9-8-08

 9-8-08Merced Sun-StarFarmers urged to save water, shift emphasis...Don Thompson, Associated Presshttp://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/story/442341.htmlSACRAMENTO -- California farmers can grow more food more profitably if they switch to water-saving crops and change their irrigation practices in response to the state's drought, according to a study released today.A report issued by the Oakland-based Pacific Institute says farmers in the Central Valley could save enough water to fill up to 20 new reservoirs by making several changes to curb wasted water.About 25% of the state's water-intensive crops like rice, cotton, corn, wheat and alfalfa should give way to fruit and nut trees and row crops such as tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers and melons that can be more selectively irrigated, according to the report.Farmers should use drip or sprinkler irrigation systems instead of flooding grain fields, and crops should only be watered when they need it, a practice requiring more intensive soil and plant monitoring...Many of the institute's suggestions are already being implemented by local Valley farmers, said Sarah Woolf, a spokeswoman for the 600,000-acre Westlands Water District on the Valley's west side...Woolf, however, is resistant to suggestions that farmers should shift to less water-consuming crops. Instead, she said, the market should dictate which crops are grown.Manuel Cunha Jr., the president of Nisei Farmers League in Fresno, said the institute failed to recognize how difficult it would be for farmers to switch to a new set of crops...The Pacific Institute study argues that the emphasis should be on saving water instead of new water projects that place a greater financial burden on the public.The report suggests the state could avoid planting 10% of its fields as one drought response. And it says California should consider retiring 1.5 million acres of poorly drained land in the San Joaquin Valley to save water and pollution cleanup costs. Members of Congress visit Valley to hear housing woesMany share their stories about the ongoing crisis...J.N. SBRANTI, The Modesto Beehttp://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/story/442310.htmlSTOCKTON -- Boarded-up windows, dead lawns, yellow auction signs and abandoned houses gave silent testimony Saturday to the brutal impact the foreclosure crisis is having on central Stockton.As a tour bus filled with lawmakers and their staff members cruised the distressed neighborhoods, the message was clear: The Northern San Joaquin Valley is hurting."It is very helpful to see these things physically," said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who convened a congressional hearing in Stockton to better understand how the housing crisis has devastated the region and to discuss ways the federal government might help.The bus tour was followed by more than three hours of testimony and questioning...About 150 community members sat quietly listening during the hearing at the Stockton Arena."The crisis is real, it's here and this is the epicenter of it," insisted Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton. He and Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, persuaded Frank to hold the hearing in Stockton.The speakers -- including Modesto mortgage broker Patty Amador and Merced Mayor Ellie Wooten -- offered varying advice about what Washington should do to ease the Valley's troubles. Some expressed doubt that lawmakers can do much."We risk creating a moral hazard with government intervention to step in and save those who would otherwise lose their homes," warned state Sen. Michael Machado, D-Linden. "Rewarding risky behavior will only perpetuate the problem."Machado predicted "the hardest hit areas of the Central Valley are likely to take at least two years before they hit bottom, and even longer before they begin to recover." He said foreclosures likely will keep increasing because so many Valley residents took out risky adjustable rate mortgages that soon will require much higher monthly payments...Changes in federal law will make it harder for first-time buyers to purchase those homes, according to Amador, who has owned Ambeck Mortgage Associates since 1989..."The American dream should be for a decent place to live, and that could be in rental housing," Frank insisted. "One of the mistakes we made was to encourage people to buy homes who should not have bought. ... We have not done enough for rental housing." All types of housing are suffering in Merced, according to statistics Mayor Wooten offered. Wooten is a real estate agent. In 2006, near the height of the region's building boom, Wooten said an estimated "80 percent of home purchases in Merced were being made by speculators, many attracted by the opening of the UC Merced campus." Such peak-of-the-market speculation, combined with subprime mortgage problems and the bad economy, have caused foreclosure rates in Merced to be among the nation's highest, Wooten said. She noted how home values have plummeted, one in 12 Merced County landowners hasn't paid their property taxes, businesses have closed and unemployment has soared."We have no reason to believe the situation will be improving any time soon," she said.A better appreciation of art might be one path that leads out of poverty...DHYANA LEVEYhttp://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/story/442323.htmlArt washes away from the soul, said painter Pablo Picasso, the dust of everyday life. Plenty of dust, both literal and figurative, fills the air in Merced County. And Mercedians have posted a mixed record on using art to wash away the dust of everyday poverty.It isn't a sure thing that young people raised in a culturally rich environment will have a better shot at avoiding poverty, said Keith Law, Merced College professor of humanities and philosophy. But being brought up among travel and the arts, access to rich extracurricular activities and a higher education can only help on the road to a higher income.Merced hasn't been known lately for its economic success. According to a 2006 U.S. Census American Fact Finder supplied by the Boys & Girls Club, nearly 29 percent of Merced residents live in poverty.And the city isn't famous for its wealth of arts, culture and education, either. But it does boast some -- and people should take advantage of local opportunities from a young age, say educators and arts patrons... Can arts help financial success?..."What the arts do for our brain is to help us learn to be creative, use our imagination, how to express ourselves," Santa said. "And, of course, that continues throughout our lives."...The idle mind vs. the busy mindWhat winds up happening is that kids make their own fun. "They walk the mall," White said. "And that's the minimum. At the maximum -- gangs. Who doesn't want to be part of something?"