the critical lack of drinking water infrastructure on the Navajo Nation. Gallup may run out of water in less than 10 years.

The federal government is expected to be an aggressive trustee of Indian water rights, according to Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr., however, Navajo is concerned that the feds’ current application of Criteria and Procedures in settlement negotiations creates incentives for the United States to oppose the interests of Indian tribes.

The Navajo Nation has considerable experience with water rights settlements. “We are currently involved in finalizing a settlement with the state of New Mexico, and we are in discussions with the states of Arizona and Utah to quantify our water rights through negotiated settlements, rather than through the litigation process,” Shirley said. The president explained how the United States has neglected the Navajo Nation’s water rights claims to the Colorado River, and has instead pursued a wide variety of activities concerning the management and allocation of the river without consideration of the needs of Navajo.

John Echohawk, executive director of the Native American Rights Fund of Boulder, Colo., has worked on Indian water issues for more than 38 years. In the last three decades, he said NARF has encountered one consistent challenge: the federal government’s inability to commit adequate financial and human resources to resolving tribal water rights claims.

“For centuries, the federal government has promoted and subsidized non-Indian water rights to the detriment of vested tribal water rights,” he said. “The lack of federal commitment to developing tribal water rights is especially troubling considering the conditions we see across Indian Country. It is not uncommon for tribal members to drive over 50 miles to haul water for their homes, many which still have no access to electricity. It is as if Native Americans fell through the web of the federal system that is charged with ensuring our well-being under the trust responsibility.”

The federal commitment to Indian water rights settlements remains inconsistent, and the lack of federal funding plagues the settlement process, Echohawk said.

Read the rest of this story from the Independent by clicking here. For more on Indian water rights, check out the Indian water rights category.

Local community group, R4RD, debuts website following desalination news

Posted by: Maven on April 27, 2008 at 7:31 am

There’s a new website up and running coming from Huntington Beach, where Poseidon is planning another desalination plant. The group, called “Residents for Responsible Desalination” or R4RD, is a local volunteer organization with a coastal community mission to:

Educate the public about ocean water desalination;
Protect local control of water resources and marine life;
Advocate the highest and best uses of technology and practices that minimizes environmental and health impacts; and,
Promote environmentally preferable alternatives to ocean water desalination, such as water conservation, reclamation,retention, and recycling.

The website has a links to the latest desalination news, the organizations newsletter, and other useful web resources. Check it out by clicking here (www.r4rd.org).

Water rights and water wrongs in the Sierra Nevada

Posted by: Maven on April 27, 2008 at 6:53 am

From the California Progress Report:

Water law in the state of California can best be described as one of those incredibly complex multiple level chess games, with varying and not necessarily consistent rules for each level. In the crazy California water game different norms control, depending on whether ground water, riparian rights, appropriative rights, or prescriptive rights are involved (and this is short form-there are many other variations), and even whether rights were acquired before or after 1914. Add in all the various water projects, which divert water far away from its mountain origins, and its one-time inevitable flow towards the sea, to provide water for agricultural interests and urban needs, and you get an even more layered, confusing system, with consequent over appropriation of surface waters, and overdraw of groundwater.

There are many who feel the current system of water allocation in California is unfair, inefficient, and sadly broken. This year’s collapse of the salmon fisheries, and the precarious situation of the Delta underscore the need to reassess how California’s water is used, abused, and wasted. The debate promises to be heated, with, on one side, those who are convinced dams, and canals are a magic bandaid, and on the other side, those who favor protection of the environment, and who emphasize conservation and wise use of water over building yet another dam, and who think it’s absolutely profligate to ship water to places like Westlands Water District to grow thirsty crops and forage, when that water is taken at the expense of protection of instream uses, such as keeping endangered fish out of the maws of the vast water project pumps.

There is a basic core of rationality in California’s water system, though. The Public Trust Doctrine requires a balancing of consumptive and instream uses. This doctrine was successfully applied to water appropriation through the vigilance of those who fought for more than 20 years to prevent the siphoning away of Mono Lake to slake Los Angeles’s thirst. Further, the California Constitution prohibits waste and unreasonable use of water. The terms “waste” and “unreasonable use” are a virtual full employment act for attorneys specializing in water law, but I’ll spare you a treatise on “legally correct” usage. What I’d like to talk about is a real-life, shameful waste of water in the Sierra Nevada, up near Donner Summit.

Read the full text of this story from the California Progress Report by clicking here.

Ojai’s scantily-clad Pastie Lady touts healing benefits of water

Posted by: Maven on April 26, 2008 at 6:29 am

“Girls”, he said. “If you want to increase your readership, you need pictures of pretty girls.”

OK, but how to do that, I think, drumming my fingers on my desk. I mean, post pictures of girls in bikinis? Naw, that’s just too yesterday. You’ve all seen that before. Aquafornia needs something different. Maybe Aquafornia needs ….

The Ojai Pastie Lady!

From the Los Angeles Times:

Cars were whizzing past one of Ojai’s busiest corners when Jennifer Moss decided to do a headstand, clad in only a G-string and flower-shaped pasties.

Why?

“Headstands are good for you!” she said, beaming, as she pulled a yellow smiley-face pillow out of her bicycle’s small trailer. With athletic grace, Ojai’s “Pastie Lady,” a self-described social artist and environmental activist, quickly pulled her legs up to salute her adopted hometown.

Not that this artsy, liberal-leaning city of 8,000 is all that impressed. In the year since Moss began pedaling her bicycle down Ojai’s main street in barely-there attire, she’s been arrested twice and ticketed repeatedly for obstructing traffic. Irate parents have asked the City Council to force Moss to put on more clothes. Now she may face prosecution for public indecency.

“The issue we’re looking at is exposure,” said Jim Ellison, Ventura County’s chief assistant district attorney. “We’ve assigned an attorney to do some research.”

Ojai’s citizens, meanwhile, have divided into pro- and con-Pastie Lady camps, venting their opinions in the local newspaper nearly every week. “Ojai tolerance is not eternal,” local filmmaker Leland Hammerschmitt wrote in a guest editorial in the Ojai Valley News, in which he scolded Moss for her “naked narcissism.” “You’ve had more than your day. Go away. Just stop.”

But Moss, whose social activism appears to revolve around natural-fiber clothing and the healing powers of water, also has ardent defenders. They say “Earth Friend Jen” is not hurting anyone and that naysayers should leave her alone. “In the South, they actually embrace you if you are eccentric or even a little crazy. . . .,” Dusty Fernandez, an Oak View resident, wrote in the paper. “So lighten up people! Enjoy the view or turn the other way.”

