Hello CWA members:  We are your new State Water Directors and we look forward to tracking state water issues with you this year.  Water is a very broad issue so we need you to tell us what you want to know more about.  You may want to check-out the website scawt.com (Calif. Ag Water Team) which seems to have a great deal of interesting information.  As you all know, we have a major water storage battle ahead of us and I know we can count on you when we are called to action.  We hope you find the following tidbits of interest.    

Many Dams “Endangered”

A proposed settlement agreement in the Klamath Basin is contingent on the removal of four dams on the Klamath River. The proposed Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement was released to the public in January 2008. The plan would cost an estimated $985 Million. (For more: AgAlert 2/27/08 Christine Souza)

In February, South Yuba River Citizens League and Friends of the River sued the Federal Government and the Yuba County Water Agency claiming that the agencies were violating the Endangered Species Act by not proving improved conditions for the spring-run chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead and green sturgeon. The suite claims that agencies have failed in their plans to improve spawning areas for the fish, and that Daguerre Point and Englebright dams upstream of Marysville have non- existent or insufficient fish ladders. The Plaintiffs claim that these dams do not produce power, or control flooding, but were built to control sediment from mining in the past. (For more Sacramento Bee 2/21/08 Matt Weiser - mweiser@sacbee.com)

A thought from Joan: These are only two examples of endangered dams, and perhaps out of these, one or more should be removed but we must be engaged. Dams are under attack in many locations. Most have been in place well over 50 years. In that time ecosystems have been developed, not to mention communities, to think that by destroying one ecosystem we will get our fish populations back without creating a whole set of bigger problems is naïve.

I would like to see California Women for Agriculture make 2008 a year where we update and strengthen our water policy, to stress the importance of agricultural water to the consumers, the environment and the economy; recognizing also that much of California would be a desert if it weren’t for the water projects of yesterday. Most dams should be looked as a part of the solution to our water crisis, along with conservation. While storing needed water for this desert we live in, they are a source of flood control, recreation, above ground storage, and clean energy, which seems to be a pretty popular idea.  

From the Far North….In Siskiyou County a Special District is being formed, made possible through AB1580. This new special district will petition the Siskiyou County Superior Court in order to change the watermaster service provider from DWR to the Special District. This is an effort to lower cost through local control. Many issues still remain, including insurance against litigation which seems to be inevitable when dealing with water issues.

Traveling road show…Court decisions resulting in reduced water flows to farmers have pushed water to the top of the list for California organizations seeking more information about the upcoming year.  (See California Farm Water Coalition Water Wire January 9, 2008)

The Delta…..Almost daily you can find an article dealing with some aspect of the delta and water issues. Although Northern California’s water supply looks healthier than it did in early winter, the problem still remains how to get water to users south of the Delta. To add one more smelt to the stew, in February the Calif. Fish & Game Commission voted to list the Longfin Smelt as either endangered or threatened.

Clamping down on quagga mussels
By Catherine Saillant, LA Times Staff Writer
Local water authorities have begun closing some of the state's prime fishing lakes in an effort to keep an infestation of tiny quagga mussels from fouling drinking water supplies for nearly 375,000 residents and threatening fish populations. The closure two weeks ago of Lake Casitas, a favorite of bass anglers, to recreational boat use was followed within days by similar action at Westlake Lake in eastern Ventura County. Escondido imposed a temporary ban on private vessels at Lake Wolford, and Santa Barbara County officials are considering closing Lake Cachuma for at least six months.

SB 1176 Perata (D-Oakland) is similar to a bill he authored last year that was vetoed by the Governor.  This bill would make legislative findings and declarations related to the water boards and their responsibilities under the Clean Water Act and the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act. This bill would reduce the number of members on the regional water boards to seven, and change the current appointment categories, no longer specifying a member associated with irrigated agriculture. CFBF is working with a coalition of interested stakeholders, and will soon have a position on the bill.

Pharmaceuticals in Drinking Water Overblown
 The Associated Press made waves this weekend with the first article of a 3-part investigative series on pharmaceuticals and other personal care products (PPCPs) found in drinking water. The article, which looks at the water supplies of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas, smartly points out that this is not a new phenomenon and that, “to be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose.”At these levels, a person would need to consume 300 million liters of water–the amount held in an Olympic-sized swimming pool–to achieve the therapeutic dose of 1,600 mg/day.