Water plan to protect Delta: State Water Resources Board proposes self makeover

Posted by: Maven on June 30, 2008 at 7:19 am

Hoping to streamline their work and improve enforcement, the State Water Resources board has proposed it’s own reorganization plan, which has two parts: legislation to overhaul its structure and duties, and a strategic plan to regulate San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. More details from the Sacramento Bee:

The proposal for legislation comes in the form of a “water quality improvement initiative” that could become a rider on a forthcoming state budget bill. It builds on a water quality bill by Senate Majority Leader Don Perata, SB 1176, that is now stalled.

The proposal would reduce the size of the regional boards from nine to seven members to minimize chronic vacancies. Each chairman would become a full-time, paid position to improve accountability and expertise.

It would streamline the now-cumbersome process to adopt water pollution limits by bringing California’s system into accord with federal procedures.

To improve enforcement, the boards would be freed of issuing written notices before penalizing polluters, and a requirement to hold a public hearing before referring such cases to the attorney general would be abolished. City attorneys and district attorneys in large cities would gain the power to seek civil penalties against polluters if requested by the water board. Only the attorney general has this power now.

The second prong of the overhaul package is the “Bay-Delta strategic work plan.” It proposes an aggressive regulatory agenda to improve water quality and habitat in the largest estuary on the west coast of the Americas. The plan is scheduled to be presented to the state board Tuesday in Sacramento and could be adopted as soon as July 16.

It proposes an ambitious schedule to review existing water rights within and upstream of the Delta to ensure diverters are following the law. This includes the complex diversion rules governing the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project, which deliver Delta water to 25 million Californians. The plan would evaluate the need for more fish screens on these diversions and whether in-stream flows are adequate to provide quality fish habitat.

The board also would develop a strategy to achieve the governor’s call for a 20 percent reduction in per capita water consumption by 2020. This could impose new mandates on local water agencies. The plan would take up to five years to carry out.

Both proposals can be viewed on the water board’s Web site, www.swrcb.ca.gov.

Read more from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.

The myth of water: Making the Negev Desert bloom once seemed like a good idea, but it’s killing the Dead Sea

Posted by: Maven on June 29, 2008 at 6:21 am

From Newsweek:

Few notions are more deeply rooted in Zionism’s founding mythology than the exhortation to “make the desert bloom.” The earliest Zionist pioneers arrived in Palestine with a strong faith in science and technology, shaped by the Jewish enlightenment that began in the late 18th century. They also brought an earthy sense of self-reliance that made growing their own food—even in the bleak Negev Desert—a high priority. Amid the ashes of the Holocaust, that determination only deepened. “For those who make the desert bloom there is room for hundreds, thousands, and even millions,” Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, wrote in 1954, when he moved to the Negev himself. As Israeli society grew increasingly devout in the 1970s, the prophet Isaiah provided further inspiration: “The wilderness and the parched land shall be glad; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.”

At first glance, today the parched land indeed looks glad. The arid coastal plain sprouts with fields of watermelons, tomatoes and sunflowers, and Israel has earned a reputation for creative use of sparse water supplies. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Israelis pioneered the use of “drip irrigation”—which delivers water directly to a plant’s roots. More recently, Israeli experiments with desalination and water recycling have drawn attention around the world. The Yale/ Columbia Environmental Performance Index ranks Israel 49th overall and best among desert nations, in part for managing the stress irrigation puts on water supplies. Still, some scientists worry about the environmental cost of building an economy in the desert. Israel consumes 1.8 billion cubic meters of water each year; 15 years from now, it will need an additional 1.5 billion cubic meters to meet demand rising due to population and economic growth, according to Israeli water experts. About half of Israel’s clean water is used for agriculture, yet farming accounts for only 2 percent of Israel’s GNP. Considering those numbers, some environmentalists are beginning to question whether agricultural growth in a desert climate like Israel’s is really sustainable. The question, says David Brooks, a Canadian water expert and environmentalist, “is not whether water is used efficiently in Israeli agriculture, but whether agriculture is an efficient way to use water in Israel.”

Read the full text of this story from Newsweek by clicking here.

Turn off Canada’s tap? Activists say yes but others say Canada could share for a price

Posted by: Maven on June 29, 2008 at 6:17 am

From the London Free Press:

In the middle of the Arizona desert, where a merciless heat zaps away all moisture, a group of entrepreneurs plan to build a water park oasis that will make it the largest water adventure park in the world.

The specs are ambitious: Called Waveyard, the 45-hectare water park is expected to be completed by 2010 and will have the largest man-made, recirculating white water river in the world, a scuba lagoon, snorkelling, kayaking, and surf-sized, four-metre waves. The park is expected to use 380 million litres of groundwater a year, water they say won’t come from the neighbouring potable water system.

Meanwhile, the U.S. announced last year that 36 states face water shortages in the next four years.

It’s this kind of immoderate squandering in the U.S. that makes them the largest per capita users of water in the world, water advocates say. And it’s why Canada should close the door should the U.S. come knocking for our water, they add.

“It’s not sustainable,” says Maude Barlow, an internationally known water advocate and author of Blue Covenant. “I will share anything with anyone, but I won’t destroy the Canadian ecology so people can have golf courses and swimming pools.”

The spectre of bulk water exports to the U.S. has been a historically emotional issue for Canadians, who guard it jealously as a national heritage. But, as discussed earlier in this series, there is a myth of water abundance in Canada. We receive the same amount of the world’s renewable water supply (rain and snow) as the U.S. — 6.5% of the global share. We don’t have a large surplus to spare, experts say.

But not everyone agrees.

Chris Wood, B.C.-based author of Dry Spring, describes this attitude as anti-American, anti-business and bigoted. “We wouldn’t accept that kind of (attitude) of any other ethnic group,” he said in an interview. “These people are our best customers, closest neighbour, and we share the watersheds. It’s completely poisonous.” Water, like the fugitive nature of air and carbon, isn’t ours to horde since it’s always “passing through” on its way to somewhere else, Wood says.

Read the rest of this story from the London Free Press by clicking here.

PCL Insider: Assembly Committee passes bad delta smelt bill

Posted by: Maven on June 28, 2008 at 7:26 am

From IndyBay.org:

Bad news for the delta – Assembly committee passes SB 994, GUTTING PROTECTIONS FOR DELTA SMELT

Despite strong opposition from the environmental community and concern from fish biologists, SB 994 (Florez, Ashburn, Steinberg) received enough votes to pass out of the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks, and Wildlife this morning and is now headed to the Assembly Committee on Appropriations.

SB 994 attempts to sidestep environmental protections for the threatened Delta Smelt, which have been in severe decline for the past eight years. If passed, the bill would create a loophole allowing water diverters to comply with endangered species protection laws without providing habitat restoration, water quality improvements, and necessary freshwater flows within the ailing Delta as required by those same laws. Instead, SB 994 would tie the hands of the Department of Fish and Game by requiring the department to issue necessary environmental permits as long as water diverters simply pay into a fund for a massive Delta Smelt hatchery.

The committee analysis includes a stinging criticism of the bill’s approach by fish biologist Dr. Peter Moyle, the foremost expert on Delta Smelt. “Trying to keep Delta Smelt going by raising them in hatcheries and releasing them is like trying to raise sheep in a drought-seared pasture surrounded by a forest full of hungry wolves,” explains Moyle.

When pressed this morning in committee about the lack of evidence that a Delta Smelt hatchery would actually help restore the species, Senator Florez responded that the bill’s intent was simply to establish an “interim” and “experimental” hatchery. Yet the bill has no sunset clause or time limitation, and it allows diverters to base compliance with environmental laws on the experimental hatchery.

Read the full text of this story from IndyBay.org by clicking here.

East LA Resident expresses concern about excess manganese in his drinking water

Posted by: Maven on June 28, 2008 at 7:17 am

From Eastern Group Publications:

Recently, the California Water Service Company (Cal Water) issued an “Important Notice to Customers” as a bill insert dated May 2008. In it, Cal Water states “Manganese had been detected in four groundwater wells in … East Los Angeles system at concentrations that exceed the California Department of Public Health’s Secondary Maximum Contaminant Level (SMCL) of 50 parts per billion.” Manganese is a metal that exists naturally in some soil from where it may get into the groundwater.

Many residents of East Los Angeles may not have paid attention because reading bill inserts is not on most folk’s list of favorite activities. It caught my attention, though, because for over the last year, I’ve noticed a reddish-colored staining on my bathtub, toilet, shower curtains, cups, and laundry. For months, we were puzzled as to what was causing it and struggled to keep these items clean. We thought it was perhaps the soaps, shampoos, or other cleaning agents we were using. We even tried to change brands, but the staining continued. Worse, we also experience a lot of itchiness and other skin irritations.

The Cal Water notice reported that the excessive manganese in our drinking water did “not pose a health risk” but that it was only an “aesthetic issue” because manganese causes a reddish-colored staining. Bingo! Suddenly, the connection between the heavy staining I was observing at home and the manganese in our water became crystal clear.

Having a background in the sciences, I became concerned, though, despite Cal Water’s re-assurances that the manganese problem was just one of “looks,” not a health hazard, and being taken care of by installation of new filters at its water wells. I knew that metals tend to be toxic at some level of exposure. For example, one study in 2005 by Drs. R. Eisner and J. Spangler of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine on possible manganese toxicity from showering concluded that long-term shower exposure to manganese-laden water may pose a significant risk for central nervous system neuro-toxicity (essentially, the poisoning of the nerves) via olfactory uptake (by smell) in up to 8.7 million Americans. Do we not bathe our children in this water?

Read more from Eastern Group Publications by clicking here.

Boxer calls for drought aid for state farmers

Posted by: Maven on June 28, 2008 at 6:54 am

From Red Orbit:

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer is urging U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer to quickly provide drought assistance to California farmers using an agricultural disaster program authorized by the recently enacted Farm Bill.

