Who will be Delta’s keeper?
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2008 at 8:24 am
From Stockton’s Record:
It’s a classic case of too many cooks in the kitchen. More than 200 agencies have some say on what happens in the vast Delta, and the product of their labors doesn’t seem to satisfy anyone, as fish die and the water supply shrinks.
Among all other impending Delta decisions, such as whether to build a peripheral canal, a key question yet to be answered is how the Delta will be governed in the future. Who will be in charge?
During a series of recent meetings with California Secretary for Resources Mike Chrisman and his staff, San Joaquin County leaders have jockeyed for representation on whatever governance agency is created in the future.
Chrisman chairs a five-member Cabinet committee that will submit a strategic Delta plan, already approved by a blue-ribbon task force, to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger by Dec. 31. The committee may expand on the task force’s recommendations; a meeting to gather public comments is scheduled for Friday in Sacramento.
There are signs that at least some local representation will be part of the new governance structure, said Terry Dermody, former San Joaquin County counsel now acting as a water attorney for the county. Dermody said Chrisman’s staff revealed in meetings that it may restructure the Delta Protection Commission to consist of elected officials from five Delta counties, three cities including Stockton, and representatives of three major water agencies for Delta farmers.
Read more from Stockton’s Record by clicking here.
Increasingly scarce water is the new California gold
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2008 at 8:14 amFrom Redding’s Record Searchlight “Speak Your Piece”, this commentary:
The future of California depends on the utilization of water. Water is the new California gold. Without proper control, the state will slowly deteriorate.
Californians have taken water for granted for far too long. With the burgeoning population, that can no longer be the case. We have to balance it against our needs in the future. Where do we put our priorities? They are: first, in life-giving drinking water; second, in food and foliage production, and third, in sanitation.
With the amount of expenditures being evaluated by state and federal agencies, there have to be viable options. Wasting water for generations is no longer acceptable. Curbing inequitable proposed measures could support production of water storage, totally independent of existing waterways and spawning grounds. Water education, like power and fuel efficiency, should parallel all efforts.
Programs are being studied to store fresh water. Catch basins/dams and replenishing aquifers are considered. Current clean hydroelectric reservoirs should be retained. We need more off-line storage when wet years provide a surplus of water.
One near-term effort needs to be to educate the population. Wasting of this precious resource should be curtailed. Water is the life blood of all California and bleeding it dry should be stopped, even to the extent of fines for flagrant waste.
Without adequate water, the agricultural economy of the state is in trouble. The world needs the food California produces, as much as California needs the product income. It has been said the desert would bloom if it had water, and lots of arid parts of California have been converted. This has increased the need for water as well as the agricultural productivity.
Read more from the Record-Searchlight by clicking here.
Californians need to worry about food security, says commentary
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2008 at 8:05 am
From the San Francisco Chronicle, this commentary by A.G. Kawamura, the secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture:
At a time when people are deeply concerned about our dependence on imported oil, we should also be concerned about increasing our state’s dependence on imported food. In fact, our ability to feed our state could be seriously threatened by problems such as a long-term drought, the state’s aging water delivery and supply system, and court-ordered water supply cuts.
When people talk about food security, it’s normally a social justice topic at international conferences on hunger and famine. But it’s a term that we’re hearing more in California as population growth, along with land use and water policies, puts more pressure on this state’s agricultural industry. Rather than referencing worries about global food shortages, food security for Californians is about whether our state can continue to be the nation’s top food producer.
One of the major threats to the state’s farming industry is our lack of water. California’s drought, combined with court-ordered cuts in water deliveries, is threatening our food production.
Because of the water shortage, growers are cutting back on production, fallowing land and stumping trees. The drought has cost the state more than $250 million in lost plantings and 80,000 acres of crops this year alone. And that doesn’t include the huge amount of idle farmland that hasn’t been planted in the past few years because of an unpredictable water supply.
Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle by clicking here.
Court rejects POWER appeal of All-American Canal case
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2008 at 7:58 amFrom the Imperial Valley Press:
One of the groups suing the Imperial Irrigation District has suffered a setback.
POWER, which stands for Protect Our Water and Environmental Rights, initially sued the IID claiming environmental reviews on the All-American Canal were not adequate. It had two appeals to its case denied Friday.
“This means POWER lost again. What a surprise,” said IID Board President John Pierre Menvielle.
The lawsuits were initially filed in 2006 by brothers Mike and Jimmy Abatti, members of POWER. Mike Abatti later dropped his involvement in the lawsuits after he was elected to the IID board.
Read more from the Imperial Valley Press by clicking here.
Officials hope for snow to fill up Lake Tahoe
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2008 at 7:55 am
From the Nevada Appeal:
With Lake Tahoe’s water level nearing the natural rim, water authorities are hoping for record-breaking precipitation to bring the level up.
“We desperately need a big winter and a big snowpack to bring Lake Tahoe back up again,” said Federal Water Master Garry Stone.
