California Urges Tunnel System for Delta

California Urges Tunnel System for Delta



latimes.com/news/local/la-me-water-tunnel-20101216,0,4140245.story
latimes.com

The $13-billion project would carry water under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River estuary to southbound aqueducts. Environmental groups assail the plan.

By Bettina Boxall, Los Angeles Times

December 16, 2010

State officials Wednesday recommended construction of a $13-billion tunnel system that would carry water under the troubled Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to southbound aqueducts, a project that would replumb a perpetual bottleneck in California's vast water delivery network.

The proposal is far from final. It faces a new administration, lengthy environmental reviews and controversy over how much water should be exported from the Northern California estuary system that serves as a conduit for water shipments to Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley. The earliest completion date would be 2022.

The tunnel plan is a variation of an idea that has been around for decades. Voters in 1982 killed a proposal to route water around the delta in a canal. But talk of a bypass has resurfaced as endangered species protections in recent years have forced cutbacks in pumping from the south delta.

Some water would still be pumped from the south under the new proposal, but the bulk would be drawn from the Sacramento River as it enters the north delta. The water would then be carried by two huge tunnels, 150 feet deep, to the federal and state aqueducts.

Some delta advocates remain staunchly opposed to the concept. But there is growing agreement that changing diversion points could lessen the environmental impacts of pumping and that a tunnel would not be as vulnerable to earthquake damage as a canal bypass or the existing pumping operations.

The project, which would be accompanied by $3.3-billion worth of habitat restoration over 50 years, is part of an ambitious multi-agency program intended to resolve the conflict that has enveloped the delta for decades.

Reaction to the state recommendations, which the Obama administration generally endorsed, underscored how difficult it may be to achieve a delta truce. Environmental groups assailed the planning report as "flawed, incomplete and disappointing." And the largest irrigation district in California already pulled its support of the plan, suspecting that it would not restore its water supplies.

Of particular contention to environmentalists are the size of the tunnel system and the operating rules that would determine the volume of diversions.

California Natural Resources Secretary Lester Snow said Wednesday that annual delta exports under the project could average 5.4 to 5.9 million acre-feet, more than allowed under current environmental restrictions — and considerably more than environmentalists and some fish biologists say the delta ecosystem can withstand if it is to make any sort of recovery.

Critics said there were too many unsettled issues to make such a projection, and they accused federal and state officials of pandering to the agricultural and urban water agencies that would pay for the tunnel system.

Officials "know the assertions that they're making aren't true," said Gary Bobker of the Bay Institute, one of the environmental groups participating in the delta program. "They know that the amount of water that we're going to be able to export from the delta in the future is probably not going to be the kind of numbers the [plan] is talking about."

Last month, the giant Westlands Water District said it was pulling out of the delta program because it didn't think the project would live up to its promise of restoring delta exports, which had reached record levels before the recent drought and endangered species cutbacks of the last two years.

"We cannot justify the expenditure of billions of dollars for a program that is unlikely to restore our water supply," Westlands General Manager Tom Birmingham said Wednesday.

He added that the state plans and statements by the U.S. Interior Department that the project could increase deliveries were a good sign.

"What Interior said today is encouraging. But whether Westlands reverses its position or decision is going to be determined by what Interior does, as opposed to what it says."

bettina.boxall@latimes.com

Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times

In a region that imports water, much goes to waste

In a region that imports water, much goes to waste

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-water-storms-20101224,0,592116.story

Southern California laid miles of pipe and tunneled through mountains to import water. But it also built a storm drain system to quickly get rid of rainfall. The contradiction played out again this week.

By Bettina Boxall, Los Angeles Times

December 24, 2010

It is one of the Southland's enduring contradictions. The region that laid pipe across hundreds of miles and tunneled through mountains to import water also built an extensive storm drain system to get rid of rainfall as quickly as possible.

That's exactly what happened during the last week, when tens of billions of gallons of runoff that could lessen the region's need for those faraway sources were dumped into the Pacific. Enough water poured from Los Angeles streets to supply well over 130,000 homes for a year.