In a letter sent Thursday, Boxer, D-Calif., said the drought has caused farmers “to walk away from thousands of acres of crops, an event with the potential to cost California’s economy hundreds of millions of dollars in lost agricultural production.”

Gov. Schwarzenegger recently declared a state of emergency for nine California counties with severe water shortages, which followed his previous declaration of a statewide drought.

In Fresno County, short-term losses resulting from unplanted acreage already have exceeded $73 million, county agricultural officials report. More than 40,000 acres were not planted, and production on another 170,000 acres could decrease by as much as 50% this year.

Boxer also cited the potential damage to crop and grazing land caused by the more than 800 wildfires burning throughout California.

“With the ongoing drought and wildfires in California and flooding that has damaged and destroyed crops in the Midwest,” she wrote, “there is now an urgent need for USDA to develop and implement regulations related to this new disaster program.”

Read the full text of this story from Red Orbit by clicking here.

DFG seeks public input on petition to list longfin smelt

Posted by: Maven on June 28, 2008 at 6:50 am

From Dan Bacher:

The California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) announced on June 20 that it is seeking public input regarding a petition to list longfin smelt (Spirinchus thaleichthys), another victim of years of abysmal water management by the state and federal governments, under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA).

The California Fish and Game Commission is currently considering the petition to list the fish as “threatened” or “endangered” under CESA. The Bay Institute, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Natural Resources Defense Council filled the petition on Aug. 14, 2007 after the longfin smelt, along with its cousin, the delta smelt, declined to record levels after record levels of water were exported out of the California Delta by the state and federal governments.

By operation of law, longfin smelt became a “candidate species” under the CESA when the Commission found that the petition contained sufficient information to warrant further consideration, according to a news release from the DFG.

“Pursuant to the provisions of Section 2074.6 of the Fish and Game Code, DFG must complete a status review of the species and provide a written report to the commission that recommends – based upon the best scientific information available – whether listing the longfin smelt as threatened or endangered under CESA is warranted,” the DFG stated. “DFG plans to submit its report to the commission in January 2009 and seeks information from the public to help formulate its recommendation.”

Continue reading “DFG seeks public input on petition to list longfin smelt” »

San Francisco to vote on George W Bush sewage works

Posted by: Maven on June 27, 2008 at 9:21 am

I found this on the Water Sisweb site (http://www.siswebs.org/water/). From the Times UK:

San Francisco is to hold a vote on whether to rename one of its largest sewage treatment facilities after George W. Bush, in what supporters describe as “a fitting monument to the President’s work”.

More than 8,500 signatures have already been gathered in support of the plan — 1,300 more than the minimum required to get the proposal on the November ballot. The scheme was devised by an official-sounding group called the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco.

“On matters ranging from foreign relations to fiscal and environmental stewardship, no other president in American history has accomplished so much in such a short time,” says the group on its website. “We believe this is an appropriate honour for a truly unique president. If you think so too, join this grassroots movement to rename this important and iconic landmark in his honour.”

The official renaming ceremony — the sewage facility is currently named the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant — would take place in January, when the next President is sworn in. Part of it would include a “synchronised flush”, described as a way to send a gift to the renamed plant.

Read the full text of this article from the Times UK by clicking here. And if you haven’t checked out the Water Sisweb yet, you should – click here. There is a lot of great information there – and much more serious than this article, I might add.

Some coastal woes begin far inland

Posted by: Maven on June 27, 2008 at 6:36 am

From AlterNet.org:

In the early 1970s, Earl “Rusty” Butz, the US secretary of Agriculture, urged American farmers to plant crops “fencerow to fencerow.” “Get big or get out,” he told them. Farm subsidies followed and, as many small farms consolidated into fewer larger ones, the country transitioned into a new era of corporate-dominated agribusiness. With large-scale farming came the large-scale application of man-made fertilizers.

Around the same time, large algal blooms began appearing with increasing regularity in the shallow, coastal sea at the mouth of the Mississippi. The algae died and sank. As it decomposed, it sucked oxygen from the surrounding water. Areas along the ocean floor became oxygen-depleted, or hypoxic. Oxygen-dependent organisms that were able to, fled. Those that couldn’t, suffocated.

The nation had a new problem, one that underscored how the ocean’s problems can begin 1,000 miles inland: Fertilizer applied throughout the huge Mississippi watershed was creating a “dead zone” in the northern Gulf of Mexico. It’s the second-largest such dead zone in the world, after the one in the Baltic Sea.

Scientists understand the causes and have proposed a bevy of possible solutions. A decade ago, state and federal agencies began to coordinate their efforts to address Gulf hypoxia. The effort got off to a strong start, but has since foundered for lack of funds.

“It’s the tragedy of the commons,” says Nancy Rabalais, executive director of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium in Cocodrie, La. “Things that a farmer doesn’t know about he doesn’t care about.”

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

Weblinks for today’s Delta Vision Task Force meeting; first draft of strategic implementation plan to be discussed

Posted by: Maven on June 26, 2008 at 8:26 am

It’s Delta Vision time again!

The Delta Vision Task Force will be meeting today (Thurs. 6/26) & tomorrow (Friday 6/27) to discuss the first draft of their strategic implementation plan for their vision, which includes creating a new entity to govern the Delta that would also, among other things, assume control of SWP operations, rather than the Department of Water Resources.

As always, the meeting will be webcast. The links for the webcast, the draft report and the meeting agenda can be found by clicking here.

California’s water quality: Farmers take active role in protecting environment

Posted by: Maven on June 25, 2008 at 6:10 am

From the California Farm Bureau Federation:

Stanislaus County farmer Tom Maring checked the irrigation water trickling down the rows of his tomato field and looked satisfied with its clarity. He noted that much of the sediment had settled out, which means the water won’t be carrying with it the impurities that might have become attached to the soil particles.

His goal is to have that water leaving his fields as clean as it was coming onto his farm, a task that many California farmers now are doing to effectively deal with the stringent water quality regulations aimed at reducing pollution in the state’s waterways.

For farmers such as Maring, that task began many years ago, way before it became a regulatory requirement for farmers to monitor, test and manage their agricultural runoff. Maring said he did it to conserve resources and maximize his input. Water is so expensive, he noted, that he wants to ensure as much of it goes to his crops and not run off his property.

“It’s just become even more important to do a good job because the drains are so heavily scrutinized now,” said Maring, who farms mostly processing tomatoes and cantaloupe, but also almonds, cherries, beans and spinach.

Click “Read More” to read the rest of this article: Continue reading “California’s water quality: Farmers take active role in protecting environment” »

Salmon trial is slowed by legal maneuvers

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

From the California Farm Bureau Federation:

In a surprise move last week, attorneys for environmental groups pressed a federal judge in Fresno for emergency protections of endangered salmon and steelhead runs. The request came in the middle of a trial in Federal District Court that has already consumed several weeks of testimony.

The outcome of the emergency motion and the overall trial could further limit the state’s water supply if the court finds current water project operations add to the decline of the species.

As the trial continues, California Farm Bureau Federation Associate Counsel John Weech said, “We’re actively engaged in these trial proceedings. We’re well aware of the potentially far-reaching impact decisions of the court will have on the state’s agriculture. Farmers and ranchers support healthy fisheries and well-reasoned measures to guard our wildlife resources, but simply removing water from agriculture is not an acceptable solution to a complex problem.

“We will continue to advocate for comprehensive approaches to California’s water challenges that don’t have a draconian effect on our food supply,” said Weech, who is an attorney for CFBF’s Natural Resources and Environmental Division.

The emergency request for an injunction to increase flows on Clear Creek and remove the gates at the Red Bluff Diversion dam came in the middle of an ongoing trial related to the decline of winter and spring chinook salmon and steelhead runs.

Plaintiffs in the case cited an emergency because the spring salmon run has nearly concluded and, as the trial continues, changes to U.S. Bureau of Reclamation project operations would have less benefit to the fish.

Continue reading “Salmon trial is slowed by legal maneuvers” »

Commentary: Sustainable farming is our legacy for the next generation

Posted by: Maven on June 24, 2008 at 7:03 pm

From the California Farm Bureau Federation:

The farm bill that recently passed the U.S. Congress includes increased funding to support conservation, which is a positive development. However, the legislative debate risks masking the truth that stewardship and conservation of the land is an inherent part of smart farming practices. While we farmers and ranchers greatly appreciate the government’s encouragement and support, that’s not why we do it.

As farmers and ranchers we have an intimate daily relationship with the land, water and air. The land is both our love and our livelihood. Our job is to care for the land, and when we do that well, the land takes care of us. The Leopold Conservation Award, presented annually in California and six other states, recognizes farmers and ranchers who exemplify this ethic. I am proud to have been honored with this award by Sand County Foundation, Sustainable Conservation and California Farm Bureau Federation last year. It is the single most important recognition that our farming operation has received in our 28-year history.

At Sierra Orchards, we utilize both tried-and-true organic farming practices and the most recent technological advances. We’ve invested in drainage ponds, sediment traps and hedgerow plantings to ensure that no water is wasted and no downstream waterways are affected. We hang more than 40,000 pheromone devices each year to control codling moth pests. And we use composted table scraps from San Francisco restaurants as fertilizer. Sierra Orchards’ organic walnut production and sales have steadily increased, demonstrating the integral relationship between economic success and sustained conservation.

It gives me great pleasure to help young people develop a personal connection with the land that feeds them. They are the next generation of land stewards and decision-makers, and it’s critical that they understand nature and agriculture. We created the Center for Land-Based Learning based at Sierra Orchards so that California high school students can learn about sustainable agriculture first- hand. At a time when so many students struggle to stay in school, we want to help them become lifelong learners, overcome barriers to change, develop leadership skills and build greater human and social capital in their communities. The program reaches more than 2,000 California students annually. An additional 2,000 adults–scientists, farmers, chefs, environmental experts and more–come to the learning center each year for professional development.