When the water in Lake Tahoe nears the natural rim, at 6,223 feet, water flows more slowly into the Truckee River.
At midweek the lake measured 6,223.25. Under normal conditions, the flow into the Truckee is about 250 cubic feet per second. The current rate is about 12 cubic feet per second, Stone said. If the lake level drops below the natural rim no more water will flow into the Truckee.
“We can’t get any more water out of it,” Stone said. “It’s like a bathtub, we do not have the ability to release water through the natural rim.”
The picture of the dam at Lake Tahoe is from last Friday. There is very little water flowing through it into the Truckee River. The dam is operated by the Bureau of Reclamation, and was built in 1913 as part of the Newlands Project. The Newlands Project was one of the very first Bureau of Reclamation projects.
Of course, Lake Tahoe is a natural lake; the dam raises the level of the lake six feet, which creates a reservoir on top of the lake of 732,000 acre-feet. The dam also controls releases into the Truckee River.
As the level of the lake drops further, there won’t be any water flowing into the Truckee River. Flows for the river will then be made up from Boca Reservoir; according to the article, there’s enough water in Boca to last through December. The picture on the right is Boca Dam last Friday.
Read the full text of the story from the Nevada Appeal by clicking here. You can find out more about the Newlands Project by clicking here.
Dorothy’s Law: To modernize water policy and management in California
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2008 at 7:28 amFrom the California Progress Report:
About 125 people came out to the beach at Santa Monica Pier on a cloudy Sunday to share their favorite Dorothy Green stories. Some people came as far as San Francisco, Sun Valley and Denver to reminisce about Dorothy’s amazing achievements, tireless work ethic, big heart, and sense of humor. The County Lifeguards paid tribute to Dorothy, the founding president of Heal the Bay who passed away in October, as one of their own with a boat offshore and Capt. Angus Alexander’s inspirational words at the podium.
Any event with Dorothy had to include an environmental action and her memorial was no different. Paula Daniels, Conner Everts and I put together a version of “Dorothy’s Law”: a common-sense legislative solution to California’s dysfunctional water supply management.
The text was based on Dorothy’s last editorial in the Los Angeles Times. Every visitor at the memorial was asked (actually, required) to sign the request for Dorothy’s Law, and now the environmental community will forward it to the state legislature and the Governor’s office. Hopefully some elected leader will follow Dorothy’s advice to move us towards sustainable water supply management.
Read the text of Dorothy’s Law and find out more from the California Progress Report by clicking here.
Sierra Nevada climate changes feed monster, forest-devouring fires
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2008 at 7:23 amFrom the Sacramento Bee:
Driving home from Lake Tahoe, Leah Wills watched the column of ash-gray smoke from the Moonlight fire grow and grow – until finally she was under it. Overhead, the sky that September afternoon in 2007 turned eerie pink. Orange-red flecks of burning bark streaked like missiles through the air. And the smoke – eye-watering and acrid – was inescapable.
“It was like a nuclear cloud,” said Wills, 59, a policy analyst for the Plumas County Flood Control District who lives near the tiny hamlet of Genesee. “I’ve been to Denali and Kilimanjaro. I grew up with tornadoes. I’ve seen some big things. I never saw anything that big in my life.”
Wildfire has marched across the West for centuries. But no longer are major conflagrations fueled simply by heavy brush and timber. Now climate change is stoking the flames higher and hotter, too.
That view, common among firefighters, is reflected in new studies that tie changing patterns of heat and moisture in the western United States to an unprecedented rash of costly and destructive wildfires.
Among other things, researchers have found the frequency of wildfire increased fourfold – and the terrain burned expanded sixfold – as summers grew longer and hotter over the past two decades.
Read the rest of this comprehensive article from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.
Goodrich suit claims EPA hiding perchlorate data
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2008 at 7:20 amFrom the Contra Costa Times:
One of the companies accused of polluting the drinking water in the Rialto area has sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency saying the agency is withholding evidence that supports the company’s case.
Charlotte-based Goodrich Corp. says in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., that EPA has modelling showing the company is not responsible for the contamination.
The EPA is in the process of declaring a 160-acre portion of Rialto a Superfund site because various chemicals, including perchlorate, are flowing through the city and toward Colton and Riverside.
Perchlorate, an ingredient in rocket fuel and fireworks, can adversely affect the human thyroid.
“We believe that EPA has models that exonerate the company,” said Goodrich spokesman Patrick Palmer. “And if they have such models, they shouldn’t hide them.”
Read more from the Contra Costa Times by clicking here.
Coachella Valley Agencies offering progress updates on the Salton Sea at Thursday meeting
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2008 at 7:18 amFrom MyDesert.com:
The Salton Sea might have fallen off the radar in Sacramento, but it’s still on the map in the Coachella Valley’s backyard. And it still faces an ever-worsening ecological crisis that could have huge environmental impacts locally.
A multi-billion-dollar plan to restore the sea is stalled in the Legislature. But lesser, quieter progress toward at least the beginnings of a solution continues, officials said.
