The last river: tapping California’s largest source of water
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 31, 2008 at 7:24 amFrom the San Diego Union-Tribune, this commentary by Barry Nelson of the Natural Resources Defense Council:
There is only one river left to slake the thirst of California, as the nation’s most populous state keeps growing. The state’s other rivers are tapped out. We need this last great river more than ever as global warming threatens to make longer, drier droughts the norm throughout the West. But you won’t find California’s last river on any map because it’s a virtual river. It doesn’t exist as a physical river, but that doesn’t make it any less real.
One needn’t look far to find the virtual river. It’s just a Google search away. State water managers have known about it for years. In fact, they put it in California’s State Water Plan for anyone to see. And they identified it as the largest source of new water supply in California, the largest source by far. Simply put, the virtual river is a combination of water-use efficiency, water recycling, improved groundwater management and advanced urban runoff management. The virtual river dwarfs all other options.
With the ecosystem crashing in the Delta and persistent drought plaguing the Colorado River, California needs to tap this virtual river more than ever, says Barry:
Making the most of the virtual river will require a whole new mindset. It will require recognition that every water drop saved – whether by conservation, recycling or groundwater and storm water management – counts as water supply. Those drops add up to more than 7 million acre-feet of water a year. That is more than has ever been exported from the Delta – the largest single source of water in the state. It is larger than the American, the Merced and the San Joaquin rivers combined. Environmentalists and urban water agencies agree that no other future source comes close to the virtual river.
The virtual river offers many other benefits. It can save energy and reduce global warming pollution because vast amounts of energy are currently needed to pump water from the Delta and the Colorado River. Moreover, the virtual river is less vulnerable to global warming; shrinking snowpacks and extended droughts will not affect its flow. One of its headwaters – advanced urban runoff management – can help clean up Southern California beaches by capturing storm water runoff before it picks up contaminants and pollutes our coastal waters. Finally, the virtual river can help us leave water in our real rivers, helping to save the Bay-Delta and our salmon fishing heritage.
Read more of Barry Nelson’s commentary in the San Diego Union-Tribune by clicking here.
Coachella Valley Water District says proposal for groundwater adjudication will drain economy
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 31, 2008 at 7:16 amFrom MyDesert.com:
Indio’s call for a court-appointed “watermaster” to resolve groundwater disputes “would have potentially devastating effects to the Coachella Valley’s already depressed economy,” Coachella Valley Water District officials said. The water district, with a response to the city’s lawsuit against it, fired the latest volley in a court battle between the two over groundwater rights and responsibilities. The district wants portions of the city’s suit dismissed, and to force the city to name all other regional groundwater users as defendants in its lawsuit - potentially hundreds of well-pumpers.
The move, district officials said, is an attempt to get the city to reconsider its call for a so-called adjudication of the groundwater basin, which would likely mean a court-appointed watermaster who would divide up existing and future groundwater supplies for cities and other users who rely on groundwater. “Indio has continually said they don’t want a general adjudication, although anyone besides the city of Indio who has read the cross-complaint says a general adjudication is exactly what they’ve asked for,” water district general manager Steve Robbins said. “They can’t just make these issues between CVWD and Indio. You either go all the way or you don’t do it.”
Indio Public Works Director Jim Smith denied the claim, saying the city wants a watermaster only to resolve the issues between it and the district. Smith called for an integrated regional water management plan, and for CVWD to stop asserting an authority position over valley groundwater usage that it doesn’t have. “Stronger leadership is needed,” Smith said. “We need to organize ourselves and have buy-in from all of the parties.”
Read the full text of this article from MyDesert.com by clicking here.
EMWD to begin targeting water wasters with fines
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 31, 2008 at 7:10 amFrom the Valley Chronicle:
Eastern Municipal Water District has adopted a system of fines for wasting water. Penalties for letting water run down the street will start in September. Part of the program also requires the latest in water-saving technology in all new residential development, whether it is one house or 100, said Eastern spokesman Peter Odencrans.
