Water Related Issues
Metropolitan Votes to Increase Rates, Speed Up Implementation - POSTED - 4/23/09
Southland Consumers, Businesses Face Mandatory Conservation this Summer - Press Release from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California - POSTED - 4/17/09
Distressed Central Valley residents start four-day trek demanding water - POSTED - 4/17/09
By Mike Taugher
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Posted: 04/14/2009 03:42:16 PM PDT
Updated: 04/15/2009 05:47:45 AM PDT
Thousands of farmworkers and their supporters marched along a dusty highway Tuesday through a region hard hit by drought to demand more Delta water.
Beginning in Mendota, an agricultural hamlet where the water shortage is acutely felt and the unemployment rate is estimated at 40 percent, the scene was reminiscent of a civil-rights protest as politicians, farmworkers and comedian Paul Rodriguez railed against environmental rules they said were depriving them of water.
"We have a deep recession throughout this country and this state," said Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno. "Here, it's a Depression." Their ire was directed mostly at Delta smelt, a 3-inch fish whose precipitous decline has triggered tougher environmental protection rules.
Rodriguez complained that for too long the public has heard more about "the snail darter, the spotted owl and the Delta smelt," instead of the plight of hardworking farmers whose water supplies have been cut.
Thousands roared in approval and began chanting "Water, water," after Rodriguez told them, "We're not going to stop until we open those pumps at San Luis Reservoir," the destination of the four-day march scheduled to conclude Friday with an address by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Left unspoken at the rally, rules to protect Delta smelt have had very little effect this year compared with other factors, including a shortage of stored water and long-standing regulations to protect water quality in the
Delta. Water rights are also based on seniority, so some water districts will get all the water they need while others nearby could get none.
"I've got water and I've got a job, but there's a lot of people that don't," said Art Hernandez, irrigation manager for Giffen and Jolley Farms, where 400 acres of tomatoes were recently planted.
He said he has been seeing about three people each day asking for work.
Located in one of the richest agricultural regions in the country, Mendota was the site of a recent food giveaway where hundreds of baskets were distributed until the supply ran out, Costa said.
"To have people in food lines because there's no water for them to grow the crops, it's more than an irony, it's a human tragedy," Costa said.
Hundreds of attendees wore blue T-shirts with the emblazoned message: "No water. No jobs. No hope. No future. Turn on the pumps."
An airplane flew overhead trailing a banner that said, "We need water 4 jobs."
On the ground, Highway Patrol officers tried futilely to keep marchers away from the highway, leading to a traffic snarl.
Along the 7-mile route from Mendota to Firebaugh, another farm-dependent town reeling from water cutbacks, Albert Escobedo, a 55-year-old retired farmworker who has been collecting disability since he was injured on the job, pointed to an abandoned processing warehouse.
"You see that a lot?" he said, shaking his head. "All of my friends, none of them are working. None of them."
A representative of the Bay Area's Santa Clara Valley Water District, told the crowd the Silicon Valley water district supported the march.
"We will do whatever it takes to make sure people in Sacramento understand we support this," Rudy Chavez-Medina told the crowd.
Mendota Mayor Robert Silva said the turnout was far more than he expected.
"All we need is a comprehensive water plan where everybody has their fair share to water," Silva said as he walked with the mass of farmworkers and others.
California is in a third consecutive dry year, and although the Sierra snowpack is near normal the state's major reservoirs are still far below normal storage for this time of year.
Tougher rules to protect Delta smelt were issued in December, but they have had little effect on the water supply picture so far this year.
The bigger problem is more complicated for parts of the San Joaquin Valley, where customers of the federal Central Valley Project have been told to expect zero Delta water this year,.
Water quality rules that ensure Delta farmers and the Contra Costa Water District are not overwhelmed by saltwater from San Francisco Bay, the lack of water in storage and the need to keep water behind reservoirs to keep salmon habitat cold enough for the fish to survive the summer are taking a bigger hit.
Another issue is a system in California and other western states that promises water first to those who have the longest standing claim.
So, while farmers in the Westlands Water District that have always depended on Delta pumps, they are expecting no water at all this year while farmers in neighboring irrigation districts with much longer histories are getting all the water they can use.
Brian Howard, an irrigation foreman for one of those districts, the Central California Irrigation District, said he attended the march to show support for his neighboring water districts.
"This valley doesn't exist if we don't have water," Howard said.
"I feel sorry for those guys."
Southern California water agency to cut supplies by 10%- POSTED - 4/17/09
It is the first time such action has been taken since the early 1990s drought. Statewide water conditions remain below average for the third consecutive year, officials say.
By Bettina Boxall
April 15, 2009
The board of Southern California's major water wholesaler voted Tuesday to effectively cut water deliveries across the region by 10% this summer.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has warned for months that the state's drought and environmentally driven cutbacks in water shipments from Northern California would leave demand higher than the supply.
"We're short," said Jeffrey Kightlinger, the water district's general manager.
The cuts are the agency's first since the early 1990s drought.
The Metropolitan Water District, which imports water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta and the Colorado River and sells it to local water districts, will achieve the reductions by imposing penalty rates. Local utilities that use more than their allocation will have to pay more.
In anticipation, Los Angeles is poised to adopt conservation rates aimed at getting residents to reduce their water use by 15%.
Statewide water conditions have improved in recent months but they remain below average for the third consecutive year.
Total storage in the Colorado River basin is also slightly better than last year. But a persistent drought in the basin has left the river's reservoirs at 54% of overall capacity. Lake Mead, which supplies Southern California, is 46% full, although it will get more water from upstream Lake Powell as the season progresses.
Last year, the Metropolitan Water District cut supplies to agricultural customers and it has suspended regional groundwater replenishment. All told, agency officials said they will deliver roughly 20% less water than three years ago.
The reduced deliveries have meant less sales revenue for the agency, which is also facing rising costs.
As a result, the agency will hike its prices by nearly 20% in September -- in addition to the penalty rates. The increase comes on top of a roughly 14% rate increase last year.
bettina.boxall@latimes.com
State Water Project allocations increased - POSTED - 3/18/09
SACRAMENTO
March 18, 2009 at 9:09am
• Up from 15 percent to 20 percent
• ‘California is in the midst of a crisis’
The California Department of Water Resources says it will increase the 2009 State Water Project delivery allocation to 20 percent from the 15 percent level it had set earlier.
Late winter storms increased snowpack to near 90 percent of average, but water storage in the state’s major reservoirs and runoff projections remain well below average, the department says.
“California is in the midst of a crisis that threatens to cripple our economy and quality of life,” says DWR Director Lester Snow. “In this third dry year, Californians must step up water conservation efforts, and we must utilize water transfers to alleviate impacts.”
Besides drought conditions, a federal court ruling to protect Delta smelt has reduced SWP pumping capacity by about 30 percent.
In making Tuesday’s revised allocation, DWR cautions that drought conditions still prevail in California, requiring vigilant conservation of water in our homes, businesses and farms. Final 2009 allocations to SWP contractors will be set in May.
“A number of productive storms, between Feb. 12 and March 5, boosted rainfall and snowpack totals, and levels rose in major northern California reservoirs,” says DWR Senior Meteorologist Elissa Lynn. “However, one wet month can not overcome back to back dry years in 2007 and 2008, so we are still in a drought.”
Although statewide rainfall totals are near average for this date, Lake Oroville remains 34 percent below normal. Runoff projections for the year are forecast at just 64 percent of normal, the third below average year in a row.
At the start of each year DWR issues a conservative initial allocation estimate that is typically increased as the water year progresses. In October 2008, DWR announced an initial 2009 allocation of 15 percent for the SWP but severe drought conditions prevented this initial allocation from being increased until now, it notes.
A SWP allocation this low and this late in the water year only occurred one other time in 1991, when it was also 20 percent. The SWP has been allocating water since 1968.
On February 27, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed a state of emergency and ordered a range of actions to manage the drought crisis. He requested that all urban users reduce their water use by 20 percent.
DWR drought officials report that 18 agencies in California have implemented some form of mandatory water conservation measure and that voluntary conservation measures have been adopted by 57 agencies.
SWP contractors deliver water to more than 25 million California residents and more than 750,000 acres of farmland. SWP contractors requested 4,166,376 million acre-feet of water for the 2009 calendar year, the maximum contractual amount allowed. Reduced deliveries will require contractors to rely on dry water year contingency plans to meet their needs.
Legislators introduce five different bonds addressing water needs - POSTED - 3/18/09
Issue Date: March 18, 2009
By Kate Campbell
Assistant Editor
A stack of bonds aimed at fixing California's over-taxed water storage and delivery system is under consideration by state lawmakers.
No fewer than five bond proposals aimed at addressing water infrastructure needs have been introduced, each with a price tag of about $10 billion to $15 billion. One or more of the new bond proposals could be placed before voters at a future statewide election.
Farm Bureau continues to analyze each of the bond packages, said Danny Merkley, California Farm Bureau Federation director of water resources.
He said Farm Bureau wants to assure that water bond proposals include "a real increase in surface water storage; continuous appropriation of funding for projects; restoration of the delta ecosystem that considers issues facing delta agriculture; protection of water rights, particularly for water rights in areas of origin; and improved conveyance."
Merkley added that Farm Bureau also wants to ensure that any water bond package is well-considered and not rushed onto the ballot.
"Our concern is that any additional bonds be used to finance a well-conceived, comprehensive water strategy for the state," he said, "that does not lead to unintended consequences that harm California's ability to grow its own, healthful food and farm products."
Merkley said he currently is reviewing more than 50 water-related pieces of legislation, including the five bond plans that would address water infrastructure improvement and supply reliability. All five of those bills have similarities to last year's water bond proposal backed by Gov. Schwarzenegger and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
The five bond proposals—four introduced in the Senate and one in the Assembly—include:
- Senate Bill 301 (Florez, D-Shafter) would authorize the issuance of $15 billion in general obligation bonds to address infrastructure needs.
- SB 371 (Cogdill, R-Modesto) would authorize the issuance of $9.98 billion in general obligation bonds to finance infrastructure and storage needs.
- SB 456 (Wolk, D-Davis) would authorize the issuance of $9.805 billion in general obligation bonds to finance water supply reliability and water source protection programs.
- SB 735 (Steinberg, D-Sacramento) would authorize the issuance of $9.785 billion in general obligation bonds to finance water supply reliability and water source protection programs, while imposing new fees on residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural water users to finance the debt service on the bonds.
- Assembly Bill 1187 (Huffman, D-Marin, and Caballero, D-Salinas) would authorize the issuance of $10.035 billion in general obligation bonds to finance water supply reliability and water source protection programs, while imposing new fees on water users.
But Merkley emphasized there's another bill in play that bears close attention. SB 12 (Simitian, D-Palo Alto) would establish the Delta Ecosystem and Water Council. The council would be required to prepare and adopt a plan referred to as the California Delta Ecosystem and Water Plan to restore the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ecosystem, create a more reliable water supply in California and maintain the economic and social viability of delta farms and communities.
"In layman's terms, the bill addresses the mechanics of funding implementation for a water bond proposal," Merkley explained, "meaning the bill will address implementation of a governance structure for restoring and managing the delta, along with conveyance improvement and construction of new storage facilities. It also will include a conservation and finance plan."
He said Farm Bureau participates in working groups with other stakeholder organizations, which he said "are negotiating the provisions of an infrastructure improvement plan. The plan would provide a framework for allocating funding from one or more of the bonds, if voters approve."
There's a lot to be worked out before any money can be spent on infrastructure improvements, Merkley said, "including the interests of farmers and ranchers, the environment and urban water users, plus the long-term issues both north and south of the delta and within the delta itself.
