ACWA Urges Action on Governor’s Water Bond Proposal for November Ballot
A second Outreach Action Alert was sent Aug. 5 to ACWA member agencies urging them to contact their legislators in support of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s comprehensive $9.3 billion water bond for the November 2008 ballot. A similar alert was sent in mid-July.
Time is running out. The deadline set by the secretary of state to get a bond on the ballot is Aug. 16. Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata and Assembly Speaker Karen Bass have signaled their intent to focus on a water bond as soon as the state budget is finished.
ACWA’s Board of Directors voted unanimously on July 25 to support the governor’s proposal. However, a massive show of support is needed from the local level to make the bond a reality. With little time left, member agencies are urged to contact their legislators immediately and urge them to move a comprehensive water bond through the Legislature in time for the November 2008 ballot.
A sample letter and talking points were included in the ACWA Alert. Member agencies may log in and view the alert here.
Bill Ends Longtime Water Dispute in Riverside County
A bill that resolves a decades-old water rights dispute in Riverside County was signed into law July 31 by President Bush.
The Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians Settlement Act of 2007 (HR 4841) ends more than 75 years of dispute involving the Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians, the City of Hemet, the City of San Jacinto, Metropolitan Water District, Lake Hemet Water District and Eastern Municipal Water District.
The bill resolves conflict over the limited resources of the San Jacinto River groundwater basin. It also resolves a 2000 lawsuit filed by the tribe against MWD. The tribe had claimed that a tunnel built by the water agency in the 1930s improperly drained water from the reservation.
Introduced by U.S. Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Palm Springs), the act ratifies an agreement reached by the parties in 2003. The newly signed law includes cash, property and assured water supplies for the tribe, as well as recharging the groundwater basin that serves the San Jacinto Valley residents.
Drought Information, Agency Impacts Available from ACWA
August has arrived, and California’s drought continues to worsen.
Reservoir levels statewide have dropped 2-10% since July 1. Lake Oroville, one of the state’s largest reservoirs and the mainstay of the State Water Project, is at 38% of capacity and just 49% of average for this time of year. The San Luis Reservoir, which supplies water to the SWP and federal Central Valley Project, is at 25% of capacity and 45% of average.
The four-month period of March-April-May-June qualified as the driest on record for each month. April-May-June was the sixth driest in 114 years of record keeping. Rainfall for the year is about at 75% of average.
Court-ordered restrictions on pumping in the Delta remain in place, reducing pumping by as much as 30%.
California’s natural and regulatory drought conditions are having significant impacts on water agencies statewide. ACWA has been tracking the drought and its impacts on water agencies around California, and continues to update information daily. For an overview of water agencies responding to the drought, click here.
USGS Studies Groundwater Quality in California Coastal Valleys
The U.S. Geological Survey’s California Water Science Center is leading a large-scale study of groundwater quality in several California inland coastal valleys from Alameda to Ventura counties beginning this month.
USGS is testing water in California groundwater basins over a 10-year period with the voluntary cooperation of local water agencies and well owners. The Priority Basin Project is a collaboration between the State Water Resources Control Board’s Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories.
The Inland Coastal Ranges unit is one of 35 GAMA groundwater study units and consists of the interior groundwater basins of the Livermore Valley, the Llagas, Bolsa, Hollister, and San Juan Bautista areas of the Gilroy-Hollister Valley, and the Cuyama Valley. The study unit includes portions of Alameda, Santa Clara, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Kern and Ventura counties.
Water-quality sampling will start Aug. 11. A report on the data is expected to be available in about a year.
More information is available here.
Draft Environmental Documents Available for Glenn County Groundwater Testing Project
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has released a draft Environmental Assessment (EA) and draft Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for a temporary groundwater test project. The draft EA and FONSI are available for a 30-day public comment period.
Under the proposed action, Reclamation would partially fund the installation of up to seven test production wells within Glenn County. Glenn Colusa Irrigation District, Orland Unit Water Users Association and Orland Artois Water District would operate these wells for a temporary period, according to a performance testing plan.