The water waste penalties already exist for big users such as municipalities and corporations. Odencrans said the water district has collected about $500,000 in fines from large users.
Residential users will be offered two opportunities to avoid penalties. On the third occasion that water officials find water getting beyond a yard, however, will generate a $100 surcharge on the offender’s water bill, the fourth instance will bring a $200 surcharge, and the fifth a $300 surcharge.
Odencrans said the water district got into the fines reluctantly. “We’ve always said we didn’t want to be water cops,” he said.
Money raised through surcharges is pumped back into conservation efforts and does not become part of the operating budget, said Eastern director Randy Record. “They have been proven to save water,” he said.
Odencrans said the district anticipates saving 18,000 acre-feet per year with the conservation efforts. But they do not work every time, as the district found with the fines levied against large users, he said. “Some people just didn’t care and wrote a check,” he said. “They considered it a cost of doing business.”
EMWD is also considering tiered water rates and increased use of recycled water. Read the full text of this article from the Valley Chronicle by clicking here.
The Water Wise Garden - article gives practical advice and alternatives to your thirsty lawn
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 31, 2008 at 6:53 am
From the Pasadena Star News:
Isn’t it time to get serious about your garden water usage? Headlines tell us water shortages are coming, along with possible rationing. Even if rationing isn’t necessary, our water bills are bound to go up.
You do have control over how much water you use in the garden. No, you don’t have to rip out everything and plant succulents, although that’s a choice some homeowners have made with happy results.
The best first step is to look carefully at your lawn. It’s the biggest consumer of water and the perfect place to begin a conservation program. The typical lawn requires about 48 inches of water each year to have a lush, green look. Nature supplies an average of 14 inches of that water, all of which is concentrated in the winter months. So the easiest way to reduce garden water consumption is to remove all or at least part of your lawn.
What to put in its place? Any number of groundcovers will look as good or better. My favorite is dymondia margaretae, a plant that forms a tight map and spreads slowly. The top of the leaf is green and the underside is white but the leaves curl giving it an overall silver look. A little difficult to get established, dymondia will eventually spread and send down deep roots which makes it drought tolerant. Dymondia will tolerate light foot traffic and sends up yellow daisy-like flowers in summer.
Find out more groundcover alternatives to grass in this useful article filled with practical advice from the Pasadena Star News - click here.
Westlands to ration water through summer; unprecedented move follows dry ‘rainy season’
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 31, 2008 at 6:48 amFrom the Fresno Bee:
After the driest spring in more than 80 years, Westlands Water District is rationing its already reduced irrigation supply through the hottest months of the year. The move could mean damaged crops, abandoned fields and lost jobs. Contributing to the unprecedented decision, which cut irrigation supplies by about one-third, is a court ruling setting aside water for threatened fish in Northern California.
Officials of the Westlands Water District, the nation’s largest at 600,000 acres, decided this week to continue rationing through Aug. 31, spokeswoman Sarah Woolf said.
Westlands, most of which is in Fresno County, produces about $1 billion in crops each year. That is more than 20% of the crop value for the No. 1 farming county in the nation.
The court decision, resulting in shut-downs at pumps, already has cost the district about 700,000 acre-feet of water, which would have been pumped into the San Luis Reservoir in western Merced County. Westlands farmers get their water from San Luis Reservoir. The 700,000 acre-feet represents more water than the district would have received all year from the federal government.
Westlands is not the only district affected. About 30 other districts on the Valley’s west side also are struggling with water supply. Westlands and the other districts are part of the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority, which represents districts covering more than 2 million acres of farmland.
Dan Nelson, authority executive director, said California never has had to deal with a drought when so many options available to farmers “have been denied by administrative, judicial and statutory restrictions.”
Mark Borba, a Riverdale grower in Westlands, said crops like almonds, tomatoes and cotton will suffer. “Yields will fall, quality will decline, fields will be abandoned, trees may die and unemployment will skyrocket,” he said.