"These working groups are highly diverse and early discussions have been very challenging, but they're extremely important for the future of the state's water supply and its economy," Merkley said.
He said California is in the midst of "a very serious water situation. Some farmers in the San Joaquin Valley are facing the very real possibility of a zero water allocation. It doesn't get any worse than that. The level of water deliveries south of the delta is highly in question and many Southern California communities are looking at reduced supplies and the possibility of water rationing."
Merkley urged Farm Bureau members to monitor the situation through Ag Alert® and their contacts with local legislators and staff. He also advised watching for Farm Team alerts in coming weeks as the situation unfolds.
To sign up for Farm Team alerts, visit www.cfbf.com and click on the Farm Team logo.
(Kate Campbell is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at kcampbell@cfbf.com.)
Permission for use is granted, however, credit must be made to the California Farm Bureau Federation when reprinting this item.
Water rates could spike - POSTED - 3/18/09
Possible 35% increase brought on by statewide drought emergency. Water district will vote at its April 14 meeting.
By Christopher Cadelago
Published: Last Updated Friday, March 13, 2009 10:58 PM PDT
BURBANK — City officials are bracing for a Metropolitan Water District of Southern California decision that could increase water rates by as much as 35% as the state continues to struggle with a drought emergency.
City executives are weighing in on the matter and hashing out a plan to inform residents of the pending spike in water rates before the water district board votes on the matter at its April 14 meeting.
The City Council announced plans this week to send e-mail and letters alerting the public about the coming vote.
“The reason this is important is because we’re not talking a small charge,” Councilman David Gordon said. “We’re talking about upwards of 20% above and beyond any other rate increases that we’ve already sustained. This is going to come like a freight train down the tracks on April 14.”
The state’s critically low water supply, restrictions on water pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and a significant increase in population since the last drought in 1991 have led to the water district seeking higher fees, said Bob Muir, a Metropolitan Water District of Southern California spokesman.
“There’s a great deal of fixed costs associated with the state water project,” said Bill Mace, assistant general manager for water systems at Burbank Water and Power. “[The district] is charged regardless of if it pumps one drop of water or a lot.”
Plans to hike water rates arose at the district’s budget workshop last month, where board members discussed the scale and timing of a rate increase.
Members discussed the possibility of moving up the date that fees go into effect from Jan. 1 of every year to Sept. 1.
The purpose of moving up the date is to generate more revenue sooner and at lower rates.
Another possibility mentioned was increasing the fees Sept. 1 of this year, with another increase July 1, 2010.
The board also discussed a surcharge of $61 per acre-foot that each of the district’s 26 member cities and agencies would pay for delta water.
The state’s water system was criticized by environmental groups after a number of fish species, including the delta smelt, a small fish native to the region, began disappearing. Water suppliers in the delta region face debilitating pumping restrictions associated with the United States Fish & Wildlife’s effort to protect endangered species.
Along with the fee implementation date and proposed surcharge, the board is expected to zero in on a specific rate increase.
The three options currently being floated include rate increases that range from about 20% to nearly 35%.
The district, which supplies the city with about 55% of its water, is a cooperative of 26 cities and agencies serving 19 million people.
Burbank, one of the 13 original members, has one vote that equals approximately .84% of the total vote.
The member agencies have proportionate representation on the board, with larger cities such as Los Angeles having multiple directors voting as opposed to Burbank’s one.
Mace presented a series of ways to control costs and mitigate future water-rate hikes at the budget workshop. Among his ideas were encouraging the district to replace water plant equipment after it wears out instead of replacing it on a fixed schedule, and asking labor unions who work with the district to reduce their personnel.
Antonio Perez, the president of two unions that work with the district, called the proposal a “knee-jerk reaction.”
But Mace proposed other ways of fighting the rate increases. At last month’s meeting, he discussed ways the public could get involved.
“Burbank Water & Power is governed by a City Council that can potentially hear from all 25,000 of our water customers on a weekly basis,” he said at the hearing. “Even 1% would easily overflow our council chambers.”
The district last March increased water rates by an average of 15% throughout Southern California. In Burbank, the raise was 8.5%, which tacked $3.50 onto the average bill.
In June, the City Council heard from a dozen residents before approving the increase.
“The governor has asked us all to cut 20% more than what we’re already using,” said Mike Nolan, a Burbank resident who on Monday attended a public hearing on the matter. “I understand operational expenses. I understand that people are using less water. And I know it’s not fair for any of us in homes and businesses to be asked to pay penalties for using less.”
FALLBROOK: Future of agriculture industry on the line as water
woes play out - POSTED - 3/16/09
Water shortage taking heavy toll as agriculture continues to steer local economy The San Diego Union Tribune – 3/15/09
By Tom Pfingsten
FALLBROOK ---- Water is the fuel that powers Fallbrook's largest industry, flowing to the roots of avocado trees and dripping into flower pots at dozens of nurseries.
But as the Southern California water shortage intensifies across North County, that industry ---- agriculture ---- faces withering challenges that business leaders say are already hobbling growth and could lead to further declines if projected water shortages are realized.
A shortage of water isn't the only problem facing many growers: Invasive pests that harm citrus trees have surfaced elsewhere in San Diego County, and the global economic decline is hitting home, as well.
But water is the thing that seems most worrisome to anyone who makes money off of agriculture in Fallbrook.
"I've been in the industry for 34 years, and this is the worst I've seen groves looking," said Bob Lucy, owner of Del Rey Avocado Co. packinghouse in downtown Fallbrook.
Lucy, who serves on the board of directors for the Rainbow Municipal Water District, said 2008 took a heavy toll on avocado growers, the vast majority of whom were forced by the Metropolitan Water District to cut back water usage by 30 percent.
"It just wasn't enough water," he said.
Outside of town, at the midsize Sunlet Nursery, Janet Kister said her operation, which annually grows millions of indoor and patio flowering plants, has pursued every conceivable way of conserving water.
"I think we've squeezed out every drop that we could," said Kister, who started the nursery with her husband, John, in 1984. "We are about as efficient as you can get ---- I don't know anything we could do that we haven't done already."
Across the county, agricultural businesses accounted for $1.5 billion of the economy in 2007, the last year for which statistics are available.
Of that figure, 68 percent was from nursery and flower crops, and 15 percent was from fruit and nut crops, including avocados.
While county officials do not keep a breakdown of those numbers for the Fallbrook area, officials say much of its economy is wrapped up in nurseries and avocado-related businesses, from growers to packers to grove service companies ---- all of which stand to lose if the amount of water flowing into Fallbrook continues to decrease.
Water pressure
Things started looking bad for growers in August 2007, when a federal judge in Northern California issued a ruling that severely limited the amount of water that could be pumped out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta.
The ruling was issued to protect the endangered delta smelt fish, but its side effects were massive, agriculture industry leaders say.
In October 2007, officials at the Los-Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District notified farmers who had for years received rate discounts under the district's "Interim Agricultural Water Program" that they would be required to reduce their 2008 water usage by 30 percent of what they used in 2007.
In Fallbrook, everyone from small-time avocado farmers to some of the largest commercial operations was left scrambling to upgrade expensive equipment and streamline irrigation systems.
"It rained quite a bit early in the year, so we were able to bank that water" to use in the dry summer months, Kister said.
She said her business spent $150,000 last year, not including labor costs, to change out irrigation equipment and install computers to automatically shut off the flow of water at just the right time.
"It was very expensive to do ---- everything is expensive when you start changing things like that over," said Kister. "But we didn't have a choice. We needed the water."
More recently, growers have been given several options to keep watering their crops and receive marginal discounts, but the threat of further cutbacks looms large.
Avocados take the heat
Fallbrook is perhaps best known for avocados ---- a product that has infused millions of dollars a year into the local economy and is even the theme of the town's largest street fair every spring.
But industry leaders who have witnessed a series of bad turns for avocado growers in recent years predict further declines if water supplies continue to dwindle.
"This is a very pivotal year, I think, for the industry," said Lucy, whose packing operation relies on local avocado groves for a product to export.
On top of the reduced availability of water last year, a heat wave during the spring avocado bloom led to what growers call a poor "crop set" ---- meaning there's less fruit on the trees than there should be.
"In my opinion, it's the small crop that's going to hurt more than anything," said Charlie Wolk, a longtime Fallbrook resident who owns a grove service to help growers maintain and harvest their crops.
This year's blooming season is coming up, and Lucy said the results could determine how many growers are left standing next year.
"We're hoping that we'll come back with a very good bloom and good crop for next year, and hopefully that will encourage farmers to stay in," he said. "If that doesn't happen, I think we'll see a lot of acreage in Fallbrook and North County go out of business."
Rankin McDaniel, president of McDaniel Fruit Co., said avocados are still a big player in Fallbrook's economy, no matter how hard growers have been hit by water cutbacks.
"I believe they'll continue to play a major role in the economy," said McDaniel, whose avocado company runs Fallbrook's other large packing service. "It's a role that will be redefined in the next few years, as we see how the water situation plays out and how the economy rebounds."
Still, some leaders are predicting that many smaller groves will go out of business.
Wolk wouldn't venture a guess as to how many, but did acknowledge that 2009 will be a trying year for the industry.
"If they farmed their land correctly, they should have been making money in past years. Hopefully, they were prudent and have some of that money set aside to get them through this year," said Wolk. "2009 is going to be survival mode for a lot of growers."
The challenges are mounting just two years after one of the most difficult seasons in recent memory for avocado growers: In January 2007, frost damaged more than 26,000 acres of groves in San Diego County, and the October 2007 wildfires damaged an additional 1,700 acres.
Losses from those two calamities were estimated to be $62 million countywide, and yet, experts say a lack of water represents even greater peril for one of Fallbrook's most important sources of income.
Nurseries
Sprawling across large swaths of rural land, nurseries constitute the gentle giant in Fallbrook's agriculture industry, rivaling the economic force of avocados.
Kister, whose 25-acre Sunlet Nursery sells several million plants every year to garden centers, supermarkets and hotels, among other clients, said her operation was forced to cut back production by 5 to 10 percent during 2008.
Spread over gently sloping land in southwest Fallbrook, Sunlet specializes in flowering plants, many of which require special care inside state-of-the-art greenhouses.
"We have a good sense now, from last year, what we can manage," said Kister, who was named San Diego County's Farmer of the Year in 2006 and has served as president of the county farm bureau.
With around 85 employees, Kister said that last year's trials revealed how far her company could cut back on water before it starts to harm the business.
"We can cut back somewhere between 25 and 30 percent ---- we know we can do that, and we've done it," she said. "Could we get to 40? No way, no how."
She said she would have to grow fewer plants, which would be bad for business because the nursery wouldn't have enough product to offer its clients, such as amusement parks and garden centers.
"Each nursery's going to fare differently," said Kister. "We're down less than 10 percent from last year. We're not doing great, we're not doing terrible ---- we're doing OK."#
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
DWR’s California Water News is distributed to California Department of Water Resources management and staff, for information purposes, by the DWR Public Affairs Office. For reader’s services, including new subscriptions, temporary cancellations and address changes, please use the online page: http://listhost2.water.ca.gov/mailman/listinfo/water_news . DWR operates and maintains the State Water Project, provides dam safety and flood control and inspection services, assists local water districts in water management and water conservation planning, and plans for future statewide water needs. Inclusion of materials is not to be construed as an endorsement of any programs, projects, or viewpoints by the Department or the State of California.