...Can UC Merced help?Slaton believes the recent addition of a University of California in Merced is of immeasurable benefit to young people here. "This is something they didn't have exposure to before," he explained.But as far as how much it will do for the area's economy -- it's too soon to tell."When the dust settles, the university 10 years from now will be a value to the community," Law said. "Of course, having an economic spinoff would be a great thing. But the bottom line is what it does to the spirit of the community."Having more students and professors in the area can add a more intellectual vibe to Merced, he said. Which is constructive. But a lot of professors still live elsewhere and commute each day.How much the university has enhanced the local employment rate and economic levels has yet to be seen. "Whether it contributes to lowering the poverty rate -- I don't know," said Todd Neumann, a UC Merced economics professor. "It certainly brings in jobs for people like myself. But I'm from out of town."Jobs aren't necessarily going to locals. So while people in the stucco adobe tower are finding work, how much does that trickle down to the working poor in Merced? "In the long term, it's more likely," Neumann said. "It will certainly create opportunities, jobs, at the university or businesses that crop up to cater to or support the university and its students."And it creates a better chance of getting bright, ambitious young adults to stick around. Historically, Mercedians often leave to pursue opportunities in other cities. "But now that UC Merced is here we have quite a few people from the Valley," he said. "Once they get an education, they'll have a foothold to make a living. They might stay." Modesto BeeWest Park review: No stone unturnedConcerns range from water to old pioneer cemetery...TIM MORANhttp://www.modbee.com/local/story/422095.htmlThe environmental review of the PCCP West Park LLC business park on Stanislaus County's West Side is under way, and residents, groups and agencies have weighed in on a variety of concerns.Everyone from the county's League of Women Voters to the Native American Heritage Commission has suggested issues the review should consider. They range from the expected concerns about water supply, traffic and air quality, to avoiding disruption of an almost forgotten pioneer cemetery on the site of the proposed development...The project has drawn opposition from the Farm Bureau, West Side cities, and school, fire and health districts. The city of Patterson sued the county, contending that the environmental review should have been done before the board chose Kamilos as the master developer last April. A citizens group, WS-PACE.org (West Side-Patterson Alliance for Community Environment), formed to fight West Park...County Deputy Executive Officer for Economic Development Keith Boggs agreed. "The comments are thorough and appropriate," he said.The issue of the old cemetery came as a bit of a surprise, Boggs said. It came up a few years ago when the county took possession of the property, he said, but the county had been unable to find any information about it."I'd forgotten about that. No one could nail down where it was. This was decades and decades before the military took over the property in the late 1930s," he said.The cemetery issue, along with all other comments and concerns, has been turned over to the consulting team preparing the environmental review, Boggs said.A draft public review document should be out by May, allowing the public another chance to comment before a final environmental impact report is issued. Each of the public comments must be addressed in the final document, Boggs said.It should be out by the end of next year and will cost several million dollars, which comes from the developer. The review is coordinated by the county and carried out by consultants. "I don't see any fatal flaws or issues that can't be addressed," Kamilos said. "Everything is moving full steam ahead."WS-PACE.org president Ron Swift said he was taking a wait-and-see attitude on the environmental review, and keeping all options open if the project is approved by county supervisors...ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUESA sampling of the issues raised in the environmental impact report for the West Park development near Crows Landing:— Loss of farmland and the problems the development will cause to surrounding farmland in terms of traffic, water quality and supply.— Deteriorating air quality and long-term health risks for surrounding residents, nuisance odors and greenhouse emissions.— Adverse effects on wildlife and habitat for native and endangered species in areas surrounding the project.— Growth fueled by the project causing overcrowding in schools, and problems growth could have on towns such as Gustine, Delhi, Hilmar and Stevinson.— Water sourcing and whether it will affect surrounding agriculture or contaminate water supplies.— Potential noise pollution from the airport at the site as well as vehicles and trains.— The need for new health and medical facilities, a school and fire station, and the need to maintain the Sheriff's Department emergency vehicle course on the site.— Traffic and safety concerns at rail crossings, and problems caused by increased traffic in the region.Growth review needed despite housing slowdown...Editorialhttp://www.modbee.com/opinion/story/422059.htmlHomebuilding is at a standstill in Modesto and it isn't clear to anyone just when things will rev up again. And the city has more than 2,000 acres available for growth. So there's no pressing need for the City Council to ask the planning staff to prepare an urban growth review -- a thorough inventory of vacant residential, commercial and industrial land.While there's ample land for more houses, the council's Economic Development Committee might want to consider a growth review for two ancillary reasons:The review also will provide information as to which, if any, of the county pockets within the city might be considered next for sewer service. Under the Modesto Citizens Advisory Growth Act of 1995, citizens must vote before extending any sewer trunks. If conditions appear ready for one or more pockets to get sewer service, then a vote could be held as part of the next regularly scheduled city election in November 2009.An inventory of commercial and industrial land will be useful in local efforts to attract more business and industry.The last urban growth review was done in 2003. Even in the face of strong pressure from some developers, the council put off a review until it had master plans in place for water, sewer and storm drains. Those are in hand and major work is under way for water and sewer improvements.If the question were only whether the city needed to plan for more new houses, we would say an urban growth review can be put off another two years. But it could be useful to assess industrial and commercial land and, more important, to plan for upgrading some of the county pockets so they eventually can be annexed to the city.The City Council's Economic Development Committee will consider this issue as part of its meeting at 5:30 p.m. today in Room 2005 at Tenth Street Place.Sacramento BeeMystery ailment kills ducks in Rancho Cordova...Bobby Caina Calvanhttp://www.sacbee.com/101/v-print/story/1217662.htmlDucks have been dying – about five or six per day, sometimes more – in the ponds at Hagan Community Park.Prompted by worried parkgoers, the city of Rancho Cordova is plunging into the monthlong mystery."Something's in the water," conjectured Scott Harmon, a frequent parkgoer who helped sound the alarm...Slicks of algae cover much of the smaller ponds. At times, a stench drifts from the murky, stagnant water. At dusk, mosquitoes swarm.The water looks nasty, it smells nasty.A larger pond, popular with anglers, doesn't appear to have the same problems. Unlike the shallower ponds, a pump circulates its water...Some parkgoers worry that the West Nile virus is killing the ducks – but that's unlikely because the virus isn't known to be deadly to such waterfowl as ducks, according to experts...One theory, Racine said, points to botulism – the result of a naturally occurring toxin that can produce paralysis. "But it's pure speculation," she said.It will take tests to determine the culprit...San Francisco ChronicleYucca license application accepted for review...APhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/09/08/national/w083247D36.DTLFederal regulators have agreed to formally review the government's application for a license to build a radioactive waste dump in Nevada.The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced Monday that the Energy Department's Yucca Mountain license application was sufficiently complete to be "docketed" for consideration.The NRC is expected to take four years to decide whether to give the Energy Department a license to build the 77,000-ton dump.The decision to docket the license application — over objections from the state of Nevada — is a step forward for the Energy Department, which submitted the 8,600-page application in June after years