Read the full text of this article from the Fresno Bee by clicking here.
Utah’s water forecast: Thirsty times are a-brewin’
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 31, 2008 at 6:39 amFrom the Salt Lake Tribune:
Maj. John Wesley Powell began his exploration of the Colorado River and Utah in 1869, and 10 years later his “Report on the Lands of the Arid Region of the United States, With a More Detailed Account of the Lands of Utah” cut straight to a fundamental truth. The West lacks water, Powell wrote. “Disastrous droughts will be frequent,” he said.
A better word than frequent, perhaps, could have been “persistent,” or even “the natural way of climate in an arid region becoming more so even as millions arrive to take up residence.” No matter - the warning was clear as the bluest Utah sky. Powell soon lost his job.
Nearly five years ago, after a little more than a year at the Water cycle primer helm of the state Division of Water Rights, State Engineer Jerry Olds committed what some observers said looked like a similar career suicide. Olds told lawmakers Utah’s groundwater was so over-allocated that if water rights weren’t adjusted to reality, aquifers that are the state’s primary water sources could be destroyed. That riled ranchers, farmers and county officials who consider themselves the guardians of Utah’s rural heritage and who thought Olds had fired on them. Today, they are working with Olds on a new task force whose ambitious vow in April was to reach consensus by October on a host of water puzzles that for 200 years have driven otherwise sane people to lunacy.
Like many of their Western neighbors, Utahns have been promised imaginary water. There is no way all the “paper rights” on file with the state can be converted to “wet water.” There is not even a requirement to tell the state when water rights sell or transfer, a routine matter with other properties, such as homes or cars. The state can’t even tell if some crook is selling the same right repeatedly, a matter that would come to light when the fleeced tried to get state approval for use.
And when push comes to shove, the law of the West says ranchers and farmers with senior rights rule the outcome, even though Utah, like the rest of the West, grows more cities than crops.
Meanwhile, we blithely turn on the tap and water comes out. But where does the water come from? How will it keep flowing? What’s the best way to use it? Can we find more? Should we just move to Wisconsin?
Read more from the Salt Lake Tribune by clicking here.
Tips on capturing rainwater
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 30, 2008 at 10:42 pmFrom the San Francisco Chronicle:
Until recently, many cities have required that homeowners connect their roof downspouts to their municipal storm water sewers to control flooding and to deliver rainwater - which is polluted with roof dirt and bird feces - to sewage treatment plants. But as cities have grown, their storm sewers, which are often combined with sanitary sewers, are becoming loaded to capacity and can flood during heavy rains, dumping sewage into streets and waterways.
Meanwhile, the threat of a long-term drought hangs over much of California, including the Bay Area.
These flood/drought conditions are leading to a reversal of previous policies, and many cities, including San Francisco, are now encouraging homeowners to disconnect their downspouts - and reconnect them to rain barrels or larger storage tanks that retain water for landscaping use. These “rain catchment” systems reduce sewer loads, conserve water and can provide emergency water if an earthquake disrupts the public water supply. (Stored rainwater is not safe to drink, but small quantities can be treated with water purification tablets during emergencies.)
Although rain barrels, if widely used, will help relieve sewer overloads and are relatively inexpensive and easy to install, they don’t store enough water to last for long in the Bay Area’s dry season. Storage tank systems, which can be installed either by homeowners or by professionals, can serve as a hedge against future water shortages and add value to your property.
Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle by clicking here.
The good, and bad, of conservation
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 30, 2008 at 10:38 pmFrom the San Francisco Chronicle, this commentary:
Mistakes were made, as politicians are fond of saying. And mistakes will continue to be made so long as humans, well intentioned as we may be, inhabit the planet. That includes missteps in our efforts to save the planet.
California’s water situation shines a light on the inevitability that one good thing can take a toll on other good things. Not that a water-short snowpack, dwindling aquifers and dry soil are good things. But the good things we have to do to conserve water - water rationing in the East Bay - will have repercussions on other areas of resource conservation. Water rationing may be necessary to conserve a dwindling resource, but what does that do to other aspects of a household’s green culture, e.g. using cloth diapers, napkins and towels?