As Southern California's traditional water supplies diminish under a variety of pressures, all that runoff sheeting across sidewalks and roads into the maws of storm drains is finally getting some respect.

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"This isn't wastewater until we waste it," said Noah Garrison, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council who co-wrote a 2009 paper on capturing and reusing storm water.

The report concluded that the region could increase local supplies by an amount equal to more than half of Los Angeles' annual water demand by incorporating relatively simple water-harvesting techniques in new construction and redevelopments. These include installing cisterns and designing landscaping to retain runoff and let it seep into the ground.

Los Angeles is poised to adopt an ordinance that takes a step in that direction. Most new and redeveloped commercial, industrial and larger apartment projects would have to be designed to capture the runoff generated by the first three-quarters of an inch of rain. New single-family homes would have to install a rain-harvesting device, such as a rain barrel or a hose that diverts water from gutters to landscaping.

But the proposed rules would save only a fraction of the city's runoff. "If we're able to convince people to do it on their own, there's so much more" that can be captured, said Los Angeles Public Works Commissioner Paula Daniels. "The really important thing to do is unpave and change the texture of Los Angeles."

Water-quality regulations, which are clamping down on runoff pollution, are another big impetus for changing attitudes. In South Los Angeles, the city is converting a former bus depot into a nine-acre wetland park that will retain and filter runoff, keeping contaminants out of the L.A. River.

"I believe we will be able to start changing the footprint of the city to make it more water-friendly and hopefully look at storm water as a resource and a benefit," said Adel H. Hagekhalil, assistant director of the L.A. Bureau of Sanitation.

The storm system dumped copious amounts of snow — at least 10 to 12 feet and in some spots far more — in the Sierra Nevada, washing away vestiges of a three-year drought that ended last year. Statewide, 61% of the snowpack, or snow water content, normally measured on April 1 is already on the ground. Storage at most major reservoirs is well above average for this time of year. Dam operators have been releasing water to make sure they have enough space for inflow later in the season.

Managers are cautioning that snow and rain usually taper off in early winter under the La Niña weather conditions expected this year. "The characteristics, unfortunately, of La Niñas are generally a pretty good start and then a frequent lapse. Quite often January, February do not measure up," said Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program.

But even if they don't, state hydrologist Maury Roos said California has been so thoroughly soaked this month that the year's water supplies will probably be above average.

In the Eastern Sierra, which supplies Los Angeles with a portion of its water, some Department of Water and Power stations have registered eye-popping measurements. At Independence, precipitation as of Tuesday was 549% of the norm for this time of year. Some areas were buried under snow depths usually not seen until the end of the winter.

James McDaniel, the DWP's senior assistant general manager, said the snowpack at Mammoth Pass had shot up to the levels of 1982-83, one of California's wettest winters. "We'll need more storms later in the season to build on that," he said, adding: "There's no denying this is a great beginning to the season."

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which imports water from Northern California and the Colorado River, is refilling local reserves that had dwindled to levels that forced the agency to cut sales to member agencies.

"I think we're feeling a lot more comfortable about the availability of water supplies," said Debra Man, the MWD's assistant general manager. Still, she said the agency was not ready to scratch allocations that have reduced demand by more than 20%. "I think we're going to wait and see what January, February and March look like."

McDaniel also said L.A. would wait until winter's end before deciding if it would lift the water rationing imposed during the three-year drought. "Statewide storage has recovered well," he said. "But the piece of the puzzle that is not where we'd like to see it is the Colorado River," a source stuck in a long-term drought.

bettina.boxall@latimes.com

Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times

Mexico, US Agree on Colorado River Allotments

From Denver.com

Mexico, US agree on Colorado River allotments
The Associated Press
Posted: 12/20/2010 04:19:31 PM MST
Updated: 12/20/2010 04:20:48 PM MST


MEXICO CITY—U.S. and Mexican officials reached a deal Monday for Mexico to defer part of its water allotment from the Colorado River until 2014 while farmers in the Mexicali area repair irrigation networks damaged by an earthquake this year.