of delay.California can grow more food AND take less water from the delta...Heather Cooley, Juliet Christian-SmithHeather Cooley and Juliet Christian-Smith are senior research associates at the Pacific Institute, a nonpartisan research institute that works to advance environmental protection, economic development and social equity. The institute's new report, "More with Less," is available at www.pacinst.org.http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/08/EDTK12OSFV.DTL&type=printableWe can do more with less. Nations in drier climates around the world and forward-thinking farmers in California already are using less water to grow more crops - with greater profits. It is time for California to implement economic and environmental policies that encourage farmers to use water more efficiently, both for the good of the environment and to sustain a robust agricultural sector. The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is in a state of crisis, both as an ecosystem and as a water supply. Almost half of the water used for California's agriculture comes from rivers that once flowed to the delta, and more than half of Californians rely on water conveyed through the delta for at least some of their water supply. It is imperative that we recognize what both the recent court decisions and the scientists are saying: We're taking too much water from the delta. Given that agriculture accounts for about 80 percent of delta water consumption, reducing withdrawals from the delta will inevitably affect farmers. We have two options, two very different paths to reduced agricultural water use. One is to choose to let events evolve as they will, which may lead to growing disruptions in the agricultural sector, uncertainty about the reliability of food production, and the weakening of a vital component of our traditional economy. The other is to work toward a carefully planned and efficient agricultural sector, long-term protections for land and water resources, and the production of more high-valued crops grown with efficient irrigation systems that are effectively managed to respond to weather and crop conditions...But for the agricultural sector to make such adaptations and investments, the state needs to implement policies and incentives that support water conservation and efficiency improvements. Farmers are already trying to undertake many of these strategies, but they need to overcome some difficult financial, legal and institutional barriers.There are numerous ways to move forward, including:-- The state can offer tax exemptions and rebates for farmers who upgrade to more efficient irrigation systems.-- Courts and regulators can apply California's water-rights laws more rationally to ensure water is being used reasonably and beneficially.-- Water use measurement and monitoring should be drastically improved. -- Misguided federal and state subsidies that encourage wasteful use of water can be redesigned to encourage efficiency and conservation... ...Our findings show that it is possible - indeed, far preferable - to take less water and still improve the delta's economic and environmental conditions. Not only can we do more with less; we must do more with less. Study finds California can cut farm water use...Kelly Zitohttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/08/BA7H12PDTU.DTL&type=printableBy growing less thirsty crops and investing in more efficient irrigation technology, California farmers could save billions of gallons of water each year - the equivalent of three dams to 20 dams, according to a controversial new report by an influential water policy think tank.In a study to be released today, researchers at Oakland's Pacific Institute say that before Californians take on costly new dam and reservoir projects, state and federal policymakers need to build on existing methods for reducing agricultural water use.The report, titled "More with Less: Agricultural Water Conservation and Efficiency in California - A Focus on the Delta," stresses that agriculture remains an important part of California's economy. However, with farmers using about 80 percent of the water drawn from the critically ill Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, researchers said agricultural water conservation must expand - and quickly...The study is part of a larger report to be released by the nonpartisan research group next year and was funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.While water use in California has been a historical source of conflict between urban and agricultural consumers, the issue has taken on new urgency in recent years amid predictions of a drier climate, booming population growth and ecological damage to the delta - the hub of the state's water system.The agriculture industry, however, bristles at the notion that its operations are wasteful. "The idea that farmers are not seeking more efficient ways to do business is an insult to California agriculture," said Mike Wade, executive director of the California Farm Water Coalition, a group aimed at helping farmers boost water efficiency. "Changes are occurring when it's cost-effective and when the technology is available."Though Wade said conservation has a role to play in the state's water crisis, he said additional water storage is also necessary. Several state water bond proposals vying for a place on the November ballot include billions for building new dams and reservoirs.The Pacific Institute researchers suggest that dams, or a proposed peripheral canal - which would route water around the delta, where certain fish populations are crashing - may be necessary. But first, researchers said, the state must create a better system for tracking water use...The report suggests several other practical solutions, including boosting outreach programs to help teach farmers about new techniques and giving farmers tax breaks for water-saving irrigation systems.The report also recommends broader changes to state and federal policies that are sure to draw sharp criticism from farmers.Gleick said policymakers should reduce or realign federal subsidies that encourage the growing of low-value, water-heavy crops such as alfalfa and cotton.But Wade said the market - not policymakers - drives crop choices...Finally, the study recommends that the state develop a more rational water rights system aimed at cutting waste. Under the law, users with the earliest water claims have the highest priority for receiving water. But with the dire situation in the delta, a record-breaking dry spell and some communities under mandatory restrictions, experts say it may be time to re-evaluate how and to whom water is allocated."We're at an extremely important point where climate change, looming drought and the worsening, deepening ecological problems are all coming together," said Cynthia Koehler, senior consulting attorney at the Environmental Defense Fund. "People realize that 19th century and even 20th century solutions to water problems are not the solutions for the 21st century. We need to look at how we move water around, how we allocate it, how we allocate it for the environment."Last stand for Berkeley stadium tree-sitters...John Wildermuthhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/08/BA4A12PS83.DTL&type=printableUC Berkeley officials warned Sunday that "the clock is ticking" for four tree-sitters perched in a redwood tree outside Memorial Stadium...By Sunday evening, 40 of the 42 trees in the grove were cut down and gone. All that remained were two redwood trees - one that will be transplanted and the occupied redwood, which already has been stripped of all but its topmost branches."We're going to continue to talk to the people in the trees until we think there is no chance of a voluntary climb-down," said Dan Mogulof, a university spokesman. "But the clock is ticking."On Friday, the university gave the protesters 72-hours' notice that they were ending the agreement that allowed the tree-sitters to receive food, water and