Case in point: A minor tip from last Saturday’s Home&Garden on conserving water drew indignation from a number of readers. Our tongue-in-cheek recommendation that the chic new hostess gift would be bottled water (instead of a bottle of wine) prompted several to chastise us for promoting bottled water, whose producers draw down aquifers at the source and use large amounts of petroleum to manufacture plastic bottles and distribute expensive products that are nearly free to those who turn on a tap. All true, and though we should have noted we meant pricey water in glass bottles and not cases of plastic six-packs - and as one reader pointed out, a lot more liters of water go into producing 1 liter of wine than the same amount of bottled water - the point is taken that everything has a consequence.
Read the full text of this commentary from the San Francisco Chronicle by clicking here.
CSPA Files Comments on Bay Delta Conservation Plan
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 30, 2008 at 9:08 pmFrom IndyBay.org, posted by Dan Bacher but written by Jerry Neuburger, the CSPA has filed comments on the DWR’s Bay Delta Conservation Plan:
May 30, 2008. In comments sent to Ms. Barbara McDonnell, Chief of the Division of Environmental Services Department of Water Resources, CSPA’s Bill Jennings called the Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) portion of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), “the most ambitious and far-reaching Habitat Conversation Plan (HCP) ever envisioned coupled with a massive scheme to change the hydrology of the Central Valley.”
However, Jennings, commenting for CSPA, found numerous and fatal flaws in the plan as it is now proposed. Among those are the inconsistencies of protecting and restoring listed species and a conveyance plan involving a massive public works project that will change the hydrology of the estuary and tributary waterways. Further, the plan guarantees water delivery to the south state, a basic inconsistency with habitat preservation. The plan does not consider recent court rulings regarding the Endangered Species Act and does not conform to the governor’s Delta Vision statement. Numerous other faults were found which lead Jennings to conclude, “The plan is little more than a Bay-Delta Conveyance Plan masquerading as an HCP.”
Read more from IndyBay.org by clicking here.
First the toll road, and then this! State about to crack down on San Onofre nude beach
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 30, 2008 at 9:02 pmFrom the O.C. Register:
Nicole Archuletta looked down at her naked body and shrugged. “No tan lines,” said Archuletta, 25, sitting in a beach chair on the sand next to her husband, Kevin. “It’s just natural.”
On a recent weekday, Archuletta was just one of a handful of beach-goers who stripped down to nothing but sunglasses at Trail 6 at San Onofre State Beach, a small stretch of sand encased by 50-foot-tall, rocky cliffs, reachable by a short stroll down a curvy dirt path.
Trail 6 is a secluded area abutting Camp Pendleton property where beach–goers can let it all hang out – literally. The 1,000-foot beach, one of few “clothing-optional” beaches – with a lax approach to nudity, has been a safe haven for “naturists” for decades.
That might change in the next month, as the state sets out to crack down on nudity at the beach, in a move that has some longtime locals fuming and worrying about where they’ll go. State Parks will start an educational period Monday, warning beach-goers of the change, and start citing after Labor Day, officials said. They will not be asked to put their clothes on until enforcement starts.
Read the tragic tale from the O.C. Register by clicking here.
White House report backs climate change warnings; After a court order and four years late, Bush administration scientists issue an assessment
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 30, 2008 at 6:06 amFrom the Los Angeles Times:
President Bush’s top science advisors issued a comprehensive report Thursday that for the first time endorses what most scientific experts have long asserted: that greenhouse gases from fossil fuel combustion “are very likely the single largest cause” of Earth’s warming. The 271-page report could undercut opposition to the more aggressive provisions of climate legislation, which is to be debated in the Senate next week.
The Bush administration had long resisted a congressional mandate, the 1990 Global Change Research Act, requiring the White House to report every four years on the science and impact of global warming and other environmental forces.
