Energy Dept. boosts clean up of uranium tailings near Colorado River
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 11:29 amFrom the San Francisco Chronicle:
The U.S. Energy Department has allocated $108 million in economic stimulus aid for removing the 16 million ton radioactive tailings pile on the Colorado River near Moab, Utah.
Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, said Tuesday the funding commitment shows that the Energy Department is trying to meet a 2019 cleanup deadline. As recently as February, the department maintained the cleanup would not be finished before 2028, he said.
The money will help remove an extra 2 million tons of tailings by 2011 — the end of the current five-year removal contract. That will be accomplished by adding more rail cars and more rail shipments from the former Atlas Mineral Corp. site near Moab to a disposal site about 30 miles away.
Shipments are set to begin in April.
The waste is part of a Cold War legacy in Moab, where rich uranium deposits were mined during the 1950s for nuclear weapons. The Atlas Minerals Corp. bought the mill in 1962. It closed in 1984 but left behind the heap of tailings on the banks of the Colorado River.
Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle by clicking here.
Yanks raid Aussie water market
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 11:28 amFrom the Australian Weekly Times Now:
A major US-backed company is scooping up irrigators’ entitlements as part of a $500 million global water-purchasing strategy.
California-based Summit Global Management has so far bought about $20 million of Australian irrigators’ water through its local interests. Summit Global’s chief marketing officer Matt Dickerson said “there were few areas where we can execute our strategy, but Australia is one of them. There’s a need for liquidity in the market and we’re in a position to monetise these assets and act as a water bank as well.”
However, the US-backed company will have to compete with the Federal Government for high-reliability water entitlements in an already thin market.
Mr Dickerson said Summit was aware of the Federal Government’s water-purchasing program for the environment. “But our intention is to lease it (water) back to farmers,” he said. “We’re trying to be partners with farmers.”
Read more from Weekly Times Now by clicking here.
UC irrigation specialist Goldhamer says less water makes more cents to farmers
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 11:25 amFrom the Amador Ledger Dispatch:
When University of California Cooperative Extension irrigation specialist David Goldhamer began toying with the concept of deficit irrigation in the early 1980s, even he never imagined the potential.
Traditionally in irrigated agriculture, farmers want to give crops all the water they can drink. Goldhamer’s three decades of research has shown that knowing when to withhold water from tree crops and when to quench the crops’ thirst are powerful tools for dealing with drought, plant disease and fruit quality.
Goldhamer’s focus on deficit irrigation continues uninterrupted even as California experiences ebbs and flows in annual rain and snow. Public interest slows when water is abundant, but since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared the state in a drought emergency in February, it is again rising to a crescendo.
Goldhamer’s office at the UC Kearney Research and Extension Center near Parlier has all the trappings of a long career in scientific research. The walls are concealed by bookshelves overloaded with irrigation literature. Mementos, conference proceedings, research papers and reference books share space with an old box of Corn Flakes, dusty cans of tuna and aseptic fruit cups, remnants of a short-lived effort to eat healthier. A half-full container of Tootsie Rolls sits on the desk. “I can’t remember how or why they arrived,” he said.
But there is definite purpose behind a model of the Wright Brothers’ airplane that sits next to two oversized Apple computer monitors. “The Wright Brothers’ first airplane flight was in 1903. In 1969, astronauts landed on the moon,” he said. “In just 66 years – six and a half decades – science advanced that much. It gives me motivation to do my work.”
Goldhamer knows he could never hope to make such rapid progress in irrigation science, if for no other reason than the lack of the copious research funding made available to the U.S. space program. But agricultural science made a significant leap when Goldhamer began conducting deficit irrigation research projects with UC Cooperative Extension farm advisors early in his career.
Read more from the Amador Ledger Dispatch by clicking here.
Blue Gold: Have the next resource wars begun? Article covers transboundary water issues, including the All-American Canal
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 11:22 amHere’s an article written by AlterNet’s Tara Lohan, posted over at The Nation, which covers some transboundary water issues. This is an excerpt on the section regarding the U. S. and Mexico, specifically the Colorado River and the All-American Canal:
Most people in the United States have the luxury of not worrying about the right to water–it simply comes out of their tap, and it is clean and plentiful. The idea of a “water war” would likely conjure places like the Middle East or Africa. But in the last few years there has been some real tension between the United States and Mexico.
The source of strife is the long-arbitrated Colorado River, which flows 1,450 miles, and whose watershed spreads across seven US states before dipping into Mexico and exiting at the Gulf of California. Just about every drop of it is allocated (and overallocated). Its water serves over 30 million people and 2 million acres of farmland, and via canals and aqueducts, it helps to quench thirsty cities like Las Vegas, Phoenix and Los Angeles.
Under the Mexican Water Treaty of 1944 the United States agreed to ensure its southern neighbor 1.5 million acre-feet of water a year. However, for many decades those south of the border often got more than the treaty allotment if the flow on the river exceeded the water farmers could use. Mexico and the river ecosystem came to greatly appreciate that water, as well as goundwater that was replenished from water seepage draining from the All-American Canal–an eighty-two-mile ditch that runs just north of the border and diverts water from the Colorado River across the desert of Southern California to feed farms in the Imperial Valley.