(Note the vague reference to water which nonetheless means I can post it and still be considered staying on topic…) Read more about Ojai’s Pastie Lady in the LA Times by clicking here.

Meanwhile, I’ll be sitting here, watching my sitemeter count soar ….

Glenn Colusa Irrigation District says it is drilling wells for test purposes, but nearby Butte County fears water will be exported and files suit

Posted by: Maven on April 26, 2008 at 6:13 am

From the California Progress Report:

Residents in the Sacramento Valley are fighting what they see as the first steps in exporting Northern California groundwater to the San Francisco Bay Area, the Central Valley, and Southern California.

Earlier this year, Butte Environmental Council filed a lawsuit against the Glenn Colusa Irrigation District (GCID) after discovering plans to tap into the Lower Tuscan aquifer, the community’s primary source of drinking water, without conducting an environmental review as required under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The Lower Tuscan provides water for over eighty-five percent of Butte County residents. It also contributes stream-flow to the state’s richest spawning habitat for the critically threatened Central Valley Chinook salmon.

GCID claimed the seven proposed groundwater extraction wells were strictly for research purposes and therefore exempt from any review requirements. However, the Butte Environmental Council discovered that the project’s federal grant documents told a different story, stating that the project will “provide additional water supply for the Bay-Delta,” and “make water available for in-basin and out-of basin transfers that will improve statewide water supply reliability.”

“This confirms our worst fears. The federal and state agencies see our groundwater basin as a solution to their disastrous manipulation of California’s water,” said Barbara Vlamis, Executive Director of the Butte Environmental Council.

Read the rest of this article from the California Progress Report by clicking here.

Coleman Hatchery to release 1.4 million salmon smolts into Bay acclimation pens to increase their rate of survival

Posted by: Maven on April 26, 2008 at 6:02 am

From Dan Bacher at the FishSniffer:

For the first time in over a decade, the Coleman National Fish Hatchery, operated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will truck 1.4 million of its 12.6 million Chinook salmon smolts to be released this spring to San Pablo Bay to assess the effect of the release site on salmon harvest and returns to the hatchery.

The smolts trucked to San Pablo Bay will be placed in net pens operated by the Fishery Foundation of California for acclimatization and then released into the bay. When salmon smolts released by the California Department of Fish and Game have been placed in the acclimation pens, smolt survival is five times what it would have been if the fish had released directly into the river, according to Dick Pool, owner of Pro-Troll Fishing Products.

“They have accommodated our request and will truck 1.4 million smolts around the California Delta to the acclimation pens in San Pablo Bay,” said Pool. “The first batch of 400,000 fish will join 17 million smolts being trucked by DFG from the state hatcheries to the release pens. We hope these fish will provide a good base for rebuilding the stocks in the ocean.”

The program occurs at a time when Central Valley salmon stocks are in a state of unprecedented collapse. Although water exports from the California Delta and declining water quality, combined with bad ocean conditions, are regarded as the key factors in the collapse, fishing and conservation groups are trying to improve hatchery release practices so that more salmon will survive and return to spawn as adults.

For two years, 2005 and 2006, the DFG’s salmon smolts weren’t placed into the pens. During this time, the mortality among salmon increased dramatically as the unacclimated smolts were decimated by birds and predatory fish after being released directly into the bay. This undoubtedly contributed, along with other factors, to the Central Valley salmon collapse.

Fortunately, Nels Johnson, outdoor editor at the Marin Independent Journal, last year prodded Assemblyman Jared Huffman to conduct an investigation of why the pens weren’t being used, resulting in the decimation of stunned salmon smolts as they were dumped into San Pablo Bay without being acclimated. Johnson and fishing groups pressured the DFG to make sure that the highly successful acclimation pens were used in future releases of salmon smolts from state fish hatcheries.

A portion of the smolts to be released by Coleman Hatchery will have coded-wire tags to identify them as part of this experiment. As these smolts are harvested or return as adults, fisheries biologists will be able to determine the rate of return of these fish.

More on this story by clicking: Continue reading “Coleman Hatchery to release 1.4 million salmon smolts into Bay acclimation pens to increase their rate of survival” »

Desalination could help U.S. water supply, but more research is needed

Posted by: Maven on April 25, 2008 at 6:17 am

From Reuters News:

It may be possible to remove salt from more water to boost the U.S. fresh water supply, but additional studies need to be done to assess the environmental effects of doing so, a panel said on Wednesday.

U.S. capacity to desalinate water grew by around 40 percent between 2000 and 2005, and plants now exist in every state, the National Research Council panel reported.

Most use reverse osmosis, which pushes water through a membrane to separate out most salts. But it is expensive, uses a great deal of energy and its effects on the environment are unclear, the panel of engineers and other experts found.

Read the full text of this story from Reuters News by clicking here. This article doesn’t give a link to the report referenced in the story, but I *think* it is the same report as is referenced in this article, which came out last night.

California Water Awareness Campaign kicks off water awareness month with Nice Save! public education campaign

Posted by: Maven on April 25, 2008 at 5:48 am

From Business Wire:

The California Water Awareness Campaign (CWAC) is launching a new public education program to kick off Water Awareness Month (May) using the slogan, Nice Save! The new theme focuses on the many ways Californians can use water wisely and personally congratulates consumers for their Nice Save!

Initial components of the Nice Save! program include print ads, transit ads and utility bill inserts which illustrate five ways to conserve water both inside and outside the home: using a broom instead of a hose to clean driveways and patios, using a hose shut-off nozzle, turning water off when brushing teeth, installing low-flow toilets, and kids doubling up in the tub.

Mike Wade, CWAC president and executive director of the California Farm Water Coalition, says the Nice Save! program was developed to educate Californians about direct ways in which they can help with the critical water challenges now facing our state. Many consumers need to be reminded of the important steps they can take to conserve water at home and how everyone effort to use water wisely can really add up to considerable savings,says Wade.

Last month, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger outlined a comprehensive plan for sustaining the Delta that called for a 20% per capita reduction in urban water use statewide by 2020. Public education programs, such as Nice Save!, can serve to increase the publics awareness of Californias water problems and inform them of programs which are trying to solve many of those problems. Congratulating water conservation efforts with a Nice Save! directly involves the consumer in helping to solve our states water problems.

The California Water Awareness Campaign, a non-profit organization, was formed in 1987 to educate consumers about water conservation in response to the continuing drought at that time. The mission of the CWAC is to educate all Californians about using water wisely. For more information about the CWAC, visit its Web site at www.wateraware.org.