On Thursday, the state departments of Water Resources and Fish and Game will update the public on activities at the sea.
“It’s been a year since we’ve been out to the public, so we felt it was time to get back out there, let them know there’s work that’s been going on and what that work has been,” said Kim Nichol, an environmental program manager with the Department of Fish and Game.
Scientists say they’ve found bacteria that will fight invasive mussels, But germ can’t be used on wide scale, so its utility is limited, they warn
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2008 at 7:15 amFrom the Chicago Tribune:
Researchers seeking to slow the spread of invasive zebra and quagga mussels in American lakes and rivers have found a bacterium that appears to be fatal to the problematic species without affecting native mussels or freshwater fish.
The bacterium, Pseudomonas fluorescens, offers some hope for controlling the troublesome bivalves that are wreaking ecological and economic havoc in North American waters from the Colorado River to Vermont, and especially in the Great Lakes.
But more testing remains to be done, and the bacteria could be used effectively only on a limited scale, said Daniel Molloy, the New York State Museum researcher who discovered the possible new use for P. fluorescens.
It would be impossible to use the bacteria to wipe out all the invasive mussels in a Great Lake because they would be quickly replenished, he said. “It’s too big,” Molloy said of the mussel invasion.
Read more from the Chicago Tribune by clicking here.
Outcome of recent water quality events to shape California development
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2008 at 7:08 amFrom the California Real Estate Journal:
Development in California could become more difficult depending on the outcome of recent events concerning water-quality regulation.
An ongoing court battle has the potential to reshape storm water regulation entirely. Pending renewal, the statewide construction storm water permit contains proposed provisions that could dramatically raise the cost of construction and even affect feasibility. Pressure to regulate the design of projects through local storm drain permits continues to squeeze the industry.
In August, a trial court handed down a rare victory for the regulated community to several Los Angeles-area cities and the Building Industry Association in the case of City of Arcadia v. State Water Resources Control Board. The court’s ruling would force the Los Angeles Water Board to revise all of its water-quality standards applicable to storm water to make them more reasonable and achievable economically.
Basin Plans, akin to General Plans for water, contain water-quality standards which identify the beneficial uses of waterbodies (i.e., fishing or swimming) and establish the maximum amount of pollutants that can be present in the waterbodies. Water-quality standards provide the base for water-quality regulation. Permits incorporate the standards, and several other regulatory programs are tied to maintaining the standards in local waters.
Revision of the standards, per the court’s order, will affect all businesses, developments and construction projects with permits in L.A. and Ventura counties as well as county citizens through programs applied to public storm drains and other regulatory vehicles. If the Los Angeles Water Board revises the standards to consider the statutory factors, some of the strict limitations placed on flows to local waters (e.g., zero trash even during flood events) could be modified, making permit limits more attainable.
Read more from the California Real Estate Journal by clicking here.
State water supplies increasingly cloudy; Agencies hoping seeding process can help bolster key watersheds
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 29, 2008 at 7:10 amFrom Stockton’s Record:
Keep your eyes on the clouds rolling east this week. If they’re fat enough, they’ll get squeezed. Thirsty California water and power agencies - including those serving San Joaquin County - this winter are again sending pilots out to seed the clouds over key watersheds. In fact, the cloud-seeding programs are growing and could potentially double in coming years, according to the California Department of Water Resources.
The year’s first seeding in the central Sierra could happen this week if conditions are right.
The seeding involves the use of chemicals such as silver iodide that cause more water droplets or snowflakes to condense and fall to the ground. Various agencies spend more than $3 million a year statewide on the seeding, which typically generates rain and snow fall that yields an extra 300,000 to 400,000 acre-feet a year of water, according to the California Department of Water Resources.
An acre-foot is enough water to cover an acre 1 foot deep. Water managers say an acre-foot is about enough water to serve two typical family homes for a year.
“It definitely is worth it,” said Kevin Cunningham, hydro facilities manager for the Northern California Power Agency, which this year for the second time is seeding clouds over watersheds in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties that feed the North Fork Stanislaus River.
Read more from the Stockton Record by clicking here.
Navajo water a wild card in river’s future; Old rights » 1908 decision gave tribe part of the river
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 29, 2008 at 7:04 amFrom the Salt Lake Tribune:
The commission that created the 1922 Colorado River Compact knew that Mexico, the Navajo and other tribes had rights to the river, but when it divvied up the presumed 15 million acre-feet annual flow, it didn’t define the claims. In 1944, the United States and Mexico agreed that Mexico would get 1.5 million acre-feet per year, resetting the assumed baseline river flow at 16.5 million acre-feet. Four years later, the commission set the Upper Basin states’ shares on a percentage basis rather than an absolute allocation.
Still no mention of Indian tribes, even though an 1850 treaty with the Navajo Nation, reinforced by a 1908 Supreme Court ruling, guaranteed water rights necessary for a permanent homeland.