But nearly a decade of drought in the Southwest has prompted Colorado River states to find ways to squeeze more water out of the river. They devised a plan to line twenty-three miles of the All-American Canal with concrete to prevent water seepage and also to build a reservoir just north of the border to catch those “excess” flows.
Read the full text of this article from The Nation by clicking here.
Could California be facing a dust bowl?
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 11:17 amFrom Dairy Herd Management:
Farmers in drought-stricken areas of California opting not to plant crops this year are being advised to leave their fields in “roughed up” condition to prevent soil loss due to wind erosion.
Large portions of the state are currently classified by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska as experiencing severe or extreme drought. The potential for soil loss due to wind erosion in these areas could be as great as 250 tons per acre a year. Loss of irrigation water could result in vast acreages of farmland being taken out of production, resulting in many acres of bare soil.
Abandoned, bare fields are subject to severe wind erosion, according to Rita Bickel, an agronomist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Davis, Calif. “Fields continually subjected to erosion may result in land that is incapable of returning to cropping or vegetative systems at a later date,” she says.
Bickel says not only could vast amounts of precious topsoil be lost, but air quality will be impacted as well, with blowing soil-impairing vision on roads and highways. She advises farmers to take steps now to create surface-roughing, such as building furrows or ridges. These will absorb and deflect part of the wind energy and trap drifting soil particles.
Read more from Dairy Herd Management by clicking here.
Inyo County locals react to wilderness bill passage
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 9:54 amFrom the Inyo Register:
Eastern Sierra residents on both sides of the issue are speaking out about the controversial Eastern Sierra Wild Heritage Act now that the House and Senate have approved the bill and sent it on its way to President Barack Obama for a final seal of approval.
Throughout its many revisions, residents here in the Sierra have had diverse opinions on the merits and flaws in the bill, as have state and federal leaders.
It’s easy to be city-folk and applaud the passage of distant, remote lands becoming protected, but this article from the newspaper serving the small communities of the Eastern Sierra covers the opinions of those who will be most affected by it. While some, such as the CEO of Mammoth Mountain and Tim Alpers, applauded the passage, others had a different opinion:
Many in Inyo County, however, have denounced the bill on the grounds that much of the local land included in the legislation does not meet the mandates set forth in the 1964 Wilderness Act for wild land.
The Inyo County Board of Supervisors, the non-profit group Advocates for Access to Public Lands (AAPL) and hundreds of residents have openly expressed opposition to the bill. Some opponents have said the wilderness designation would push mining and prospecting out of the community, others have claimed that Inyo’s economic life-source lies in recreation and motorized travel that will be outlawed with the wilderness and still more say that California has more than enough protected land with 14 million acres of wilderness, second only to Alaska.
In addition to the Board of Supervisors and AAPL, the Eastern Sierra Four-Wheel Drive Club, the Blue Ribbon Coalition, The California Association of Four-Wheel Drive Clubs and Eastern Sierra Quail Unlimited have been vocal in their opposition of the bill.
More local reaction from the Inyo Register by clicking here.
Dan Bacher commentary: Schwarzenegger tries to link wilderness bill to building peripheral canal
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 9:47 amFrom Dan Bacher, this commentary:
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, in yet one more sickening attempt to portray himself as the “Green Governor” while continuing his unprecedented war on fish and the environment, praised President Obama’s signing of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act while incongruously linking it to an environmentally destructive peripheral canal proposal.
It shows how the Governor can give even a good bill, one that provides funds for San Joaquin River salmon and steelhead restoration and grants wild and scenic status to more California rivers, a toxic green taint!
“Preserving and restoring California’s wilderness and waterways has been a top priority of my Administration and I am pleased that our environmental goals will be furthered by many aspects of this bill, specifically the San Joaquin River Restoration Act,” claimed Schwarzenegger. “This bill preserves 700,000-plus acres of California’s pristine wilderness and also provides additional funding to supplement the millions of dollars California has already invested to restore the San Joaquin River – helping rejuvenate a critical fishery, restore a devastated habitat and improve a water-delivery network that is the lifeblood of a Central Valley farming economy all Californians depend on.”
The operative phrase is “improve a water delivery network.” When Schwarzenegger talks about “improving” water delivery, that means building a peripheral canal and more dams, a goal that he shares with Senator Dianne Feinstein and the Nature Conservancy in their Unholy Alliance to destroy the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas.
Protecting California’s marine ecosystems: We must act now to reverse the harm on our oceans caused by global warming, overfishing and too much coastal development, says an author of the Marine Life Protection Act
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 8:58 amFrom the Los Angeles Times, this commentary by former Assemblyman Fred Keeley:
As an author of the California Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA), I was disappointed to read recreational fisherman Dick Giuliani’s March 25 opinion piece, in which he argued that the fishing reserves proposed under the act would be disastrous for the state. I’d like to clear up a number of misconceptions and share why I believe the process of selecting marine protection areas as outlined by the MLPA is critical to our future.
The MLPA, which was adopted in 1999, calls for a coherent network of marine protected areas in California waters to preserve the state’s marine ecosystems and natural heritage. This network of protected areas will improve recreational, educational and study opportunities provided by the vibrant marine ecosystems. The MLPA will effectively create underwater parks much in the same way we protect above-ground treasures like Yosemite and Big Sur: The marine protected areas will not be completely off-limits to people, and they are not designed to stop fishing, both commercial and recreational.