My family and everyone at the Center for Land-Based Learning are very honored to receive the Leopold Conservation Award because we believe so fervently in the ethic of Aldo Leopold and the work of Sand County Foundation. We are also very excited because there are so many California farmers and ranchers who are engaged in visionary and innovative work. Many of us know a farmer or rancher who deserves to be recognized in this way. I encourage everyone to come forward with their stories and submit their nomination for the 2008 award.

Nominations are due July 9. For more information, go to www.leopoldconservationaward.org.

(Craig McNamara is the owner of Sierra Orchards in Winters, Calif., and founder of the Center for Land-Based Learning. He also serves on the California Board of Food and Agriculture and is a founding trustee of UC Merced and a member of the UC Davis Dean’s Advisory Council. He won the Leopold Conservation Award in 2007. Craig can be reached at farming@scbglobal.net.)

Wolk’s fish rescue plans bill passes through Senate committee

Posted by: Maven on June 24, 2008 at 7:02 pm

Submitted to Aquafornia by Dan Bacher:

AB 1806, Assemblywoman Lois Wolk’s Fish Rescue Plans Bill, passed out of the Senate Natural Resources & Water Committee today on a vote of 5-2. The bill will now go to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

“I am pleased that the Senate committee recognized the urgency of the Delta fisheries crisis and approved this bill,” said Assemblywoman Wolk (D-Davis). “AB 1806 will establish plans for emergency fish rescue. It also requires the Water Board to conduct a comprehensive review and require the state and federal water projects to be responsible for their impacts on Delta fisheries.”

The vote was on party lines, with Democrats Steinberg, Kehoe, Kuehl, Machado, and Migden voting “aye” and Republicans Cogdill and Hollingsworth voting “no” for the measure.

There were some amendments taken that should be out in print in the next couple of days. The Committee struck out the section that that required the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to mitigate for the massive fish kill that occurred on Prospect Island on the basis that that it would not be legally defensible, since the fish kill took place before the legislation was introduced.

AB1806 is important for two reasons. First, it addresses the issue of dealing with fishery disaster rescues. Second, the bill provides full mitigation for the degradation of Delta and Central Valley fisheries caused by the pumping of massive amounts of water south to the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and southern California.

John Beuttler, Conservation Director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), and Dick Pool, coordinator of Water for Fish, testified in support of AB 1806 this morning. John Ryzanych, from the Allied Fishing Groups, Gary Adams, president of the California Striped Bass Association, Jim Martin, West Coast Director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA), Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisheries Assocation (PCFFA), and Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, campaign coordinator of Restore the Delta, also spoke in support of the bill.

“Every run of chinook salmon in the Central Valley is currently headed for extinction,” said Dick Pool. “Passage of this bill is needed to keep this from happening.”

The bill is opposed by big water agencies that would be forced to pay their fair share for the huge numbers of salmon and other fish killed in South Delta pumps and by the diversion of massive amounts of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Representatives from the Metropolitan Water District, Westlands Water District, and other water agencies spoke against the legislation.

CSPA called for a major effort to support this bill in the form of a letter writing campaign and attendance at the hearing. The campaign was very successful, based on today’s vote for AB 1806. For more information, go to www.calsport.org

State Water Board releases draft Bay-Delta workplan

Posted by: Maven on June 24, 2008 at 5:58 am

From the State Water Resources Control Board, this press release:

State Water Resources Control Board staff has prepared a draft plan of activities related to solving problems in California’s important Bay-Delta area.

This draft plan identifies how the State Water Board will achieve Bay-Delta commitments the Governor identified for it in his February 29, 2008 letter to legislative leaders.

The draft is being circulated to stakeholders and the public and is scheduled to be presented to the State Water Board by staff at its regular meeting on July 1st and considered on July 15th.

The draft workplan identifies a range of actions to deal with conditions in the Bay-Delta region. The State Water Board asked for the workplan last December. At that time it was not yet clear that California would face a drought and the draft workplan includes measures to assist in meeting Governor Schwarzenegger’s goal of twenty percent water conservation.

The draft workplan identifies a broad range of possible actions for the State Water Board to improve Delta conditions. The actions require participation by all parties contributing to Delta problems, including those polluting the Delta and entities diverting water for use in the Delta, upstream of the Delta, and for export from the Delta.

The State Water Board has broad authority in this area, but it does not have all the authority or all the resources to tackle all the problems.

Read the full text of this press release by clicking here. You can read the report by clicking here.

DWP saves over 2 billion gallons of water through water recycling; expanding purple pipe to Valley Generating Station saves enough water for 14,400 households

Posted by: Maven on June 24, 2008 at 5:53 am

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

Los Angeles officials turned on the spigot today to begin supplying recycled water to the Valley Generating Station to use in its cooling process. By connecting the Valley power plant to the City’s “purple pipe” network, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) will save about 684 million gallons of purified and treated water per year–enough drinking water for up to 4,200 households,

In addition, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) also announced that recycled water is now being supplied to Balbao and Encino Golf Courses for landscape irrigation. Altogether, the City’s total use of recycled water is up to 7,200 acre-feet per year for irrigation and industrial uses, as a barrier to seawater intrusion, and for environmental beneficial uses. This saves over 2 billion gallons of treated and purified drinking water for up to14,400 households per year.

“LA’s future depends on our willingness to adopt an ethic of sustainability. That is why we have committed ourselves to recycling and conserving enough water to meet all new demand. And, today, we are taking another step forward to keep our pipes running for years to come,” said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

In May, the Mayor, City and LADWP officials unveiled the City of Los Angeles Water Supply Action Plan, “Securing L.A.’s Water Supply,” which pledged to meet all new demand for water – about 100,000 acre-feet per year (AFY) by 2030 – through water conservation and recycling rather than importing any additional new water.

“California is facing a drought, and the millions of gallons of water saved by this program will ensure we have a steady water supply in the hot summer months.,” said Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, who sits on the Council Energy & Environment Committee. “With the effects of global warming obvious to everyone, it is clear that now more than ever we must implement our sustainable, Citywide water conservation plan to cope with rising temperatures and a shrinking water supply.”

“This is an excellent example of how the City must practice good consciousness and conservation, especially with the threat of dwindling water supplies,” said Councilmember Tony Cardenas, whose 6th District includes the Valley Generating Station.

LADWP CEO & General Manager David Nahai said the need to develop sustainable water resources is critical given the drought conditions declared throughout California, uncertain future snow and rainfall levels, and environmental commitments that limit availability of importing water from traditional sources in Northern California and the Eastern Sierra and Owens Valley.

“We are aggressively working to expand recycled water for irrigation, industrial and other nonpotable uses,” Nahai said. “Today we are increasing recycled water in the City by 60% with the advent of Valley Generating Station, Balboa and Encino Golf Courses coming online.” Last year, LADWP connected Woodley Golf Course to recycled water for irrigation.

Nick Patsaouras, president of the LADWP Board of Commissioners, said: “This project allows the City to save millions of gallons of drinking water for the people of Los Angeles. We are re-using this water in a safe, reliable, economically feasible and environmentally sensitive way to augment the City’s water supply.”

Recycled water is wastewater treated to a high degree to meet regulatory water quality standards through removal of solids, filtration and disinfection. All recycled water in Los Angeles undergoes treatment and disinfection to the tertiary level, and meets stringent water quality standards set by the State Department of Public Health.

Valley Generating Station and the golf courses in the Sepulveda Basin are using recycled water that has been treated at the Donald C. Tillman Reclamation Plant. The Tillman Plant treats wastewater to the tertiary level and pipes it to the Balboa Pump Station built on site. The treated water travels through 10.2 miles of purple pipes (the pipes are painted purple to differentiate them from pipes that carry potable water) to the seven-million gallon Hansen Tank, a $12 million holding tank completed in December 2007.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power was established more than 100 years ago to provide a reliable and safe water and electric supply to the City of Los Angeles residents and businesses. The LADWP serves approximately 1.4 million electric customers and 680,000 water service customers. For more information, log on to http://www.ladwp.com/.

Study finds that prions are not degraded by conventional sewage treatment processes

Posted by: Maven on June 23, 2008 at 8:10 pm

Thanks to Ray Walker, frequent commentor on Aquafornia, for sending me the link to this article. Ray has pointed out frequently that prions may likely be present after wastewater treatment, which poses a serious question to recycled water that ends up in a municipal drinking water supply. From Science Daily:

Scientists in Wisconsin are reporting that typical wastewater treatment processes do not degrade prions.

Prions, rogue proteins that cause incurable brain infections such as Mad Cow disease and its human equivalent, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, are difficult to inactivate, resisting extreme heat, chemical disinfectants, and irradiation. Until now, scientists did not know whether prions entering sewers and septic tanks from slaughterhouses, meatpacking facilities, or private game dressing, could survive and pass through conventional sewage treatment plants.

Joel Pedersen and colleagues used laboratory experiments with simulated wastewater treatment to show that prions can be recovered from wastewater sludge after 20 days, remaining in the “biosolids,” a byproduct of sewage treatment sometimes used to fertilize farm fields.

Read the full text of this story from Science Daily by clicking here.

Thanks to Aquafornia reader Greg for putting the link to the study in the comments section of this post!

The peculiar response of some Californians to conserving water

Posted by: Maven on June 23, 2008 at 8:05 pm

From the California Progress Report:

The Bee’s front page story on Thursday about Sacramento’s water wasting habits certainly provoked a firestorm in the comments. Aside from the predictable right wing denunciations of water meters, conservation and – I kid you not – using brooms instead of hoses to sweep sidewalks, two familiar themes were “Hey, I moved here for the plentiful water” and “It’s SoCal’s problem, they steal our water.”

Every drought, the old north-south battle over water, never very far from the surface, remerges with a vengeance. As a fourth generation northern Californian, it’s probably pretty predictable which side I tend to fall on. Split the state and keep the water, I say (just so long as it’s split south of here).

