Water Supply
From: Howard Weaver,
Sacramento Bee
Re "California drought will test Jerry Brown"
(Page A1, Jan. 12): I've only lived in California about 20 years, so I may be
missing the logic in our water decisions. I read that Sacramento and the
Central Valley will be rationing water, but Los Angeles won't. It seems that LA
will be fine for a couple of years, but we're supposed to let things here dry
out while we spend billions of dollars, disrupt ecosystems and tunnel through
earthquake country to keep them wet. This must make sense somehow, but I don't
see it yet.
Coalition response... California water managers seek not only to balance water supply
and use across geography, but across time as well. Suppliers in southern
California have invested billions in local storage to stabilize these uncertain
supplies. Filling reservoirs during periods of plenty and then retaining that
water for use during dry seasons is a prudent response to the challenges of
California's precipitation patterns. As recently as last year, we lost an
opportunity to store 815,000 acre-feet of water to help the state through this
dry period because that water was discharged to the ocean with no measurable
ecological benefits. Water we could certainly have used this year.
From: David Hayes, Sacramento
Bee
The governor will soon make it
official: California is experiencing a drought.
Calendar year 2013 sported the
lowest rainfall in California's recorded history, and the early weeks of the
"rainy" season have brought little or no rain to much of the state.
It looks like many farmers will be forgoing spring plantings, and cities are
wondering how long their water supplies will hold out. If another year goes by
with little rain, reservoirs will be tapped out and the state will face an even
more severe crisis.
Coalition
response... We agree with Mr. Hayes
that California is in a drought, but to claim that the Endangered Species Act
(ESA) is not affecting this year's water supply is unbelievable. It was the ESA
that just one year ago stopped the export of 815,000 acre-feet of water that
ultimately went out to the ocean with no measurable environmental benefit. That
water could be used today to help urban communities and farmers cope with this
year's actual drought.
Congress may not be able to make
it rain but it certainly has the power, and has used it freely, to govern how
water supplies are allowed to be managed for people and the environment.
Drought
From: Staff, Western Farm
Press (Subscription required)
Nearly half of California's 58
counties qualify for federal drought disaster assistance by the U.S. Department
of Agriculture On the list of 27 counties eligible for low-interest emergency
loans include all 11 counties in California's agriculturally-rich San Joaquin
Valley. This is significant because eight of those counties are among America's
10-top Ag-producing counties.
From: Lemor Abrams, yourcentralvalley.com
The Valley's water crisis was
front and center Wednesday.
Elementary School Students,
growers, and political leaders spoke up ahead of a water rally in Sacramento
expected to draw thousands.
From: Staff, KGET-TV
A statewide drought declaration
may happen sooner rather than later. Kern County Water Agency officials said
Wednesday they expect word from the governor by the end of this week.
Officials said the declaration
will do some good. They said Kern County could get more water from the
California Aqueduct, a source that supplies three cities and hundreds of
thousands of acres of farmland in the county. But it won't make it rain, which
is the only thing that will save the state from drought.
Water Supply
From: Bettina Boxall, Los
Angeles Times
Officials of the small Mendocino
County town of Willits looked at their two municipal reservoirs last week, did
some calculating and realized they had enough water to last only 100 days. It
was time to adopt the toughest rationing measures they could.
The 5,000 residents of this
former lumber town on the edge of redwood country are now on a crash water
diet. A family of four isn't supposed to use more than 150 gallons a day.
Outdoor watering, car washing and hosing down pavement are banned. Businesses have
been ordered to cut water use 35%.
"The more we looked at the
data, the more we realized the situation is bleak," Willits City Manager
Adrienne Moore said.
From: John Holland, Modesto
Bee
The City Council is holding off
on selling treated wastewater to West Side farmers because the Turlock
Irrigation District is interested in it, too.
The council this week agreed to a
two-month delay of a proposed sale to the Del Puerto Water District, which
covers about 45,000 acres along Interstate 5 between Vernalis and Santa Nella.
The five-year deal would meet about 10 percent of the demand in the district,
which has had drastic cuts in its supply from the federal Delta-Mendota Canal.
Bay Delta
Conservation Plan
From: Lois Henry, Bakersfield
Californian
Gov. Jerry Brown and his
administration put on a full-court press this week on Brown's plan to fix
California's water woes. Brown himself visited several valley cities. His plan,
known as the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), went on its own valley tour
complete with an entourage of staffers to answer questions. And Secretary of
the Natural Resources Agency John Laird made a string of calls to members of
the media.
Whether BDCP improves water
supplies in Kern County, where most of our west-side farming is dependant on
water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta, depends on how you look at the
situation, Laird told The Californian Wednesday. Without the plan, "...
the delta will decline and water exports from the delta will continue to
decline," he said.
Water Bond
From: Laurel Rosenhall,
Sacramento Bee Blog
With California into a third year
of dry weather and several cities imposing restrictions on water use, the time
has come for state leaders to "seriously consider" putting another
water bond on the ballot, Senate leader Darrell Steinberg said today.
"I think what's going on now
creates an urgency to seriously consider putting a bond on the ballot in 2014,
and not later," Steinberg said.
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