In 2003, the Navajo Nation sued the Interior Department, seeking to force the U.S. government to, at last, quantify the tribe’s rights.
Some Navajos say a strict interpretation of the treaty and the 1908 ruling in Winters v. United States shows the tribe’s rights trump all others because they were affirmed before the 1922 Colorado Compact. Navajo leaders, however, are pursuing negotiations rather than going back to the Supreme Court. That’s because they realize the justices could wipe out the earlier Winters ruling.
The approach has polarized Navajos, with some alleging the tribe’s attorney, Stanley Pollack, a white man, isn’t fighting hard enough.
Read more from the Salt Lake Tribune by clicking here.
Drought deepens strain on a dwindling Colorado; Flows falling » California first in line as Utah, other states fight for water
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 29, 2008 at 6:59 amFrom the Salt Lake Tribune:
The drought gripping Utah, Southern California and the rest of the Southwest this century shows no sign of ending. Scientists see it as a permanent condition that, despite year-to-year weather variations, will deepen as temperatures rise, snows dwindle, soils bake and fires burn.
That’s grim news for all of us in the West, perhaps most especially for the 10 million residents along the northern stretch of the Colorado River — Utah, New Mexico, Wyoming and Colorado — whose water rights are newer, and therefore junior, to those in Southern California, Nevada and Arizona.
Making matters worse, the Colorado — the 1,450-mile-long lifeline that sustains more than 30 million souls and 3.5 million acres of farmland in seven states, 34 tribal nations and Mexico — is in decline, scientists warn.
Even so, demand for the Colorado’s water echoes from city leaders, industry giants, oil drillers, farmers, fishers, ranchers, boaters, bikers and hikers — along with silent pleas from wildlife and the ecosystem. Trend analyses by federal scientists, probably conservative, predict the population dependent on the river will reach at least 38 million during the coming decade.
Read more from the Salt Lake Tribune by clicking here.
For the record: law journal articles contemplate future of California dams
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 29, 2008 at 6:54 amFrom the California Progress Report:
Ideas about water management in the Western United States are in a state of flux, particularly in regard to dams. Recently stakeholders announced an “Agreement in Principle” to work toward removing four dams on the Klamath River. Next week the State Water Resources Control Board will likely revoke the water rights for the oft-proposed Auburn Dam. To learn more about these issues, we recommend that you pick up a copy of the most recent edition of the Golden Gate University’s Environmental Law Journal on “The West’s Aging Dams: Retain or Remove?”
Click here to read the rest of this story from California Progress Report, which includes links to two journal articles, one by Jonas Minton of the Planning & Conservation League about California dams, and another by Jerry Meral, formerly the director of the PCL, on the options for removing the O’Shaughnessy Dam and restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley.
BIG DECLINE: Las Vegas now using less water; Why? Conservation efforts, economic woes, population dip
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 29, 2008 at 6:43 amFrom the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
Joblessness is up, budgets are down, and the housing market has yet to hit bottom. But look on the bright side: We’re using less water.
Through October, the Las Vegas Valley Water District has sold roughly 4 billion gallons less water than it had by the same time last year, a decline of almost 4 percent. It is the largest such year-to-year decline for the water district in recent memory.
There are any number of reasons for the drop, from conservation initiatives including a recent water rate increase to belt tightening by customers trying to ride out the economic slump. But one cause is sure to raise more eyebrows than the others: Less water is being sold because there are fewer people here to buy it.
Some local demographers now estimate that Clark County’s population actually shrank by nearly 10,400 people over the past year. The county’s official estimate, adopted last week by the Southern Nevada Planning Coalition, shows a population of 1,986,146 as of July 1. That’s down 10,396 from last year’s estimate of 1,996,542.
Read more from the Las Vegas Review-Journal by clicking here.
California ocean group proposes plastic ban
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 29, 2008 at 6:37 amFrom SustainableBusiness.com:
The California Ocean Protection Council (OPC) has proposed banning plastic take-out containers and instituting plastic bag use fees as part of a strategy to reduce ocean litter. The proposal calls for plastic manufacturers to recover and dispose of their products and for product user fees to be assessed.
The proposed implementation strategy, that will require legislative action in order to be enacted, identifies three primary approaches that California should take to eliminate marine debris. California should: (1) establish a “take-back” program that would require manufacturers to take back used packaging and dispose of it properly; (2) institute a statewide fee on single-use plastic grocery bags and a prohibition on polystyrene food containers; and (3) impose user fees on other commonly littered packaging items.
“The council is confident that this strategy will have far reaching benefit for ocean health and brings about needed action to tackle the marine debris problems plaguing our oceans,” said OPC Chair and Secretary for Resources Mike Chrisman. “Our decision today moves California closer to a real solution to reduce the threats to our ocean and coast.”
Read more from SustainableBusiness.com by clicking here.