A U.S. District Court in August ordered Bush to comply with a 2004 deadline for an updated report, after the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity and other environmental groups filed suit.
Sharon Hays, deputy director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said the report did not represent a changed assessment but “a rolling up of a whole bunch of reports on the science, showing that climate change is primarily caused by human activity of the last 50 years.” The administration had earlier issued reports on the effect of climate change on transportation, agriculture and human health.
But environmentalists celebrated what they saw as a long-overdue admission from an administration that has been reluctant to join global efforts to curb greenhouse gases, such as the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. “This report represents a stark shift in what the administration has been saying since 2001,” said Philip Clapp, deputy managing director of the Pew Environment Group. “For the first time, it has had to admit that global warming is already having clear impacts in the United States, and the impacts are going to get worse even with the most aggressive action to cut emissions,” he said.
Read the full text of this article from the Los Angeles Times by clicking here.
Quaggas could lead to federal money for sewer improvements
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 30, 2008 at 6:00 amFrom Lake Havasu’s Today’s News-Herald:
The infestation of quagga muscles in the Colorado River may be the key to getting federal money for sewers.
During Thursday’s meeting of the Colorado River Regional Sewer Coalition, CRRSCo lobbyist Terry Bracy said Congress has heard information about how the two water issues relate.
“Rep. (Grace) Napolitano, D-Calif., chaired a meeting of the Water and Power Subcommittee where Metropolitan Water District talked about the quagga muscle,” Bracy said via phone. “During that meeting we explained what we’re doing and we raised the question if the quagga food chain is influenced by nitrates.” Bracy said Bureau of Reclamation scientists confirmed that nitrates play a factor in the food chain of the invasive muscle. And that means CRSSCO is on the radar of more members of Congress, especially those whose districts are served by the Colorado River.
“The quagga is a hot issue and our relationship makes us a little hotter,” Bracy said.
The quagga mussel has already been found in Lake Mead, Lake Havasu, and Lake Mojave, as well as in the intake pipes for Metropolitan’s Colorado River Aqueduct & the Central Arizona Project.
Meanwhile CRSSCo officials – led by Lake Havasu City Mayor Mark Nexsen and Bullhead City Mayor Jack Hakim – will be making a trip to Washington D.C. next month to lobby support for a bill establishing ongoing federal funding for sewer work in communities along the river.
“We’re hoping to come away with sponsors for the bill,” Nexsen said. “Getting the Interior Department on board is one hurdle and the three water agencies have been very helpful in that regard.”
The proposed bill is the Southern Colorado River Quality Protection Act, which would require cooperative planning for water and wastewater systems along the lower Colorado River and the federal government to cost share in any facilities at a 65 percent level. Federal funding would be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2004.
Read the full text of this article from Lake Havasu’s Today’s News-Herald by clicking here.
Besides asking residents to conserve, City of Poway looks to minimize it’s own water use
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 30, 2008 at 5:52 amFrom the North County Times:
A wetter-than-normal winter may have spared residents and businesses from mandatory water cuts this year, but the region’s water worries are far from over and the city has no plans to quiet calls for voluntary conservation, Poway officials said this week. “We’re not in the clear yet,” said Kristen Crane, the city’s water conservation manager. “We’re still heavily promoting wise water use and conservation.”
Water officials said Poway has also joined the conservation movement by studying the possibility of upgrading irrigation equipment in city-owned parks and public areas.
With this year being declared a ‘critically dry year’, the City of Poway has issued a Stage 1 drought alert. The city has determined that it needs to replace about 800 sprinkler heads, and is seeking a grant from Metropolitan to defray the costs. The agency is also hoping for a grant to install smart irrigation systems on the city’s properties.
Under a plan called “The 20-Gallon Challenge,” Poway customers have been asked since January to voluntarily cut back 10 percent of their water usage by not washing down driveways and sidewalks, watering only before 6 a.m. and 8 p.m., and turning sprinklers down, among other things.