The testing would help assess the physical and operational characteristics of the Tehama and Lower Tuscan aquifer formations, and increase understanding of the potential effects of ongoing and future groundwater development. The water pumped for testing would be used locally and conveyed using existing infrastructure. With the exception of well installation, no other water conveyance construction would occur.
The draft EA and draft FONSI were developed under the National Environmental Policy Act. They are available online here.
Written comments are due Sept. 5 and should be sent to Tamara LaFramboise, Bureau of Reclamation, 2800 Cottage Way, MP-410, Sacramento, CA 95825, e-mailed to tlaframboise@mp.usbr.gov, or faxed to (916) 978-5290. |
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Previously Viewed News
ACWA Supports Water Bond Proposal
ACWA has taken a formal position in support of a proposed water bond package for the November 2008 ballot. The $9.3 billion package, proposed July 10 by U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, would provide funding for local resource development, Delta sustainability and infrastructure improvements to address the state’s deepening water crisis.
ACWA’s Board of Directors voted Friday to support the package, calling it the right mix of long-term investments in backbone water infrastructure as well as water use efficiency, recycling and other local strategies to improve water supply reliability.
To view the ACWA new release, click here.
Study Finds Southern California Must Devise a Water Supply Plan
A study released by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation Monday found that local and regional water agencies and companies must jointly develop a strategy to avoid water shortages in the future.
The study was commissioned by the Southern California Leadership Council and other sponsors to identify and compare water supply and reliability options for the region in light of the declining supplies from traditional water import sources – the Colorado River, the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta, and the Owens River.
The study’s preliminary findings, which still await input from the water sector, emphasize a new water conveyance system in the Delta, a concerted self-help water supply program and urban water conservation as top priorities, among others.
“Our local, regional water agencies and private water companies need to work together to devise and implement a regional water reliability strategy, which uses Southern California's full array of water resources and infrastructure, including exchange programs, underground storage, and other shared services to meet our future water needs," said SCLC Executive Director Lee Harrington.
For more information, click here.
‘Carbon Farming’ Could Help Restore Delta
A study will soon be conducted to see if growing wetlands in the San Joaquin-Bay Delta can help rebuild Delta soil that has sunken over time by capturing atmospheric carbon dioxide.
The Department of Water Resources has awarded the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of California, Davis, a three-year, $12.3 million research grant to explore the concept of carbon-capture farming.
Long-standing farming practices in the Delta expose fragile peat soils to wind, rain and cultivation, emit carbon dioxide and cause land subsidence. To capture or contain the carbon, farmers would "grow" wetlands, using plants such as tules and cattails to remove carbon dioxide from the air. As the plants die and decompose, they create new peat soil, building the land surface over time.
The USGS and DWR have already partnered on a pilot project that shows the promise of carbon-capture farming. On deeply subsided Twitchell Island in the western Delta, USGS scientists recorded elevation gains of more than 10 inches from 1997 to 2005 on two seven-acre test plots as cattails, tules and other plants grew, died and decomposed. The process leaves behind roots and plant remnants that compact into a material similar to what formed the peat soils initially.
Construction on the new wetlands, covering approximately 400 acres on a western Delta island, is scheduled to start in the spring of 2009.
For more information click here.
San Diego Mayor Declares Water Emergency
Mayor Jerry Sanders declared a water shortage emergency in San Diego on Monday and urged residents to voluntarily conserve or face mandatory cutbacks in the future.
The city’s water use had dropped by 7% following a call for voluntary conservation in February, but has since returned to more typical levels.
The mayor also announced that rates could go up by 6% in 2009, since dwindling supplies and restrictions on pumping in the Delta have caused prices to rise.
City Attorney Michael Aguirre delivered a memorandum to the council seeking mandatory water conservation in a Stage 3 alert. Instead, the city council voted unanimously to formalize a Stage 1 water shortage emergency, but agreed to have its Natural Resources and Culture Committee hold hearings in September to consider more stringent mandatory cutbacks.
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