My View: California water storage: Underworld and body
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 28, 2008 at 9:10 amFrom the Sacramento Bee, this commentary from Graham E. Fogg, a professor of hydrogeology in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources at the University of California, Davis:
The likely effects of climate change on local water resources in places like Sacramento are still being researched by climate and hydrologic scientists, but one thing is fairly certain: There will be less snow in the Sierra Nevada in the coming decades.
Climate model projections suggest the Sierra snowpack could dwindle to a mere 20 percent to 40 percent of its historical volume during this century. In fact, historical data show that for the last century, the April-July flows in the Sacramento River have declined steadily, apparently caused by a rise of roughly two degrees Farenheit in air temperature and a consequently thinner snowpack.
Basically, the total precipitation has not declined, but winter is bringing less snow and more rain. Whether climate change brings more or less precipitation to California, on average, more of it will fall as rain rather than snow. Consequently, less water will be available when it is most needed in the summer, because surface reservoirs will have to release more water in the winter. So the seventh-ranked economy in the world, which also provides some 50 percent of the nation’s fruits and vegetables, relies on a water system that depends precariously on storage of water in a gradually diminishing snowpack.
Currently, the state has no working storage alternative that would adequately compensate for declines in the snowpack. One approach is to build more dams and raise the heights of existing dams, but there is a consensus that the problem cannot be solved solely by augmenting surface storage.
Subsurface storage is a tantalizing alternative and could be vastly increased if certain technical hurdles and limitations in our knowledge of the underworld could be addressed.
Read more of this commentary from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.
Specter of water rationing emerges for Inland Empire providers
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 28, 2008 at 9:05 amFrom Riverside’s Press-Enterprise:
Riverside County Supervisor Marion Ashley remembers the extreme drought conditions of nearly two decades ago.
In 1991, before low-flow toilets became the norm, Ashley and many others put bricks in their toilet tanks to reduce the amount of water used in flushing. In the shower, they turned off the water to soap up, then back on for a rinse. Some of his friends caught the overflow in buckets to use later.
Ashley gave up watering the yard of his Perris home, letting plants and bushes wither and die. “It worried me all the time,” said Ashley, who sees similar measures fast approaching as the state enters what could be a third dry winter.
Even if this year brings average rain and snowfall, the drought won’t be over. Climatologists say it will take a very wet year or several average years in a row to bring California back to even.
Read more from the Press-Enterprise by clicking here.
San Diego cuts funds to storm water watchdog unit
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 28, 2008 at 9:01 amFrom San Diego Union-Tribune:
San Diego’s budget crunch not only has endangered libraries and recreation centers, it also has forced major cuts to the department responsible for curbing runoff that fouls bays and beaches.
The Storm Water Department sponsors one of the highest-profile environmental campaigns in the region – Think Blue – and is responsible for complying with state and federal water pollution rules that are backed by hefty penalties.
Budget reductions approved by the City Council on Monday slashed $5.7 million of the department’s $48.8 million budget this fiscal year – one of the largest cuts among all city departments in terms of dollar amount.
The result will be fewer inspections at industrial sites, slower responses to complaint calls, fewer repairs to storm drains and less advertising to remind residents about preventing pollution. “We have to scale back the program as a whole,” said Jennifer Nichols Kearns, a department spokeswoman. “It means less public exposure to our messages.”
Read the rest of this article from the San Diego Union-Tribune by clicking here.
EPA, Interior Dept. chiefs will be busy erasing Bush’s mark
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 28, 2008 at 8:57 amFrom the Washington Post:
Few federal agencies are expected to undergo as radical a transformation under President-elect Barack Obama as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior Department, which have been at the epicenter of many of the Bush administration’s most intense scientific and environmental controversies.
The agencies have different mandates — the EPA holds sway over air and water pollution, while Interior administers the nation’s vast federal land holdings as well as the Endangered Species Act — but both deal with some of the country’s most pressing environmental concerns, such as climate change. And over the past eight years, many career employees and rank-and-file scientists have clashed with Bush appointees over a number of those of issues, including whether the federal government should allow California to regulate tailpipe emissions from automobiles and how best to prevent imperiled species from disappearing altogether.
In June 2007, Obama told reporters in Reno, Nev., that he would not hesitate to reverse many of the environmental policies Bush has enacted by executive order.
“I think the slow chipping away against clean air and clean water has been deeply disturbing,” Obama added. “Much of it hasn’t gone through Congress. It was done by fiat. That is something that can be changed by an administration, in part by reinvigorating the EPA, which has been demoralized.”
Read more from the Washington Post by clicking here.
The mysterious lost ship of the Mojave
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 28, 2008 at 8:52 amFrom Enviromental Graffitti:
Intrepid explorer Charley Clusker treks across a desolate landscape, never taking his eyes off the horizon should he loose track of his precious path. Parched and dry from the desert winds and scorching sun, the emergence of a tall ship would ordinarily seem nothing more than a mirage, but Clusker knows that this strange, hazy vision before him is no trick off the mind. Senses in check he heads towards the marooned vessel, with increasing vigor on every step. He has found exactly what he was looking for – the mythical Lost Ship of the Mojave.