Our political leaders are to blame in world water crisis, says commentary

Posted by: Maven on April 24, 2008 at 9:40 pm

From AlterNet, this commentary, written by Maude Barlow, author of the book, “Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water”:

So here, then, is the answer to the question, Can we run out of freshwater? Yes, there is a fixed amount of water on Earth. Yes, it is still here somewhere. But we humans have depleted, polluted and diverted it to such an extent that we can now actually say the planet is running out of accessible, clean water. Fast. The freshwater crisis is easily as great a threat to the Earth and humans as climate change (to which it is deeply linked) but has had very little attention paid to it in comparison.

The world is running out of available, clean freshwater at an exponentially dangerous rate just as the population of the world is set to increase again. It is like a comet poised to hit the Earth. If a comet really did threaten the entire world, it is likely that our politicians would suddenly find that religious and ethnic differences had lost much of their meaning. Political leaders would quickly come together to find a solution to this common threat.

However, with rare exceptions, average people do not know that the world is facing a comet called the global water crisis. And they are not being served by their political leaders, who are in some kind of inexplicable denial. The crisis is not reported enough in the mainstream media, and when it is, it is usually reported as a regional or local problem, not an international one. Water policy is raised as a major issue in very few national elections, even in water-stressed countries. In fact, in many countries, denial is the political response to the global water crisis.

Read more of Maude Barlow’s commentary posted on AlterNet by clicking here.

Forget carbon: you should be checking your water footprint, and new online calculator will help you do just that

Posted by: Maven on April 24, 2008 at 9:37 pm

From AlterNet:

The concept of water footprints — or “virtual water” — will tell consumers the amount of precious H2O that has been used in the manufacture of products they buy. As with carbon footprints, a “virtual water” figure will indicate the extent to which a particular product has cost the earth. And, as with carbon footprints, the message is clear: less is better.

A new website run by the University of Twente in the Netherlands, waterfootprint.org, gives ethically minded consumers a chance to work out the hidden implications of their shopping habits. Common commodities including groceries, clothes, stationery and electrical goods are evaluated according to a water footprint calculator. In each case, the water footprint covers both the manufacture and transport of the goods.

The results are striking. An apple weighing 100g has a water footprint of 70 litres, while a 125ml cup of coffee has a water footprint twice that size, 140 litres. But the water used in producing wheat or meat is much greater. A single kilogram of barley has a water footprint of 1,300 litres, while the industrial production of a kilogram of beef amasses a water footprint of 15,500 litres.

Poultry, meanwhile, has a smaller water footprint than red meat: producing a kilogram of chicken meat leaves a comparably much smaller water footprint of 3,900 litres.

Academics behind the “virtual water” calculations have also created a worldwide league table for the water footprint of different countries. The US is the biggest offender, with a water footprint of close to 2,500 cubic metres per year per capita, while Italy is a close second. Britain’s water footprint is relatively modest at 1,245 cubic metres per year per capita.

Read the full text of this article from AlterNet by clicking here.

Salmon Aid Festival on May 31st and June 1st

Posted by: Maven on April 24, 2008 at 8:26 pm

Aquafornia is pleased to run the banner ad during May for the upcoming Salmon Aid Festival in Oakland on May 31st and June 1st. If you’re going to be in the Bay Area, check it out! It sure sounds like fun. From the website:

The SalmonAid Festival will celebrate wild salmon and steelhead with a free, family-friendly, music festival in Oakland’s famed Jack London Square on May 31 and June 1, 2008. Organized by the largest ever coalition of West Coast salmon advocates (including commercial, recreational and tribal fishermen, conservation organizations, chefs, restaurants, scientists, and many others), SalmonAid will raise awareness of the plight of west coast salmon populations, the rivers and streams they spawn in, and the many coastal and inland communities that rely on salmon for their livelihoods and survival. The festival will feature educational booths, activities and foods highlighting the natural history of salmon, as well as the history, culture and traditions of salmon towns and the peoples connected through our west coast salmon heritage – from Morro Bay, California to Bellingham, Washington, and inland to Idaho and Nevada.

Salmon Aid will also have music – lots of it! Over 20 bands on two stages. And proceeds will go towards supporting education and habitat restoration efforts directed at re-establishing abundant wild, native Pacific salmon populations in Pacific coast watersheds. Find out more about the Salmon Aid Festival by clicking here, or by clicking on the ad above.

Lester Snow keynote speaker at local HOA dinner

Posted by: Maven on April 24, 2008 at 5:36 am

Lester Snow was keynote speaker for the Las Virgines Homeowner’s Federation on April 18th, according to this article from The Acorn:

Lester Snow, director of the California Department of Water Resources, drove home the urgent need for water conservation while speaking at the Las Virgenes Homeowners Federation installation dinner on April 18.

Snow, who was the keynote speaker at the event, pointed out the severity of the water shortage in California and the repercussions of a 2007 Federal Court ruling on water availability and delivery.

In 2007, U.S. District Court Judge Oliver Wanger ordered a massive reduction in water supplies from the state’s two largest water delivery systems- the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project, to protect the Delta smelt, an endangered fish species.

According to Laura King Moon of the State Water Contractors, the public agencies that deliver supplies to 25 million Californians, the restriction is the largest, court-ordered water supply reduction in California’s history.

Snow said the Federal Court ruling that was meant to protect Delta smelt resulted in a drastic reduction in how much water the California water agencies are entitled to receive.  Snow also blamed the water disruption on climate changes. When large ice shelves melt, coastal aquifers and deltas are affected. A simple two-degree shift in temperature can destroy habitats and “change all ecosystems,” he said.  “Temperatures will still continue to rise over the next 100 years,” Snow said. “We can’t turn back the clock.”

The snowpack in the Sierra Mountains, which is the source of Southern California’s water, is down by more than 20 percent this year, and could be reduced up to 40 percent by the year 2050, he said.

Read more about what Lester had to say in this article from The Acorn by clicking here.

Delta Vision Task Force meets tomorrow & Friday; Bay Delta Conservation Plan begins public scoping meetings next week

Posted by: Maven on April 23, 2008 at 2:37 pm

Important meetings regarding the Delta coming up this week & the next:

The Delta Vision Task Force will once again be meeting to discuss the preliminary recommendations for the Strategic Implementation Plan from four stakeholder workgroups. The workgroups are addressing issues on water supply reliability, governance and strategic finance, Delta-as-place and the estuarine ecosystem. Meeting information, including staff reports, agenda, and weblinks can be found by clicking here.