other support from their backers on the ground, although the university declined to say whether the end of that period, at 9 a.m. today, was a deadline for settlement of the continuing standoff."The agreement ends at 9 a.m. Monday," Mogulof said Sunday. "What happens at 9:01 has yet to be determined."University officials believed they had an agreement for the tree-sitters to climb down Sunday and participate in a ceremony of remembrance for a 200-year-old coast live oak, dubbed "Grandma" by the protesters, that was felled to make way for the new construction. But the agreement blew up, apparently after supporters on the ground argued that the tree-sitters should not voluntarily end their long-running protest...The lone bit of trouble came at the end of the Native American "ceremony of remembrance" for the fallen oaks, when dozens of people surged into the street in an effort to get past the fences and police officers to the site where the oaks once grew. But after a few minutes of shouting and some tense confrontations, the protesters cleared the street without any arrests being made.While the protesters argued that the university was not negotiating in good faith, Mogulof said campus officials are completely focused on bringing the protest to a safe conclusion and would talk with the tree-sitters through the night if necessary.But an end is coming...Washington Mutual ousts CEO Kerry Killinger...APhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/09/08/financial/f050234D55.DTLWashington Mutual Inc., ravaged by losses from sour mortgages, replaced Kerry Killinger as chief executive of the nation's largest savings and loan on Monday, adding him to the growing list of banking bosses ousted by their boards. Its shares fell almost 12 percent.Killinger, who was stripped of his chairman title in June, became CEO of the Seattle-based thift in 1990 and built WaMu into one of the country's largest banks.Killinger is being replaced by Alan H. Fishman, the former president and chief operating officer of Sovereign Bank and president and CEO of Independence Community Bank.WaMu also said Monday that it has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Office of Thrift Supervision concerning aspects of its operations. WaMu has committed to provide the OTS with an updated, multiyear business plan and forecast for its earnings, asset quality, capital and business segment performance. The plan will not require the company to raise capital or increase liquidity, WaMu said.Killinger's exit follows that of Wachovia Corp. CEO Ken Thompson, Merrill Lynch & Co.'s Stanley O'Neal and Citigroup Inc.'s Charles Prince...Contra Costa TimesPittsburg looks into annexing land for bypass...Paul Burgarino, East County Timeshttp://www.contracostatimes.com/environment/ci_10405755In an effort to keep plans for a two-lane expressway from stalling, officials are looking into extending Pittsburg's borders to the south.Last week, city leaders took the first step to annex land where the James Donlon Boulevard extension is planned, directing staff to study amending the Pittsburg General Plan. The study would look at changing zoning in the project area from residential use to open space...Pittsburg seeks annexation because the county is reluctant to allow construction not identified in its general plan, or long-term plan for growth, City Engineer Joe Sbranti said.If the council accepts the study, Pittsburg would bring a proposal before the Local Agency Formation Commission, though items such as finalized environmental studies and a roadway plan would have to be addressed first, said Kristin Vahl, a city planner...The bypass is currently undergoing environmental review by the city to address concerns about noise, possible landslides and proximity to existing neighborhoods. The county general plan was last updated in January 1991. The plan's Roadway Network Map does not show the James Donlon extension as a proposed expressway. Patrick Roach, a county planner, said Pittsburg did not approach county planners to add the road to the general plan when it began planning for the bypass.County transportation officials, however, have been aware of the planned road extension for some time — saying the route is significant to the region. The assumption was always that Pittsburg would annex it, Sbranti said.To put the road on the county's general plan, an amendment would have to be prepared. First, the county would either have to determine the environmental review by Pittsburg to be sufficient or do its own review, Roach said. "I think we (Pittsburg) were under the impression the road would be built before annexation and the county was under the impression annexation would occur first," Sbranti said. "In order to get it built sooner, we're moving forward with annexation." Although city studies say the road could carry 36,000 cars each day, it is not intended to stimulate growth in the area. Environmental groups have opposed the plan, saying it would subsidize home development. At this point, Pittsburg intends to limit access streets on the bypass, Vahl said. Although funding sources for the estimated $35 million project have been identified, money isn't yet in place. Funding would come from local builder fees and regional development fees through the East Contra Costa Regional Fees and Finance Authority, a joint powers authority formed in 1994 to oversee area transportation issues. Pittsburg could also seek grants and partnerships with local home builders... Delta-based farms can curb water use, study says...Mike Taugherhttp://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_10409155?nclick_check=1If farmers who rely on the Delta watershed made greater use of weather sensors and other technology to more efficiently irrigate crops, they could reduce their water use by 13 percent — an amount equal to more than half of all the water pumped out of the Delta, a study to be released today suggests.And farmers could further cut water use in the beleaguered watershed by planting less pasture and more fruits and vegetables, the study says.The Oakland-based Pacific Institute concluded in the report that farms in the regions of the state that depend on the Delta and its upstream tributaries — the Sacramento Valley, the San Joaquin Valley and the Tulare basin — could use significantly less water and still maintain a healthy agricultural economy...There are lots of these things that farmers are already doing, but they have to happen faster because the Delta is collapsing," said Peter Gleick, director of the Pacific Institute.Although there is dispute over the degree to which water pumped from the Delta is to blame for the environmental crisis, those problems are forcing water managers to reduce deliveries. The cutbacks have especially hurt farms, which use four times more water than cities and industries combined.Gleick said that despite pressure for a proposed canal to carry water around the Delta and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's push to build more dams, decisionmakers should first look at how much water could be saved by maximizing efficiency. "They're moving fast without all the information they need," he said. "It's irresponsible to make decisions about infrastructure when you don't know how much infrastructure you need."