Since leaving the Assembly in 2002, I have kept a watchful eye on the MLPA in action and believe that it is being carried out as an inclusive, collaborative process based on the best available science. The groups charged with designating the marine protected areas under the MLPA consist of a broad variety of interests, including small-business owners dependent on tourism, commercial and recreational fishermen, conservation groups and scientists. Additionally, there is ample time during the MLPA process for members of the public to observe it in person or via Webcast and add their voices to the public record. The process of establishing marine protected areas for the health and vitality of California fisheries has included very thoughtful and sometimes spirited debate. It involves reasonable compromises following many detailed discussions.
Read the rest of this commentary by clicking here.
‘Kangaroo-Court’ hearing a one-sided view of California drought; Regulations making water shortage worse
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 8:54 amThis just in … from the National Center for Public Policy Research, this rather opinionated press release:
The U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources is holding a one-sided hearing this morning on the California drought that is expected to blame climate change for a critical water shortage while glossing over the role of activist-inspired environmental policies in exacerbating the shortage, according to The National Center for Public Policy Research.
The hearing, entitled “The California Drought: Actions by Federal and State Agencies to Address Impacts on Lands, Fisheries, and Water Users,” will be held today, March 31, at 10:30 am in Room 1324, Longworth House Office Building.
Only representatives of government agencies will be permitted to testify at the hearing. Most of the witnesses will be from federal agencies.
To draw attention to the biased nature of the proceedings, The National Center for Public Policy Research will send a representative to the hearing best suited for a kangaroo court – a kangaroo.
“At the height of a California drought and during a serious recession with massive unemployment in California’s Central Valley, one would hope that the committee cared enough about agricultural workers and minorities to invite as witnesses actual unemployed farm workers from the scores of communities closing down,” remarked R.J. Smith, a Senior Fellow at The National Center for Public Policy Research. “Let’s have an open Committee hearing and hear real people discussing the impacts on their lives from government regulations and their massive job losses – instead of more government bureaucrats who are only causing the problem.”
Read more from the National Center for Public Policy Research by clicking here.
Delay sought for hearings on pumping water from Snake Valley to Las Vegas
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 8:50 amFrom the Las Vegas Sun:
The Southern Nevada Water Authority sent a letter Monday afternoon to the State Engineer asking that hearings on the Water Authority’s right to pump water from Snake Valley be postponed a year.
The hearings were supposed to begin Sept. 29 and last through much of the month of October. They were expected to be contentious, with fierce opposition from farmers, ranchers and conservationists from affected Nevada and Utah counties.
The Water Authority has asked to pump more than 50,000 acre feet — about 16 billion gallons — of water a year from the valley that lies about 250 miles north of Las Vegas in Nevada and across the Utah border.
The agency already has received permission from the state engineer’s office to pump 40,000 acre feet from Spring Valley and 18,755 acre feet from Cave, Dry Lake and Delamar valleys to provide Las Vegas water that the Authority says may be needed in the event of a prolonged drought. An acre foot of water is equivalent to 325,851 gallons.
The Water Authority would like to postpone the Snake Valley hearings because it will not be able to complete in time a computer model that shows the impact of the water removal, Deputy General Manager Kay Brothers said in the letter sent Monday.
Read more from the Las Vegas Sun by clicking here.
Related story: Las Vegas Citylife blog says, “Look who else is against the water grab: An
Clean dishes vs. reduced water pollution
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 8:43 amFrom the Christian Science Monitor’s Bright Green Blog:
If you had a choice between eating off dirty dishes or helping protect area waterways, which would you choose? In Spokane, Wash., where a state ban on phosphates in dishwasher detergent is being phased in, some residents are deciding in favor of squeaky-clean plates and glasses.
It turns out that phosphate-free dishwasher detergent — mandated by Washington State lawmakers for 2010 and beyond, and also coming to Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Michigan, Vermont, Minnesota, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York — doesn’t do a great job at cleaning dishes. Or, at least, the ones currently on the market don’t.
So, complaining of greasy plates and pans with bits of food still stuck to them, a number of Spokanites are heading for Idaho (about 20 miles away) to smuggle home detergent that will do a better job.
The ban — which Congress is considering making national — is to protect rivers and lakes, where phosphates contribute to the growth of algae, which depletes oxygen needed by fish.
Read more from the Bright Green Blog by clicking here.
ACWA adopts principles on conservation, water use efficiency; Board OKs strong statement in support of 20% statewide goal by 2020
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 8:38 amFrom the Association of California Water Agencies, this press release:
The Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) has formally adopted policy principles supporting the goal of reducing per capita water use by 20% statewide by 2020 and committing the association to aggressively support water conservation and water use efficiency as part of a comprehensive solution to the state’s water challenges.
The principles, adopted March 27 by ACWA’s Board of Directors, express strong support for achieving the 20% aggregate reduction in water use statewide in a manner that recognizes local conditions. The conservation and water use efficiency principles give urban and agricultural water agencies flexibility to implement programs that work for their service areas.