In recent months, the city has turned off irrigation systems at city parks and publicly maintained landscaped areas and installed a drinking fountain for dogs at the Poway Dog Park that uses less water than a spigot, officials said.
Crane said everyone in the region needs to find more ways to conserve the scarce resource. “I’m very concerned about this time next year,” she said. “Where will we be?”
Read the full text of this article from the North County Times by clicking here.
Orange County (& the rest of Southern California) could face rationing next year
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 30, 2008 at 5:37 amFrom the Science Dude at the O.C. Register:
The agency that provides about half of the 720 billion gallons of water consumed in Orange County each year is considering issuing a water supply alert, a step toward possible water rationing.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) will discuss the issue during its June board meeting because the areas where it gets water remain unusually dry and the amount of runoff it can take from the Sierra Nevada could be sharply cut for environmental reasons.
The alert is the second of three steps MWD would have to take to have the right to impose rationing on the nearly 18 million people it serves in Southern California.
“A ‘water supply alert’ does not mean less water being supplied; it means that the water being supplied is severely depleting reserves, and that if water use is not cut to help balance the use of reserves, the region will more likely be in a shortage and instituting rationing,” Bob Muir, an MWD spokesman, said in an e-mail.
The Science Dude notes that Diamond Valley Lake is at 68% capacity now. I recently attended the Southern California Water Dialog meeting where a Metropolitan official informed us that the Met plans to use about 1/3 of its emergency supplies this year, and 1/3 next year, and then we will “hit the wall.” Cheery thought, isn’t it?
Read more from the O.C. Register by clicking here.
Assembly approves Wolk bill to protect Delta´s declining fisheries
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 30, 2008 at 5:30 amFrom the California Chronicle:
The State Assembly voted 41-31 yesterday to approve Assembly Bill 1806 by Assemblywoman Lois Wolk (D-Davis) to protect the declining fisheries in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
The legislation requires the development of protocols to guide preparation and implementation of emergency fish rescue plans for Delta fisheries. Wolk introduced the bill in response to a massive fish kill on Prospect Island that resulted when the Bureau of Reclamation drained water from the area to conduct levee repairs.
Wolk says her bill is intended to prevent such incidences from occurring in the future. Perhaps more importantly, this:
AB 1806 also requires the board to enforce reasonable mitigation requirements for adverse impacts on Delta fisheries arising from operation of the large water export pumping facilities of the state and federal water projects.
“While there have been a number of efforts over the years to restore habitat for fish, millions of salmon and other species continue to die annually as a result of both the direct and indirect impacts of the state and federal water project pumps,” said Wolk. “My bill requires the state and federal projects that pump water out of the Delta to mitigate for these losses, which have huge negative impacts on our state’s fisheries, as well as the commercial and sport fishing industries that contribute billions of dollars to our economy.”
Read the full text of this article from the California Chronicle by clicking here.
DFG moves to solve salmon mystery
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 30, 2008 at 5:24 amFrom Stockton’s Record:
King salmon smolts have been implanted with acoustical tags under a multi-agency research project to provide scientists answers to why as many as 90 percent of the young fish die each year while out-migrating through the south Delta and San Joaquin River.
“The project goal is to figure out what is killing the young salmon during their journey and solve those problems,” state Department of Fish and Game spokesman Harry Morse said. “It’s a mystery that must be solved.” He said 1,000 smolts have been implanted with transmitters at the Merced Hatchery as part of the Vernalis Adaptive Management Plan in the San Joaquin River Agreement. The transmitters are programmed by the U.S. Geological Service. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and two private consulting firms are providing technical assistance to the project.
“Tracking is done in the river and south Delta with acoustic receiver buoys,” Morse said. “Buoys have been anchored in key locations throughout the river system and water diversion pathways to track the salmon.”
Said Fish and Game biologist Tim Heyne: “The results of this study and other evaluations being conducted in the San Joaquin River basin will determine stream flows that are needed to overcome all the impediments to adequate salmon and steelhead production in this river system.”