..."We strongly support conservation, both agriculture and urban," said Lester Snow, director of the state Department of Water Resources. "It's got to be part of the solution. We don't think conservation replaces the need to deal with storage as well as fixing Delta conveyance."A California Farm Bureau water attorney agreed."The magnitude of the problem is just too big to fool people into thinking ag conservation can get us out of having to debate (a possible peripheral canal)," said Chris Scheuring, adding that the farm bureau is still neutral on the canal...Reservoirs needed...MediaNews editorialhttp://www.contracostatimes.com/opinion/ci_10407952AS CALIFORNIA continues to endure another dry year, complicated by ecological damage to the Delta, the threat of scarce water supplies increases.Population growth, reduced water pumping from the Delta and the loss of excess Colorado River supplies in Southern California places an ever-increasing stress on a water system that needs substantial updating.To temporarily help ease the situation, state water officials plan to create the first drought water bank in California since the dry spell of the early 1990s.The bank would allow water users, mostly farmers in the Sacramento Valley, to sell water to dry areas of California from the Bay Area to San Diego.Water levels at major reservoirs are low and getting worse. Some are at half their normal levels for late summer. Even if we have an average rainfall during the winter, the reservoirs are not likely to be refilled. Making matters worse, restrictions on water pumping could make it difficult to replenish reservoirs even if rainfall is above average during the wet season.In fact, there is only about a 50 percent chance the drought water bank purchases could be delivered through the Delta next year because of pumping limits.The banked water that will be sold is sure to be expensive. Water rates are already high and could be a lot higher as growth in demand outpaces the availability of new supplies.In addition to higher costs, water districts are putting both voluntary and mandatory rationing plans into effect to reduce water usage. It is not just the dry weather that is causing water shortages, rationing and higher prices. After all, the current dry period is hardly a major drought. What should be becoming increasingly clear is that California simply does not have an adequate water storage capacity. That should come as no surprise because the state has not built any large reservoirs in decades.Greater conservation, water banks and rationing may be enough to get us by for a few years. But eventually, California is going to need large new reservoirs or significantly increased capacity at current ones.Despite the need to act now, there does not seem to be enough support in Sacramento for increasing our water storage capacity.Unfortunately it is likely to take a severe drought and the ensuing water crisis to create the political will to build the reservoirs that should be under construction now.Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles port, truckers group head for courtNational association is seeking an injunction to block the clean truck program on grounds it imposes intrusive regulatory systems' on motor carrier rates and services...Louis Sahagun and Ronald D. Whitehttp://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-trucks8-2008sep08,0,6253708,print.storyThe nation's busiest port complex and the largest trucking association are expected to face off in federal court today to resolve a vexing question:Who would suffer more from the landmark clean trucks program set to begin Oct. 1: the trucking industry or residents affected by toxic diesel emissions?The answer could determine whether the program will launch on time -- and whether massive expansion projects will proceed at the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex, already the gateway for 40% of the nation's imported goods.The $1.6-billion program aims to improve air quality by replacing a fleet of 16,800 old, exhaust-spewing trucks with newer, cleaner models.Beginning Oct. 1, pre-1989 trucks will be banned from the adjacent ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. By 2012, only trucks that meet or exceed 2007 standards will be allowed entry.The goal is to rid local skies of tons of carcinogenic pollution and particulates linked to thousands of premature deaths and respiratory ailments. Port officials hope the program's launch will persuade environmentalists to stop raising legal objections to expansion projects designed to meet future growth at the ports.The 2007 clean trucks program was crafted by environmentalists, drivers, shippers, city officials, community leaders and the ports after years of often contentious debate.But now the American Trucking Assn. says it has discovered serious flaws with the proposal.In an interview, Curtis Whalen, head of the association that represents 37,000 trucking companies nationwide, said his group was seeking an injunction to block the program on grounds it imposes "intrusive regulatory systems" on motor carrier rates and services. He also argued that the program would "result in far fewer trucking companies being able to serve" the ports.Of particular concern to truckers is a Port of Los Angeles plan that would require formation of concessions, companies that would employ some of the thousands of drivers who currently operate as independent owner-operators.Concession requirements are designed to give the ports -- as landlords -- enforcement powers over big rigs entering the harbor area. This, in turn, would give the ports influence over hiring decisions, truck maintenance and driver health insurance, among other issues...A ruling from U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder, which could come as early as today, would have a direct effect on the communities of San Pedro and Wilmington, where residents have coped for years with thousands of big rigs rumbling through neighborhood streets and local freeways...UC Berkeley tree-sitters won't surrenderEven after losing their battle to save a grove of trees, the four men refuse to come down from their redwood. The university is losing patience...Richard C. Paddockhttp://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-treesitters8-2008sep08,0,2296393,print.storyBERKELEY -- — Four tree-sitters refused Sunday to come down from their perch in a redwood tree on the UC Berkeley campus despite the destruction of the grove around them that they had been trying to save.Workers using heavy equipment finished cutting down all but two trees planned for removal -- the one that the four men were occupying and another that will be transplanted in a new location on campus.The protesters lost their 21-month battle to preserve the trees last week when a state appeals court ruled that the university could proceed with its plans to build a new training facility for student athletes on the site.Campus officials negotiated with the tree-sitters into the evening but could not talk them into coming down from the 90-foot tree. The university warned that its agreement to supply the tree-sitters with food and water would expire this morning at 9. UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said the university's patience was "wearing thin" and that officials might take tougher action today if the tree-sitters don't surrender...Mediator Peter Bluhon, hired by the university, spoke with the men by cellphone and discussed a proposed agreement calling for better communication between the university and the community on future development projects.Later, a police officer attached a one-page proposed agreement to a rope, and the tree-sitters hauled it up so they could read it.The tree-sitters face possible charges of trespassing, violating a court order and assault, Mogulof said. They have not requested amnesty from prosecution, and the university has told them they will be arrested when they reach the ground. The university estimates that it has spent at least $750,000 for security and police protection during the nearly two-year protest. Delays have added at least an extra $20 million in construction costs to the $125-million project, the university said.About 50 demonstrators held a ceremony across the street Sunday to protest the cutting of the grove.Spain's environmentalists sound alarmA building boom is endangering some of the most precious flora and fauna in Europe, and sucking an already arid region dry...Tracy Wilkinsonhttp://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-fg-boom8-2008sep08,0,2532052,print.storyTOLEDO, SPAIN — A frayed copy of "Don Quixote" was tucked under the front seat of Roberto Oliveros' battered white truck