The principles are intended to expand on ACWA’s 2005 water policy document, “No Time to Waste: A Blueprint for California Water,” and guide the association as it considers legislative and regulatory proposals on conservation.
“With these principles, we are significantly raising the bar on conservation as an industry,”
ACWA Executive Director Timothy Quinn said. “We are making a strong statement in support of achieving real reductions in water use statewide. We want to own the goal, but ensure local flexibility to get there. We are committed to working with the Legislature, state agencies and other stakeholders to create a policy framework and sound technical foundation to do that.”
The principles state ACWA’s support for measuring, reporting and monitoring water use statewide as a way of providing accountability and transparency toward meeting conservation goals. They also state ACWA’s support for the use of volumetric pricing wherever appropriate for urban and agricultural water supplies to encourage conservation and efficiency.
The ACWA Board also adopted a formal policy statement on proposals related to Delta Vision. The statement expresses support for the physical solutions laid out by the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force and the cabinet-level Delta Vision Committee and commits ACWA to work cooperatively to develop an effective governance approach to the Delta.
ACWA is a statewide association of public agencies whose 440 members are responsible for about 90% of the water delivered in California. For more information, contact ACWA at 916.441.4545 or visit www.acwa.com.
Snowpack water content level remains well below normal
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 8:30 amFrom MyMotherLode.com:
While the official April measurements will not be taken until Thursday, the Department of Water Resources already knows the snowpack water content level will remain well below average for March.
According to Ted Thomas from the D.W.R. as of today the electronic sensors have measured the northern Sierra Nevada at 88 percent of normal, the central at 82 percent and the southern at 79 percent. Overall California stands at 83 percent of normal for this time of the year.
More of this brief story from MyMotherLode.com by clicking here.
In spite of statewide drought, NID says their snowpack is at 95% and declares 2009 a surplus year
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 8:28 amFrom YubaNet.com:
GRASS VALLEY, CA: While neighboring water districts like El Dorado Irrigation District (EID) are asking their customers to reduce water consumption on a voluntary basis, NID recently announced the availability of surplus water for sale to out-of-district entities like South Sutter Water District.
Last week (Mar. 25), NID’s directors declared 2009 will be a surplus year for the northern California water district. This means that NID will also be selling district water to exclusion areas – or “islands” as they are commonly identified – which lie inside NID’s boundaries but have never been formally annexed.
According to Operations Manager Don Wight, NID has limited sales to these exclusion areas in past years. Yet based on projected district water demands, carryover storage, and weather forecasts, the district feels comfortable this year in selling water outside its own customer base.
But Wight noted there must be water available for purchase from PG&E for NID to sell surplus water to South Sutter. “Typically there’s 20,000 acre feet available from PG&E,” Wight told NID’s board, adding that the public utility says there is roughly around 15,000 acre feet available this year for purchase.
More on this story from YubaNet.com by clicking here.
Things are looking for the Nevada Irrigation District; they say they’ve got a great snowpack in this related story from YubaNet.com:
The mountain snowpack is holding 95 percent of average water content for this time of year, the Nevada Irrigation District reported on Monday (Mar. 30).
The near average levels follow a winter that began on the dry side but turned around with wet and snowy conditions in February and March, said NID Operations Supervisor Sue Sindt. “We have adequate snowpack and reservoir storage and we will be making full deliveries of water to all of our customers this year,” Sindt said. “It is still too early to predict if all of our reservoirs will fill.”
In the annual April 1 snow survey, a key indicator of water availability for the coming year, NID snow surveyors found an average water content of 32.2 inches, which equals 95 percent of the 33.9-inch historic average.
Read more of this story from YubaNet.com by clicking here.
Editorial: Congress should fund Bay Area water recycling
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 8:20 amFrom the Contra Costa Times, this editorial:
There are few issues on California’s political landscape that spark more fractious debates than the politics of water. That is why it is especially gratifying to see officials throughout the Bay Area working in collaboration on the issue of recycled water. Water recycling is a smart and effective way to protect our environment, maintain the integrity of existing municipal water supplies and efficiently use natural resources.
We should not flush wastewater into rivers, bays, estuaries and the ocean if it can be treated and used again for other purposes such as irrigating parks and golf courses.
That is the philosophy behind six Bay Area water recycling projects that were authorized by President George W. Bush last May. This authorization came about through the diligent and collaborative efforts of members of Congress from across the Bay Area.
Rather than fighting each other for federal money exclusively for their districts, the members worked together and have completed their task by obtaining federal money for recycled projects in Pittsburg, Antioch, Redwood City, Palo Alto and San Jose.
Read more of this editorial from the Contra Costa Times by clicking here.
Editorial: Natomas delay? No, it’s too risky
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 8:17 amFrom the Sacramento Bee, this editorial:
Over the next four years, no public safety project in Sacramento will be more crucial than shoring up Natomas’ levees.
If this project were to be further delayed, it would leave thousands of residents and businesses vulnerable to winter floods like the ones that are threatening North Dakota. It would also leave them with several extra years of a building moratorium and flood insurance requirements until the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency substantially completes its work.
Fortunately, there are several encouraging signs that SAFCA will be able to push ahead with this $618 million project, even with the logistical hurdles it confronts.