Under the agreement, Mexico can defer delivery of up to 260,000 acre-feet of water through 2013 and then seek to recover that in the following three years, when its canals will be better able to handle the load.

Mexico's annual allotment under a 1944 treaty is 1.5 million acre-feet, a measurement equal to the amount of water needed to flood an acre one foot deep.

The agreement was announced in a meeting between Mexican Environment Secretary Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada and U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

Salazar said the two nations want to negotiate a full management plan for the Colorado River in 2011.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Michael Connor said a comprehensive management agreement "is of particular importance in light of ongoing, historic drought in the Colorado River Basin," where reservoirs have dropped from nearly full levels in 2000 to approximately 55 percent of capacity.

He said that if current drought conditions persist, states like Arizona, California and Nevada may be subject to shortages as early as 2012.

The magnitude-7.2 earthquake on April 4 killed two people and damaged Mexican farm villages near the California border.


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Department of the Interior Reverses George W. Bush-Era Wilderness Polic

From Denverpost.com

Denver and the west

Interior reverses Bush-era wilderness policy

By Kevin Vaughan
The Denver Post
Posted: 12/24/2010 01:00:00 AM MST
Updated: 12/24/2010 09:09:37 AM MST

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar watches geese fly overhead Thursday outside REI's flagship Denver store as BLM Director Bob Abbey speaks about a new policy that will allow the agency to protect pristine areas as "wild lands." (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Thursday gave the Bureau of Land Management the power to designate tens of millions of acres as "wild lands" — a new categorization that could dramatically alter future decisions on everything from mining and drilling to off-roading.

Salazar, who announced his order in Denver's Central Platte Valley, said the new policy will supersede a 2003 out-of-court settlement that came to be known as "no more wilderness." Agreed to by then-Interior Secretary Gale Norton, that settlement removed federal protections on 2.6 million acres of public land in Utah, and the resulting policy left millions of other backcountry acres vulnerable to development, Salazar said.

"That is simply unacceptable," Salazar said, flanked outside the REI flagship store in Denver by members of his staff, conservationists and even an executive from a leading outdoor-gear manufacturer.

Salazar insisted his new policy, which should be in place within 60 days, does not mean that any of the 245 million acres controlled by the BLM land will be "locked up" and barred from development. Instead, he said, the "wilderness characteristics" of each parcel will be among the factors considered as the federal government determines the best use of a particular piece of land.

He said it would protect pristine wildlands while allowing a "common sense" approach to decisions on such matters as oil and gas drilling.

"There will be oil and gas that will continue to be developed," Salazar said.

He and supporters framed the argument in simple terms: as a policy needed to protect backcountry areas and to consider their unique wilderness characteristics as land-use plans are formulated.

"These landscapes are our Sistine Chapel, our Mona Lisa, our David," said Peter Metcalf, head of Black Diamond Equipment.

He and others touted the policy as a way to preserve jobs in hunting, fishing, hiking and climbing.

Whit Fosburgh, head of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, said 13 million Americans hunt and 33 million fish, and the result is 900,000 jobs.

"These are jobs that are here forever," Fosburgh said.

Representatives of the oil and gas industry and the Colorado Oil & Gas Association had no immediate comment on the new order and did not return phone calls seeking reaction. However, Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, head of the Congressional Western Caucus, denounced the action as "little more than an early Christmas present to the far left extremists who oppose the multiple use of our nation's public lands."

Salazar's order will not create new wilderness areas — a designation that can be approved or changed only by Congress under the 1964 Wilderness Act. The new policy also will not affect the management of lands being considered for wilderness designation.

Instead, it will call for the BLM to update its existing inventory of federal land and designate areas that have "wilderness characteristics" as "wild lands."

The Wilderness Act outlines the specific characteristics that can be considered, including the size of an area, opportunities for solitude, and ecological or geological features.

Salazar said the BLM can institute the new policy under existing federal law.