And yet, it cannot be denied that the combination of unsustainable abandoned-lawns-watered-at-noon suburban development in the Central Valley (especially up in the gold country exurban corridor, where houses rely on aquifers and rivers that old timers remember running dry in the last drought cycle), wasteful and careless personal water habits, and the continued use of outdated ag practices and climate-inappropriate crops have all conspired to make for an unreasonable level of water consumption in the Central Valley, with not all that much to even show for it.

I’m a strong believer in protecting the Delta and telling SoCal to deal with their water problems without stealing ours, but the flip side of that is acting responsibly with our water resources up here as well. We don’t treat water like the precious resource that it is, and as a state we don’t really consider the greater ecological costs of running the hydrological tank close to empty in good years, and past empty during drought. There ought to be a lot of ways in which we can continue to feed the state (and perhaps the nation and the world, but I’ll admit the topic is worth discussing seriously, as produce and wine sent out of state is in essence water exported), there ought to be ways of greening our cities (Sac, Woodland and Davis are all justifiably proud of their urban forests, and all three cities save a significant amount of energy because of the shade they provide), and there ought to be ways of living comfortable lives without dumping water carelessly down the drain.

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

Delta Vision releases Strategic Plan first draft: Calls for strong governance, ecosystem, a National Heritage Area and options for storage and conveyance

Posted by: Maven on June 22, 2008 at 10:34 pm

From the State of California Resources Agency and the Delta Vision Task Force website, this press release:

The Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force next week (June 26-27) will review initial recommendations to improve water management and conveyance in the Delta as well as a proposal for a new governing structure over Delta ecosystem health and water supply reliability. The recommendations are included in the first staff draft of a Strategic Plan that will be revised through a series of public meetings over the next four months.

Consistent with the vision adopted by the Governor’s Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force in 2007, the staff draft also recommends special protection for the Delta itself, and strong actions to restore the Delta’s physical habitat and actions to safeguard water supplies in wet and dry times through regional self-sufficiency and system enhancements.

The staff draft strategic plan recommends a new governance structure with the creation of the California Delta Ecosystem and Water Council, which would have fiscal and regulatory authority over a wide variety of projects with the legal Delta. It also calls for a strengthened Delta Protection Commission, a new Delta Conservancy, and a new Delta Science and Engineering Board.

Read the rest of this press release by clicking here.

Read the draft of the Strategic Plan by clicking here. Note this is the first draft and is considered non-attributable because it has not been discussed by the task force yet.

The task force meets this Thursday and Friday (June 26-27) to discuss the strategic plan. Click here for the agenda. Note agenda item #7, “Discussion of Draft Recommendation on Conveyance and Storage”, which includes this attachment of DWR’s assessment of dual Delta water conveyance options.

To visit the Delta Vision Website: http://deltavision.ca.gov

Coverage continues with the next story.

Draft of strategic report for Delta vision recommends creating a new entity that would decide how and when water would be exported to farmers and cities, among other things

Posted by: Maven on June 22, 2008 at 10:16 pm

The strategic plan from the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force is posted online (see above), and will be the focus of next week’s Delta Vision meetings. More from the San Francisco Chronicle:

Overhauling how California uses, moves and stores water while protecting its environment will come at a steep cost, according to a report released Friday.

Meeting the long-term water needs of a growing population — now at nearly 38 million — while balancing protections for water quality and wildlife could cost between $12 billion and $24 billion over the next 10 to 15 years. The cost could be as high as $80 billion, according to a draft plan sent to a task force formed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

At the heart of the state’s massive water storage and delivery system is the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the region targeted by Schwarzenegger’s task force. The staff report outlines recommendations for improving the delta’s ecosystem, building a canal or pipeline to move drinking and irrigation water around the delta, and strengthening the region’s levees.

“A delta fix is going to be very expensive — it’s just that simple,” said Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies.

The report also recommends creating another government entity to oversee the delta, an idea that drew skepticism from Quinn. He said water contractors were concerned they might have less say over how much water they receive, even though they will be paying for most of the delta’s improvements. The new entity would decide how and when water would be exported to farmers and cities in Southern California and the San Francisco Bay area.

The idea of taking water-export decisions away from the state Department of Water Resources was supported by the grassroots group Restore the Delta, which includes delta residents, business leaders, farmers, fishermen and environmentalists. The department is more concerned with moving water to farmers and Southern California than environmental protection, said the group’s executive director, Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla.

Read the rest of this article from the San Francisco Chronicle by clicking here. Brief coverage from Mike Taugher and the Contra Costa County Times by clicking here.

The Metropolitan Water District issued this statement via Business Wire:

“Delta Vision’s emerging strategy is the kind of innovative and dramatic blueprint that can lay the groundwork for historic change. The estuary deserves the kind of comprehensive approach to restoring the ecosystem and altering the water system that Delta Vision is calling for. The co-equal objectives of protecting the Delta and providing reliable, safe water supplies for the state economy require the kind of balanced approach that Delta Vision has in mind. Delta Vision provides a valuable road map to success for legislators, water districts and the many Delta stakeholders. Environmental studies now under way must identify the specific balance of ecosystem and water system conveyance improvements. Deliberations in the Legislature must ultimately resolve the correct governing structures for restoration and other Delta activities. Metropolitan looks forward to engaging in all these discussions with the kind of balanced, yet bold, mindset that is emerging through Delta Vision.”

Recreational miners threaten struggling fisheries in California

Posted by: Maven on June 22, 2008 at 9:27 pm

From the California Progress Report:

The Karuk Tribe along with allies in the commercial and recreational fishing communities are calling on Governor Schwarzenegger to restrict the controversial gold mining technique known as suction dredge mining. As we are in the midst of the worst fisheries collapse in California history all groups impacting our fisheries must be called on to make sacrifices.

According to Brian Stranko, CEO of California Trout, “In April, the state and federal government took unprecedented emergency actions to completely close California’s coast to recreational and commercial salmon fishing, something that is causing severe economic harm to businesses and communities. This is why it is inappropriate and unacceptable for state government to allow recreational suction dredge mining operations to continue to harm fish, particularly endangered species like coho salmon.”

Suction dredges are powered by gas or diesel engines that are mounted on floating pontoons in the river. Attached to the engine is a powerful vacuum hose which the dredger uses to suction up the gravel and sand (sediment) from the bottom of the river. The stream bed passes through a sluice box where heavier gold particles can settle into a series of riffles. The rest of the gravel and potentially toxic sediment is simply dumped back into the river. Depending on size, location and density of these machines they can turn a clear running mountain stream or river segment into a murky watercourse unfit for swimming.

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

Mini-subs exploring Sacramento River

Posted by: Maven on June 22, 2008 at 4:28 pm

From CNet News:

If you reel in a small sub instead of a rainbow trout from the Sacramento River this summer, don’t call Homeland Security. It belongs to a team of researchers from the University of California at Berkeley trying to learn more about the river currents in the delta.

The researchers are working with propelled 4-foot-long submarines and floating drifters equipped with GPS-receivers for positioning, GSM-modules for communication, and sensors inside for recording temperature, salinity, and currents. “We are prototyping an infrastructure and testing it in the delta,” said Professor Alexander Bayen, who leads the team at UC Berkeley’s Civil Systems Department.

The purpose of all this is to collect data to help the state better understand the river. And researchers have good reason to believe there’s urgency to their work. With drought looming for most of California, understanding the state’s water supply (much of the state’s population drinks run-off from snow melting in the Sierra Nevada range) and how the system works is critical.

The Sacramento River is already monitored by 50 permanent water stations in about 1,000 miles of water channels, but that collection of data is not designed to handle emergency situations, according to the researchers. “It’s totally undersampled if you want a precise, online, real-time measurement of the whole state of the delta,” Bayen said.

Read the full text of this story from CNet News by clicking here.

This has got to be the world’s most beautiful desalination plant – and it’s solar

Posted by: Maven on June 19, 2008 at 6:44 am

From Inhabitat:

As the planet heats up and our resources stretch to accommodate a skyrocketing population, it has become clear that water will be a hotly contested commodity in the coming years – some are even calling it the “new oil”. Charles Paton has endeavored to meet this challenge with his Seawater Greenhouse which takes a low-cost, low-energy, carbon-neutral approach to desalination. Recently he’s been working with Eden Project and Grimshaw Architects to create a gorgeous sweeping Teatro Del Agua. The design will incorporate Paton’s remarkable desalination method with a publicly accessible venue for the performing arts, once again focusing our societies around the common element that sustains them.

This plant is planned for the Canary Islands. Check out more pictures and get more information from Inhabitat by clicking here.  Also check out this “Watertecture” proposed for the Dead Sea area which will provide renewable energy, drinking water, and recreation in the form of artificial islands – very cool!  Click here.

Generating power from salty water: first osmotic power plant expected to be up and running by the end of the year

Posted by: Maven on June 19, 2008 at 6:37 am

From Forbes Magazine:

In the quest to tap new sources of renewable energy, scientists are turning to the sun, to the wind, and of course, to a variety of bio-derived fuel alternatives. But in Norway, one company is also turning to salty water.

The concept of osmosis may mostly dredge up memories of high school biology. It is the process of moving water from an area with a low concentration of dissolved material, such as salt, to a place with a high concentration, by passing through a membrane.

Now scientists at Norwegian renewable-energy company Statkraft aim to use osmosis to generate electric power. It’s a tantalizing prospect: Based on an estimate of the number of rivers around the world with suitable conditions, it’s a potential source of 1,700 terawatt hours a year of energy globally, according to estimates by Statkraft’s scientists. That’s equivalent to the electricity consumption for all of China in 2002.

How does this process work?

Leveraging the power of osmosis to generate electricity is a concept that has been discussed since the 1970s. The theory is relatively simple: Seawater and freshwater, filtered to remove silt, are fed into pipes which lead to a membrane system, made up of spiral coils to maximize surface area. The salt of the seawater draws the fresh water across the membrane, leading to a build-up of pressure which forces water through the turbine, generating electricity.