On the plus side, the state of California last week was able to sell $6.5 billion in infrastructure bonds in a mere two days. Treasurer Bill Lockyer was hoping to sell $4 billion in three days, but demand exceeded expectations. Because of that sale, the Natomas project is slated to receive an undetermined amount of bond proceeds, the Department of Finance confirmed Monday. It also increases the likelihood that the state will be able to sell future bonds and meet previous commitments to SAFCA.
Read more from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.
California American Water enacts voluntary water conservation measures for Sacramento and Placer County
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 8:15 amFrom Reuters News, this press release from the California American Water Company:
Due to the ongoing drought conditions in the state, California American Water has announced the implementation of a voluntary water conservation program aimed at reducing water usage for its Northern California operations. This program applies to customers within its Placer and Sacramento County service areas and encourages all consumers — residential, business and other classifications — to help reduce water use in the community by voluntarily ending non-essential or unauthorized water use. Customers are also being urged to take advantage of the company’s conservation programs and rebates on water saving appliances.
California American Water’s voluntary program is the first step in what could lead to mandatory water conservation measures if voluntary efforts are unsuccessful in stabilizing California’s water supply. The measures were deemed necessary as the state heads into the critical summer months of what
might be the most severe drought year in Californian recorded history, according to the Department of Water Resources.“Given the likelihood of yet another troubled water supply year, California American Water wants to help its customers reduce water use and understand the importance of wise water use practices,” said California American Water’s general manager, Steve Seidl. “Due to the critical state of the water supply in California, we are encouraging our customers to conserve right away, in advance of possible additional measures that may need to be implemented in the near future.”
The company issued the voluntary program in accordance with its Rule 14.1, which has been approved by the California Public Utilities Commission. The California Public Utilities Commission authorizes water utilities to implement a voluntary conservation program when the utility determines that water
supplies may be insufficient to meet customer demands.
Read more of this press release from Reuters News by clicking here.
Teamwork urged at Tulare County water meeting; Lawmaker offers advice on how growers can survive current crisis
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 8:11 amAn interesting read from the Fresno Bee this morning:
Farmers must learn to build coalitions, lobby politicians and pony up some cash if they are going to ensure a more stable water supply.
That was the message delivered Friday by several attendees of a meeting organized by Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia.
Nearly 100 people including farmers, business owners and local politicians gathered at the Tulare County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office to talk about the realities of the current water crisis.
And, not surprisingly, the news was not good. This article is packed with interesting tidbits, like this:
Tom Birmingham, Westlands’ general manager, urged local politicians — especially those who are Hispanic — to lean on Antonio Villaraigosa, the Los Angeles mayor and potential gubernatorial candidate. “At some point he needs to understand that if he expects support from the people of the Valley, he will have to listen to our issues,” Birmingham said.
Read more from the Fresno Bee by clicking here.
Water poised to steal spotlight in state politics
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 8:05 amFrom Santa Clarita’s hometown station KHTS:
During any mid-afternoon stroll through Santa Clarita in August it might appear that our beautiful little city is lush with green grass, impeccably landscaped back yards and trees in every direction.
However, the triple-digit temperatures reveal the truth about Santa Clarita; it, like most of Southern California, is a desert.
Of the water we drink, swim in, and irrigate our lawns with, about half is naturally occurring groundwater. The other half is imported from our water-rich neighbors in northern California.
We’ve seen the aqueduct just up the I-5 and 14 freeways, and that system is what physically transports the water from up there to down here. But further up the line, there’s a big problem, and it could send local water bills through the roof.
The Delta is an ecological system near Sacramento, from which much of southern California’s water is pumped. The system was put into use in the 1960’s, and since then it has slowly changed that ecological environment. Now, species are beginning to die out. A small fish called the Delta smelt has nearly vanished and several other animals are in sharp decline. The Winter-run Chinook Salmon population, for example, has taken a major hit due to man-made water storage and conveyance solutions.
Read more from KHTS by clicking here.
Lennar calls for water break: Castaic Lake Water Agency looks to control 90 percent of local water, developer stalls deal
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 7:41 amFrom the Santa Clarita Signal:
A bankruptcy deal prompted a cease-fire in a water war over Valencia Water Company’s 80,000 customers.
Castaic Lake Water Agency and Newhall County Water District are vying for Valencia Water Company’s customer base, said Steve Cole, Newhall County Water District general manager. However, Valencia Water Company may stay with its owner Newhall Land and Farming if a bankruptcy restructuring plan goes through, he said.
“Buying Valencia Water Company would give us 90 percent of the service connections in the Santa Clarita Valley,” said Dan Masnada, Castaic Lake Water Agency general manager.
“I don’t like monopolies and that’s what we’re headed for,” said Joan Dunn, a Newhall resident.
The Castaic Lake Water Agency is a water wholesaler, which sells state water to all SCV water retailers. The agency also operates local retailer Santa Clarita Water Division.
“We surround Valencia Water Company’s service area on three sides and with our focus on groundwater and preservation we are the best agency to manage Valencia Water Company,” said Marie Gutzeit, president of the Newhall County Water District board.
Read more from the Santa Clarita Signal by clicking here.