The Bay Delta Conservation Plan will begin public scoping meetings at various locations statewide. To find a location near you, click here. Per the DWR website, “The BDCP’s purpose is to provide for the conservation of at-risk species in the Delta and improve the reliability of the water supply system within a stable regulatory framework. The process is being conducted consistent with state and federal laws that encourage the development of broad habitat conservation plans that protect natural communities in exchange for regulatory assurances.” The purpose of the meetings is to discuss the EIR/EIS for the plan. More information on the Bay Delta Plan by clicking here.

Salmon ruling could impact water deliveries

Posted by: Maven on April 23, 2008 at 6:16 am

From the California Farm Bureau Federation:

In a long-awaited decision, a federal court in Fresno found that a 2004 biological opinion by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service does not adequately protect sensitive fish populations when authorizing long-term operations of the state and federal water projects.

Environmental groups brought suit against the state and federal government, which operate the conveyance system that provide water to more than 25 million Californians and water to irrigate more than 9 million acres of food crops. The environmental groups said the biological opinions used to authorize operations of the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project don’t adequately protect winter-run and spring-run Chinook salmon, or Central Valley steelhead.

The California Farm Bureau Federation was among the organizations that intervened in the case on the side of the water projects and water users. The case is similar to the delta-smelt case, in which CFBF also intervened. The same judge, U.S. District Court Judge Oliver Wanger of Fresno, ruled last year that the biological opinion for the smelt also was inadequate. Water supplies from the projects have been reduced this year, as a result.

“The court has handed down a 151-page decision and we’re still going through it,” said Chris Scheuring, CFBF managing counsel for the Natural Resources and Environmental Division. “What this ruling will mean for our members is still being determined, but we do have the gist of it.

“Legally, there are a lot of moving parts. There will be another hearing next Friday (April 25) to address the critical question–do we need to do anything further to alter operations of the water projects in light of this ruling?”

Continue reading “Salmon ruling could impact water deliveries” »

Judge rules Cadiz v. Metropolitan Water District case to be heard by jury; trial set for May 5, 2008 to hold Metropolitan accountable for “Breach of Fiduciary Duty” claim

Posted by: Maven on April 21, 2008 at 1:13 pm

From Business Wire:

Cadiz Inc. (NASDAQ:CDZI) announced today that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Jane Johnson issued favorable final rulings late Friday of last week on a number of pre-trial motions in the Company’s case against the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. In the case, Cadiz is seeking to hold Metropolitan accountable for breaching its fiduciary obligations resulting from a long-term partnership between the two parties to develop a secure water supply for southern California. From 1998-2002, Cadiz and Metropolitan worked together as partners to develop the Cadiz Groundwater Storage and Dry-Year Supply Program through an extensive environmental and technical review that culminated in approval of the Cadiz Program by the Federal Government.

Upon making her ruling, Judge Johnson also set the trial date for May 5, 2008, pending the outcome of a mandatory settlement conference that is to be held on April 30, 2008. In her ruling on the most recent motions, Judge Johnson:

• Denied Metropolitan’s motion to strike the request for a jury trial, so that a jury of Southern California citizens will now have the opportunity to review the facts in the case and evaluate Metropolitan’s testimony in court;
• Denied Metropolitan’s motions to exclude the testimony of an expert witness, who has valued Cadiz’s damages at between $397 – $673 million.
• Denied Metropolitan’s motion to exclude evidence of damages resulting from its failure to accept a right-of-way grant offered for the Cadiz Program and its failure to certify the Final Environmental Impact Report for the Cadiz Program.

Stephen Mick, Cadiz’s attorney and partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, stated, We are pleased that this matter is going to trial before a jury. We look forward to the opportunity to hold Metropolitan accountable for breaching its fiduciary obligations to Cadiz and for denying southern Californians a secure water supply at a time when consumers are being forced to pay more for less water.

Continue reading “Judge rules Cadiz v. Metropolitan Water District case to be heard by jury; trial set for May 5, 2008 to hold Metropolitan accountable for “Breach of Fiduciary Duty” claim” »

Salmon Closure 2008: 10 actions you can take to make sure this doesn’t happen again

Posted by: Maven on April 21, 2008 at 6:14 am

From Dan Bacher:

This is the urgent “Salmon Closure 2008 – Never Again” action alert from the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. This alert provides you with 10 concrete actions that you take NOW to restore Central Valley chinook salmon, now in an unprecedented state of collapse, and other imperiled salmon runs on the West Coast.

The Bush and Schwarzenegger administrations continue to blame “ocean conditions” for the Central Valley salmon collapse to escape any responsibility for fostering the abysmal conditions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta that led to the collapse. However, Peter B. Moyle, U.C. Davis Professor of Fish Biology, says blaming “ocean conditions” for salmon declines is like blaming the iceberg for sinking the Titanic.

“Ocean conditions may be the potential icebergs for salmon populations, but the ship is being steered by us humans. Salmon populations can be managed to avoid an irreversible crash, but continuing on our present course could result in loss of a valuable and iconic fishery,” said Moyle.

There are a number of fresh water factors that have contributed to the collapse, but increases in water exports and the decline in water quality in the California Delta are undoubtedly the top two. This alert proposes immediate actions to address water exports and water pollution – and shows how you can pressure the federal government to deliver disaster relief to salmon fishing families and communities and Congress to conduct an oversight hearing on Pacific salmon management.

Please widely circulate this alert because action is needed to the save the salmon and communities that depend on them now.

Read on for specific things you can do to help the salmon. Continue reading “Salmon Closure 2008: 10 actions you can take to make sure this doesn’t happen again” »

The U.S. is nearing the limit of it’s water supplies, says commentary

Posted by: Maven on April 19, 2008 at 5:49 am

From AlterNet, this commentary, written by Shiney Varghese from the Institute for Agricultural and Trade Policy:

I am amazed: since last summer, almost every day we see at least one news story on another water crisis in the U.S. The water crisis is no longer something that we know about as affecting developing countries or their poor in particular. It is right here in our own backyard. Today, in many parts of the U.S. we are nearing the limits of our water supplies. And that is getting our attention. The writing has been on the wall for some time. The private sector has been showing much interest in water as a source of profit, and water privatization has been an issue in many parts of the country.

The failure in public water systems has indeed been a contributing factor for this interest. In many cities, consumers have been organizing and opposing the privatization of water utilities, because they have been concerned about affordability or deterioration in the quality of service. Environmental organizations and consumer activists have also been concerned about the socio-economic, health and environmental implications of ever increasing bottled water use. But for most of us living in the U.S., water is something we take for granted, available when you turn your tap on — to brush your teeth, to take a shower, to wash your car, to water your lawn, and if you have your own swimming pool then, to fill that as well.