WATER AGENCY STEPS UP SEARCH FOR MORE SUPPLIES
POSTED - 3/16/09
By Michael Gardner U-T Sacramento Bureau
March 16, 2009
SACRAMENTO – With its vast reserves running precariously low, the Metropolitan Water District has widened its unending search for water to even more distant sources.
Since 2007, Metropolitan's stockpiles have shrunk by nearly half, drained by a combination of drought, diversions to safeguard fish, cuts in Colorado River supplies and population growth.
As a result, the wholesaler's board of directors is expected next month to roll out a proposal to curtail deliveries to its Southern California customers, including the San Diego County Water Authority. If adopted, rationing would go into effect July 1.
“April is when we have to come to grips with all of this,” said Keith Lewinger, who serves on the boards of Metropolitan and the San Diego County Water Authority.
Metropolitan has been pursuing an aggressive strategy to refill supply pipelines to keep cuts from inflicting economic pain, officials say.
The Los Angeles-based agency is emptying a water bank in central Arizona, borrowing from former nemesis Nevada, and restarting a desalting plant in Yuma, Ariz.
Metropolitan's hunt also has taken it to familiar territory: traditional cash-for-water deals with farmers from Blythe to Chico, siphoning groundwater in Kern County and drawing down an emergency reserve in Lake Mead.
“We're looking for water wherever we can find it,” said Roger Patterson, the district's assistant general manager.
Most of the attention during this drought has been riveted on whether lakes Oroville, Shasta, Folsom, Mead and Powell will ever be fully replenished. But there is a growing realization that Metropolitan's once-flush supply network is approaching critically low levels.
Two years ago, Metropolitan's reserves approached 3 million acre-feet of water – equal to the amount used by 6 million typical homes per year. Today, that amount is 1.6 million acre-feet.
For instance, Metropolitan's self-financed $2 billion investment against drought – the 800,000 acre-foot Diamond Valley reservoir near Temecula – brimmed three years ago. Today, the lake is half full.
“At the rate we've been drawing on reserves, that's 2½ to 3 years before we're tapped out,” Patterson said.
Recent gloomy skies in Northern California have brightened the outlook. On top of a series of storms in mid-February, more snow fell in the Lake Tahoe area in the first four days of March than the average for the entire month.
But even as reservoirs inch higher with spring snowmelt, Metropolitan must remain cautious because the weather can turn dry just as quickly.
“Are we out of the woods? The odds are against us,” said Lewinger, also general manager of the Fallbrook Public Utility District.
California heads into summer with so little water that some farmers may not receive a drop of irrigation supplies and the list of cities imposing mandatory rationing continues to grow. The Department of Water Resources has preliminarily offered just 15 percent of normal deliveries out of Lake Oroville.
For Metropolitan, that means receiving 280,000 acre-feet instead of the more than 1 million acre-feet the state in total normally delivers.
Tim Quinn, head of a coalition of water agencies and former Metropolitan executive, does not expect the water supply crisis to dissipate for some time.
That's because pumping restrictions to protect fish have diverted about 40 percent of the deliveries that usually move south out of the Sacramento delta. It will take an expensive delta restoration program, from improving fish populations to cleaning up toxins, before the state can resume normal supplies.
Metropolitan officials are ramping up their quest for supplies while preparing its 26 member agencies and 19 million residents for rationing.
New water is not be cheap. For example, Metropolitan's board on Tuesday ratified a one-time emergency purchase of 66,000 acre-feet from farmers near Blythe in the Palo Verde Valley. The cost? More than $22 million, at $340 per acre-foot.
In contrast, Metropolitan has an ongoing 35-year deal with Palo Verde, a reliable well, that pays farmers about $250 per acre-foot. In return for cash, growers fallow land to free up water. This year, in addition to the emergency purchase last week, Metropolitan expects to ask for the entire 120,000 acre-feet available under the existing contract – a $30 million bill. In 2008, Metropolitan called for about 100,000 acre feet, and just 73,000 acre feet in 2007.
Metropolitan is incurring debt with the Las Vegas-based Southern Nevada Water Authority. Metropolitan borrowed 70,000 acre-feet last year and is back for more: as much as 100,000 acre-feet. No money will exchange hands, but the water will have to be repaid starting in 2020.
The deal is another illustration of détente among once-warring states and water agencies forced to cooperate by a landmark deal to share the Colorado River and reinforced by the drought's hardships.
“We have come to understand that we have to work together,” said Pat Mulroy, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority.
Southern Nevada's cooperation has helped boost Southern California's storage supply. Metropolitan has access to up to 100,000 acre-feet over three years that will be provided by Southern Nevada. In return, the Nevada agency was allowed to develop a small reservoir in the Imperial Valley.
Southern Nevada also signed an agreement that allows Metropolitan to store extra water in Lake Mead, but that reserve could be depleted this year.
Metropolitan is also working with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and others to expand a small pilot project at the long-shuttered Yuma desalting plant. Metropolitan hopes to secure about 30,000 acre-feet next year by running the facility at 30 percent capacity.
Farther north, Metropolitan this year will draw the last of its water stored in the Central Arizona Project.
In Central California, Metropolitan has about 300,000 acre-feet tucked into groundwater banks operated by several Kern County agencies. Metropolitan plans to pump out more than half of that this year.
Metropolitan is also shopping for water among the Northern California rice fields. The storms may have created a modest surplus, but the supply is expected to cost about $275 per acre-foot.
Metropolitan's goal is 300,000 acre-feet, but Patterson is pessimistic.
“Obviously, there's not going to be that much available,” Patterson said.
Click here to see the presentation from the 3-12-09 Southern Agricultural Water Team meeting - POSTED - 3/16/09
FALLBROOK: Water manager assumes duty as regional director - POSTED - 3/9/09
Keith Lewinger will serve at least two years on Metropolitan board
By TOM PFINGSTEN - Staff Writer
Sunday, March 8, 2009 4:09 PM PDT 8
FALLBROOK — As general manager of the Fallbrook Public Utility District, Keith Lewinger has weathered his share of crises, from pipeline closures to drought to budget disasters handed down by state lawmakers.
But the self-made water guru braced for a different kind of challenge last month, when he was appointed to serve on Southern California's most powerful water board — that of the Metropolitan Water District.
"It's a very challenging time to be walking into that board room," Lewinger said last week. "They're talking about 75 percent chance of mandatory cutbacks in July, and rate increases in the magnitude of 20 percent."
Because Metropolitan delivers water to all of the region's agencies — including Fallbrook Public Utility — those painful adjustments will trickle down to ratepayers throughout Southern California, including Fallbrook and all of North County.
"Of course, I'm going to try to represent the best interests of San Diego County, and those things which benefit San Diego County will, by and large, benefit Fallbrook," he said.
Specifically, Lewinger said he plans to represent the thousands of Southern California farmers whose needs often take a back seat to the demands of urban populations.
"I'm going to try to make sure the same kinds of incentives that are offered to urban customers are offered to agricultural customers," he said, adding that perhaps only one or two other members of the Metropolitan board share his acute concern for the farming industry.
Lewinger was nominated to the Metropolitan board by San Diego County Water Authority Chairman Bud Lewis, the mayor of Carlsbad, who said he thinks the Fallbrook water manager has a lot to add to regional discussions.
"I think it's very important that Metropolitan understands the farming issues, because the farmers have been cut back 30 percent, and there's a chance they'll be cut back more," Lewis said. "Having a person like Keith up there might enlighten some of the other members who have very little experience with the farming community."
Lewinger has already been nominated to serve on two Metropolitan committees — "water planning" and "administration and finance."
"When I go up there, I understand directly what the ratepayers in Fallbrook are going through," Lewinger said. "I understand what our growers are going through. I have the perspective of dealing directly with the ratepayers on a daily basis, and I can bring that perspective to the board room."
Metropolitan's board is unusual in size and scope — 37 members representing thousands of square miles of desert, city, suburbs and farms.
And the district itself is mammoth, serving around 1.7 billion gallons of drinking water every day to a customer base of 18 million people in the counties of Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura.
"It sort of takes your breath away when you walk into that situation and realize you're one of 36 other members who have their own concerns," Lewinger said.
Four of the 37 board members are from San Diego and are appointed by the county water authority.
Lewis said he looks forward to seeing what Lewinger and Fern Steiner, a San Diego attorney and Lewis' other Metropolitan appointee, accomplish during their two-year terms.
"When I took over as chair, I listed all the people we have on our board and rated them as to how these individuals could best benefit the region. Keith came out extremely high," Lewis said. "He has over 30 years in the water industry, he knows economics and he knows water."
As for the day-to-day business of running the Fallbrook water district while commuting to L.A. several times a month for Metropolitan meetings, Lewinger said he plans on putting in the same amount of hours — even if some of them are logged in hotel rooms.
"I've got my Blackberry with me, I've got my laptop with me, and I'm doing work in my hotel room," he said. "I need to be in touch with my staff eight hours a day, seven days a week, and I am. That allows me to go out of town and represent the needs of Fallbrook, while at the same time keeping in touch with my staff.
"I can only do that with a great staff, and that's what I have."
Contact staff writer Tom Pfingsten at (760) 740-3516 or tpfingsten@nctimes.com.
WATER SUPPLY OUTLOOK - FEBRUARY 2009 - POSTED - 3/2/09
Department of Water Resources
California Water News
A DAILY COMPILATION FOR DWR PERSONNEL OF SIGNIFICANT NEWS ARTICLES AND COMMENT
POSTED - 3/2/09
------------------
Top Items –
- DELTA CUTBACKS PUT VALLEY FARM TOWN ON EDGE
Sacramento Bee
- CALIFORNIA'S WATER: A VANISHING RESOURCE
State of emergency expands in hopes of relieving drought
San Diego Union Tribune
- AGRICULTURE: Avocado, citrus may be on the way out
Drought, cutbacks, price increases could deal final blow
North County Times
Delta cutbacks put Valley farm town on edge
Sacramento Bee – 3/2/09
By Susan Ferris
POSTED - 3/2/09
MENDOTA – In the San Joaquin Valley, the most productive farmland on earth, panic is more abundant than the crops that usually blanket the ground.
Drought and environmental concerns have led to severe cuts in irrigation water deliveries from Northern California over the past year, and unemployment in this town of 10,000 is approaching 40 percent.
Mendota may be proud to call itself the Cantaloupe Capital of the World, but with California in danger of a third year of drought and more water cuts planned, people wonder if they'll get enough rice and beans to scrape by. It took volunteers at the Westside Youth Center's monthly food giveaway less than three hours, not the normal two days, to distribute a record 750 boxes of a few days' worth of groceries.
Much of the debate over how much water to pump out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta for thirsty farms to the south has focused on the fish endangered by deteriorating conditions in the estuary.
But thousands of people here and in other little San Joaquin Valley towns are worried about the human toll: They fear that without water, they won't be called back to work as the growing season heats up.
"They're worrying about the fish but not about the humans' life," said Jose Ruiz, 42, a foreman still clinging to the job he's had since 1979 with a vegetable firm in Mendota.
At one end of town, Maria Avila de Romero can't believe that in America's cornucopia, she has had so little work for so long that she has to ration milk and boil it to stretch it past the expiration date. Her $61 weekly unemployment has run out.
In another neighborhood, Luis Cervantes, 38, and a father of four, stared into the brand-new house he lost to foreclosure in October that now stands empty. Cervantes was a vegetable farm foreman who earned good money, but his hours were steadily cut until he also was laid off.
The crisis in Mendota offers a glimpse into a sober future.
Without a major restructuring of how water is moved in California, the Central Valley's anchor industry faces a dramatic decline.