Acton ex-water directors get probation
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 6:47 amFrom the Los Angeles Daily News:
Two recalled directors of the Sierra Pelona Valley Water Co. have been sentenced to three years’ probation after pleading no contest to grand theft and conspiracy charges, prosecutors said Monday.
Manny Fernandez and Carey Lee Moisan each pleaded no contest to the criminal charges last September as their trial was getting under way, said Shiara Davila-Morales, a spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office.
Fernandez and Moisan were ordered to pay $81,584 in restitution and prohibited from ever again serving on a board of directors. By the March 20 sentencing, the restitution payment had already been made, Davila-Morales said.
Another former water company director, Dennis Richard Tomlinson, previously pleaded no contest to misdemeanor grand theft of property and was sentenced to three years’ probation and a $100 fine. Several other counts against him were dismissed.
Read more from the Los Angeles Daily News by clicking here.
San Bernardino County must come clean on groundwater pollution
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 6:45 amFrom the San Bernardino Sun, this commentary by Anthony Araiza, general manager of the West Valley Water District in Rialto:
We are unfortunately compelled to call public attention to the inaccurate information about San Bernardino County’s role in contaminating local groundwater provided to you a few days ago by the office of Supervisor Josie Gonzales.
In a point of view (”County is cleaning up perchlorate,” March 26), Supervisor Gonzales stated: “Before the county purchased property in north Rialto for the future expansion of the Mid-Valley Landfill, the county hired an expert to test the land for hazardous materials. Those tests did not find significant contamination in the soil.”
We strongly disagree with these statements. It is time for the County of San Bernardino, and its elected supervisors, to honestly and openly talk about the illegal conduct associated with the county’s Mid-Valley Sanitary Landfill expansion, and the serious harm these activities have inflicted on the citizens of the county, the environment and our precious local drinking water supply.
With all due respect to Supervisor Gonzales, the facts now being disclosed about the Mid-Valley Landfill clearly demonstrate that county officials acted, and continue to act, in complete and utter disregard of applicable state and federal laws.
Based on reports provided by the county, it now appears that county officials knowingly – and with reckless disregard of the law – demolished contaminated bunkers at a state-permitted hazardous waste site, and spread the contaminated waste debris onto adjacent parcels and unknown locations offsite. Much of this hazardous debris was improperly used to construct noise berms on the perimeter of the county’s property. The hazardous chemicals in this debris included lead, arsenic, mercury, asbestos and perchlorate – the chemical currently contaminating groundwater and the region’s drinking water wells.
Read more from the San Bernardino Sun by clicking here.
Santa Ana records driest March since Clinton presidency
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 6:41 amFrom the O.C. Register’s Science Dude:
The Santa Ana Fire Station recorded only a trace amout of rain — or less than 0.100th of an inch — this month, making this the driest March since 1997, when Bill Clinton was serving his second term in office. That year, the city got 0.00” of rain. The driest March before that occurred in 1972, when Richard Nixon was president, says the National Weather Service. There is no rain in the forecast until next Monday, at the earliest.
Southern California received significant amounts of rain in November and February. But storms stopped dropping into the region after that, allowing most areas to fall behind in seasonal rainfall. And in some cases, the deficits are significant.
Read more from the Science Dude by clicking here.
Farmers fallow as crop prices drop
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 6:23 amFrom the Imperial Valley Press:
Plummeting alfalfa and wheat prices are leading to more farmers deciding to fallow their fields for the 2009-2010 farming year, Imperial County Farm Bureau president Mark Osterkamp said.
“If the alfalfa price was where it was a year ago, you’d see a lot less acceptance” of fallowing contracts, Osterkamp said.
Farmer Larry Cox said he decided to participate in this year’s fallowing program because of the changes in the hay and wheat markets. “The price of hay and wheat are about half of where they were last year,” Cox said. A year ago, hay sold for $225 a ton, compared to $120 a ton today, and wheat sold for $400 a ton compared to $200, Cox said.
Read more from the Imperial Valley Press by clicking here.
Our Opinion: Farmers can’t just pass on costs
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 6:20 amFrom the Imperial Valley Press, this editorial:
Imperial Valley farmers certainly make an easy target for people at times. Some folks seem to believe they are just a bunch of rich guys who buy new trucks every six months.
The reality is they are, as a rule, hardworking people who have invested plenty of sweat and tears into this land and plenty of money into this economy. Some are undoubtedly doing well, while others struggle along with the rest of us to make ends meet.
The Imperial Irrigation District has proposed increasing rates on farmers and other water users in the Valley. Farmers pay a lower rate than urban users, and that would continue under the proposed increases.
That leaves some seeing red. They insist that farmers should pay more and that they are getting rich off of the backs of other area water users who pay more.
We believe that is unfair and plain wrong.
Read more of this editorial from the Imperial Valley Press by clicking here.
The Red River: A river prone to flooding, and misunderstanding
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 6:18 amFrom the New York Times:
Predicting the weather has always been at least in part a gambler’s game — a matter of odds and percentages.
But over the last week, as the Red River in North Dakota has surged to potentially catastrophic flood levels, setting off waves of anxiety from here to Washington, forecasters seem to have been betting mostly on the wrong horse.