The article details some of the challenges facing regions across the U.S., including our own.  The article at one point discusses how Katrina exposed vulnerabilities in many different areas; we should use the lesson of Katrina to address our current vulnerabilities with water in the U.S.:

  …  this crisis gives us yet another opportunity to rethink and challenge issues that we need to raise: land use planning that allows unfettered development, energy production that is water intensive, and agricultural water use that is inefficient from a hydrological perspective. So far we have assumed that we can undertake any development we want, wherever we want, or we could grow whatever we want, however we want, and that water will always be available to support that growth. In the process we are draining our aquifers, polluting our rivers, tampering with ecosystems and destroying the diversity of life — as if nature is ours to be manipulated to suit our wants. It is time to change some of our practices.

Read the full text of this article from AlterNet by clicking here.

New report available: the uses of low-pressure membrane technology in desalination & wastewater treatment

Posted by: Maven on April 18, 2008 at 3:26 pm

From Water Tech Online:

The future looks good for low-pressure membrane technology, according to a recently released report by the National Water Research Institute (NWRI), a California water agency-founded research group based here.

According to the NWRI report, A Global Perspective of Low Pressure Membranes, which was released in April, “Low-pressure membrane technology represents a fast-growing industry, and these products will continue to be incorporated into future water and wastewater treatment applications throughout the world.”

The report, which is available for download, was prepared by David Furukawa, an engineer and membrane technologies expert with Poway, CA-based Separation Consultants, Inc., a desalination consulting company.

According to the report abstract, “As with reverse osmosis previously, microfiltration, ultrafiltration, and membrane bioreactors underwent a similar development period when they were used for many different niche applications before their broadest applications were recognized. This report is a view of the current status of this industry and includes an account of actual installed capacity through the end of the year 2006.”

Read the rest of this story from Water Tech Online by clicking here.

DWR observes May as Water Awareness Month in a year of water challenges

Posted by: Maven on April 18, 2008 at 5:47 am

From the Department of Water Resources:

In a year of water challenges and opportunities, California’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) observes May as Water Awareness Month, promoting the theme: “Use Water Wisely.”

Though California’s winter snow pack in 2008 was near average after a dry 2007, State Water Project deliveries are severely restricted this spring. This is largely due to compliance with a Federal court’s restrictions on Delta pumping to help safeguard the threatened Delta smelt. “Our water challenges are clear,” said DWR Director Lester Snow. “We must move forward on Governor Schwarzenegger’s comprehensive plan to invest in our water systems, restore the Delta and ensure clean, safe and reliable water supplies.”

Delta pumping export cuts are mandated by Federal Judge Oliver Wanger’s December, 2007 decision. It curtails pumping by State and Federal water projects to protect Delta smelt, whose population has plunged in recent years. In addition to water diversions, the fish are affected by such factors as invasive species and water pollution.

The State Water Project (SWP) is projected to deliver just 35 percent of requested water amounts this year for use by cities, farms and businesses in the Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley, Central Coast and Southern California. “In addition to pumping cuts and Delta problems, California faces many water challenges, including changing climate patterns that affect snowfall and precipitation,” said Snow. “Water is a vital necessity for our environment, people and quality of life. So wise water use and robust conservation efforts are more important now than ever before.”

Water Awareness Month originated in response to California’s most recent multi-year statewide drought in 1987-1992.

DWR is a leading State water resources management and planning agency. It operates the State Water Project, providing water to more than 24 million people and about 750,000 acres of farmland. About 70 percent of SWP water goes to cities, with about 30 percent devoted to agriculture. The Department also operates flood management and dam safety programs, performs water planning and works on Delta ecosystem and water issues.

Below is a list of special events of significance during Water Awareness Month:

Continue reading “DWR observes May as Water Awareness Month in a year of water challenges” »

Disappearing California agricultural lands a “growing” concern: “losing the farm” not the best option

Posted by: Maven on April 17, 2008 at 7:23 am

From the California Progress Report:

To those who say California lacks culture, I say it has the best kind. It’s called agriculture. Try taking this kind of “culture” away and then see what’s left. An entire state bereft of fruit, vegetable and cotton plants/trees and all the varied and interconnected aspects associated with the industry (e.g., processing, packing, packaging, labeling, storing, shipping, and marketing); a trade and industry that just so happens to thrive here (not to mention all the beautiful fruit tree blooms that no longer could be beheld). If that were to happen, many of the state’s towns would simply dry up, as agriculture is their lifeblood. In conjunction with this, hordes, invariably, would be filling the ranks of the unemployed. Thinking about the potential negative impact is mind-boggling. Definitely would qualify as a “domino effect” phenomenon. Fortunately, that’s not a reality. Yet, this is exactly what’s happening one acre, one parcel, one hectare at a time.

Agriculture here is a growth industry, or more correctly, was. At some point along the way, a point of diminishing returns was reached. Problem is, the world’s population continues to expand and hunger, and in some cases and far, far worse, starvation, is keeping pace right along with it. If the amount of farmable acreage keeps receding, how on earth is the worldwide demand for food going to be met? Less farming won’t cut it. Therefore, higher outputs per given area of farmland and/or more technologically productive or efficient growing methods could be the only practical solution (and salvation) if more food-growing acreage isn’t established. While those aren’t bad ideas, at the end of the day, in all likelihood it wouldn’t be enough.

California is losing agricultural land to development in startling amounts.  For instance, one out of every six acres developed for agriculture since the Gold Rush has now been paved over.  And:

“If sprawling development patterns continue, another 2 million acres of California land will be paved over by 2050. If, however, the state as a whole develops land as efficiently as Sacramento County or the Bay Area did in recent years, a million acres of California’s irreplaceable farmland could be saved.”

Read the rest of this story from the California Progress Report by clicking here.

The blogosphere: the salmon crisis, fishing the SoCal way, what was missing from last week’s debate; plus octopus sex and a ferris wheel for sale

Posted by: Maven on April 16, 2008 at 10:30 pm

Here is what’s new:

Of salmon and trout and canaries in a coal mine: The Donklephant blog weighs in on the California salmon crisis, as well as wild trout in Wisconsin. The writer presents his own informed opinion on the root cause: It starts with an administration that has an ideological agenda to prioritize political and economic interests over wildlife. Then the administration cooks the science to further their ideological objectives. The resulting removal of “endangered” status for wild salmon runs, created a regulatory environment that permitted the wholesale diversion of water from the Klamath and Sacramento Delta Salmon habitat to agricultural interests. Check out the Donklephant blog by clicking here.