Read more on this story from Forbes Magazine by clicking here.

California’s water future: crops wither–along with the water supply

Posted by: Maven on June 18, 2008 at 6:43 am

From the California Farm Bureau:

After decades of political bickering and inaction, California is on the brink of a water supply catastrophe. Today officials are calling the shortfall in the state’s water supply a crisis or an emergency. But farmers throughout the state who’ve had their water supplies drastically cut–see things in even more dire terms. For many, the increasing water supply shortage threatens their very survival.

Northern California had its driest spring in history this year. Southern California set records in 2007 for low rainfall. Added to this was a disappointing 2008 Sierra Nevada snowpack that totaled 67 percent of average. And, as parching as the lack of precipitation can be, supply has been further reduced by court-ordered cutbacks in pumping and water transfers from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to save endangered delta smelt. A trial currently under way in Fresno addressing the water needs of endangered salmon and steelhead also may result in further water delivery cutbacks.

Meanwhile major reservoirs in California are low, with Lake Oroville, the state water project’s most important reservoir, just half full. The Colorado River has suffered through an eight-year drought and, while last winter’s precipitation in the river’s snowshed was 110 percent of average, that won’t make up for years of drought.

Experts say if there’s no improvement in California’s precipitation during the next rainy season, the state will have less water in its reservoirs than during the state’s worst drought in 1976-77. During that drought, the state’s population was about 22 million residents. Today’s population is about 38 million, with expected growth to more than 46 million by 2030.

The last major state-built water storage projects were completed more than 30 years ago and California has been living on borrowed foresight ever since. Now, with growing demand and limited storage capacity, the drought will leave many major reservoirs half empty.

Avenal farmer Bob Wilson produces a wide variety of crops–processing tomatoes, cotton, alfalfa, garlic, garbanzo beans, wheat, pistachios, almonds and winegrapes. He’s proud of the diversity in the crops he grows and of the steps he and partner Gary Esajian have taken to make every drop of water count. “We foresaw there would be a limited amount of water going into this year and planted a variety of crops that either require less water or were finished in the late winter and early spring,” Wilson said. “That way they wouldn’t compete with our tomatoes, cotton and trees and vines in the summer months.”

One crop Wilson said he rarely grows is safflower, but he and other farmers have put in section after section of this oil crop because the stickery yellow plant is fairly drought tolerant and commodity prices are decent. “I’m afraid more people will be growing safflower and garbanzos next year because both are drought tolerant,” he said. “Prices for winter wheat prices have been pretty good and we’re harvesting now. We’ve also put in pistachios, which don’t need as much water as some other tree crops.”

Added to these strategic cropping decisions, the farm business has invested nearly a million dollars in irrigation technology, new wells and piping systems. “Wells in this area are fragile at best,” Wilson explained. “The ground is porous and they tend to collapse. Everybody we know in Westlands Water District is pumping right now. If you have a problem, it’s like going to the donut shop, take a number and stand in line. It’s hard to get a well company to come out these days.

“And, wells aren’t the answer to keeping us going,” said Wilson, who is a past president of Kings County Farm Bureau. “It’s critical that we find a solution to the supply problems and bring more water in. We’ve got to figure this problem out.” Continue reading “California’s water future: crops wither–along with the water supply” »

California’s trouble: rising seas, floods and drought in forecast; could the Sites Reservoir be part of a solution?

Posted by: Maven on June 18, 2008 at 6:34 am

From AlterNet.org:

California has a big water problem — and global warming will only make that problem bigger. Three-quarters of our precipitation falls in the winter, almost all in the northern half of the state, although most of the population and a great deal of the agriculture are in the south. The current system of capturing and transferring water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to the areas of greatest demand is unsustainable, and climate change will only exacerbate the crisis.

According to the state’s Climate Action Team, global warming is likely to play out in California’s water system in two major ways: a smaller snowpack will reduce our ready water supply, and wilder weather will heighten the risk of floods.

The Sierra snowpack has historically served as a natural reservoir, storing precipitation that falls as snow during the winter and releasing it slowly as it melts in the spring. With rising temperatures, more precipitation will instead fall as rain. The climate team predicts that the snowpack will be reduced by ten to forty percent by mid-century and from seventy to ninety percent by 2100, greatly reducing natural water storage.

An overlapping challenge will take place in the Delta, where even though overall flow in the Sacramento River is expected to decrease by about twenty percent by the 2050s, changing rainfall patterns will increase the risk of flooding. Severe storms are likely to damage already-compromised Delta levees and infrastructure.

Similarly, sea level is predicted to rise by 22 to 55 inches — or even more — by the year 2100. Rising sea levels will erode Delta levees and increase saltwater intrusion from San Francisco Bay, threatening the quality of water exports as well as of the Delta’s water itself.

Yet as the human population continues to grow, especially in the drier southern region, where is the water going to come from to serve not only California’s people but its agriculture, fish, and wildlife? And how can the state maintain control over its water supply in an era of climate change? While this gloomy conundrum has received attention lately, there is no agreement on what to do about it — not strange, considering the state’s always-fractious history of water management.

Schwarzenegger’s & DWR’s plan to meet California water challenges includes building reservoirs, and this article talks about the Sites Reservoir. Read the rest of this article from AlterNet.org by clicking here.

Urgent water conservation requested in Los Angeles, Orange Counties through July 2 for major regional pipeline repairs

Posted by: Maven on June 18, 2008 at 6:18 am

From Business Wire:

An urgent request for heightened water conservation in Los Angeles and Orange counties over the next two weeks is being made by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California as it begins critical repairs to a major regional water pipeline that serves as many as 12 million people.

“In order to prevent what could be a severe break in our Sepulveda Feeder pipeline, we will be working 24-hours a day to install new pipe sections and are asking residents of Los Angeles and Orange counties for heightened conservation over the next two weeks so that no one has to go without running water in their homes and businesses,” said Metropolitan Assistant General Manager and Chief Operating Officer Debra Man.

The pipeline stretches from Granada Hills in the San Fernando Valley south to Palos Verdes, and is a major source of imported water to Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Long Beach, Torrance, Fullerton, Compton, Santa Ana, Anaheim, and cities served by the Central Basin Municipal Water District, West Basin Municipal Water District, and Municipal Water District of Orange County.

“We are confident that with heightened water conservation in Los Angeles and Orange counties, and by moving water further west from our treatment plants in La Verne and Yorba Linda, that we’ll be able to prevent anyone from losing water service at their home or business,” Man said.

“We are asking that people be especially cautious with their water use beginning June 21 through July 2, when we expect to have the pipeline back in service,” Man said. “Since discovering four significantly weakened sections in the pipeline, we have moved quickly to prepare for this major repair project. We needed to act as soon as possible to prevent a pipeline emergency, and also to get the work done before the hotter temperatures of summer and early fall.”

Residents are asked to postpone washing vehicles (except at commercial car washes using recycled water); irrigate lawns and landscaping only on alternate days; take shorter showers, and delay using dishwashers and clothes washers until there is a full load. Additional water-conservation information and tips can be found at bewaterwise.com.

The Sepulveda Feeder is a 45-mile-long underground line of 96-inch (8-feet) diameter pipe—37 miles of reinforced concrete and 8 miles of welded steel—that runs from Metropolitan’s Joseph Jensen Water Treatment Plant in Granada Hills south to Metropolitan’s Palos Verdes Reservoir, with numerous connections to other Metropolitan and retail-agency pipelines along the way.

Reinforced concrete pipe has pre-stressed wire embedded in the concrete to provide strength, but the wire occasionally deteriorates and causes a weak spot that internal pressure can burst through. Tests of the pipeline in March 2008 found four spots of immediate concern: two under Sepulveda Boulevard outside the main entrance to Los Angeles National Cemetery; one under Slauson Avenue at Hannum Avenue in Culver City; and one under 64th Street near Le Doux Road in Ladera Heights.

Replacement pipe sections of welded steel were fabricated at Metropolitan’s machine shop in La Verne, and are being brought to the work sites at Westwood and Ladera Heights. A 12-mile section of the pipeline will be blocked off, the line drained, and around-the-clock work will begin June 21. Pieces of steel pipeline will be moved into the pipeline at Westwood and Ladera Heights and welded into place; carbon fiber lining will be installed in the Culver City pipe section to strengthen it. Work is expected to be completed by July 2, when the line is re-filled and samples are tested.

Metropolitan employees have notified residents, businesses, municipal and other government officials to help mitigate the impacts of the repair project. Nevertheless, one lane of southbound Sepulveda Boulevard traffic will be closed—one will remain open—between Montana and Constitution avenues, adjoining the National Cemetery in Westwood. In addition, on the west side of the freeway, Church Lane between Burnham and Waterford streets will be closed.

The divided, northbound lanes of Hannum Avenue traffic, between Slauson and Jefferson, will be closed and traffic rerouted; the southbound lanes will remain open. In addition, a block of 64th Street at Le Doux Road will be closed to through traffic.

“We certainly appreciate the understanding and cooperation of residents and businesses in these communities and their increased water-conservation efforts over the next two weeks as we undertake this urgently needed project,” Man said.

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.

Watering the West: growth stops when the water runs out

Posted by: Maven on June 18, 2008 at 6:15 am

From AlterNet.org:

A recent issue of National Geographic featured a compelling story on the double-barreled threat facing western states: rapid population growth and climate change. “The American West was won by water management,” proclaims the article. “What happens when there’s no water left to manage?”

This question vexes more than water managers. It may seem absurd to approve development without reliable water supplies, but that is exactly what has happened in many communities — leaving homeowners and other taxpayers holding the bill when extravagant measures become necessary to gain access to water.

Just as homeowners demand, and building codes require, safe wiring and solid foundations for their dwellings, they also deserve to know that their drinking water taps will deliver clean, reliable water for decades to come. Moreover, states are currently reckoning with the question of what happens when there is little water left to manage — two weeks ago, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a statewide drought.