as he sallied forth through the fast-changing plains of central Spain.Where the addled Cervantes hero tilted at windmills, Oliveros and his environmentalist friends see another towering enemy dotting this La Mancha landscape: construction cranes. An unbridled building boom, which first turned much of Spain's once captivating coastline into a mile-wide belt of shopping malls, vacation homes and sunburned foreigners, has more recently spread deep into the country's heartland, endangered some of the most precious and diverse flora and fauna in Europe and sucked an already arid region dry of water. Nearly 30% of Spain is in the process of becoming desert, according to a report by Adena, Spain's branch of the World Wildlife Fund. "We have tried to raise the alarm, before everything goes to hell," said Oliveros, from the Toledo office of Ecologists in Action, Spain's largest consortium of environmentalist groups.Fueled by corruption, speculation and a hot market that only recently cooled, vast patches of regions such as Castilla-La Mancha are being swallowed up by enormous housing developments, often on land designated as national parks or as protected zones because of delicate ecosystems and near-extinct wildlife. Once a quiet countryside of gentle hills, olive groves, medieval castles and cattle ranches, the land is now pocked with patches of cookie-cutter condos, golf courses and prefab swimming pools. And billboards: "Get your chalets now!" "Easy credit, no money down!" "A new way to live!"And the most bitter twist for environmentalists is that an abrupt downturn in the Spanish economy, not unlike the current U.S. financial crisis, means that most of the tens of thousands of new houses will go unsold. Spain caught a roaring case of property fever a few years ago; owning a home became part of achieving the European dream in a nation catching up with the rest of the West. Compounded by an influx of British and other foreign second-home buyers, demand soared, prices soared even higher, and greed infected the boom. The abuse became so widespread that a special investigative commission of the European Union last year branded Spain's urban-development practices illegal under European law and a violation of basic cultural rights.Despite a slew of criminal cases brought by prosecutors, government officials have proved themselves unable, or unwilling, to control the growth; often, they profited from it, in cahoots with unscrupulous developers. Backroom rezoning has stolen property from under the feet of small landowners and farmers. Building permits have been granted where there is no possibility of water or sewerage infrastructure...For the last couple of years, it has been up to a ragtag band of environmentalist guerrillas backed by so-called green attorneys to challenge what they call "savage urbanization." Battles are won, and many more lost.For every triumph, however, there have been defeats...Thirty-five miles north of Toledo, a sprawling mini-city and 18-hole golf course are encroaching on the picturesque medieval town of Escalona. Environmentalists say its builders destroyed 100-year-old oak trees (which were used by the developers in promotional literature as a reason to move there) and that the settlement, like similar projects, is dipping ever deeper into aquifers to supply prospective residents with water. Across Spain, nearly 20,000 illegal wells are sucking water reserves from aquifers to support new housing tracts. And especially in the drought-ridden south, scores of water-guzzling golf courses are incongruously covering the land like kudzu.The drought of 2005 was the country's worst in more than half a century, and rainfall is continuing to become scarcer in the Iberian peninsula, said Francisco Pugnaire, a member of the state's Arid Zone Experimental Station. This year, water had to be shipped to Barcelona."We live as though droughts are the exception, and that model is no longer sufficient," Josep Puxeu, a senior official in Spain's Water and Rural Land Ministry, said at a recent international conference on drought held in Sevilla, Spain.Castilla-La Mancha has long been arid, as Cervantes himself noted. But residents say they remember being able to scoop up water from shallow wells just a couple of decades ago. Now, wells have to be drilled 200 yards deep or more.The Iberian peninsula has the richest biodiversity of the continent, including an estimated 150 flora and fauna species of varying degrees of rarity. Spain has nearly a million acres of officially designated protected land, much of it embracing wildlife refuges. Castilla-La Mancha, for example, is home to one of Europe's rare lynx habitats.But tens of thousands of condos have been erected or were planned on the edges of 10 of Spain's most important national forests...Environmentalists say they are encouraged by a new crop of court rulings in their favor, and by the fact that Spain's economic crisis is finally putting the brakes on construction.But, they say, it is late, and the damage is done.San Diego Union-TribuneCALIFORNIA'S WATER: A VANISHING RESOURCEAgencies get aggressive in efforts to curb waste...Mike Lee and Michael Gardner  http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20080908-9999-1n8water.htmlSince November, Bill Stephens and his fellow water cops have issued more than 450 warnings and tickets to water wasters in Riverside County. They've targeted commercial, industrial and institutional customers in the Eastern Municipal Water District from Moreno Valley to Temecula.This month, Stephens started to cite residents for excessively using water. After two warnings, homeowners will be fined $100 or more. “You see a lot of waste. You just see it everywhere,” Stephens said... Water cops are the way Eastern, California's fifth-largest water district, is emphasizing the statewide drought. There are few equivalent programs in San Diego County, where officials are relying almost entirely on voluntary conservation despite some calls for mandates. One exception is the Padre Dam Municipal Water District in Santee, whose employees recently were deputized to report water misuse, including irrigating between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Violators are sent a warning, and repeat problems can result in fines of $75 or more...The odds are increasing that similar restrictions and enforcement measures will become the norm throughout California next year. Water levels of major Northern California reservoirs that also supply Southern California are dropping dangerously low: the Folsom, Shasta and Oroville lakes are one-third full. Last winter's snowpacks in the Sierra Nevada were meager and there wasn't much rainfall. Next year “could be the worst drought in California history,” Lester Snow, the state's water chief, said at a recent hearing in Fresno. The actions of a few aggressive water agencies provide a glimpse of what 2009 and beyond likely holds for residents in San Diego County. They have raised rates for those who exceed allowances, threatened repeat offenders with flow restrictors and banned outdoor watering on certain days, according to a survey by the Association of California Water Agencies. Sacramento-area districts have tried several tactics. One has adopted an odd-even daily outdoor watering schedule, another shuts off deliveries to farmers and ranchers three days a week and a third adds a surcharge to the bills of customers who haven't met its conservation standard... In Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa recently signed an ordinance that doubles fines and prohibits watering lawns between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. “We are stating unequivocally to all residents that anyone wasting our most precious resource will pay the price,” Villaraigosa said... "Communities throughout Southern California must implement mandatory restrictions on the most wasteful outdoor uses of water and those restrictions need to be made permanent,” said Bill Townsend, president of