Tom Chandler of the Trout Underground may have his natural, scenic streams to fish in, but hey, we’ve got something just as good, and uniquely Southern Californian: The California Aqueduct! Check out this blog all about fishing in the aqueduct, and look at the size of those fish! And no warnings about eating them, either. This blog has a lot of information – where to fish, what kind of fish you can find in the aqueduct, and tips for catching them. And what is more Southern Californian than fishing in a concrete ditch? Check out the “Fishing the Aqueduct” website & blog by clicking here.

Blogger has a beef with Snow & McIntyre’s debate: The writer notes that agricultural use accounts for the majority of water use in California, and yet this fact is left out of the equation. Requiring mandated conservation similar to AB32 doesn’t make sense, either. Says the blogger: What’s misleading about comparing water use reduction targets to the bold greenhouse gas reduction targets in AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, is that water is a resource with assigned (if occasionally precarious) appropriations rights. We don’t need to create new markets to promote water use efficiency in California, we just need to improve the markets we already have. To do that, agricultural water use has to be part of the discussion. Check out the Reason Foundation’s Out of Control blog by clicking here.

Octopus sex is more complex than you think, says the San Francisco Chronicle, although I must admit I haven’t thought much about it. Dedicated researcher followed the octopi (octopuses?) around from dawn to dusk, and says: … the males were very picky and discriminating, that the females would have sex with just about anybody, and that male competition for females tended to be violent and frequent. Hmmm… sounds vaguely familiar …. Story from the San Francisco Chronicle by clicking here.

Santa Monica Pier’s old ferris wheel for sale on ebay: Well, they do say you can sell anything on ebay, don’t they? Minimum bid of $50,000 will get you a 12-year old ferris wheel with 20 gondolas and 5,392 light bulbs. You’ll have to shell out another $135,000 for the base though, and you’ll also have to pay shipping costs for the 122,000 pound ride. From the Associated Press – click here.

Long Beach Water Commission urges increased, regional action on water conservation

Posted by: Maven on April 16, 2008 at 5:58 am

From the Long Beach Water Department, this press release:

The Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners have again renewed their call for a more aggressive, regional effort to conserve water. As the summer heat approaches, demand for water throughout southern California is going to increase. As this demand increases, so too will the rate at which we deplete our emergency water supplies. “We’re calling on our own customers to use this time before the summer heat arrives to set an outdoor watering budget that uses no more water than was used this winter, states Bill Townsend, President of the Board of Water Commissioners.

There are three ways you can accomplish this:

1. Give your sprinkler systems a thorough tune-up to reduce overspray and run-off. For help, visit http://www.lbwater.org/conservation/tuneup.html

2. Support official prohibitions on outdoor water uses. Only water your yard Monday, Thursday and Saturday. No watering between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. To learn about these prohibitions, visit http://www.lbwater.org/pdf/conservation/wateruseprohib.pdf

3. Reduce the size of your grass lawn by installing a California native, water efficient landscape. Nearly seventy percent of all the water we use is used outdoors. For help visit http://www.bewaterwise.com/Gardensoft/tips_01.html

The 2008 winter snow survey conducted last month by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) is indicating that the water content of the Sierra snow pack is near normal, but State Water Project deliveries continue to remain at near record lows due to last year’s federal court ruling that significantly restricts Delta pumping from December through June, to protect an endangered fish. “The snow pack is back to normal, but a broken Delta means water deliveries to millions of Californians will be far below normal this year,” said DWR Director Lester Snow.

“Once again, we call on the Metropolitan Water District and the southern California water supply community to join Long Beach and take a more aggressive, long-term, public stance on the need to immediately conserve water,” stated Bill Townsend, President of the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners. “Implementation of strict prohibitions on certain outdoor water uses, bolstered with aggressive public communications, is the future for southern California. We’re asking our colleagues to embrace this future, today. We, collectively, need to engineer a permanent lifestyle change in the way we all see and use our water, so that inefficient and wasteful uses are no longer tolerated by anyone. The only way a successful effort is going to be sustained, is if we have all of Southern California on board.”[emphasis added by Aquafornia.]

Continue reading “Long Beach Water Commission urges increased, regional action on water conservation” »

Commentary: The truth about the Clean Water Restoration Act

Posted by: Maven on April 16, 2008 at 5:24 am

From the California Farm Bureau Federation:

Some claims are so outrageous that they must be answered. Like the claim that the misnamed “Clean Water Restoration Act” (HR2421/S1870) simply restores the “original intent” of Congress to regulate all waters in the United States.

This claim is belied by the actual text of the Clean Water Act–the best and only indication of congressional intent–that says Congress intends to protect the nation’s waters by eliminating the discharge of pollutants into the “navigable waters” while protecting “the primary responsibilities and rights of the states” to eliminate pollution and determine the “development and use … of land and water resources” locally.

Nowhere does the Clean Water Act state that Congress intends to regulate (i.e., federalize) all waters in the U.S. Instead, the act states just the opposite.

Another outrageous claim that must be answered is the patently dishonest argument that the implementing agencies have had a consistent interpretation of the Clean Water Act for more than 30 years recognizing congressional intent to regulate all waters in the U.S.

In truth, when the act was passed in 1972 (as the Federal Water Pollution Control Act), the Army Corps of Engineers asserted it could only regulate traditional navigable waters and not much else. The corps did not change its tune until 1975-76 when it adopted more expansive regulations. But even these regulations did not purport to cover all waters. They expressly excluded some wetlands and other waters, and still do. By 1986, the corps was only regulating wetlands adjacent to “navigable waters” and specifically excluded man-made drainage ditches.

Continue reading “Commentary: The truth about the Clean Water Restoration Act” »

LA DWP is the recipient of the “2008 Green California Leadership Award for Climate Change”

Posted by: Maven on April 16, 2008 at 5:23 am

From the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, this press release:

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) was recognized last week at the Green California Summit in Sacramento, as winner of the 2008 Green California Leadership Award for Climate Change

The LADWP was recognized as the winner in the Climate Change category for the Low Income Refrigerator Exchange Program through which the LADWP has distributed over 29,000 free energy-saving refrigerators to low-income customers across the City of Los Angeles. Other award categories included: Energy Innovation, Green Building, Purchasing, Waste Management, Transportation, Water Management and Green Culture.

The LADWP’s winning program, the Low Income Refrigerator Exchange Program provides free energy efficient refrigerators to LADWP customers who are on the Low Income Discount Rate or Lifeline discount rate program. These customers often have older, inefficient refrigerators that not only waste energy, but cost much more to operate than newer, energy efficient refrigerators.