"Why is nobody helping?" asked Mendota Mayor Robert Silva, who has a message for urban folk: "Get away from your lattes and see the real world. This is California, too." Plantings, harvests, jobs cut
American consumers may not realize that a vast quantity of their food comes from here, Silva and others say. And if it isn't going to come from here, then consumers, too, must prepare to swallow some big changes. It's no bluff, the farm industry warns, that food from other countries will fill the vacuum.
For decades, water has been diverted from the Delta via canals to Los Angeles. That water created a farm behemoth in the Central Valley that produces more than 250 products.
Eighty percent of the world's almonds grow in the Central Valley, and the land fanning out around Mendota yields most of California's processed tomatoes, which are 45 percent of the world total. Western Fresno County alone produces 95 percent of U.S. lettuce sold in April and October.
Probably half the 600,000 acres in the area's Westlands Water District will not be planted or brought to harvest this year, district managers estimate. Spring lettuce plantings are at 9,000 acres, compared with 16,000 last year, said Fresno County Supervisor Phil Larsen.
About 130,000 acres are permanent nut and pomegranate trees and grapevines that must be watered to survive. Some farmers will buy water on the open market to keep orchards alive but not invest in developing a crop.
Farmers with wells can irrigate, and those who can are sinking new wells at more than $600,000 each. But drawing from groundwater also raises environmental concerns.
A University of California study takes stock of what to expect: Up to $2.2 billion could be lost in the Central Valley this year, and up to 80,000 jobs.
The shock will inevitably reverberate through a regional economy staggering from the housing collapse and recession.
"I want (Gov.) Schwarzenegger to list me on the California endangered species list," said farmer Todd Allen, whose family has farmed outside Mendota for more than 30 years. #
http://www.sacbee.com/
CALIFORNIA'S WATER: A VANISHING RESOURCE
State of emergency expands in hopes of relieving drought
San Diego Union Tribune
By Michael Gardner
POSTED - 3/2/09
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday broadened a previous emergency drought declaration, flexing his power to sidestep environmental protections to expedite deliveries to thirsty cities and parched farms.
Schwarzenegger and his advisers also reiterated warnings that mandatory rationing may be ordered unless Sierra snowstorms bring enough water to refill depleted reservoirs.
Leaders of Southern California's giant water agencies applauded the action but sent strong signals that forced cutbacks could be imposed starting as early as July 1.
“These are vital steps to help San Diego County and the rest of California mitigate the impacts of the shortage, but mandatory water-use restrictions are still very likely this year,” said Bud Lewis, chairman of the San Diego County Water Authority board.
Timothy Brick, chairman of the Metropolitan Water District board, said directors are expected to authorize a new allocation plan “that likely will reduce water supplies to its member agencies, leading to mandatory conservation.”
Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger administration officials and public water agency managers renewed a call for legislation that would authorize and pay for construction of new reservoirs, which deeply troubles some Democrats and environmentalists. At least four water-related bond measures, some approaching $10 billion, have been introduced in the Legislature.
The governor's proclamation again pleads for more conservation, requires state agencies to cut their own use, makes it a priority to assist drought-stricken regions, and takes steps to improve water quality in the Sacramento delta, among other directives.
“This drought is having a devastating impact on our people, our communities, our economy and our environment, making today's action absolutely necessary,” Schwarzenegger said in a statement.
Storms over the past two weeks have brightened the outlook somewhat. State officials are expecting even better news Monday when they take another snow survey high in the Sierra. A bountiful storm is expected there tomorrow.
To date, statewide precipitation is 86 percent of average, but just 59 percent of what's needed for the entire season, which ends June 30. More ominous: Reservoirs are at their lowest level since the early 1990s. Most are less than half full.
“We are still very far behind,” said Lester Snow, director of the state Department of Water Resources.
In response, the state is preparing to deliver just 15 percent of normal supplies to its customers, and the federal government has temporarily shut down deliveries to most farms in the San Joaquin Valley.
Economists at the University of California Davis estimate that the drought could cost 95,000 jobs and $2.8 billion in revenue this year. Much of the pain is centered in the San Joaquin Valley, where idle fields idle workers.
While this is considered the fourth-worst drought on record in terms of actual water shortages, “it may be the worst in terms of economic impact,” Snow said.
The governor last year issued a more modest emergency declaration to help nine hard-hit counties in the San Joaquin Valley, from Kern to Sacramento, shortly after he declared a statewide drought in June.
To develop emergency supplies, the state is putting together a drought water bank program to broker sales between agencies that have water and those that need it.
But the program could run afoul of the California Environmental Quality Act, known as CEQA. For example, the endangered giant garter snake survives in rice fields. If farmers do not plant so they can sell the water, the snakes could be harmed. Also, firing up diesel pumps to draw groundwater could violate clean-air standards.
To clear those obstacles and others, the governor has invoked his authority to pursue some projects immediately and repair any environmental damage later.
“We can shortcut the CEQA process,” Snow said.
But Snow added that impacts on fish and wildlife would be alleviated over time, and none of the newly exerted authority would be used to speed up construction of nonemergency reservoirs and canals.
“There's no intention to use this for construction of any permanent, controversial facilities. It really is oriented to streamline response to the drought,” Snow said.
The state has not determined which water projects would be exempt from the safeguards, but officials promise public disclosure.
Schwarzenegger yesterday also directed state agencies to “prioritize and streamline permitting and regulatory compliance actions” for water-producing projects such as desalination and recycling.
The governor said that if the water picture does not significantly improve by March 30, he will order “additional regulatory relief or permit streamlining.”
Barry Nelson of the Natural Resources Defense Council said alternatives to dams could boost supplies by capturing storm water, recycling, reusing wastewater and improving groundwater.
“These tools have the potential to provide more water than we've ever pumped out of the Sacramento delta” for farms and cities, Nelson said.
The administration insists that dams must be part of any overall solution, given the crisis.
“Now is the time to act,” said Mike Chrisman, natural resources secretary. Snow agrees that even minimal conservation could save at least 1 million acre-feet of water, enough to serve 2 million households for a year, “without anybody changing their lifestyle.”
While the administration is hesitant to order Californians to use less water, that view may change.
“If it is a deteriorating situation, we could see for the first time the state invoking mandatory conservation,” Snow said. “The strong preference, however, is that local jurisdictions implement their own plans.” #
http://www3.signonsandiego.com
AGRICULTURE: Avocado, citrus may be on the way out
Drought, cutbacks, price increases could deal final blow
North County Times
By BRADLEY J. FIKES - Staff Writer
POSTED - 3/2/09
Avocado and citrus groves have adorned the hilly landscape of rural North San Diego and Southwest Riverside counties for decades. But in just a few years, their lush, semitropical foliage could be replaced by nature's original desert landscape.
Water is the reason.
Its shortage is becoming a permanent condition of California's economy. Even after the current drought is over, court-imposed environmental restrictions on water transfers will ensure there won't be enough to go around, water officials and growers say.
"This is what happens when the state doesn't develop its water supply," said Gary Arant, general manager of the Valley Center Municipal Water District, pointing to a stand of dead avocado trees.
Critical decisions on water supply and pricing expected during the next 12 months will affect the fate of growers not only in Valley Center but in other major centers of production such as Fallbrook, Rainbow and Riverside County.
The effects of these decisions could be seen as early as this summer, when the avocado trees are most in need of water.
- Courts are expected to rule this spring on further restricting water shipments from the critical Sacramento River Delta, source of 40 percent of Southern California's water, to protect endangered fish there.
- In April, Metropolitan Water District, Southern California's main water wholesaler, is scheduled to consider whether it will cut water deliveries. Metropolitan imports water from the delta.
- Next January, Metropolitan is scheduled to consider imposing a wholesale cost increase of from 20 to 35 percent on water agencies, cities and farmers who buy directly from Metropolitan. The bulk of water for San Diego and Riverside counties comes through Metropolitan.
It's made worse, Arant said, because California hasn't developed major new sources of water since the 1970s. So the state is trying to support a population with water sources developed more than 30 years ago.
Even if California began immediately to develop new sources of water, it would take at least a decade to put them in place, Arant said. By then, production of both avocado and citrus will be mostly gone from Valley Center.
With about 14,000 acres of avocado groves containing about 100 trees per acre, that's 1.4 million potentially doomed avocado trees in Valley Center alone.
Dying trees
California's production of avocados, valued at $251 million in 2007, would be crippled if San Diego County's avocado groves are abandoned.
About half the crop comes from San Diego County, most from Valley Center, Fallbrook and Rainbow. Avocado sales from the county's 24,000 acres of groves totaled $127 million in 2007. By comparison, citrus is a minor crop in the county.
Already, thousands of avocado and citrus trees have been cut down or left to die in Valley Center, Arant said.
Touring Valley Center with a North County Times reporter and photographer, Arant pointed out areas of dead groves dating back to the early 1990s, along with more recent groves of newly dead or dying avocado and citrus trees.
Some avocado trees have been "stumped" to temporarily take them out of production, which reduces their water needs.
Valley Center grower Al Stehly said stumped avocado trees can regrow if enough water is available during the hot summer months. If not, they'll die.
"Everybody has to make that decision whether or when they'll give up," Stehly said. So far, he said, his fellow growers are hoping those trees can be saved.
Ben Drake, a grove manager with Temecula-based Drake Enterprises, said growers are looking at how much water they can get, at what price and what their budget will be.
If Metropolitan charges more for delivering less water, as seems likely, avocado production will fall, Drake said.
"If you've had any kind of root rot, or are in an area where you've had marginal production, I think a lot of those growers will go out of business," Drake said. "Those cutbacks and the rate increases will affect all of Riverside and San Diego counties, because we all receive water from Metropolitan."
One-way road
If the trees are left to die, they're not likely to be replaced.
Unlike annual crops, trees take years to bring into production, so the up-front expense is much greater, Arant said. With the cost of water going up and the supply going down, growers aren't going to replant areas they've had to abandon.
"If Metropolitan calls for a 20 percent reduction (in water use), we think our region will experience a 10 to 12 percent reduction" in water, Arant said.
The reduction would be even worse, he said, except for additional water supplies from the Imperial Irrigation District, which make up some of the shortfall.
Arant and Keith Lewinger, general manager of the Fallbrook Public Utility District, agreed that growers will be disproportionately affected, because agricultural water use is a low priority.
About half the avocado growers in Valley Center and Fallbrook buy discounted water, which is first to be reduced in a shortage. Most water in those communities goes to agriculture. Last year, growers in the program were given 30 percent less water than in 2007.
And if Metropolitan imposes reductions of 15 percent or more, growers in the "interruptible" water program will get additional cuts on top of the 30 percent.
Those percentage cuts translate into dead trees, since avocado trees can't survive without irrigation, Arant said.
"Let's say they go to 15 percent. Growers in the interruptible program will go to 40 percent," Arant said. "If Met goes to 20 percent for (municipal and industrial customers), these guys will go to 50 percent. And it gets worse from there."#
http://www.northcountytimes.com
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DWR’s California Water News is distributed to California Department of Water Resources management and staff, for information purposes, by the DWR Public Affairs Office. For reader’s services, including new subscriptions, temporary cancellations and address changes, please use the online page: http://listhost2.water.ca.gov/mailman/listinfo/water_news . DWR operates and maintains the State Water Project, provides dam safety and flood control and inspection services, assists local water districts in water management and water conservation planning, and plans for future statewide water needs. Inclusion of materials is not to be construed as an endorsement of any programs, projects, or viewpoints by the Department or the State of California.