the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners...In San Diego County, only farmers have been subject to mandatory water cutbacks of 30 percent so far. They registered a 48 percent decline in use in the first seven months of 2008 compared with the same time last year. In contrast, voluntary conservation efforts by homeowners and industrial users have netted a 6 percent reduction year over year, well below the target of about 10 percent. The independent San Diego-based Utility Consumers' Action Network says that is not enough... Some water officials and local leaders such as Bruce Reznik, executive director of the environmental group San Diego Coastkeeper, have said the region needs to take stronger measures. San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre repeatedly has called for the city to force reductions in water consumption. Decision-makers in the San Diego region have rejected mandates for several reasons. Those include the potential for economic disruption, public animosity and logistical challenges created by enforcing mandates. They also point out that Metropolitan Water District, Southern California's main wholesale water supplier, hasn't said whether it will reduce deliveries next year... Campuses abstaining in initiative on alcohol Local officials oppose drinking age campaign...Sherry Saavedra http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/education/20080908-9999-1m8alcohol.htmlA movement to consider lowering the drinking age is gaining traction among college presidents nationwide, but not in San Diego County.Not a single local president has signed the statement, known as the Amethyst Initiative, that calls on lawmakers to re-examine whether the legal drinking age should be lowered from 21. “There are real issues here, but you don't solve them by saying, 'Drink up,' ” said Stephen Weber, president of San Diego State University... Weber acknowledges that binge drinking is a huge problem among college students. “It's a very different kind of phenomenon than was characteristic on university campuses 20 years ago, or when I was a student 40 years ago,” he said. “It's highly dangerous behavior. But to make it legal for 18-year-olds is literally just pouring fuel on the fire.” Dealing with problemPresident Bob Brower of Point Loma Nazarene University said it's hard to understand why so many college presidents have signed on to this initiative... Mary Lyons, president of University of San Diego, said many of the college presidents who signed the initiative are located in states where 18 was the legal drinking age before 1984, when Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. The legislation cut federal highway funding by 10 percent for any state with a drinking age younger than 21... Binge drinkingAccording to a 2007 report by the Office of the Surgeon General, studies consistently show that about 40 percent of college students binge drink. An estimated 1,700 college students die each year from alcohol-related injuries. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that laws that make 21 the minimum drinking age have reduced traffic fatalities involving 18-to 20-year-old drivers by 13 percent and have saved 25,509 lives since 1975. Cal State San Marcos doesn't support the Amethyst Initiative because “alcohol is the leading cause of death among teenagers in highway crashes and minimum legal drinking age laws are effective in reducing alcohol-impaired driving,” according to a statement from President Karen Haynes' office. Mark Yudof, president of the University of California system, said in a statement: “The chancellors and I have come to the unanimous conclusion that, as leaders of the University of California, we do not intend to sign the statement. Neither I nor my campus colleagues believe there is a compelling reason to change present law . . .  .” Yudof noted that alcohol abuse is a serious problem among college-age students, but there is not persuasive evidence that lowering the drinking age will solve it. Enforcement questions...SDSU is trying to get at the issue from other angles this academic year, with stricter policies, education and university-sponsored alcohol-free programming on weekend nights when students are likely to drink. For the first time, alcohol is banned in SDSU residence halls for students of legal age. Fraternities and sororities have been prohibited from having alcohol at any of their sponsored functions during the first five weeks of the semester... Washington PostYucca license application accepted for review...ERICA WERNER, The Associated Presshttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/08/AR2008090800920_pf.htmlWASHINGTON -- Federal regulators took a first step Monday toward allowing a radioactive waste dump in Nevada, agreeing to formally review the government's license application for the dump.It will still take the Nuclear Regulatory Commission up to four years to consider the Energy Department's 8,600-page application and decide whether to grant the federal government permission to build the 77,000-ton dump.Still the NRC's determination that the license application was complete enough to be "docketed" for review was a step forward for the Energy Department, which submitted the application in June after years of delay.The commissioners' decision came over objections from the state of Nevada, which does not want to host the nation's first nuclear waste dump, which would be carved into a volcanic ridge called Yucca Mountain 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.Nevada's attorneys had already unsuccessfully petitioned the NRC to reject the license application. Nevada lawmakers, led by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., vowed to continue their opposition."While we were hopeful the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would reject Yucca Mountain's license application, the latest development was a formality we expected," Reid said. "I am confident the commissioners will see the same bad information and evidence of mismanagement Nevadans already have and will reject the Energy Department's plan."Nearly $14 billion has already been spent on the repository and the total cost is now pegged at $96.2 billion. The opening date has been pushed back repeatedly and the best-case scenario is now 2020, presuming Congress grants adequate funding, something Reid's opposition has prevented in recent years. 9-8-08 Department of Water ResourcesCalifornia Water NewsA daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment…September 8, 2008 1.  Top ItemThe Public Eye: Resources' new digs aren't green, but the lease sure is - The Sacramento Bee- 9/4/08Study finds California can cut farm water use - The San Francisco Chronicle- 9/8/08 Study: California farmers can profit by saving water - The Associated Press- 9/7/08Delta-based farms can curb water use, study says - The Contra Costa Times- 9/8/08San Joaquin proposal part of big public lands bill - The Sacramento Bee- 9/7/08Drought relief loans available to farmers but not yet needed - The Patterson Irrigator- 9/5/08 The Public Eye: Resources' new digs aren't green, but the lease sure isThe Sacramento Bee- 9/4/08 - By Terri Hardy THE MONEY TRAILIt's a $22 million question: Why are Water Resources Department workers being moved out of their state-owned building and into a leased West Sacramento office during a budget crisis?Not only is the state looking to foot a $22 million bill over 15 years to house 325 employees, but the under-construction digs aren't necessarily green-friendly, despite the governor's push to make state buildings an example of energy efficiency. Jim Libonati, the agency's business operations deputy director, said the department wanted to consolidate employees scattered in four locations (three privately owned and one state-owned) and provide an on-site lab and storage for boats.Besides, Libonati said, the Department of General Services advised that the state-owned Bonderson Building – an office occupied by a majority of the resources workers – is due to be renovated."DGS told us to move out," Libonati said. He couldn't provide documentation on the forced relocation.That explanation had General Services folks scratching their heads. "There aren't any plans to renovate the Bonderson," said Eric Lamoureux, a DGS spokesman. "That isn't even on our radar."General Services selected 3500 Industrial Blvd. as the new home for Water Resources by the end of the year. A state summary said the site, owned by a partnership headed by developer Joe Benvenuti, was "the clear favorite due to its location, site size, economics and well known/experienced lessor."The building was too far along in the construction phase to obtain an energy-friendly LEED certification.In a survey, obtained by The Bee, workers said the more isolated West Sacramento location would force them to drive rather than walk, bike or take public transportation to work.Regardless, Lamoureux said "there are no specific environmental requirements for leased buildings."