Legends say that deep in California’s Salton Sea Basin lies an ancient tall ship filled with pearls and other goodies that would make a pirate’s Christmas. And, although there are a number of theories, no one knows for sure where the ship came from or how it got there.
The first story dates back to the early 1600s when King Phillip of Spain sent a fleet to the western coast of Mexico to dive for pearls, which at the time could fetch a pretty penny. The group didn’t find as many pearls as they thought they would, so when they came across a Native American village that had baskets of the round beauties just lying around they offered lush European garments in exchange for scores of pearls.
When it came to the trade, however, the Spanish duped the Native Americans and swapped the pearls for rags instead. Outraged, the tribe attacked the ship as it tried to set sail, wounding the captain who ordered the two other ships in the fleet to continue looking for pearls in the Gulf of California. Here it’s thought one of the ships struck a reef and was sunk, but before it was completely submerged the crew ferried all the treasures to the one remaining ship. It carried on up the Colorado River and into the Salton Sea where it met its demise.
Read more from Enviromental Graffitti by clicking here.
Safe and sufficient water: a presidential to-do list
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 28, 2008 at 8:48 amFrom the Switchboard from the NRDC:
As many of my colleagues are describing today, NRDC and a host of partner groups in the environmental, conservation, and public health community have created a document, called “Transition to Green,” which lays out a detailed set of policies that we hope President-Elect Obama will implement. Along with a bunch of other water wonks, I worked on the sections of the document that focus on the Environmental Protection Agency’s and Army Corps of Engineers’ water portfolios.
Pulling together clean water policy recommendations for a new administration was a daunting experience. Our ideas were too numerous, both because President Bush has presided over the most anti-environmental administration since the adoption of our landmark environmental laws in the 1970s, and because the Nation needs to implement many new initiatives to fulfill the original purpose of the Clean Water Act and to ensure safe and sufficient water for a variety of purposes. There’s much to fix, and much to create.
This is no “wish list” — it is not nearly everything that could be done to repair the damage of the last eight years or everything that should be done to prepare for the years to come. Rather, it represents a determined effort to identify a cohesive set of policies that the new administration should prioritize to demonstrate a real commitment to clean water.
Read more from the Switchboard by clicking here.
Dreaming of a wet winter at Lake Tahoe
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 28, 2008 at 8:44 amFrom the Tahoe Bonanza:
With Lake Tahoe’s water level nearing the natural rim, water authorities are hoping for record-breaking precipitation to bring the water level up. “We really desperately need a big winter and a big snowpack to bring Lake Tahoe back up again,” said Federal Water Master Garry Stone.
When the water in Lake Tahoe nears the natural rim, which is 6223 feet, water flows less quickly into the Truckee River.
As of Wednesday night the lake measured at 6223.25. Normally there are about 250 cubic feet per second running into the Truckee. Right now the rate is about 12 cubic feet per second, Stone said. If the lake level drops below the natural rim no more water will flow into the Truckee.
“We can’t get any more water out of it,” Stone said. “It’s like a bathtub, we do not have the ability to release water through the natural rim.”
Read more from the Tahoe Bonanza by clicking here.
Farmers hope for wetter winter
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 28, 2008 at 8:41 amFrom Reno Gazette Journal:
Despite ending the irrigation season with more water in the Lahontan Reservoir than expected, Lahontan Valley farmers may face another year of water shortages, according to Ernie Schank, president of the board of directors of the Truckee Carson Irrigation District.
AdvertisementTCID officials initially estimated a final storage of 4,000 acre-feet in Lahontan, but the amount of water in storage by the end of the season totaled about 12,000 acre-feet, Schank said. “Whether the diversions came up or people used less than they thought they would, I don’t know.” As of Tuesday, the reservoir held 22,000 acre-feet, he added.
“If we don’t have at least an average snow year in the Sierra we are surely looking at another shortage,” Schank said. In the past 30 years, the average April to July runoff from the Carson River at Fort Churchill is 178,000 acre-feet. But that has fallen short the past two years. Two years ago, the Carson River supplied less than 50,000 acre-feet and last year it was at only about 80,000 acre-feet, according to Schank.
“Technically, other than in 2006, we’ve been in quite a drought cycle,” Schank said. The irrigation district has managed its resources well enough during the past few years because of the ability to divert several years of storage from Lake Tahoe and the Truckee River, he said. But this year the watershed has become depleted.
Read more from the Reno Gazette Journal by clicking here.
Water Summit works through cutback woes: Growers must decide between lower deliveries, discounts
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 28, 2008 at 8:37 amFrom Capital Press:
Water is getting harder to come by in San Diego County, and growers are struggling to find answers on how to cope. The problem has been created by drought, court orders, new environmental regulations and water supply decisions. “This water situation isn’t short-term,” said Ken Roth, chairman of the California Avocado Commission’s Southern California Agricultural Water Team. “We will have to work with this situation for a while.”