Read the full text of this article from Stockton’s Record by clicking here.
How the world is realizing that water is “blue gold”: Increasingly it is being asked: Which countries are water rich, which are water poor, and who should manage water resources?
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 29, 2008 at 10:36 pmFrom AlterNet:
Public fountains are dry in Barcelona, Spain, a city so parched there’s a €9,000 ($13,000) fine if you’re caught watering your flowers. A tanker ship docked there this month carrying 5 million gallons of precious fresh water — and officials are scrambling to line up more such shipments to slake public thirst.
Barcelona is not alone. Cyprus will ferry water from Greece this summer. Australian cities are buying water from that nation’s farmers and building desalination plants. Thirsty China plans to divert Himalayan water. And 18 million southern Californians are bracing for their first water-rationing in years.
Water, Dow Chemical Chairman Andrew Liveris told the World Economic Forum in February, “is the oil of this century.” Developed nations have taken cheap, abundant fresh water largely for granted. Now global population growth, pollution, and climate change are shaping a new view of water as “blue gold.”
Water’s hot-commodity status has snared the attention of big equipment suppliers like General Electric as well as big private water companies that buy or manage municipal supplies — notably France-based Suez and Aqua America, the largest US-based private water company.
Global water markets, including drinking water distribution, management, waste treatment, and agriculture are a nearly $500 billion market and growing fast, says a 2007 global investment report.
But governments pushing to privatize costly to maintain public water systems are colliding with a global “water is a human right” movement. Because water is essential for human life, its distribution is best left to more publicly accountable government authorities to distribute at prices the poorest can afford, those water warriors say.
“We’re at a transition point where fundamental decisions need to be made by societies about how this basic human need — water — is going to be provided,” says Christopher Kilian, clean-water program director for the Boston-based Conservation Law Foundation. “The profit motive and basic human need [for water] are just inherently in conflict.”
Will “peak water” displace “peak oil” as the central resource question? Some see such a scenario rising.
Read the full text of this article from AlterNet by clicking here.
Water-rich New England builds … a desalination plant?
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 29, 2008 at 10:28 pmFrom the Christian Science Monitor:
Far from the arid US Southwest and its longstanding water woes, or even the Southeast and its new water skirmishes – attitudes are shifting in lush New England.
That’s right. Despite abundant lakes and good rainfall, weak groundwater resources have crimped economic growth in some areas. As a result, the first big New England desalination plant turning brackish (salt water, fresh water mix) into fresh is expected to go online in Massachusetts this month.
That surprises some people, but not Robert Tannenwald, an economist and director of the New England Public Policy Center at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Two years ago he did a study showing that New England – contrary to public perceptions – is not at all water-rich region, but one that needs to manage its water supplies more carefully and look for new sources. “There’s still a general mind-set [in New England] that water as a resource is not in scarce supply – but it is,” Mr. Tannenwald says. “We waste a lot of water. There’s a lot of leaky pipes around here. So economics has to kick in and water has to be priced accordingly for the waste to stop.”
Initially, the Aquaria desalination plant, hard by the Taunton River a few miles from its mouth on Narragansett Bay, will supply 4 million gallons of fresh water each day to the city of Brockton 16 miles away. Using a reverse-osmosis process, it will filter salt and other impurities from brackish water flowing up the river from the ocean during high tide.
But not everyone is happy about what could become a regional trend. “The fact we are building desalination plants in New England is really a tragedy,” says Christopher Kilian, clean-water program director for the Boston-based Conservation Law Foundation. “This is a region that gets an immense amount of precipitation and where fresh water is being squandered. Before we start pouring costly desalinated water into the bucket, we should make the most of what we have and plug the leaks in the pipes.”
Read the full text of this story from the Christian Science Monitor by clicking here.