The flood surge rose much faster than expected in Fargo, the state’s largest city, then peaked sooner and at a lower level than forecast — to the city’s great relief and gratitude. In the last two days — surprise again — it has gone down more rapidly than foreseen.
But the uncertainty has taken a toll.
“It really stresses the city’s system,” said Donald P. Schwert, a professor of geology at North Dakota State University in Fargo, who has been a consultant on landslide and erosion issues to Cass County, which includes Fargo. “The city builds up temporary dikes on a forecast, then a new forecast comes and the city has to respond to that, and on it goes.”
Scientists say they have learned a tremendous amount about the Red River since its last major flood in 1997, using sophisticated modeling systems developed in the wake of disasters up and down the river that year.
Read more from the New York Times by clicking here.
Exxon Valdez: Tidal waters still troubled
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 31, 2009 at 6:13 amFrom Science News:
Immediately following the Exxon Valdez oil spill, 20 years ago, environmental scientists were recruited to evaluate damage to ecosystems in and around Alaska’s Prince William Sound. And almost all describe being initially struck by a pall that had descended over normally raucous, vibrant marine communities.
Today the noise has returned and many populations of wildlife that were initially devastated by oil have recovered. These include bald eagles, harbor seals, common loons and river otters. But not all critters rebounded — and often for reasons that remain unknown.
It started with nearly 11 million gallons of spilled crude oil. It created a black blanket of smelly goo that stuck to everything. On islands just downstream of the spill, recalls Michael Fry, one of those scientists, waves sloshed a foot-thick layer of oil onto rocks, which would get sucked down between boulders and cobble. Any animals caught in the oil’s path also picked up a jacket of oil, notes this research physiologist, who was then with the University of California-Davis (and now with the American Bird Conservancy).
It was hard to count the dead, he says, “because as we’d walk along the beaches it was difficult to tell oiled birds from oiled rocks.” Marbled murrelets, he notes, are shore birds that are no bigger than a chipmunk — “and on beaches looked just like oiled cobblestone.”
Read the rest of this story from Science News by clicking here.
Congressman Nunes’ YouTube video on the California drought
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 30, 2009 at 7:59 amAmazingly, it’s a light news day today. Spring is in the air, and for once, no real big drastic story to top the scroll… Instead, I’ve got this YouTube video to start your day. This video cracked me up… check out this YouTube video by Representative Nunes:
Actually, it turns out, Congressman Nunes is a regular poster on You Tube! Who knew! I’ll have to nose around and see who else is posting YouTube videos…..
Mt. Diablo offers panoramic view of unfolding disaster
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 30, 2009 at 7:54 amFrom the Manteca Bulletin:
Mt. Diablo isn’t among Mother Nature’s highest peaks.
Even so, the summit that towers 3,849 feet provides one of the most awe-inspiring views you’ll ever see.
Sunday’s strong breezes cleared the skies to allow you to see one of California’s two volcanoes – Mt. Lassen – some 180 miles to the northeast. Between Mt. Diablo and Mt. Lassen lies the vastness of the Sacramento Valley. You can spy the Delta, much of the East Bay, and the Northern San Joaquin Valley as well. If aided by a telescope and skies are clear, you can catch a glimpse of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park some 125 miles to the east.
The view from the grand peak of the Diablo Range is among the most vast in the western Unified States. Mt. Diablo was used in the mid-19th century to establish the survey lines for most of Northern California.
Mt. Diablo offers more than just an awe-inspiring view. It gives one a reality check of what is unfolding beneath its summit to both the east and the west.
Wish I had a picture …. Read more of Dennis Wyatt’s thoughts as he stands atop Mount Diablo, pondering California’s water system by clicking here.
Don’t flush an energy opportunity
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 30, 2009 at 7:48 am
Wouldn’t you like to have this guy’s job? No wonder he’s ‘unidentified’ … From the Center for American Progress:
Congress now has several opportunities to further our understanding of the nexus between water and energy use and to promote water conservation efforts that can also achieve significant energy savings. A recently introduced energy and water bill combined with financial incentives in the omnibus energy bill due later this year could help the entire country enjoy the savings some states are already seeing from reductions in water use—with a potential for job creation through water-efficient home retrofits.
In California, Santa Clara County’s experience underscores this important but often overlooked link. Beginning in the early 1990s, the Santa Clara Valley Water District got serious about water conservation. The district, which serves some 1.8 million residents and includes Silicon Valley and the city of San Jose, developed programs that encouraged residents, businesses, industries, and agricultural producers to use water more efficiently.
The results have been impressive: a savings of 370,000 acre-feet of water in 13 years. (A typical household uses one acre-foot of water per year).
But perhaps even more significant have been the energy savings and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions: 1.42 billion kilowatt hours of electricity and 335 million kg of carbon dioxide, which is equal to taking 72,000 cars off the road for a year.
“It has become increasingly clear that the water savings from water use efficiency programs results in significant energy savings and air quality benefits, including reductions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide,” wrote Santa Clara Valley Water District CEO Stanley M. Williams in his introduction to “From Watts to Water,” the district’s recent report on its water conservation and energy savings efforts.
Read more from the Center for American Progress by clicking here.