San Diego County agriculture is among the most water-intensive in the nation. High-value nursery crops - citrus and avocados - require large water allotments. Most irrigating water comes from Northern California via canals.
San Diego growers had been getting up to 30 percent discounts from the regional Metropolitan Water District of Southern California that distributes water to SoCal water districts. The flip side of that program was a pledge by growers to take cuts of up to 40 percent of their water allotment should the resource become scarce.
Nearly three years of drought and small snowpacks have pulled water out of the system for farmers and city dwellers alike, felt all the more harshly in San Diego with its dry conditions and urban population. A federal judge’s recent ruling in favor of the endangered delta smelt also affects supplies.
“We can’t underestimate the impact of the drought the last few years; that represented about two-thirds of the impact and the judge’s ruling affecting the other third,” said Michael Hurley, principal water resources manager at Malcolm Pirnie Environmental Inc.
Read more from the Capital Press by clicking here.
High court water law case misses its master
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 28, 2008 at 8:33 amFrom Law.com:
In December 1985, Kansas filed a complaint against Colorado before the Supreme Court over what it viewed as unfair diversion of water from the Arkansas River. Colorado denied the charges and made some allegations of its own against Kansas, continuing a feud between the two states over the river that dates back to 1902.
Today — 23 years after the latest case was filed — the attorneys general of both states will argue before the Supreme Court in what is likely the final chapter of the dispute. It is the first time in recent memory that two state attorneys general will argue against each other before the Supreme Court.
But missing in the courtroom will be Arthur Littleworth, who has been the Court’s special master in the case since 1987. A leading water law expert in the California firm Best Best & Krieger Littleworth had a stroke earlier this year and can’t attend. “My recovery is slow but steady,” the 85-year-old Littleworth tells Legal Times in an e-mail.
“We’ll miss him,” says John Draper of Montgomery & Andrews in Santa Fe, N.M., who has represented Kansas in the litigation. “Even when we didn’t agree with his results, all the parties have been very impressed with him.”
Read more from Law.com by clicking here.
Stop handing Delta water rules to activists, says editorial
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 27, 2008 at 10:48 amFrom the San Diego Union-Tribune, this editorial, which begins by reviewing the restrictions placed on Delta water exports due to the Delta smelt and now the longfin smelt:
… the impact on smelt of the restrictions so far? Zero. In the last five years, eight smelt were caught in the pumps. The regulations have saved none. Others suspect other culprits in the smelt’s decline, such as pollutants, invasive species and drought.
Only the pumps, however, offer the huge, adverse impacts on the water supply for 25 million residents.
Just how adverse is that impact? Between increasingly onerous smelt rules and continuing drought, the state Department of Water Resources projects that in 2009 wholesale water agencies may get as little as 15 percent of the water they need. Even record snowmelt in the Rockies won’t help, since the State Water Project can’t deliver it.
What would help? A new official attitude that comes right out of a state Supreme Court ruling and recognizes, as Director Don Koch of the Department of Fish and Game put it, “the importance of various agencies’ responsibilities to protect both humans and fish.”
Also at work is the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, a move to address all possible hazards to Delta wildlife’s overall health, including a system to convey water for people around instead of through the Delta. A sizable coalition led by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and water and wildlife agencies will run up against the activists and their strident opposition to the dual duty for the Delta.
At least 25 million Californians north and south have all the reason they need to encourage the success of the coalition’s efforts.
Read the full text of this editorial from the San Diego Union-Tribune by clicking here.
Pass law to cut delta water use, Delta Vision Task Force says
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 27, 2008 at 10:39 amFrom the San Francisco Chronicle:
Over the next two years, California should pass laws cutting water consumption by 20 percent, shore up strategic levees, study new reservoirs and pass Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s $9 billion-plus water bond, according to a set of preliminary recommendations released Wednesday by a Cabinet-level panel.
The Delta Vision Committee, charged with advising policy makers on the future of the failing Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, said the proposals are aimed at spurring discussions among committee members and stakeholders who will gather Dec. 5 in Sacramento.
In addition to authorizing additional funding and bolstering infrastructure, the committee proposed designating the delta a National Heritage Area, increasing the state’s supply of recycled and desalinated water and cracking down on water permits violators. Water rights permits ostensibly set the amount of water that may be diverted from any water source.
Interactive map: water use per capita in California
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 27, 2008 at 9:42 amThanks to David Coffin over at Westchester Kids for sending me this link! From the Sacramento Bee, take the link to view an interactive map of California showing per capita use by county.
Multi-tasking canola: California’s miracle crop?
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 27, 2008 at 9:38 amFrom the San Jose Mercury News:
A hardy but pedestrian plant is doing triple duty in California’s agricultural heartland, absorbing a salt that once deformed waterfowl by the millions, creating clean-burning biofuel and nourishing cattle with the leftovers.
Crop-crippling selenium in soil and groundwater makes the arid west side of the San Joaquin Valley a challenge for farmers, whose diesel tractors have been blamed for helping cause the worst air quality in the nation.