DROUGHT TOPS AGENDA FOR STATE BOARD OF FOOD AGRICULTURE - POSTED - 2/20/09
Farmers, ranchers encouraged to attend February 25 meeting in Fresno
SACRAMENTO, February 19, 2009- Impacts from the historic statewide drought will be discussed at the California State Board of Food and Agriculture meeting on Wednesday, February 25 in Fresno. The meeting will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Fresno County Farm Bureau, 1274 W. Hedges Avenue.
“The impacts of this drought will be significant,” said Secretary A.G. Kawamura of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. “We must work on immediate and long-term solutions to this water crisis.”
At the meeting, the state board will hear from local businesses and communities impacted by the drought as well as discuss the influence of the drought on the state’s natural resource base. As of December 2008, drought losses within the California agricultural sector are estimated to be more than $308 million.
“Continuing to document the economic impacts of this drought is vital,” said Al Montna, President of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture. “This will help to determine the amount of technical and financial assistance needed in our communities.”
The California State Board of Food and Agriculture advises the governor and secretary of food and agriculture of findings as they impact agriculture and consumer needs. The board conducts forums that bring together local, state, and federal government officials, agricultural representatives, and citizens to discuss current issues of concern to California agriculture.
All California State Board of Food and Agriculture meetings are open to the media and general public.
Media Contact: Steve Lyle, Director of Public Affairs, 916/654-0462 or slyle@cdfa.ca.gov
Probability of Metropolitan Urban Rationing Increases to 75% - POSTED - 2/10/09
Metropolitan projects rising rates - POSTED - 2/10/09
Department of Water Resources
California Water News
A DAILY COMPILATION FOR DWR PERSONNEL OF SIGNIFICANT NEWS ARTICLES AND COMMENT
POSTED - 1/30/09
------------------
Top Items –
- Low snowpack may mean a third dry year for California
The Los Angeles Times - Sierra snowpack findings signal a third year of drought
The Sacramento Bee
Low snowpack may mean a third dry year for California
Statewide, the snow's water content is 61% of the average figure for this point in the season. Another La Niña may be developing, an expert says. Conservation is strongly urged.
POSTED - 1/30/09
The Los Angeles Times
By Bettina Boxall
The all-important Sierra Nevada snowpack remains well below normal, signaling that California may be headed for a third consecutive dry year.
When state workers took the second snow measurement of the winter Thursday, they found that statewide, the snow's water content was 61% of the average, over many years, for this point in the season. The figure was even lower in the northern Sierra, which feeds the state's biggest reservoirs.
There are still two months left for winter precipitation to catch up. But state officials say it is increasingly unlikely California will get enough to break the drought that is draining reservoirs and prompting increasingly urgent calls for conservation.
Senior state meteorologist Elissa Lynn said La Niña conditions, which led to an exceptionally dry spring last year, may be redeveloping.
"There's not a lot of indications the rest of the year will be normal, and even if it were, we'd still wind up below average for the northern Sierra," she said.
Water storage in California's major reservoirs is about 60% of average for this date, while statewide precipitation is 70% of the norm.
The picture is brightest in the southern Sierra -- an important source of water for Los Angeles -- where precipitation is almost normal. But even there, snowpack -- measured as the snow's water content -- is 68% of average.
Lynn said that overall, hydrological conditions are about the same in the state as they were during the last major drought, from 1987 to 1992.
Court-ordered, environmental restrictions on pumping from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta are adding to water supply worries.
"It's imperative for Californians to conserve water immediately at home and in their businesses," state water resources director Lester Snow said in a statement.
Southern California water managers have warned there is an increasing chance that rationing will be imposed this summer. #
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-snowpack30-2009jan30,0,260986.story?track=rss
Sierra snowpack findings signal a third year of drought
POSTED - 1/30/09
The Sacramento Bee
By Matt Weiser
State water officials reported Thursday that the statewide snowpack stands at only 61 percent of average for the winter so far; this likely ensures California will see its third straight drought year.
The Department of Water Resources conducted manual snow surveys at several locations in the Sierra Nevada, where the snowpack serves as the state's water bank. Along Highway 50 near Echo Summit, surveyors found 34.6 inches of snow, or 68 percent of average. Conditions are worse in the Northern Sierra, which stands at 49 percent of average.
"We may be at the start of the worst California drought in modern history," DWR Director Lester Snow said in a statement. "It's imperative for Californians to conserve water immediately at home and in their businesses."
Officials have previously said that, because most of the state's reservoirs are so depleted, a wetter-than-average winter is required to recover from the past two drought years.
With each passing day, that becomes less likely. The month of January, often the wettest of the year, was unusually dry, and no more precipitation is expected in what remains of the month. #
http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/1585160.html?mi_rss=Our+Region
DWR’s California Water News is distributed to California Department of Water Resources management and staff, for information purposes, by the DWR Public Affairs Office. For reader’s services, including new subscriptions, temporary cancellations and address changes, please use the online page: http://listhost2.water.ca.gov/mailman/listinfo/water_news . DWR operates and maintains the State Water Project, provides dam safety and flood control and inspection services, assists local water districts in water management and water conservation planning, and plans for future statewide water needs. Inclusion of materials is not to be construed as an endorsement of any programs, projects, or viewpoints by the Department or the State of California.
Department of Water Resources
California Water News
A DAILY COMPILATION FOR DWR PERSONNEL OF SIGNIFICANT NEWS ARTICLES AND COMMENT
POSTED - 1/28/09
------------------
Top Items –
- Farmers feel squeeze, which could worsen
San Diego Union Tribune - Calif farmers idle crops, veggie prices may rise
Associated Press
Farmers feel squeeze, which could worsen San Diego Union Tribune – 1/25/09
POSTED - 1/28/09
By Michael Gardner
SACRAMENTO — Most Southern Californians have been largely insulated from the state's deepening drought, spared painful cuts by a vast network of reservoirs and the reluctance of water managers to take unpopular steps toward rationing.
Not so in the state's heartland.
San Joaquin Valley farmers are bracing for another bleak year, made even more dire by early warnings that the federal Bureau of Reclamation may not – for the first time – deliver a drop of water to many of them.
“Right now is the most critical time the (area) has ever faced,” said John Harris, whose family has farmed and raised cattle off Interstate 5 near Coalinga since 1937. His company has laid off 80 fulltime workers and reduced plantings by 9,000 acres over the past two years.
On Friday, federal water officials issued a statement describing the upcoming season as “challenging,” given plunging reservoir levels. Farmers will be told what their initial water allocation will be on Feb. 20, which will help guide planting decisions. The amount can be modified based on changing weather conditions.
The Westlands Water District, which provides irrigation water for a half-million acres of cotton, produce and nuts along the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, advised its farmers not to expect any water from the federal government. Last year, those growers received just 20 percent of their allocation during the summer, forcing them to abandon fields and shed nearly 1,500 jobs. The district normally receives 700,000 acre-feet of water from the Bureau of Reclamation. Separately, state water deliveries to other farm and urban customers are shrinking. The Department of Water Resources has already told the Metropolitan Water District and its other customers that deliveries out of Lake Oroville could plunge to 15 percent of normal, or less. “We're barely holding on to 15 percent,” said Lester Snow, director of the Department of Water Resources. The State Water Project serves more than 25 million Californians and irrigates 750,000 acres of farmland.
Water shortages are so acute that pressure is growing on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to formally ask the Obama administration to convene the so-called “God Squad” – a panel of Cabinet secretaries who have the authority to sidestep provisions of the Endangered Species Act. That unusual step could fundamentally alter a federal court ruling that requires the state to reserve about 600,000 acre-feet of water – enough for 1.2 million households a year – to protect rare smelt threatened by pumping water out of the Sacramento Delta.
“That has been brought up as an action of last resort,” Snow said. The panel's review could take as long as 18 months, so it's no panacea for the immediate problem, he added.
Jeffrey Kightlinger, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District, said his board is not one of those pushing for that approach. “It's a very tough road,” Kightlinger said. “It's much better to try to work our way through this first.”
More immediately, unless a steady stream of snow-packed storms arrive within the next few months, Metropolitan and its customers, among them the San Diego County Water Authority, could be forced to impose rationing beginning July 1 for the first time since 1991.
Kightlinger said his board is moving deliberatively, hoping for late storms. Weighing heavily, he said, is history. In 1991, Metropolitan's initially ordered cutbacks ranging from 30 percent to 50 percent during the early winter, drawing sharp criticism from many quarters. Then, after a “Miracle March” of downpours, Metropolitan canceled the reductions.
Dennis Cushman, assistant general manager of the San Diego County Water Authority, said the board agrees with an “orderly progression” rather than rushed implementation.
“The fundamental principle the water authority looks at is what is going to be the impact and minimizing that impact on our economy,” Cushman said.
Both agencies are expected to determine by April whether rationing will be necessary, giving agencies time to implement the reductions by July 1.
But rationing has already become a way of life in the San Joaquin Valley, where agriculture interests have enjoyed bountiful, cheap water for decades. The effects are most telling on the west side, where once-fertile land growing lettuce and tomatoes is now being abandoned. Some fruit and nut orchards are being ripped out.
The state blames water shortages for $308 million in lost farm income across California, estimating that 106,493 acres were left idle in 2008.
Richard Howitt, an economics professor at the University of California Davis, estimated that job losses this year may mount to 40,000 if farmers receive only 15 percent of their normal deliveries, even if they increased groundwater pumping by 50 percent. Farm revenue also could drop $800 million, he added.
In the Westlands district, officials estimate that nearly 1,500 jobs were lost in 2008. If no water is delivered this year, 2,000 more could disappear.
Stuart Woolf, president of a diversified family operation in Huron, said his company has already taken out 1,000 acres of lettuce, pulled 850 acres of almond trees and shut down its cotton gin. “We just bit the bullet and walked away from the investment,” Woolf said.
Piling on the woes, bankers have issued a warning: no water, no loans. “My assessment is prepare for the worst,” said Cornelius Gallagher, an agricultural specialist for Bank of America.
Consumers won't be immune either. Another year of idle fields and dry cattle pastures could lead to an increase in prices at the grocery store. A more long-term fear, growers say, is that food companies will turn to foreign suppliers if they cannot count on California growers to deliver a steady stream of goods, from tomatoes for pasta sauce to almonds for cookies.
Making matters worse: Cities and farmers may not be able to readily turn to once-reliable standbys for additional supply – reservoirs, transfers and groundwater – to bail them out. Just about every major reservoir in California is less than half full, and most are hovering around one-third of capacity.
Environmental restrictions on pumping have stymied some plans to transfer water into Metropolitan's Southern California service area. Also, rice growers with water to sell reaped record prices for their crop last year, convincing many that it's more profitable to farm. Groundwater basins are being seriously depleted, and the cost of drilling wells to as deep as 2,000 feet is fast becoming prohibitive.
All of this has sent the state, water agencies and farmers searching for additional supplies. Snow, the state's water czar, said he is looking for 600,000 acre-feet that could be transferred to the most thirsty regions. “We're having difficulty finding sellers to match that,” he said. Instead, the state may have to settle for a quarter of the goal, he said.
The San Diego County Water Authority, which bought 23,000 acre-feet in 2008, wants to double its purchases this year. So far, it has almost locked up 12,500 acre-feet. To add to the gloomy outlook, the prospect for storms that could provide much-needed relief is not good. But Snow said the late-winter and spring months can sometimes yield surprises, as the rains of March 1991 proved.
“Miracles can happen,” he said.
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jan/25/1n25water232615-farmers-feel-squeezewhich-could-w/?zIndex=42700
Calif farmers idle crops, veggie prices may rise Associated Press – 1/25/09
POSTED - 1/28/09
By TRACIE CONE and GARANCE BURKE
Associated Press Writers
MENDOTA, Calif.—Consumers may pay more for spring lettuce and summer melons in grocery stores across the country now that California farmers have started abandoning their fields in response to a crippling drought.