Tahoe spring in full effect: Check out this slideshow from Heavenly’s annual Pond Skimming Championships
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 30, 2009 at 7:41 am
From the Tahoe Daily Tribune:
Heavenly Mountain Resort hosted its annual Pond Skimming Championships of Lake Tahoe Sunday at the top of the Heavenly Gondola at Adventure Peak.
Hundreds showed up to enjoy the spring weather and watch dozens attempt to ski and ride over a body of water.
Check out the slideshow at the Tahoe Daily Tribune by clicking here.
California Department of Water Resources Uses CalLite Risk Simulation for Central Valley water conditions; you can check it out, too!
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 30, 2009 at 7:38 amFrom Government Technology:
The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) is using risk simulation to evaluate and demonstrate how different water management policies affect the water supply, environment and other factors.
In 2007 the DWR and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation developed CalLite, a simulation model for the water management of California’s Central Valley. It simulates reservoir operations, operations of the California State Water Project and the Central Valley Project, water-delivery decisions, ecosystems and the California Central Valley’s hydrology.
In just five minutes, CalLite simulates water conditions in the Central Valley over a span of 82 years. The user can change the program to demonstrate water management actions, like utilizing off-stream storage reservoirs, enacting groundwater management programs and adding new conveyance facilities.
Stakeholders and the public can download CalLite from the DWR’s Web site. The front-facing program allows stakeholders to see how decisions affect the Central Valley. Environmentalists, contractors and regulatory boards use the program.
The DWR used GoldSim, a graphical, dynamic simulation program, to develop CalLite. Nazrul Islam, senior engineer of the DWR, said the program’s main benefit is that it shows visually how a decision might impact water resources.
“We have a very detailed and complex model that only a small group of people in California can use and interpret the results. The results from that model are very difficult to extract and you need a very skilled and knowledgeable person to do that,” Islam said. “On the other hand, CalLite is user-friendly. People can select a couple of options from the graphical user interface of our model, and then run the model and get the results very easily.”
Read more from Government Technology by clicking here. You can also try it out for yourself at the DWR website: click here.
Can water fountains fight fat?
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 30, 2009 at 7:33 amFrom Scientific American:
Here’s something to drink to: easy access to water fountains and a nudge from teachers to use them might help kids stay lean. A new study published today in Pediatrics suggests that installing fountains in elementary schools and pushing students to drink more water may reduce their risk of being plump by as much as a third.
“Drinking fountains won’t solve the obesity epidemic, but they could be effective components of the solution,” says study co-author Rebecca Muckelbauer, a nutritionist at the Research Institute of Child Nutrition Dortmund in Dortmund, Germany.
Muckelbauer and her colleagues studied the water-drinking habits of nearly 3,000 second and third graders attending schools in the neighboring cities of Dortmund and Essen during the 2006-2007 academic year. At the beginning of the school year, the researchers had water fountains installed in 17 of the schools and worked with teachers to implement educational programs to promote water drinking. (In contrast to U.S. schools, few German schools actually have water fountains, according Muckelbauer). The researchers surveyed the children about their drinking habits and measured their heights and weights at the beginning and end of the school year.
Read more from Scientific American by clicking here.
A decision too important to be secret
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 30, 2009 at 7:24 amFrom the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, this column by Pete Golis:
The topic isn’t sexy. Attending something called the “Landfill Forum” sounds like an act of desperation, what you do if there are no more openings in the lecture series on Best Compost Practices.
But Monday morning’s forum happens to involve a decision that could have lasting economic and environmental consequences.
In Sonoma County, we brag about our devotion to a sustainable lifestyle, but if we get this wrong, we will have a lot of explaining to do.
The story begins with the Board of Supervisors’ plan to sell the county’s central landfill on Mecham Road, south of Cotati. Supervisors say they want to get out from under the costs and liabilities associated with repairing a plastic liner that is leaking bad stuff into nearby groundwater. Officials say it could cost $50 million to abandon the landfill, or $100 million to make it operational again.
But environmental groups and the county’s largest solid waste hauler, North Bay Corp., warn that the sale could leave local consumers at the mercy of a private monopoly, a corporation that would raise rates, discourage recycling and import garbage from other counties.
Read more from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat by clicking here.
Battle brews over ridge reservoirs; Farm groups concerned Mendocino case could expand water regulation
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 30, 2009 at 7:21 amFrom the North Bay Business Journal:
State water regulators allege that reservoirs in a 162-acre mountaintop vineyard property on the Mendocino coast need permits from the agency, but a statewide farming trade group asserts this is a test case to expand agency authority beyond defined waterways.
The California Farm Bureau Federation plans to testify at an April 20 public hearing in Sacramento before the State Water Resources Control Board involving allegedly unauthorized reservoirs at Manchester Ridge Coast Mountain Vineyards. The federation worries a negative ruling will set a precedent for expanded state water board jurisdiction over what are called sheet-flow reservoirs, according to Jack Rice, an attorney for the Sacramento-based group.
“I think this is an attempt by staff of the board to clarify or expand their jurisdiction,” he said.
The board denies that they are attempting to expand their jurisdiction, and say that at least two of the ponds appear to have a streambed and a bank. Read more from the North Bay Business Journal by clicking here.
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