Continue reading “LA DWP is the recipient of the “2008 Green California Leadership Award for Climate Change”” »

At least 36 U.S. states face water shortage

Posted by: Maven on April 15, 2008 at 6:19 am

From AlterNet:

At least 36 states are expected to face water shortages within the next five years, according to U.S. government estimates. Available freshwater supplies are dwindling across the country due to rising temperatures and droughts, while increasing sprawl, population and inefficient resource usage are leading to rising demand.

“Is it a crisis? If we don’t do some decent water planning, it could be,” said Jack Hoffbuhr, executive director of the American Water Works Association. Rising temperatures due to global warming have increased evaporation rates across the country and reduced the availability of important water sources. One of these is the Sierra Nevada snowpack, which supplies a significant portion of California’s water. Across the West, similar trends are expected to reduce flows of the Colorado River, which supplies water for seven states.

Meanwhile, rising sea levels are expected to cause saltwater to infiltrate freshwater aquifers in coastal states, rendering that water unusable.

Read the rest of this story from AlterNet by clicking here.

Dog the water copper is back in epic new waster video; “People need a hero…someone they can believe in”

Posted by: Maven on April 14, 2008 at 3:18 pm

From the Long Beach Water Department, this press release:

LONG BEACH, CA – You have until May 2, 2008 to upload your original video!  The Long Beach Water Department, joined by marketing partners LBPOST.com; The Surfrider Foundation; JustinRudd.com and Professor Alan Jacobs of California State University Long Beach’s Film & Electronic Arts Department, is inviting the world to submit 30-second videos on the need to Stop Wasting Water.  One video will be selected by the Long Beach Water Department, and its marketing partners, as the Best Overall Video and used as one of the Department’s key public service announcements to run locally, on 14 different cable television networks this summer.  

In September of last year, the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners made an official Declaration of Imminent Water Supply Shortage triggering new, citywide prohibitions on certain uses of water, particularly outdoor water use.  Sixty to seventy percent of all the water used in Los Angeles County is used outdoors, primarily on non-native landscapes.   The Board’s September 2007 Declaration was a direct result of record drought, rapid depletion of in-State water supply reserves, and a Federal court ruling to mitigate environmental impacts in California’s Bay Delta, which is a key imported water supply source for southern California.

To be considered videos should be original, no longer than 30-seconds and use the phrase, “Stop Wasting Water,” at least once.   All videos will be judged on their potential to affect a permanent lifestyle change in the way people think about and use their water, so that inefficient and wasteful uses are no longer tolerated.  The Best Overall Video will be announced on Friday, May 2, 2008.
To watch Dog the Water Copper and have your own video considered, click HERE, or visit www.youtube.com/group/waterwaster.

Ryan J. Alsop
Director of Government & Public Affairs

North-South editorials agree on pending water legislation

Posted by: Maven on April 13, 2008 at 11:15 pm

From the California Progress Report:

Just one week after Northern California’s Sacramento Bee highlighted AB 2153 (Krekorian) as one of the most promising ways to meet California’s water needs, the Los Angeles Times gave Krekorian’s concept a Southern California boost in a separate editorial this Monday.

AB 2153 (Krekorian) requires developers to install cost effective water conservation measures in new residential and commercial developments. It also requires that developers further mitigate any remaining water use through implementation of water use efficiency measures in existing buildings or the development of environmentally beneficial, greenhouse gas emission-reducing, local water supplies.

The LA Times editorial endorsed an approach similar to AB 2153, stating, “Just as (developers) front funds to install the pipes that connect new communities to public water systems, they could become a source of funding for conservation technologies and recycled water infrastructure in existing and new communities.”

Read the rest of this article from the California Progress Report by clicking here.

The other side of “No water, no development”

Posted by: Maven on April 13, 2008 at 11:08 pm

Laer over at the Cheat Seeking Missiles Blog has a lengthy reply to the editorial, “No water, no development”, by the LA Times last week.  Laer discloses that “my business handles public affairs assignments for land developers and water districts”, and so accordingly, he takes a different view.

For instance, the LA Times editorial says, “It is time for development in California to follow the water”, to which Laer replies:

“Follow the water” is an utterly ridiculous concept also because we have the capacity and infrastructure to move water. Any development that is near existing water infrastructure — say the city of LA in its semi-arid desert environment — is as well situated, if not better situated, than one along a natural water source.

Calling for an end to suburban development to fix our water problems is no more a solution than would be a call to have the clouds drop more rain. Neither is realistic.

The LAT then goes through a three-paragraph exercise in diminishing the consequence of environmental and anti-growth laws it lobbied hard for itself. Thanks in part to the LAT’s support, we now have laws in CA that require new development to prove that there is a 20-year supply of water sufficient to meet the community’s dry weather demand.

Laer also disputes the insinuation that developers are able to buy influence:

If developers are so powerful, how come the homebuilding industry is the most heavily regulated in the country? When I speak on the subject, I usually start with the line, “Did you know it’s easier in California to get permission to cut open someone’s chest and stick a new heart in there than it is to get permission to build a house?”

Builders’ whims are summarily crushed by the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the environmental quality acts of the federal government and various state governments, and regulations that require no runoff to leave construction sites, no grading during bird nesting season, no construction noise near nesting birds, strict building limits in fire zones, and that they fund roads, parks and schools.

Clearly, the idea that developers buy influence has plenty of proof against it and precious little for it.

Much more from the Cheat Seeking Missiles Blog by clicking here.

Weekend odds and ends

Posted by: Maven on April 12, 2008 at 8:16 am

Dams will not fix problems, says the Aguanomics blog. The writer says let water markets work instead: Nietzsche says “Many are stubborn in pursuit of the path they have chosen, few in pursuit of the goal.” Some people think that dams are the path, but what is the goal? Environment? Let the water flow. Flooding? Don’t build in a floodplain? Food? Stop subsidizing competition (ethanol) People? Let water markets work. Check it the Aguanomics blog by clicking here. (Note: this blog has lots of interesting water-related posts. Check out the Aguanomics home page by clicking here.)

The solution to the water crisis is to stop irrigating the selenium-poisoned farmland in the western San Joaquin Valley, says B.R. Thomas of the BRT Insights Blog. This proposed solution has long been advocated by C-WIN & Dorothy Green. The idea being that instead of fixing the Westlands drainage problem, which would cost billions of dollars and could likely include a drain to the Delta, the money would be better spent buying out the lands and transferring the water to urban use. Thomas opposes the San Luis Drainage Resolution Act and encourages all Californians to contact Senator Feinstein in opposition. Check out the BRT Insights blog by clicking here. (BRT Insights Main Page by clicking here.)