California's sweeping Central Valley grows most of the country's fruits and vegetables in normal years, but this winter thousands of acres are turning to dust as the state hurtles into the worst drought in nearly two decades.
Federal officials' recent announcement that the water supply they pump through the nation's largest farm state would drop further was enough to move John "Dusty" Giacone to forego growing vegetables so he can save his share to drip-irrigate 1,000 acres of almond trees.
"Taking water from a farmer is like taking a pipe from a plumber," said Giacone, a fourthgeneration farmer in the tiny community of Mendota. "How do you conduct business?"
The giants of California agribusiness are the biggest economic engine in the valley, which produces every cantaloupe on store shelves in summer months, and the bulk of the nation's lettuce crop each spring and fall.
This year, officials in Fresno County predict farmers will only grow about 6,000 acres of lettuce, roughly half the acreage devoted to greens in 2005.
That alone could cause a slight bump in consumer prices, unless lettuce companies can make up for the shortage by growing in areas with an abundant water supply, or the cost of cooling, packaging and shipping the crop suddenly goes down, experts say.
"Lettuce comes off the field and goes straight into the market, and if there's nothing coming off the field then the marketing chain goes dry, and prices go up," said Gary Lucier, an agricultural economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service.
While the dry weather has exacerbated the problem, farmers' water woes are not all droughtrelated. Supplies for crops and cities also have been restricted by several court decisions cutting back allocations that flow through a freshwater estuary called the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the main conduit that sends water to nearly two-thirds of Californians. Environmental groups and federal scientists say the delta's massive pumps are one of the factors pushing a native fish to the brink of extinction.
Last year, federal water deliveries were just 40 percent of the normal allocations, fallowing hundreds of thousands of acres and causing nearly $309 million in crop losses statewide. That prompted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to issue a disaster declaration, ordering state water managers to expedite any requests to move water around the state, in part so high-value crops like wine grapes, almonds and pistachio trees would stand a chance of surviving.
Federal reservoirs are now at their lowest level since 1992.
With such a grim outlook, many California farmers including Giacone are investing millions to drill down hundreds of feet in search of new water sources.
Depending on how much it rains this winter, federal water supplies could be slashed down to nothing this year, forcing farmers to rely solely on brackish well water. But the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation won't make an official decision until late February, said Ron Milligan, the agency's Central Valley operations manager.
The state Department of Water Resources, which also ships farmers water, has promised to deliver 15 percent of the normal allocations in October, but conditions are so dire that that's now in doubt, too.
"The consequences are expected to be pretty horrible in terms of farmers' revenue, but what's really disconcerting are the possible job losses," said Wendy Martin, who leads the agency's drought division. "Those communities that can least weather an economic downturn are going to be some of the places that are hit the hardest."
Richard Howitt, a professor of agriculture economics at the University of California, Davis, estimates that $1.6 billion in agriculture-related wages, and as many as 60,000 jobs across the valley will be lost in the coming months due to dwindling water. Analysts haven't yet provided any estimates of crop losses this year. But Bill Diedrich, an almond grower on the valley's parched western edge, said he's already worried he may lose some of his nut trees in the drought.
"The real story here is food security," Diedrich told Milligan and other officials speaking at a conference in Reno, Nev. "It's an absolute emergency and anything to get water flowing quickly is needed."
In the meantime, the forecast appears to be worsening: Meteorologists are predicting a dry spring, and a new state survey shows the population of threatened fish is at its lowest point in 42 years, more imperiled than previously believed.
"This has devastating effects not only for the guys out there in the fields with the weed whackers, but it affects the whole farming industry," said Thomas Nyberg, Fresno County's deputy agricultural commissioner. "I'm just praying for rain."
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_11551097?nclick_check=1
DWR’s California Water News is distributed to California Department of Water Resources management and staff, for information purposes, by the DWR Public Affairs Office. For reader’s services, including new subscriptions, temporary cancellations and address changes, please use the online page: http://listhost2.water.ca.gov/mailman/listinfo/water_news . DWR operates and maintains the State Water Project, provides dam safety and flood control and inspection services, assists local water districts in water management and water conservation planning, and plans for future statewide water needs. Inclusion of materials is not to be construed as an endorsement of any programs, projects, or viewpoints by the Department or the State of California.
WATER SHORTAGE COULD COST 40,000 AG JOBS, $1.15B IN INCOME
POSTED - 1/23/09
BY JAKE HENSHAW
Sacramento Bureau
January 22, 2009
SACRAMENTO — Don't be fooled: The latest rain offers no real relief from dry conditions that could cost Central Valley agriculture more than 40,000 jobs. Advertisement
That was the message delivered Wednesday to the State Board of Food and Agriculture in a session on water conditions that increasingly are putting a squeeze on agricultural operations.
"The Cliff's Notes version of what's going on is we've had two dry years and there's nothing on the horizon that's going to change that in 2009," said Lester Snow, director of the Department of Water Resources.
That means the State Water Project may only be able to deliver 15 percent of farmers' allocation, and some San Joaquin Valley growers said they expect that deliveries from the federal Central Valley Project could drop as low as zero.
Bureau of Reclamation spokeswoman Lynnette Wirth said the agency hasn't provided farmers any allocation notice; that'll come in mid-February.
If both the state and federal projects only manage 15 percent allocations, with a 50 percent increase in groundwater pumping, then the Central Valley will lose more than 40,000 jobs and $1.15 billion in income, said agricultural economist Richard Howitt of the University of California, Davis.
Smaller allocations could push the job losses toward 60,000, from farm workers to the waitress who serves lunches to farm truck drivers, he added.
"These are jobs lost by people who can least afford it and can least afford to move to other areas," Howitt said.
While the impact likely would be more concentrated in the western side of the San Joaquin Valley, Howitt said he plans to look at prospects for water-supply reductions for the eastern side of the Valley, too.
In addition to boosting groundwater use, allocation reductions also could lead to increased cross-valley water transfers from east to west, he said.
The state has requests for 600,000 acre-feet from its water bank system, but is having trouble finding willing sellers because of the uncertainty, Snow added.
He also said other options are more difficult to tap this year. Court action has restricted pumping out of the Delta to protect struggling fish species, and state budget problems have crimped the pipeline that usually delivers state grant aid.
Even when there is snow or rain, the ground is so dry that it soaks up much of the precipitation that in a normal water year would end up in reservoirs.
"Even when you get an average year, if it's after a couple of dry years, you don't get average runoff," Snow said.
Last year left reservoirs critically low, and combined with 2007, the state now is nearly dragging the bottom in the record books.
"When you look at two-year records in our history, it ranks in the lowest 10 percent," Snow said.
WATER SUPPLY OUTLOOK - JANUARY 2009 - POSTED - 1/16/09
Update on Metropolitan’s Projected Water Rates for 2010 - POSTED - 1/16/09
DROUGHT AND WATER DELIVERY LIMITATIONS FOCUS OF STATE BOARD OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE MEETING
POSTED - 1/16/09
Public meeting to be held Wednesday, January 21st in Sacramento
SACRAMENTO, January 16, 2009 – The California State Board of Food and Agriculture will hear public testimony on the economic and social impact of the drought and water delivery limitations upon the state’s food supply at its January 21st meeting. The current statewide drought highlights the need for increased storage, improved conveyance, conservation and a reliable supply of water.
“Strong action is needed to improve our water infrastructure,” said CDFA Secretary A.G. Kawamura. “It is our communities, our businesses and our environment that is at stake.”
The meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 21, 2009 from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. at the California Department of Food and Agriculture, 1220 N Street, Sacramento. Participants will include growers and processors, city and county officials and community representatives. Individuals concerned with the impact of drought and water delivery limitations are encouraged to attend.
“The long term viability of our farms and the environment rests on the reliability of water,” said Al Montna, President of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture. “When reductions from drought and climate change occur, we must understand the impact.”
The California State Board of Food and Agriculture advises the governor and secretary of food and agriculture of findings as they impact agriculture and consumer needs. The board conducts forums that bring together local, state, and federal government officials, agricultural representatives, and citizens to discuss current issues of concern to California agriculture.
All California State Board of Food and Agriculture meetings are open to the media and general public.
Media Contact: Steve Lyle, CDFA Public Affairs, (916) 654-0462 or slyle@cdfa.ca.gov
The California Department of Food and Agriculture protects and promotes California’s agricultural industry. California’s farmers and ranchers produce a safe, secure supply of food, fiber and shelter; marketed fairly for all Californians; and produced with responsible environmental stewardship.
For additional information on the California Department of Food and Agriculture please visit our website at www.cdfa.ca.gov
IMPORTANT NEW DEVELOPMENT LIKELY TO IMPACT WATER SUPPLY- POSTED - December 22, 2008
AN OVERVIEW OF ISSUES RELATING TO THE PHASE OUT OF METROPOLITAN’S INTERIM AGRICULTURAL WATER PROGRAM FOR VENTURA COUNTY - POSTED - December 4, 2008
AN OVERVIEW OF ISSUES RELATING TO THE PHASE OUT OF METROPOLITAN'S INTERIM AGRICULTURAL WATER PROGRAM FOR SAN DIEGO COUNTY - POSTED - December 2, 2008
PUBLIC AGENCIES OPPOSE NEW THREAT TO STATEWIDE WATER SUPPLY
POSTED - November 18, 2008
Press Release:
Public Agencies Oppose New Threat to Statewide Water Supply
State Water Contractors - 11/13/08
SACRAMENTO, Calif., Nov 13, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- California Fish & Game Commission's Proposed Restrictions to Address Fish Decline
Called 'Major Threat' And 'Without Merit'
The State Water Contractors, a statewide organization of 27 public water agencies, voiced serious concern today regarding California Fish & Game Commission proposed regulations that could impose drastic new restrictions on pumping out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta (Delta) to protect longfin smelt, a small fish species that is found in several estuaries along the northern Pacific Coast. The Commission will consider these proposed regulations, which public water agencies consider a major potential threat to statewide water supply, in a hearing this Friday.
The California Department of Water Resources estimates these restrictions could reduce water supplies by approximately one (1) million acre-feet in wet and average year conditions and by 600,000 acre-feet in dry conditions from both the State Water Project (SWP) and federal Central Valley Project (CVP). In average year conditions, these constraints represent approximately 17% of anticipated supply for the two projects, which serve as California's primary water delivery systems.
These proposed restrictions are in addition to severe cutbacks already imposed to address the decline of another similar fish species, the Delta smelt. Last year, a federal judge cut 660,000 acre-feet from the water system, a 31% reduction that could have served 5.3 million Californians for one year.
In a worst case scenario, restrictions to protect both Delta smelt and longfin smelt in 2009 could amount to nearly a 50% slash in water deliveries from the state's primary water delivery systems.
"If the Fish and Game Commission adopts these draconian proposals, we'll be looking at a scary situation," said Laura King Moon, assistant general manager of the State Water Contractors. "The significant drawbacks of this proposal are way out of proportion to its benefits -- there's no guarantee that these restrictions will even protect the fish. We are in the midst of a governor-declared drought and the worst economic downturn in recent memory. This is the wrong time to propose regulations that could have severe impacts on California's economy while offering little, if any, help to the longfin smelt."
These proposed regulations for longfin smelt could impact pumping levels in December, January and February, but are most likely to impact operations in January and/or February. The consideration of these cuts would be triggered at the sole discretion of one individual -- the Director of the California Department of Fish and Game -- if as few as six fish are present near the SWP and CVP pumps during these months.