Historically, land-use decisions and water planning have been treated as entirely separate issues. Water is allocated by state agencies, and land-use planning falls under the authority of local officials. Water resource managers juggle many competing demands within a watershed, and they tend to focus on facilitating economic development. In turn, local land-use authorities have safely assumed that water would be available to satisfy continued growth.

Increasingly, however, local land-use decisions run headlong into water supply concerns. Planning for growth is important in all communities, and planning for sustainable water supplies to support that growth should be an integral part of that planning process. Although water itself seldom provides a hard barrier to growth, the failure to connect land-use and water planning may have far-reaching and increasingly unacceptable consequences.

Read more from AlterNet.org by clicking here.

Odds and Ends: Aguanomics blog, ‘exciting water IPO’, more on water conservation, and the Nahai saga continues

Posted by: Maven on June 17, 2008 at 7:54 am

Slow water news day, folks….

The Aguanomics Blog: I’ve plugged it before, but it’s worth it one more time. Always fresh and interesting, the Aguanomics blog is written by Economics PhD David Zetland, who bills himself as “an economist giving some facts and many opinions”. His blog discusses myriads of water issues, such as water rights, Westlands runoff, and environmental skepticism. Lots of interesting discussion as well. Check out the Aguanomics blog by clicking here.

Finally an exciting water IPO, says the SuperTrades blog: He’s talking about Energy Recovery Systems, apparently preparing to go public in the second half of 2008. ERS has recently announced a device which helps dramatically cut down the power needed for desalination. Lots of information on this blog, but as always with investment information, there is no endorsement implied or given. Check out this post from the SuperTrades blog by clicking here.

Barbara Boxer blogs about drought and water conservation: “There is now growing concern that California, after several years of drought like conditions and one of the driest winters on record, may be in another period of major drought. Because of global climate change, our weather is changing each year. While we can hope for wetter years in the future, it is important that we begin to plan for dryer years“, writes Boxer (or someone from Boxer’s office). The post includes a long list of water conservation links. Check it out by clicking here.

Lib’s Earth Watch Blog also gives water conservation tips, with a sense of humor: Water conservation does not have to be painful, she writes. For instance, you could install a low-flow showerhead, but why not take it a step further? ” … just think about the water that you could save if you showered with your girlfriend, boyfriend, spouse, fiancé or that attractive single person down the hall, downstairs, upstairs, across the street, in the next cube, etc? Best of all, you could sell this liberating idea to your potentially skeptical shower partner as the two of you ‘doing your part for the good of Mother Earth and us all’. What man or woman could resist when the ideas is presented in this way? Find out more water conservation tips from Lib’s Earth Watch Blog by clicking here.

L.A. Sniper vs. David Nahai: the saga continues: Mittelsteadt continues his quest to get a peek at Nahai’s utility bills, something he says is a perfectly reasonable public records request for appointed official such as Nahai. He also defends his visit to Nahai’s house: “He still seems fried that I stopped by his house to ask his wife for the bills. I’ve listened several times to a recording of our conversation at the May 15 press conference. When I asked him how much his water bill was, he said: “You’d have to ask my wife.” Many of my own friends say I shouldn’t have taken his words so literally and gone to his house. I would have gone to check it out even without his implied invitation. Go ahead, convict me of treading into the personal domain of one of most powerful public officials in L.A., who dictates policies that affect millions of people. The public interest served by my inquiry far outweighs the ripple of invading his family’s privacy for five minutes.” I’m not sure if I agree. I wouldn’t want him showing up at my house! More from the WitnessLA blog by clicking here.

Enjoy your day!

California needs to remember history of the last major drought in this year’s water transfers and our response

Posted by: Maven on June 15, 2008 at 6:42 am

From the California Progress Report:

Last Wednesday Governor Schwarzenegger announced that California is officially in a two-year drought and issued an Executive Order directing the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and other agencies to implement an eight point drought response plan, including heightened water efficiency, more water transfers, and updated drought planning. He also called for an $11.9 billion bond that would fund new dams.

Four of the eight points in the drought plan focus on water efficiency. Yet while it reinforces the vital role of efficiency in California’s water management and highlights its potential benefits to our economy, environment, and residents the plan is short on specifics that would distinguish the Governor’s measures from programs already underway. Details on these new measures may emerge as agencies focus on implementing the Executive Order.

While the plan remains vague on water efficiency actions, it clearly instructs DWR to facilitate water transfers in 2008 and 2009. A similar dry year water transfer program was implemented during California’s last major drought in the 1990′s. Unfortunately, that program resulted in dry wells for some Northern California communities, as groundwater pumping increased to replace surface water that was transferred to parched areas in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. DWR has the opportunity to avoid such unintended consequences as they develop the next set of dry year water transfers.

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

Everything you ever wanted to know about…desalination

Posted by: Maven on June 13, 2008 at 6:18 am

From the Kipp Report:

With Jeddah currently suffering an acute water shortage, Saudi authorities have towed a floating desalination plant off the coast. The barge started pumping 10,000 cubic meters of potable water to the city’s network on Tuesday, and expects to up capacity to 26,000 cubic meters in a short time.

The stop-gap solution highlights the pressing need for new desalination plants across the Gulf. It comes as high energy prices and droughts hit international water supplies, increasing the appeal of desalination. Here’s what you need to know:

• More than 1 billion people live in areas where water is scarce, according to the United Nations, and that number could increase to 1.8 billion by 2025.

• According to the latest figures from the International Desalination Association, there are now 13,080 desalination plants in operation around the world. Together they have the capacity to produce up to 55.6m cubic meters of drinkable water a day—a mere 0.5% of global water use.

• Desalination technology has been around for thousands of years. Even Aristotle worked on the problem. He imagined using successive filters to remove the salt from seawater. The first actual practice of desalination involved collecting the freshwater steam from boiling saltwater. Around 200 A.D., sailors began desalinating seawater with simple boilers on their ships.

Find out more factoids about desalination by reading the full text of this article from the Kipp Report by clicking here.

Time Magazine: Farmers vs. fish amidst the California drought

Posted by: Maven on June 13, 2008 at 6:00 am

In the San Joaquin Valley, field after field is either lying fallow this year or whithering from lack of water. Crops are being abandoned as farmers try to decide how to save their orchards. The farmers have been hit hard by two years of below-average rainfall, a diminishing snowpack in the Sierras, and the mandated restrictions on pumping water out of the Delta. From Time Magazine:

Californians across the state are voluntarily cutting down on sprinkler use and dealing with curbs on development and high fire hazards. But the farmers around Firebaugh have more to lose. “This is the first time water has ever been rationed like this,” says Sarah Clark Woolf, spokeswoman for Westlands Water District, which has been forced to cut irrigation supplies to hundreds of thousands of acres of agricultural land. California Farm Bureau Federation President Doug Mosebar estimates that Fresno County could lose 20% to 30% of its agricultural output this season.

The area is in trouble because its water is piped in from the beleaguered Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Last August, a Federal court set limits on pumping from the Delta, in an attempt to help endangered smelt fish. In a further measure to protect smelt, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced just last week it would cut San Joaquin Valley farm water supplies to 40% of the contracted amount. Many of the farmers in the region have been alloted only one sixth of the water supply they need to sustain their crops through the crucial summer months. “This is a death sentence,” says almond and wine farmer Shawn Coburn.

And the local farmers are particularly bitter at the environmental priorities governing water use. “We’re looking after fish, and yet we’re losing crops,” says almond farmer Cort Blackburn. “You cannot put the fish in front of all the people.” Chris Cardella, a farmer on the east side of Firebaugh, agrees: “We need legislature to overrule all our environmental impacts because humans come first over fish.” Mosebar dismisses such “myopic” thinking: “If we’re assisting the fish, we’re also assisting our food production.” He hopes this crisis will spawn better infrastructure for moving and storing water. “We’re at a crossroads right now,” he says. “This is a wakeup call.”

“The operations we’ve done for some of the endangered fish species did have an initial affect on our allocation earlier this year,” says Paul Fujitani of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. “But in the past few months, our biggest problem is with the dryness.” Protecting endangered species, he says, is simply “something we’ve got to do.”

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

Press Release: Governor Schwarzenegger proclaims state of emergency for Central Valley region and takes action to address urgent water needs

Posted by: Maven on June 12, 2008 at 10:39 pm

From the Office of the Governor, this press release:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today proclaimed a state of emergency in the following nine Central Valley counties due to severe water shortages: Sacramento, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Kern. When the Governor issued his Executive Order last week declaring a statewide drought, he directed his state agencies and departments to take immediate action to address the serious drought conditions and water delivery reductions that exist in California, and today’s announcement builds on those actions.

“Just last week, I said we would announce regional emergencies wherever the state’s drought situation warrants them, and in the Central Valley, an emergency proclamation is necessary to protect our economy and way of life,” Governor Schwarzenegger said. “Central Valley agriculture is a $20 billion a year industry. If we don’t get them water immediately the results will be devastating. Food prices, which are already stretching many family budgets, will continue to climb and workers will lose their jobs-everyone’s livelihood will be impacted in some way.”

The Governor’s emergency proclamation today is based in part on an assessment of the full impact that additional, unexpected cuts recently made by federal water officials to San Joaquin Valley farmers have had in the middle of the growing season. As a result, the Governor’s proclamation directs the Department of Water Resources to work with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to deliver more water now through the State Water Project when it’s needed most. It also orders his Department of Water Resources to transfer groundwater through the California Aqueduct to benefit farmers in the affected counties and the State Water Resources Control Board to review water transfers as quickly as possible.

“We would not be talking about any of this if over the last 40 years California had invested in our water infrastructure. Today we are taking aggressive action to address an immediate crisis, but a comprehensive solution is the only answer to addressing our drought situation in the long term,” Governor Schwarzenegger said.