The designation of a particular area as a "wild land" would mean that the wilderness considerations would be "on the same platform" as other factors when decisions are made about what uses to allow, Salazar said.

"The bottom line is land with wilderness characteristics will have a significant place at the table," Salazar said.

Kevin Vaughan: 303-954-5019 or kvaughan@denverpost.com


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Time to Quench Landscape's Thirst on Colorado's Dry Front Range

From the Denver Post

Denver and the west

It wasn't frosty in Denver, but that's still a snowman that Harper Grace Elmini, 2 1/2, has her hands on Thursday. Harper and her parents traveled from Florida to Denver to visit her grandfather, Vin Elmini, for Christmas, and he was determined that it would be a white one. So he went to great lengths to find some snow for his front yard. Harper accessorized the snowman they made and up with a name: Joe. Read Bill Johnson's column on how Vin brought a snowman to snow-starved Denver. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post)

Travis Ireland of Denver Parks and Recreation waters trees Thursday at Observatory Park. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post)

Although mountains are blanketed in heavy snow, the Front Range is bone dry, suffering through what the Federal Climate Center designates as a moderate drought. So while you're planning your holiday fêtes, serve up one of your drinks with a hose, instead of a glass.

"In my memory, this is as dry as I've ever seen between October and mid-December," says Carl Wilson, Colorado State University Extension horticulturist. "It's been pitiful. I've dug down 12 inches in several places without finding moisture."

Denver has received 1 inch of precipitation since October, making it one of the driest fall seasons on record. That, coupled with warm temperatures and wind, has created conditions that have experts urging us to water landscapes.

"Basically, all landscape plants need water to keep them from drying out," says Kelly Gouge, manager with Swingle Lawn, Tree & Landscape Care. "A lack of moisture means twigs or branches die and trees get brittle. Instead of bending or being flexible, they break."

Drought conditions have landscapers scrambling to give trees a drink. City of Denver forestry workers have quenched nearly 800 trees with 37,500 gallons of water over the past two weeks.

"Trees need watering, but because most of their roots are in the top 6 to 12 inches of the soil, you don't have to water to China," said Gouge, a member of the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado, adding that efficient watering starts in the grass.

"Water your lawn, and you're watering trees too," says Tony Koski, Colorado State University Extension turf specialist. "Lawns will come out of winter healthier, with fewer weed problems. But the critical ones needing moisture are those that are new. If it was sodded or seeded-in after early September, water it."

Yards with lawn mites also need water, says Koski, especially now. "On these warm days, mites get active and pretty frisky. This means their populations start rising. Watering now helps break that reproduction cycle, preventing disaster later."

Water monthly through March if the weather stays dry. In general, landscapes need an inch of water per month, so people should record snowfall at their residence and add it up every four weeks. Anything less than 12 inches of snow means extra water is required.

Tips for winter watering

• Water when temperatures are above 45 degrees and there's no snow on the ground.

• Apply water slowly. Use a timer to remind you when to move the hose. To water shrubs and trees, using a 5-gallon bucket with holes punched near the bottom can help you gauge the amount of water.

• Give trees 10 gallons of water per inch of trunk diameter. To determine diameter, measure across the trunk at about chest height.

• Soak an area 2 to 3 feet wide on either side of the dripline of trees.

• Shrubs planted less than a year ago need 5 gallons twice monthly; established shrubs need less.

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Environmental news from California and beyond - Greywater Report looks at Wastewater's Potential

LA Times

Environment

Environmental news from California and beyond

Greywater Report looks at Wastewater's Potential

November 23, 2010

About 50% of the water used inside U.S. homes can be reused to irrigate landscapes and flush toilets, according to a greywater report released by the Oakland-based Pacific Institute last week. The Overview of Greywater Reuse examined the application of greywater systems worldwide to determine how the wastewater generated from sinks, baths, showers and clothes washers could be reused to reduce demand for more costly, high-quality drinking water.