But farmers, water managers and agriculture researchers are closely watching an experiment using canola plants to absorb the salt from soil and water. The seeds are then crushed to extract oil for blending into environmentally friendly biodiesel.
If that were the end of the story, it would be just another case of farmers turning food into fuel. Yet at John Diener’s Red Rock Ranch in this town 60 miles southwest of Fresno, the selenium-rich canola byproduct has an even higher calling: cattle feed naturally infused with an essential micro-nutrient.
In a trial, Diener’s canola meal was fed to dairy cows on the east side of the Valley, where selenium does not occur naturally and has to be added to food rations.
“It’s all part of what we have to try to do here to turn a profit,” said Diener, who also grows almonds, tomatoes, grapes and corn on 5,000 acres. “The controversy of the day is taking ground for food crops and using it to make energy. This is taking ground that isn’t good for anything right now.”
Read more from the San Jose Mercury News by clicking here.
Rainfall sets records in Los Angeles
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 27, 2008 at 9:33 amFrom the Los Angeles Times:
The first significant storm of the season was moving out of Southern California on Wednesday night after dumping record amounts of rain in some areas but causing little further damage in the hillside areas denuded earlier this month by wildfires.
Flash flood warnings for some areas remained in effect throughout much of the day, however.
Cloudy skies — and a 30% chance of showers this morning — were forecast for the Thanksgiving holiday, and the National Weather Service was predicting mostly sunshine for Friday.
The Pacific storm that rolled into the area Tuesday, prompting officials to issue mudslide warnings in the burn areas, caused power outages and traffic accidents and further snarled roadways already jammed with early holiday drivers.
Read more from the Los Angeles Times by clicking here.
The (tuna) tragedy of the commons
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 27, 2008 at 9:29 amFrom the New York Times DOT Earth blog:
There was new evidence early this week that the world has not yet absorbed just how deeply humans have depleted our “exhausted oceans.” At the latest meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, created under a treaty 42 years ago to manage shared fisheries in that ocean, European governments ignored a strong recommendation from the group’s own scientific advisers for deep cuts in some harvests of the Atlantic bluefin tuna. On its face, that would seem to be a strange development considering that the organization’s Web site says flatly: “Science underpins the management decisions made by I.C.C.A.T.”
But such moves seem unremarkable, for now, in a world seeking to manage limited, shared natural resources while also spurring economic growth — whether the resource is the global atmosphere or an extraordinary half-ton, ocean-roaming predator. The European stance — insisting on a harvest in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean 50 percent above the limit recommended by scientists — was sharply criticized by environmental campaigners, marine biologists and United States fisheries officials. Some biologists criticized the United States, as well, for playing down the role of American fishers, both recreational and commercial, in destroying the once-bountiful fishery.
Read more from the New York Times DOT Earth blog by clicking here.
Long Beach study contemplates desalination test on beach
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 27, 2008 at 8:23 amFrom Long Beach Gazette:
A study has begun to see whether it makes sense to place a test desalination plant on the beach below the Long Beach Museum of Art.
Last Thursday, the Water Commission voted 4-1 to contract with CH2M Hill for the preliminary study and fatal flaw analysis reviewing the possibility of placing a prototype plant on the beach and connecting it to the existing under-ocean floor seawater intake and discharge system. That system was installed at the beginning of the year, and so far has proven effective.
Water Department General Manager Kevin Wattier stressed that only a study had been approved last Thursday. That study will have to address potential problems ranging from how to get power to the plant to community opinion to the ability to get permits from government agencies, he said.
But even the concept has drawn opposition. “Were you here when they were installing the intake system?” asked Ron Nelson, executive director of the Long Beach Museum of Art. “It was horrendous. You couldn’t eat lunch outside. We lost a ton of revenue during that period.
Read more from the Long Beach Gazette by clicking here.
Study examines separating Great Lakes, Mississippi basin
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 27, 2008 at 8:13 amFrom E-Water News Weekly:
Waterways engineered more than a century ago to connect the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds should be altered to stop the exchange of invasive species that can cause irreversible damage, an environmental advocacy group says.
A 106-page feasibility study to be released by the Alliance for the Great Lakes says separating the watersheds is the only way to stop the transfer of some invasive species — including the voracious Asian carp that is within 50 miles of Lake Michigan.
“If you want to protect the Great Lakes, this is what you have to do. Invaders like Asian carp are unpredictable, but their effects are catastrophic and irreversible,” said Joel Brammeier, Alliance president and lead author of the study. “You’ve got to remove their pathway.”
The Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds aren’t connected naturally. Over a century ago engineers linked them through a complex network of manmade canals and natural rivers to reverse the flow of the Chicago River and keep waste from Lake Michigan, which Chicago uses for drinking water.
Possible changes include erecting concrete walls and constructing more shipping locks in up to six areas, according to the study. It does not make explicit recommendations, but calls on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency to conduct further study.
Read more from e-Water News Weekly by clicking here.
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