Continue reading “Press Release: Governor Schwarzenegger proclaims state of emergency for Central Valley region and takes action to address urgent water needs” »

Bush tries to raid salmon disaster funds

Posted by: Maven on June 12, 2008 at 10:34 pm

From Dan Bacher:

West Coast Representatives and leaders of fishing groups are outraged by an attempt by the White House to yank $70 million in disaster funding from commercial and recreational fishermen in order to pay for the census.

The Bush Administration’s Office of Management & Budget (OMD) on Monday, June 9 sent a proposal to Congress to amend the President’s budget to take $70 million of the $180 million that West Coast Representatives put into the farm bill for disaster assistance for fishermen devastated by fishing closures off the coast of California and Oregon and in Central Valley rivers.

West Coast Democrats reacted to the proposal by sending an angry letter to President Bush calling his proposal to take the disaster funding from fishermen in order to pay for a failed contract to the Harris Corporation assigned to do the 2010 Census as “unconscionable.”

“This proposal is especially egregious when you consider that your administration’s water policies on all of the Pacific Northwest’s major salmon rivers are the reason this disaster funding is needed in the first place,” the letter said.

The Representatives noted that three different courts have found the administration’s water plans for the Sacramento, Klamath and Columbia/Snake Rivers to be illegal and in violation of the Endangered Species Act. “These failed policies have resulted in over 80,000 dead adult salmon in the Klamath River, record low returns to the Sacramento and Columbia/Snake River systems, two fishery disaster declarations issued by the Secretary of Commerce and two years of fishing closures impacting thousands of families and small business,” the letter continued. “The states of California, Oregon and Washington estimated this year’s closure alone will have a $290 million impact on these fishing communities. Scientists expect similar low returns to the Sacramento next year and another closed season for most of the West Coast.”

Representatives Mike Thompson, Peter DeFazio, Darlene Hooley, Anna Eshoo, Jim McDermott, Brian Baird, Doris Matsui, Lois Capps, Lynn Woolsey, Earl Blumenauer, David Wu, Rick Larson, Sam Farr and Jay Inslee signed the letter.

“To suggest that the money to pay for this contract mistake is diverted from emergency disaster payments is yet another blow delivered by your administration to the fishing families and small businesses in the Pacific Northwest,” they stated. “It is a clear sign that your administration is not committed to protecting these river systems and has no interest in helping the fishing communities and economies reliant on them.”

Continue reading “Bush tries to raid salmon disaster funds” »

Odds and ends: Nahai under fire, maps of worldwide water use, fake plastic fish may be all we have left says blog, and more – plus bread is the root of all evil

Posted by: Maven on June 12, 2008 at 9:27 am

No good news for Nahai & DWP this morning, where we begin our tour of the blogosphere:

David Nahai under blogger fire: In a follow-up story to a humorous piece about DWP head David Nahai’s home water use, Witness LA tracks Nahai to the Ivanhoe Reservoir to continue the quest for the “Water King’s” home water bills. The confrontation continues, with Nahai finally saying, “I don’t want to talk to you anymore. You’re harassing me.” Read the whole story from Witness LA by clicking here. Unfortunately for Nahai, his blogger grilling is not over yet….

DWP’s drinking water quality questioned: What has it meant for water quality in DWP’s open reservoirs which have been in existence for a hundred years? From Ron Kaye L.A., I raised questions Tuesday over the DWP’s grandstand p.r. stunt at Ivanhoe Reservoir in Silver Lake where 400,000 black plastic balls were dumped in the water to keep sunlight from causing a chemical reaction between chlorine and bromine which produces the carcinogen bromate. My point was the reservoir is a century old and the 600,000 people in Silver Lake and South L.A. served by it must have been getting doses of bromates over the years. Ron Kaye also alleges that DWP’s water quality only meets standards when averaged out over twelve months. More from Ron Kaye LA’s blog by clicking here.

And what about those shade balls themselves? The Griffith Park Interrupted blog questions the safety of those black balls: The bird balls LADWP dropped into Ivanhoe with much fanfare this week were tested by NSF for one condition only: whether or not they leach chemicals into water that is exactly 73.4 degrees Fahrenheit. These bird balls passed that test, but have not been tested (or they failed) for everything else! Read more from the Griffith Park Interrupted blog by clicking here.

High Country News covers DWP’s efforts to bring in more green power to meet Villiaragosa’s mandate: Not water related, but in this article, DWP is under fire as it tries to bring in more ‘green power’ to Los Angeles, which requires transmission lines across the desert: “The general sentiment that we’re finding as desert residents and biologists is that Los Angeles thinks the desert is a place to dump things,” says Sall. “First it’s their trash, then their nuclear waste. Now it’s their energy projects.” More from the High Country News by clicking here.

Enough about Nahai and DWP!

World view on water use: Aguanomics has posted some interesting maps. Click here for a link to a world map of unsustainable irrigation withdrawals. Click here for a world map which shows which sector (agriculture, industry, or residential) dominates in water use. David notes: Domestic use rarely dominates, indicating that we may be spending too much effort at domestic conservation when the real gains would come from conservation (e.g., higher prices lead to higher efficiency) in agriculture and/or industry.

Blogger suggests sending Midwestern flood waters to the dry Southwest: What if Presidents Clinton and Bush had used this time and money since 1993 to build a series of pipelines to move water from high flood areas like the Mid-West, New Orleans, etc. to chronically thirsty areas like the Southwest? Think of how different Katrina aftermath would have been. Building it would create jobs and maybe even insurance companies will pitch in to pay for it, he says. Oh yeah? Click here for this post from the “Whatever Happenned to Reasonableness Blog”.

“We can either have plastic toy sharks or real sharks, not both.” That’s the latest post from the “Fake Plastic Fish” blog, which pushes for less plastic use. The blog provides looks to provide suggestions and advice on “how we can eliminate unnecessary plastic, dramatically reduce our plastic waste, and live responsibly with the rest.” This latest post details correspondence with the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s gift shop manager about the amount of plastic toys available in the aquarium’s gift shop. Click here for more from the Fake Plastic Fish blog.

Other honorable mentions: Quest Reporter Ann Dickinson blogs from inside the Harvey O. Banks pumping facility, a new book discusses the possibility of Canadian water coming south (excerpt here), and Marlalk solves the water shortage problem in Fresno, she says, which has something to do with felony alteration of the water system (click here).

What the heck. Bread is the root of all evil! so says blogger Laurie Kendrick in this hilarious post for us “Gluttons of Gluten”. For instance, did you know that more than 98 percent of convicted felons are bread eaters? or that nearly all sick people have eaten bread? Find out more about the evils of bread by clicking here.

Growing our own food, feeding our own nation, and assisting in hunger relief is a national security issue; all cards on the table to craft water policy that works for everyone

Posted by: Maven on June 12, 2008 at 7:50 am

From the California Farm Bureau Federation:

The ability to grow food, on America’s soils, to feed our nation and assist in hunger relief efforts around the world is a national security issue. Let’s give this crucial issue the level of attention it deserves by putting all the cards on the table to craft water policy that works for everyone.

It is time for legislators, policymakers and water regulators to step out of their offices and get out into the fields to understand exactly how what they pen impacts the family farmers and ranchers who provide jobs, create habitat and grow the diverse array of fruits, vegetables, fiber and meat products that our consumers depend on.

We cannot be dependent on other countries for our basic food needs or we will find ourselves in the exact situation that we are now in with fuel. We have diminished our ability to find new sources of energy, and now all Americans are feeling the impact of this lack of planning at the pumps every day.

We are at a water crossroads right now. The governor’s recent drought declaration is a wake-up call. As water allocations are reduced to growers throughout the state, family farmers are having to make tough decisions regarding continuing with crops already in the ground, fallowing fields and stumping trees due to the extreme uncertainty of immediate and future water supplies.

We must all work together to craft solutions that balance the needs of all water users. The solutions need to make sense, and they need to acknowledge that growing food within our borders is a national security issue. Without a reliable supply of water, there is no reason to plant a crop. California has not developed enough water to meet the needs of its growing population, and the current system is hamstrung by environmental regulations and an aging water infrastructure.

California needs better ways to move water around the state and more places to store water between seasons and years. The declining snowpack and lack of rain are reducing our main source of water in the Sierra Nevada. These losses must be made up through all available means, including increased statewide conservation and water recycling and better management of existing reservoirs and groundwater basins.

Policymakers must recognize the relationship of domestic food production to global markets and world food shortages to increasing regulatory costs, food security issues and nutrition for the economic well-being of our state and our nation.

We cannot replace the productive soil that has been paved over for housing and strip malls. We can, however, take the lead in growing our state to preserve our productive farms and ranches for current and future generations. Water is the lifeblood of that preservation, and smart land use planning that takes into account farm water needs is smart as well.

This is where the rubber hits the road, folks, and we stop trying to cram the large family we now have into the VW Beetle we owned in college. This is not a turf war anymore; it is a statewide crisis that will impact our ability to ensure food security for our nation. “Buy local” will become the buzz phrase of the past if we do not act to preserve the dwindling family farms and ranches that are under pressure as fuel and fertilizer costs rise and water becomes too scarce to take the risk to plant a crop that you may not be able to secure water for.

What I said at the beginning bears repeating: The ability to grow food, on America’s soils, to feed our nation and assist in hunger relief efforts around the world is a national security issue. Let’s give this crucial issue the level of attention it deserves by putting all the cards on the table to craft water policy that works for everyone.

(Doug Mosebar is president of the California Farm Bureau Federation. He can be reached at dmosebar@cfbf.com.)