"In California, there are a lot of reasons why we're looking for new and innovative water sources, including the legal restrictions that are coming to bear on our ability to move water around the state," said Juliet Christian-Smith, senior research associate at the Oakland-based research institute. "Climactic changes are occurring.... We are looking at a future with less of a natural reservoir in our snow in the Sierras and less water available from the Colorado River system."
In 2009, California modified its plumbing code to allow the reuse of certain types of gray water. The Pacific Institute was interested in examining how that change might affect the state and aid its development of a "soft path of water management."
"The 20th century was dominated by a paradigm of water supply and water extraction which focused on large-scale centralized resources like reservoirs, canals and pipelines that have been very successful at moving water and providing a higher standard of living but also come with social, environmental, energy and economic costs that weren't apparent from the beginning," said Christian-Smith. "As we move into the 21st century, we're starting to think about other options ... such as demand management -- conservation and efficiency -- and to look at new technologies that reuse water."

Australia is the most progressive country in terms of gray water policy. The government for this drought-prone continent not only promotes gray water reuse but provides monetary incentives for systems that recycle wastewater from showers and sinks to flush toilets and irrigate outdoor plants. Korea, Cyprus, Japan and Germany are also at the forefront of gray water technology implementation.
While there is no national policy in the U.S. regarding gray water, about 30 of the 50 states have some sort of gray water regulation, some of which require treatment of the wastewater before its reuse. Other states, including Arizona and California, use a landscape's soil as a natural filter to reduce potential contaminants.

According to the report, which cited a study conducted in Barcelona, Spain, this year, factors determining public acceptance of gray water include a perceived health risk, perceived cost, operation regime and environmental awareness.
The Overview of Greywater Reuse is a starting point, Christian-Smith said, to "a larger project that will start to outline supportive and protective instruments" for understanding the long-term impacts of gray water reuse.

LA Times Editorial: Don't Drill, Baby!

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-anwr-20101124,0,2720419.story


Los Angeles Times.com

Editorial

Don't drill, baby!

President Obama should designate the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as a national monument, ending the battle over oil exploration there.
November 24, 2010
Right about now in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, dozens of pregnant female polar bears are preparing to give birth in dens they dug into the snowdrifts last month, unaware that the fate of their home, and possibly their species, hinges on the price of gasoline. The Obama administration can and should change that.

Big Oil and its congressional allies have been mounting attempts to open the refuge to oil and gas development since the 1970s. There is no immediate danger that they'll succeed. Although the GOP electoral landslide this month ended Democratic control of the House and produced an incoming class of congressional freshman who are ardently pro-drilling, the Senate is still controlled by Democrats who oppose opening the refuge. More important, gas prices have been stable for more than a year. But should they spike — which is likely to happen if the economy significantly improves — the false perception that we could drill our way out of the problem would increase public support for opening the refuge, pressuring centrist Democrats to change their stance.

This is why half the members of the Senate (all of them Democrats except Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut) sent a letter to President Obama last week urging him to grant the "strongest possible" federal protection to the refuge, thus ending the perennial battles over drilling. Several environmental groups have joined in, urging Obama to designate the land as a national monument, which would prohibit most forms of development.


The refuge is a diverse and extremely fragile ecosystem that teems with animals, such as the Porcupine caribou and muskoxen, that would be seriously harmed by drilling activities. It is thought to be the most important onshore denning habitat for polar bears, a threatened species, in the United States. Oil development would bring road and pipeline construction, noise and pollution, and spills would be deadly to local wildlife. And drilling would have little impact on oil prices. The U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts that output from the refuge could reduce the world oil price by just 75 cents a barrel in 2025 (crude is currently trading at about $81 a barrel, and such a small decrease would be next to meaningless at the pump). Moreover, OPEC would be able to wipe out any savings simply by restricting its supplies. Oil companies would certainly profit from the opportunity to drill, but consumers probably would not.

A monument designation by Obama would most likely lead to a legal battle, because it's not clear whether federal lands available for state use in Alaska can be withdrawn without congressional approval. But that's a fight well worth having. The refuge is a threatened treasure that must be guarded.

Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times