Public water agencies are critical of the proposed restrictions because they only focus on project pumping operations. Ignored in the proposal are other potential causes for the decline in Delta fish species currently being explored by scientists, including invasive species, ammonia discharges from wastewater treatment plants, other toxics, power plant operations and numerous local diversions. Fish surveys have repeatedly shown that the bulk of the longfin smelt population in the Delta is miles to the west of the water projects and out of their influence. The Fish and Game Commission is reviewing new restrictions for pumping operations in December even though the two projects have not salvaged a single longfin smelt in this month since 2003.
"These proposed restrictions continue the past practice of narrowly focusing on project pumping to protect Delta fish species, an effort that lacks scientific merit and hasn't demonstrated any benefit," said Moon.
"Trying to protect fish in the Delta in this manner could devastate our water supply and is an irresponsible strategy," added Moon. "Rather than continually chipping away at water supply, we need a comprehensive strategy that protects fish in the Delta and ensures Californians have water for their farms, homes and businesses. Unprecedented cutbacks are not the answer, especially in these tough economic times."
In addition to regulatory cutbacks, California has been hit with ongoing dry conditions. State reservoirs are drying up and many are at their lowest levels in years. To make matters worse, the water crisis goes beyond these regulatory and weather conditions. Twenty-five million Californians and more than three million acres of agricultural land currently get their water supplies moved through the Delta. However, the water delivered through the Delta is at risk because of the estuary's failing condition, antiquated levees and the threat of natural disaster.
Public water agencies, environmental organizations, and state and federal agencies are working together to develop a long-term solution. The Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), a comprehensive conservation plan for the Delta, is researching new ways to protect the struggling ecosystem by physically separating its natural tidal movements from the conveyance of water supplies, a strategy that has been identified as the best way to restore and protect the Delta ecosystem and ensure a reliable water supply for California. For more information on the BDCP, please visit http://www.resources.ca.gov/bdcp/.
The State Water Contractors is a statewide, non-profit association of 27 public agencies from Northern, Central and Southern California that purchase water under contract from the California State Water Project. Collectively the State Water Contractors deliver water to more than 25 million residents throughout the state and more than 750,000 acres of agricultural lands. For more information on the State Water Contractors, please visit www.swc.org.
http://www.marketwatch.com
WATER SUPPLY FALLING SHORT; RATIONING MAY BE NECESSARY
POSTED - October 30, 2008
09:19 AM PDT on Thursday, October 30, 2008
By JANET ZIMMERMAN
The Press-Enterprise
Inland water agencies could get only 15 percent of the supplies they requested from the State Water Project next year -- one of the lowest anticipated deliveries since 1993 -- possibly spurring mandatory rationing in some areas, officials said Wednesday.
The state Department of Water Resources is scheduled to announce the estimated allocation of water from Northern California today. But a state expert confirmed it will be 15 percent, and local authorities said that was consistent with what they were told to prepare for.
"We're anticipating getting a low allocation, possibly a record low," said Bob Muir, spokesman for Metropolitan Water District, a wholesaler for 18 million customers in the Inland area and other parts of Southern California.
The Department of Water Resources supplies Metropolitan and 28 other agencies.
The announcement follows two dry years and court-ordered reductions in Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta pumping that cut the amount delivered to suppliers by two-thirds, said Ted Thomas, department spokesman.
The 2008 water year, which ended Sept. 30, was deemed critically dry, with statewide runoff from snowpack at 57 percent of normal. Instead of the normal two-thirds full, the state's major reservoirs are at about one-third of capacity.
The state commonly makes conservative estimates for allocations, then boosts them if supplies become available. This year, allocations were estimated at 25 percent early on, then increased to 35 percent based on rainfall and snowpack.
In 1993, when the estimate was for 10 percent allocations at the end of a six-year drought, agencies ended up receiving 100 percent of what they'd requested.
"We're hoping this is not the final allocation," Thomas said. "We're keeping our fingers crossed that it gets better. ... It all depends on the weather."
State meteorologists are predicting average rainfall, although forecasts are not unanimous.
If this winter is dry, suppliers might have to ratchet up conservation and fine water wasters. Metropolitan has a plan to double prices for its customers who go over a set limit and will discuss in April whether to begin rationing next summer.
"Southern California is facing the very real possibility of water shortages, which could mean water rationing," Muir said.
His agency made 30 percent reductions in agricultural water deliveries in Riverside and San Diego counties last year and invested in groundwater storage, recycling of waste water and water-saving technologies, he said.
In anticipation of shortages, water agencies have been preaching voluntary conservation, especially outdoors.
Western Municipal Water District, which serves about 24,000 retail customers in western Riverside County, relies on the state for 80 percent of its supplies. The agency will offer more aggressive grants and rebates for products such as moisture-sensing irrigation controllers. It also will pay residents to replace grass with native plants, and it could fine outdoor water wasters, General Manager John Rossi said.
The district's retail agencies, including Norco, Corona, Elsinore Valley and Rancho California in Temecula, have agreed that the agencies less reliant on imported Northern California water will share with harder-hit districts, Rossi said.
Water officials cautioned that until issues in the Delta are resolved, including new or better ways to move water through a crumbling canal system, the likelihood of getting full allocations again are slim.
The San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District, which serves 10 agencies from Fontana to Yucaipa, has gotten by using water from reservoirs and wells, said Douglas Headrick, deputy general manager. The district relies on groundwater for about 70 percent of its supply.
Average rainfall in Northern and Southern California this year, combined with a 15 percent allocation from the state, would allow the district to "squeak by" without rationing. But cutbacks will be needed in some places, he said.
"No one likes to use the word rationing, but there it is," Headrick said.
Reach Janet Zimmerman at 951-368-9586 or jzimmerman@PE.com
WATER RATIONING IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY
POSTED - October 9, 2008
What Water Rationing Will Look Like
By Rob Davis
Voiceofsandiego.org
Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008 | Last September, when a federal judge cut water deliveries from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, a major source of Southern California's drinking water, the Long Beach Water Department bucked convention: It immediately instituted mandatory restrictions on consumption.
Monday, Thursday and Saturday are the only permissible lawn-watering days (and only after 4 p.m. or before 9 a.m.). Letting water run off into the street is prohibited. Restaurants can serve water only upon request. Hotels must offer guests the option of not having fresh towels and sheets each day. Violations can bring $50 fines that double with each incident. (Just two fines have been issued in the last year.)
As San Diego water agencies have called on residents to voluntarily conserve water, Long Beach has written it into the law. San Diego residents have cut consumption about 6 percent; Long Beach's have cut 9 percent. That small increase in savings has been the difference between meeting conservation goals in Long Beach and missing them here.
"We don't have lawns dying," said Kevin Wattier, Long Beach's general manager. "I don't see any difference. You can get 9 to 10 percent without doing any damage to your local economy."
With water agencies in San Diego County currently considering how they'll handle an expected cut in supplies next year -- what would be the first water rationing since 1992 -- Long Beach's steps offer a glimpse of what may be in store. Endangered species protections in the Sacramento Delta and prolonged drought on the Colorado River, arid San Diego's two main drinking water supplies, threaten to make 2009 a tough water year.
Local water agencies are planning for a 10 percent cut in deliveries from the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District, the wholesaler that delivers a majority of San Diego's supply. If that cut comes, the 24 local agencies that supply drinking water to county residents will have to deliver savings or face significant fines.
If the call for conservation continues being unsuccessful and mandatory restrictions are put in place, agencies' strategies for enforcing those measures will vary. Many will turn to financial penalties for excessive use. Homeowners who use water excessively will see a bigger increase in their bills than those who don't. Rates that would double or triple a users' typical bill are possible.
"When the rates go way up because we have to use way less, that's when we'll see a noted reduction in the use of water," said Mark Weston, general manager of the Helix Water District, which supplies La Mesa.
Some agencies are planning tougher steps. Mark Rogers, general manager of the Sweetwater Authority, which supplies National City and parts of Chula Vista, said his agency's board will consider a proposal in December to cap the amount of water it delivers to customers based on their historic consumption levels.
Deliveries would vary from home-to-home and business-to-business, Rogers said. Homeowners and businesses would be allowed 20 percent of the water they used based on a three-year average from 2004-2006. Instead of fining violators, flow restrictors on water pipes would halt deliveries to scofflaws.
Rogers calls it "the adult approach." He said the agency fears financial penalties won't dissuade some homeowners from keeping green lawns if they can simply pay nominal fines to continue excessive use.
"We don't want people to be able to pay their way out," he said. "I'm not going to tell you how to use your water. I am going to tell you how much you can use."
Other water agencies say they are concerned about penalizing residents who have conserved water since the last drought struck the region from 1987-1992.
"It's an issue we face now that we didn't in 1991," said Ken Weinberg, water resources director at the San Diego County Water Authority. "You have people who are doing the right thing and people who aren't."
The region may also face the possibility of water police: Code enforcement officers who ensure that water isn't being wasted. The Padre Dam Municipal Water District, which supplies almost 100,000 people from Santee to Alpine, in June became the first water agency in San Diego to institute mandatory restrictions on consumption, limiting lawn watering and other outdoor uses.
The district's staff has been trained to keep a lookout for wasteful water uses -- broken sprinklers, irrigation runoff in the streets -- while out in neighborhoods, spokesman Mike Uhrhammer said. Since July, the district has sent 100 warnings to residents who are violating the new rules. Just three warnings have been repeat offenders. Uhrhammer said those residents face a $150 fine or the option of attending a two-hour water conservation class. It's too soon to measure the effort's success, he said.
Residents can file complaints about their neighbors' use, but Uhrhammer said Padre Dam won't issue warnings from such a grievance without follow up, concerned that the district may get caught up in a Hatfield-McCoy dispute.
"We have a lot of neighbor-versus-neighbor type of things going on out there," Uhrhammer said. "We have had neighbors talk about restraining orders."
Extensive policing is not likely at the city of San Diego, which asks residents to report wasteful water use. Jim Barrett, the city's public utilities director, said the Water Department estimates it would have to hire 10 staffers to investigate complaints if they increased. Before declaring a water emergency in July, the city received few complaints; it now gets about six each day. In contrast, Long Beach has received almost 4,000 complaints (that's an average of about 11 a day) since instituting mandatory restrictions a year ago.
San Diego officials remain hopeful that they will not have to enforce punitive measures to get residents to save water.
"We haven't gotten to the point yet where we're willing to admit that mandatory conservation and financial penalties are the only solution," Barrett said. "We don't need to come around with a 10-pound sledgehammer and hit people in the head, just because we have one."
Please contact Rob Davis directly at rob.davis@voiceofsandiego.org with your thoughts, ideas, personal stories or tips. Or set the tone of the debate with a letter to the editor.
UPDATE ON SAN DIEGO'S NEW IRRIGATED AGRICULTURAL WAIVER
POSTED - October 1, 2008
San Diego's new irrigated agricultural waiver became effective January 1, 2008. With this Ag waiver, the Water Board's intent is to reach out to the Ag community, obtain water quality data, and give the Ag sector an opportunity to show that discharges from Ag operations are not a problem or are not as big a problem as initially believed.
A grower’s workshop was held at the San Diego Farm Bureau back in March 2008 to inform growers about the new Ag waiver and how it will affect Ag operations in San Diego. As of today (October 2008), the San Diego Water Board is awaiting the final approval of the waiver from the State Water Resources Control Board and the Office of Administrative Law.
If approved, the new regulation will require growers to enroll in the Ag waiver program by January 1, 2011. There will be no annual fee or enrollment fee. Growers will be required to conduct water quality monitoring for one year during 2012 and submit a report at the end of 2012. (San Diego Water Board is expected to come out with the enrollment applications in October 2008. Enrollment applications and other basic information to assist Ag operators will be available on their website.)