Water, water everywhere, so let’s all have a drink; Offshore desalination could turn the oceans into an inexhaustible water supply

Posted by: Maven on June 12, 2008 at 6:08 am

From Discover Magazine:

With a recent government study projecting that at least 36 states will face water shortages within the next five years, some states are looking to tap our oceans for more than a trickle of our freshwater needs. The only significant seawater desalination, or desal, facility in operation in the United States is the Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination Plant, which after a problem-plagued start is finally producing 25 million gallons of water a day, or about 10 percent of the region’s water supply. California, Texas, Massachusetts, and Georgia are all cautiously considering similar saltwater desal plants. But critics say (pdf) these plants are energy hogs that have a hugely detrimental impact on coastal marine life.

One potential alternative that’s getting a lot of attention these days, not just in the United States but around the world, is the idea of offshore desalination platforms or vessels. “There are so many obstacles and hurdles to overcome in building and running a desal plant onshore,” says Charles “Skip” Griffin, a senior vice president with PBS&J Engineers who has been designing water-treatment plants for 40 years, “that going off-land is kind of a no-brainer.”

Offshore, the water can be extracted from an optimal depth where sea life density is low and where the water is cleaner, reducing the extensive pretreatment that onshore plants must perform. Furthermore, the concentrated saltwater left over after processing can be more thoroughly diluted in the deep ocean rather than being dumped near shore, where marine life is plentiful. And the cost of powering an offshore plant is expected to be less than for land-based plants; while land-based plants end up having to buy third-party power, an offshore plant could produce its own without the markup.

Read more from Discover Magazine by clicking here.

Check out this report from the Worldwide Wildlife Federation: Desalination: Option or distraction for a thirsty world – click here.

Farmers hit with more unexpected water cutbacks; “Yields will fall, quality will decline, fields will be abandoned, trees may die and unemployment will skyrocket,” predicts farmer

Posted by: Maven on June 11, 2008 at 6:02 am

From the California Farm Bureau Federation:

Federal officials told hundreds of San Joaquin Valley farmers last week that they will get even less irrigation water this year than they had planned. Deliveries are being cut to 40 percent of contract amount from the 45 percent declared earlier in the year. The reductions affect farm customers of the federal Central Valley Project in both the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys.

The sobering news caught many who farm on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley by surprise. They had planted crops based on the percentage of contract amount announced by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation earlier this spring.

This additional cutback, which has never before occurred so late in a crop year, was explained during a congressional briefing in Los Banos. Hosted by Congressmen Jim Costa, D-Fresno, and George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, the event drew hundreds of farmers, water district representatives and officials from all levels of government, including state Food and Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura, as well as members of the press.

Riverdale farmer Mark Borba, who relies on water from the Westlands Water District, said crops produced within the district, 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.

“This unexpected cutback comes at the time of highest demand for water. In the next three months, our crops will be facing triple-digit temperatures and yet we’ll have a third less water to work with. For us, every day is another day lost in solving this problem,” Borba said. “What we don’t need from Sacramento is more talk about studies and alternatives and a laborious approval process. Our crops are dying.”

Processing tomato grower Jim Diedrich, a Westside farmer who relies on federal water deliveries, said after the meeting that there was a lack of specific detail in the information presented at the briefing. “That’s a concern because they keep talking about getting a little more water here and there, but we have less than a week to figure out what’s going on, if we’ll get a little more or have to let 1,000 acres of tomatoes go. We already have $1.2 million invested in establishing the crop and getting it to this point. Based on what they’re saying today, we may only be able to save 200 of those acres.”

Diedrich said he has taken a number of steps in recent years to reduce water use and better manage irrigation. “We put in drip systems, so now, instead of using 3.5 acre-feet of water, we’re down to 2.1,” he said. “But there’s no way we can make up through water management techniques for the kind of cuts they’re talking about. And, there’s no groundwater where we are so that’s not an option.

“We need water today, but an even bigger concern is that they also aren’t talking about what we’re going to do next year. Based on what I heard today, I’m not too eager to rush out and put a million dollars in the ground next year. I just hope if we have a problem with water supplies next year that they’ll come out and say so sooner,” he said. “That way we’ll know early?before we get a crop planted.”

Diedrich’s son Tod said, “We’ve already told three-quarters of our workers to go home. We shut down the water meters. We’ve tried to keep on the employees who’ve been with us the longest and the ones with families, but it’s possible in a week there won’t be any water so there won’t be any work. We’ll have to save what we can by ourselves?me, my dad, my kids and a foreman. We’ll focus on trying to save our almond trees. That’s the only way I can see to survive.”

Continue reading “Farmers hit with more unexpected water cutbacks; “Yields will fall, quality will decline, fields will be abandoned, trees may die and unemployment will skyrocket,” predicts farmer” »

Assemblyman Lieu touts West Basin’s innovative water conservation effort

Posted by: Maven on June 11, 2008 at 5:53 am

From the State of California, this press release:

Assemblymember Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), a member of the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee, held a press conference today with West Basin Municipal Water District in response to the Governor’s declaration of an “official drought.” The press conference highlighted innovative and efficient water conservation programs being implemented within the water district.

“Water is something that we usually take for granted. When we turn on the faucet, we always expect it to be there, but we need to remember that it is not an endless resource,” warned Assemblymember Lieu. “In order to avert forced water rationing, we need to put the same effort into water conservation as we did during the energy crisis when we had to conserve electricity to avoid rolling black outs.”

Last week, Governor Schwarzenegger officially declared the State of California to be in a drought for the first time since 1991. California is experiencing the driest spring season in the past 88 years and with state reservoirs being precariously low, the scene is set for a dangerous summer and wildfire season. With warnings of forced water rationing and emergency transfers of water supplies, it is critical that innovative and efficient water conservation programs are pursued state-wide.

West Basin Municipal Water District runs one of the nation’s top centers for water treatment technologies, the Edward C. Little Water Recycling Facility. The facility is the largest of its kind in the nation and was recognized in 2002 by the National Water Resources Institute as one of six best recycling facilities in the United States. At the facility, West Basin produces five types of recycled water, ranging in quality and purity. The water they produce is used for a variety of purposes, including park irrigation, purified water for drinking and water for local businesses.

“With the Governor’s recent declaration of a statewide drought, all the cities in the 53rd Assembly District should join us and their retailers in our collective effort to drought proof the region,” said Donald L. Dear, Board President, West Basin Municipal Water District. “It is time to get serious about water in Southern California. With Assemblymember Lieu’s leadership, we can protect our water future.”

“State water levels are dangerously low and as we head into a dry summer, the possibilities of wildfires are becoming more serious,” stated Assemblymember Lieu. “We need to ensure that water districts throughout the state are conserving as much as they can and using their resources wisely, so that we have the water necessary to get through the summer.”

Metropolitan Board declares water supply alert throughout So. Cal. to help sustain reserves; MWD board asks local water agencies, retailers to adopt, enforce water-saving ordinances, restrictions

Posted by: Maven on June 10, 2008 at 3:47 pm

From Business Wire:

Less than a week after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed a drought statewide, Metropolitan Water District’s Board of Directors today ramped up the water conservation call throughout its six-county service area by declaring a Water Supply Alert in Southern California.

To help preserve the region’s water storage reserves, Metropolitan’s board urged cities, counties, local public water agencies and retailers to achieve extraordinary conservation by adopting and enforcing drought ordinances, accelerating public outreach and messaging, and developing additional local supplies.

“In declaring this Water Supply Alert, we are confident that consumers and businesses throughout the Southland will take additional steps to reduce water use and eliminate waste,” said Metropolitan board Chairman Timothy F. Brick. “In the past, residents have responded to a call for action. We are depending on their help again to stave off the need to allocate supplies in the future,” Brick said.

Metropolitan General Manager Jeff Kightlinger said the board’s acceleration of the regional water-saving call is aimed at increasing awareness of the Southland’s critical supply conditions and the immediate need for conservation. Metropolitan’s main sources of imported supplies are facing unprecedented challenges because of record dry conditions for eight of the last nine years along the Colorado River and deteriorating environmental conditions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, he noted.

Since 2003, Metropolitan’s Colorado River supplies have been diminished by as much as half after California reduced its use of river water because of drought. The district’s State Water Project supplies from Northern California have been cut by nearly 30 percent this year because of dry conditions and court-ordered pumping restrictions in the Delta to protect endangered fish.

To meet current water demands, Metropolitan and its member agencies are withdrawing supplies from surface and groundwater storage, leaving the region’s reserves vulnerable to continued low-levels of imported water and emergencies, such as a major earthquake. Over the past two years, Metropolitan has drawn down its stored dry-year reserves by nearly half.

“This is a serious situation,” Kightlinger said. “The need for conservation is very real, particularly with the governor’s drought announcement last Wednesday. Now that the drought is official, consumers need to realize that water rationing looms should voluntary water-saving efforts not prove enough, particularly if we faced shortages that compelled our board to implement the district’s recently adopted supply allocation plan. But just as real as the drought is, so too are the possibilities we can avoid rationing. We have all the tools for reducing water use. Now we have more incentive,” Kightlinger said.

While several cities and water agencies in Southern California are already implementing local drought ordinances, Metropolitan’s Water Supply Alert resolution encourages the remaining entities to institute or develop as soon as possible their own ordinances and restrictions.

Measures that could be incorporated into local drought ordinances include restrictions on the hours of watering outdoors, where up to 70 percent of water is used; prohibitions on landscape irrigation runoff; tiered rate structures that promote conservation; provisions for water-efficient landscapes in new construction and landscape retrofits; and hotlines and other mechanisms for the public to report wasteful water practices.

If the call for immediate conservation successfully motivates residents and businesses to save water, Metropolitan estimates the demand for imported supplies could reduce by about 200,000 acre-feet of water over the next 12 months. (An acre-foot is nearly 326,000 gallons, about the amount used by two typical Southland families in and around their homes in a year.)

“There are so many small things we can all do that collectively could save the region the needed water that can help us withstand this round of shortages,” Brick said. “A good place to look for water-saving tips and rebates is our Web site, bewaterwise.com, which has become a leading destination for conservation information.”

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.

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• San Joaquin River Restoration
• State Water Project (DWR)
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