DWR unveils pumping plant energy efficiency improvements
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 29, 2008 at 10:23 pm
From the Department of Water Resources:
The Department of Water Resources today announced that the first pump refurbishment project at the A.D. Edmonston pumping plant has been completed. This is the first step of a project to refurbish four of the 14 pumping units at the plant to improve State Water Project (SWP) energy efficiency.
“This represents another milestone in our efforts to increase the energy efficiency of the State Water Project and reduce the carbon footprint of our operations,” said DWR Director Lester A. Snow, speaking at A.D. Edmonston pumping plant, located about 30 miles south of Bakersfield.
When completed in 2011, the refurbishment of the four Edmonston pumps, combined with the efficiency improvements already done at Hyatt Powerplant in Oroville, will save enough energy to power 33,000 households for a year, or the equivalent to taking 11,000 cars off the road. The energy saved from the refurbishment of the first pump alone is equivalent to that generated by a 12-acre solar panel farm.
DWR is one of the largest generators of clean hydroelectric generation in the state. On average, 60 percent of the SWP’s power portfolio is from non-carbon emitting sources, primarily the SWP’s hydroelectric plants. The Edmonston plant is an essential link in the SWP that pumps water over the Tehachapi Mountains into Southern California.
The SWP is the largest state-owned water conveyance system in the United States, yet it yields less than one percent of California’s greenhouse gas emissions. The A.D. Edmonston pump refurbishments, along with other efficiency projects, will help DWR meet the state’s strict Assembly Bill 32 goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. DWR is on track to meet those levels seven years ahead of schedule, in 2013.
DWR also plays an important role in stabilizing the state’s energy grid by participating in the Demand Response Program. As part of the program, DWR reduces its pumping operations during peak summer hours, freeing up cleaner energy to provide power to the grid that would otherwise be attained from dirtier sources.
DWR is also working on other initiatives to reduce its carbon footprint including:
• A study to investigate the potential for the development of solar and wind energy at DWR facilities.
• Investigating the potential for additional pumped storage operations and facilities.
• Installation of a small hydroelectric generator (14 megawatts) as part of the East Branch Extension Phase II project.
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The Department of Water Resources operates and maintains the State Water Project, provides dam safety and flood control and inspection services, assists local water districts in water management and water conservation planning, and plans for future statewide water needs.
Zero-salmon bag: New fishing ban may force action on salmon collapse
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 29, 2008 at 10:21 pmFrom Dan Bacher, writing for Sacramento News & Review:
Fishing for chinook salmon on the Sacramento and American rivers in downtown Sacramento, just a short distance from the state Capitol, is a unique tradition that has been an integral, iconic component of life in the capital city for decades. Every September and October, crowds of boaters and shore anglers descend on the river—along the stretch from Discovery Park to Miller Park—in the early morning hours. They’re out there in the hopes of hooking large, hard-fighting salmon on their annual spawning migration from the Pacific Ocean to hatcheries and spawning gravels on the Sacramento, American and Feather rivers.
But this year is different, since salmon fishing in the Sacramento area will be banned because of the collapse of Central Valley fall-run chinook salmon populations. While more than 800,000 fish returned to spawn in the Sacramento River system in 2002, fishery scientists expect less than 60,000 to come back this year. In an unprecedented action, the California Fish and Game Commission voted on May 9 to adopt a “zero bag limit” for salmon—meaning that no salmon may be taken or possessed—in 14 Central Valley rivers and streams.
The only exception is a one salmon bag limit in the Sacramento River from Red Bluff Diversion Dam to Knights Landing from November 1 to December 31. To the surprise of many anglers who expected that spring chinook fishing on the American and Feather rivers would remain open, these rivers will be also be closed to the take of spring-run chinook also. These new regulations will go into effect on or before July 15.
“The department proposed and recommended this option because of concerns about impacts to spring chinook salmon,” said Steve Martarano, Department of Fish and Game spokesman. “This option will provide maximum protection to Sacramento River fall chinook in the Central Valley, while providing very limited access to late fall chinook.”
For more on this story from Dan Bacher at the Sacramento News & Review, click here.