If you’re planning on eating farmed salmon instead of wild (and unavailable) salmon, think again, says the Fire Dog Lake blog: “Pound for pound, farmed salmon chow down more antibiotics than any other beastflesh you can buy: the pinnacle of the toxic food chain.” Check out the Fire Dog Lake blog by clicking here.

Lake Mead to get more water this year: Per the new shortage guidelines, 653,000 additional acre-feet of water will be released from Lake Powell into Lake Mead this year. Runoff in the Colorado River Basin is expected to be 122% of normal, the highest in six years. Story from the Arizona Republic by clicking here.

Alpers out of the running for the top DFG job: Alpers learned Wednesday with a phone call from the Governor’s office. Story from the Inyo Register by clicking here.

New water blog: The Great Lakes Law Blog, written by Noah D. Hall, which you can read by clicking here. Water Wired reviews this blog by clicking here, and watercrunch also weighs in – click here.

A special shout out and thank you to San Diego State University students (& the instructor, whoever you are), who used Aquafornia’s Water Crisis article and Delta article as preparation for an earth sciences class. My sitemeter has never seen such big numbers! More importantly, the mission of Aquafornia is to educate the public on water issues, and I am honored to have been selected as a reputable source for your college class. I hope that you learned a lot, and best of luck in your future educational endeavors!

And finally …. the biggest casualty of global warming could be beer? Say it isn’t so! Tom Chandler of the Trout Underground asks, “Would you still be driving your 2 mpg Hummer and crushing the environment under the weight of your enormous carbon footprint if you knew you were personally causing the extinction of beer?” Check it out from the Trout Underground by clicking here.

ACWA releases statement on closure of salmon season

Posted by: Maven on April 12, 2008 at 6:13 am

From Business Wire, this press release:

Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) Executive Director Timothy Quinn released the following statement today regarding the closure of this year’s commercial and recreational salmon fishing season:

“Yesterday’s decision highlights one of the most perplexing problems facing resource managers. Coming after a decade of relative health and upwards of $1 billion invested in habitat and fish passage improvements, the salmon decline is another troubling sign that our environment is struggling.

“There is compelling evidence that ocean conditions are part of the problem, and we must begin to address that reality. We must also continue to improve inland habitat and fish passage. Like so many fish-related issues today, there are many stressors involved and it will take a comprehensive approach and the cooperation of every sector involved to find the answer.

“Local water agencies, many of whom have spent millions of ratepayer dollars on habitat improvements, want to be part of the solution. But they also want assurance that water supplies and facilities will not be the sole focus when it comes to addressing the problem.

“It’s critical that the Legislature move ahead with a comprehensive package that includes improvements in the Delta’s water conveyance system to reduce conflicts between environmental and economic needs for water. We simply must invest in the environmental integrity of the system, while continuing to invest in habitat improvements and ecosystem restoration. We must also make substantial new investments in water conservation, water recycling and other strategies that improve local water supply reliability and reduce pressure on the Delta.”

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.

LADWP wins award for responsiveness in promoting African-American economic development

Posted by: Maven on April 11, 2008 at 6:29 am

From the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, this press release:

LADWP is Named Government Agency of the Year
City Utility Deemed Most Responsive in
Promoting African American Economic Development
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power on March 20 was lauded with the Government Agency of the Year Award by the Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce (GLAACC) at its 15th Annual Economic Awards held at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

“This year’s dinner theme, ‘Building Economic and Political Coalitions,” highlights the importance of business and political relationships from the small business person to those in Fortune 500 corporations,” said GLAAACC President Angela Gibson.

GLAAAC’s goal is to increase African American participation in the multi-billion dollar Los Angeles County business arena. The Government Agency of the Year award is presented to the public sector entity that has been most responsive in promoting African American economic development.

“LADWP is committed to awarding contracts to minority, women-owned, and small business enterprises. LADWP strives to meet an annual goal of awarding 15 percent of contractual expenditures to minority owned businesses and seven percent to women-owned businesses,” said David Nahai, LADWP chief executive officer and general manager.

Continue reading “LADWP wins award for responsiveness in promoting African-American economic development” »

Metropolitan Water District joins with Arizona & Nevada in funding Drop 2 Reservoir project

Posted by: Maven on April 9, 2008 at 7:31 am

From Business Wire, this press release from Metropolitan Water District:

Metropolitan Partners with Arizona, Nevada to Fund Construction of New Reservoir, Add to Colorado River Flexibility; Metropolitan to Receive a Total of 100,000 Acre-Feet of Water over Next Three Years in Return for Share of Reservoir Funding

To help increase operational flexibility along the Colorado River, Metropolitan Water District’s Board of Directors today authorized $28.7 million to join agencies in Arizona and Nevada in funding construction of a new reservoir that will save up to 228 billion gallons of water per year.

In return for its funding, Metropolitan will receive 100,000 acre-feet of water, including up to 34,000 acre-feet this year that will be created though construction and operation of the reservoir adjacent to the All American Canal in Imperial County. (An acre-foot of water is nearly 326,000 gallons, about the amount used by two typical Southland families in and around their homes in a year.)

“These are exactly the types of creative partnerships that were outlined under the landmark federal conservation and reservoir operations plan for the Colorado River that was finalized last December,” said Metropolitan board Chairman Timothy F. Brick. “By states working together, we will be able to conserve and store up to 70,000 acre-feet of water annually in future years along the Colorado River.”

Based on historical Colorado River water releases from upstream reservoirs, the 8,000-acre-foot Drop 2 Reservoir is expected to save water by capturing and storing water that would have otherwise been lost. Once completed in late 2010, the reservoir is expected to generate up to 3.5 million acre-feet of water over 50 years.

Under the funding agreement, Metropolitan and Central Arizona Water Conservation District will reimburse Southern Nevada Water Authority for their share of the $172 million paid to the federal Bureau of Reclamation to build the Drop 2 Reservoir.

In return, Reclamation, which will design and build the facility, will make a total of 600,000 acre-feet of water available to the three agencies through 2036. Central Arizona, along with Metropolitan, will receive 100,000 acre-feet, while SNWA will take delivery of 400,000. Metropolitan will be the first agency to take delivery of the water through 2010, provided that Colorado River shortages are not declared.

“The real significance of this partnership is that the benefits are spread among all Colorado River users,” said Metropolitan General Manager Jeff Kightlinger. “In addition to the operational flexibility and additional supplies, this resourceful approach offers an innovative solution that could delay or prevent shortage conditions in the future for all Colorado River Basin states.”

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.

Coverage from Riverside’s Press-Enterprise by clicking here.

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