Growers can choose to enroll as a group or as an individual. The San Diego Water Board is encouraging growers to establish monitoring groups. The goal is to get as many agricultural operators as possible enrolled in a small number of groups. The idea of having one monitoring group administered by the Farm Bureau is also being considered. While, the San Diego Water Board is generally in support of the idea, it is likely that there will be a need for some alternatives.
The San Diego Water Board continues to coordinate with the State Irrigated Lands Program and other regional boards in developing the program. This includes holding workshops and sharing information about how to proceed with the waiver implementation.
The San Diego Water Board is proceeding with the waiver as though it will be approved. A workshop will be held on November 6, 2008 at Rancho California Water District. Speakers from the State Water Board and the San Diego Water Board will be presenting information on the new water quality regulations. There will also be speakers from Mission Resource Conservation District and from NRCS to give presentations on management practices for Ag.
STATE ACTIVATING DROUGHT WATER BANK
POSTED - September 24, 2008
10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, September 23, 2008
By JANET ZIMMERMAN
The Press-Enterprise
Facing the third dry winter in a row, the state is activating a plan to transfer water supplies from Northern California to drought-plagued areas farther south, possibly staving off mandatory rationing, water officials said Tuesday.
Consumers could get hit with higher water bills as a result.
This would be the first use of the state's drought water bank since 1992, the end of six dry years that killed lawns and fish populations, drove down agricultural land values and forced severe rationing in some communities across the state.
This summer, Gov. Schwarzenegger declared a drought statewide and a drought emergency in the Central Valley, where farmers have been devastated by the water shortage.
Under the banking plan proposed by the Department of Water Resources, willing sellers in Northern California would agree to curtail their use of water so it can be shipped south via canals operated by the State Water Project or federal Central Valley Project.
Most of the sellers are farmers north of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta who would be paid to idle crops or pump groundwater instead of using surface water, said Teresa Geimer, water bank coordinator.
The action is a way to deal with court-ordered sanctions on the amount of water taken from the Delta, where fish populations are threatened by massive pumps that alter the water flow. The Delta supplies water for two-thirds of California's residents.
The state has asked that water providers in dry regions express interest in using the bank by Oct. 15, Geimer said. The allotment could be enough to serve 1.2 million homes, although the supply is not guaranteed.
Sellers have yet to set their prices, Geimer said.
"Once we know who wants to participate and how much water they want, we'll do our best to meet those needs," she said.
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which supplies 26 member agencies serving about 18 million people, probably will participate but hasn't decided how much water to ask for, spokesman Bob Muir said.
"It would help shore up our supplies as we head toward 2009," he said.
The additional costs were figured into an overall 14.2 percent rate increase for MWD customers beginning in January. It's still unclear how the rate increase will affect household consumers. MWD already has imposed a mandatory 30 percent cut in supplies for agricultural users.
Water officials have declared a water crisis and are urging extraordinary conservation and development of ways to recharge local groundwater supplies.
The Delta isn't the only problem. Global warming has decreased the snowpack that feeds rivers, and imported water from the Colorado River has been severely curtailed because of an eight-year drought and increased demand.
So far, local water districts have not imposed rationing for residential customers. They have managed without cutbacks by using reserves, such as Metropolitan's Diamond Valley Lake in Hemet, a six-month emergency supply now drawn down by about one-third, said Peter Odencrans, spokesman for Eastern Municipal Water District in Perris.
John Rossi, general manager of Western Municipal Water District in Riverside, praised the water bank idea and said the water will ultimately be less expensive than Metropolitan's penalty rates that will be imposed on districts exceeding their allotments.
"It will help," Rossi said.
Reach Janet Zimmerman at 951-368-9586 or jzimmerman@PE.com
MORE WITH LESS
POSTED - September 24, 2008
A comprehensive report on agricultural water conservation and efficiency in California, with a special focus on the Delta.
View the report
View the report update for September
METROPOLITAN PLAN COULD CURB HARVEST
POSTED - September 10, 2008
Department of Water Resources
California Water News
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
September 10, 2008
Metropolitan plan could curb harvest
The San Diego Tribune- 9/10/08
By Mike Lee
The Metropolitan Water District plans to end a 14-year-old program that gives discounted rates to farmers in Southern California. The move is likely to reduce the amount of food produced in the region.
Growers in San Diego County account for about two-thirds of the water sold through the program, which offers lower prices in exchange for supply cutbacks during dry years.
Some growers are willing to pay higher rates for a more reliable water supply, while others – particularly avocado farmers – said losing the discounts will make it hard to stay in business in an era of quickly rising costs for fuel and fertilizer.
“I just don't see how the avocado industry can make it. I have been doing this for 34 years and it looks like this is the end of the road to me,” said Russ Hatfield, an avocado farmer in Fallbrook.
Under Metropolitan's program, growers obtain a price break by agreeing to have their water allotment cut by 30 percent or more when the region's supplies run low. This year was the first time that the agency imposed restrictions.
Yesterday, the agency's board discussed phasing out the discount pricing over five years. A final decision isn't expected until October.
The proposal allows farmers to opt out of the discount program in January. It also outlines new conservation incentives to help farmers who pay full price install highly efficient irrigation equipment. Metropolitan also might pay farmers to not irrigate some parcels.
“If the program is going to end, at least this is a bit of a soft landing instead of an instant end,” said Eric Larson, executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau.
He said the days are numbered for irrigation discounts because Metropolitan's board consists mainly of representatives for urban water districts that dislike giving farmers price breaks while the agency's reserves are dwindling and conservation mandates are growing.
Jeffrey Kightlinger, Metropolitan's general manager, said the program for farmers no longer makes sense because the agency would have to impose restrictions almost every year given the drought and other water-supply constraints across California.
He said there's still a future for agriculture in Southern California, but that farmers will have to select only high-value crops – such as flowers and strawberries – to cover their full-price water costs.
Avocado growers face the toughest challenge because they have thin profit margins and typically lack other crop options, Larson said.
“When you look at the kind of ground (avocados) grow on – the real steep hillsides – that land will never convert to another ag use,” he said.
The situation is filled with difficult questions for hundreds of North County farmers such as Hatfield, for whom water is the main expense. The discount water program saves him thousands of dollars a year, he said.
Hatfield said he'll probably take a few months to decide whether to drop out of the program in 2009.
Even farmers who opt to pay full price next year would be subject to any reductions in the regional water supply, just like non-farmers.
That means growers could face another round of cutbacks next year unless a wet winter ends the statewide drought, said Dave Seymour, general manager at the Rainbow Municipal Water District in Fallbrook.
He said farmers with just a few acres of land are likely to exit the discount program quickly while owners of larger groves will probably hang on to their price breaks next year.
“It's going to be a short-term blessing for people if they can get out of the program and get as much water as they need,” Seymour said. “But in the long run, they are going to have to pay a higher price for that water and that's going to cut into the bottom line.”
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080910-9999-1m10water.html
Special to the San Diego Union-Tribune
POSTED - July 9, 2008
Word Count: 461words
Contact: Bob Muir, MWD Press Office, (213) 217-6930
"Southern California Needs to Discuss Water Strategy for Agriculture"
By Jeff Kightlinger
A word may no longer play such a major role in Southern California water planning. That word is "surplus." The region has long managed its water supplies as though there was extra to provide in any given year. This so-called surplus has been sold at a discount rate to some (but not all) farming operations under a program overseen by the region's primary water wholesaler, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. But now the region is facing a worsening water shortage and Metropolitan has been forced to reduce agricultural water deliveries. In San Diego County, some avocado farmers have stunted their trees down to the stump to minimize their need for water. This exemplifies how continuing tough choices lie ahead. Our entire region needs to adjust to a new water reality, and that includes agriculture. Since the 1987-92 drought, Metropolitan has increased the region's storage capacity by more than 10-fold. The district constructed Diamond Valley Lake in southwest Riverside County, nearly doubling Southern California's surface storage capacity. It developed underground storage programs of similar capacity in the San Joaquin Valley. The goal has been to store additional supplies when water is available in wet years and minimize the impacts of the inevitable dry years. In 1994, the district created a unique water program for interested farmers. They could purchase water at a discount when extra water was available. But, there was one proviso--if reserves began to dwindle, farmers would be the first to face supply reductions. This year, farmers relying on discounted water from this program are having their supplies reduced by 30 percent. Prior to 2008, Metropolitan had never curtailed water supplies to these farmers. However, the region's two major imported supply sources--from the Colorado River and Northern California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta--face unprecedented challenges. The Colorado River is recovering from a historic drought, highlighted by record dry conditions for eight of the last nine years. Deteriorating environmental conditions in the Delta are triggering supply cutbacks to agencies serving more than 25 million Californians statewide and farmers throughout the fertile Sacramento and Central valleys. A comprehensive fix in the Delta will take years, and Metropolitan has been forced to draw on its reserves. Faced with these challenges, Metropolitan's Board of Directors will be reviewing in the coming months the future of its agricultural water program. Regardless of any changes to this program, agriculture will remain a part of Southern California's future. However, all of Southern California's sectors-residential, commercial, industrial and agriculture-must face a future that demands greater water efficiency. Conservation and careful water planning are needed to sustain our economy and lifestyle, and to keep those beautiful, productive orchards alive.
Jeff Kightlinger is the general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CA DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES UPDATE OF HYDROLOGIC CONDITIONS
POSTED - May 8, 2008
Spring 2008 is turning out to be extremely dry.
The current 8-Station Index for Water Year 2008 indicates:
- Seasonal total of 33.7 inches is now less than last year's seasonal total of 34.4 inches at this time.
- October through April total of 33.7 inches is the 22nd driest year out of 88 years of record.
- March 2008, with a precipitation total of 1.6 inches (23% of average) was the sixth driest March of 88 years of record.
- April 2008 was also the sixth driest April on record.
- Combined March and April total precipitation is only 2.3 inches, the driest on record (since 1921).
Other points of interest include:
- Large water supply reservoirs received some inflow from Spring storms; however, much of the precipitation fell as snow.
- Because precipitation was significantly below average last year, dry hydrologic conditions still prevail.
- Storage in most of the major water supply reservoirs is still well below average.
- The latest National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center (CPC) long-range weather outlook for May 2008 is forecasting below average precipitation for Northern and Southern California. Average precipitation is forecasted for Central California.
- METROPOLITAN 2009 WATER RATE UPDATE - POSTED - March 17, 2008
- WATER SUPPLY UPDATE, MAY 2008 - POSTED - June 5, 2008
- Agricultural Water Pricing - Voter Survey, January 2008 - POSTED - February 8, 2008
- Agriculture's Response to Frequently Asked Questions about the IAWP - POSTED - January 28, 2008
- IAWP Presentation to the Metropolitan Water District, January 2008 - POSTED - January 28, 2008
Click here to view the latest Newsletter from the Southern California Agricultural Water Team:
MAY 2008 AG WATER NEWSLETTER - POSTED - June 5, 2008
RIVERSIDE COUNTY AG WATER OUTLOOK 2008 - POSTED - May 22, 2008
Click on the links below to read the latest information provided by the Commission about California avocado water resources.
Summary of IAWP Reduction Guidelines, August 2007 - POSTED - August 14, 2007
Click on the links below to read the latest information on wholesale water rates and supply availability.
- The Impact of Agricultural Water Deliveries in Southern California - POSTED - January 23, 2008
- Water Supply and Global Warming - POSTED - April 10, 2007