#http://www.sacbee.com/626/story/1208766.html Study finds California can cut farm water useThe San Francisco Chronicle- 9/8/08 …Kelly Zito, Staff Writer By growing less thirsty crops and investing in more efficient irrigation technology, California farmers could save billions of gallons of water each year - the equivalent of three dams to 20 dams, according to a controversial new report by an influential water policy think tank. In a study to be released today, researchers at Oakland's Pacific Institute say that before Californians take on costly new dam and reservoir projects, state and federal policymakers need to build on existing methods for reducing agricultural water use. The report, titled "More with Less: Agricultural Water Conservation and Efficiency in California - A Focus on the Delta," stresses that agriculture remains an important part of California's economy. However, with farmers using about 80 percent of the water drawn from the critically ill Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, researchers said agricultural water conservation must expand - and quickly. "No one has ever evaluated the potential for improving the efficiency of agricultural water use," said Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute and co-author of the report. "We found there is a lot of potential for savings ... and they're extensions of things farmers are already doing." Farmers who shift away from water-intensive crops, invest in high-tech watering systems and irrigate only at precise times in the growing cycle could save between 600,000 and 3.4 million acre-feet of water each year, Gleick said. One acre-foot is roughly 326,000 gallons, and represents the amount of water needed to cover 1 acre of land to a depth of 1 foot. The study is part of a larger report to be released by the nonpartisan research group next year and was funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. While water use in California has been a historical source of conflict between urban and agricultural consumers, the issue has taken on new urgency in recent years amid predictions of a drier climate, booming population growth and ecological damage to the delta - the hub of the state's water system. The agriculture industry, however, bristles at the notion that its operations are wasteful.  "The idea that farmers are not seeking more efficient ways to do business is an insult to California agriculture," said Mike Wade, executive director of the California Farm Water Coalition, a group aimed at helping farmers boost water efficiency. "Changes are occurring when it's cost-effective and when the technology is available." Though Wade said conservation has a role to play in the state's water crisis, he said additional water storage is also necessary. Several state water bond proposals vying for a place on the November ballot include billions for building new dams and reservoirs. The Pacific Institute researchers suggest that dams, or a proposed peripheral canal - which would route water around the delta, where certain fish populations are crashing - may be necessary. But first, researchers said, the state must create a better system for tracking water use. "Wouldn't it be best to know exactly how much water we need to deliver so we don't overbuild (dams) or spend more money than we need to spend?" Gleick said. The report suggests several other practical solutions, including boosting outreach programs to help teach farmers about new techniques and giving farmers tax breaks for water-saving irrigation systems. The report also recommends broader changes to state and federal policies that are sure to draw sharp criticism from farmers.Gleick said policymakers should reduce or realign federal subsidies that encourage the growing of low-value, water-heavy crops such as alfalfa and cotton. But Wade said the market - not policymakers - drives crop choices. "It's like saying to a restaurant, 'You have to be a shoe store because it uses less water,' " Wade said. Finally, the study recommends that the state develop a more rational water rights system aimed at cutting waste. Under the law, users with the earliest water claims have the highest priority for receiving water. But with the dire situation in the delta, a record-breaking dry spell and some communities under mandatory restrictions, experts say it may be time to re-evaluate how and to whom water is allocated. "We're at an extremely important point where climate change, looming drought and the worsening, deepening ecological problems are all coming together," said Cynthia Koehler, senior consulting attorney at the Environmental Defense Fund. "People realize that 19th century and even 20th century solutions to water problems are not the solutions for the 21st century. We need to look at how we move water around, how we allocate it, how we allocate it for the environment."#http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/08/BA7H12PDTU.DTL Study: California farmers can profit by saving waterThe Associated Press- 9/7/08…By DON THOMPSON California farmers can grow more food more profitably if they switch to water-saving crops and change their irrigation practices in response to the state's ongoing drought, according to a study released Monday.A report issued by the Oakland-based Pacific Institute says farmers in the Central Valley could save enough water to fill up to 20 new reservoirs by making several changes to curb wasted water.About a quarter of the state's water-intensive crops like rice, cotton, corn, wheat and alfalfa should give way to fruit and nut trees and row crops like tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers and melons that can be more selectively irrigated, according to the reportFarmers should use drip or sprinkler irrigation systems instead of flooding grain fields, and crops should only be watered when they need it, a practice requiring more intensive soil and plant monitoring.Farmers are trending toward many of the practices already, said Pacific Institute president Peter Gleick. But Gleick said the nonpartisan research organization's report is the first comprehensive look at how much water farmers could save."It's been a missing piece of the information in the California water debate," he said.California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a statewide drought in June because of two years of below-average rainfall, low snowmelt runoff, shrinking reservoir levels and a court-ordered water restrictions to protect crashing fish populations.Even if the rain and snow returns this winter, global warming could mean less water in the future even as the state's population creeps toward 40 million.Rising sea levels and earthquakes also threaten earthen levees that channel water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta east of San Francisco, a primary source of water for agriculture.State water officials last week announced they will begin buying water from farmers in Northern California to sell to parched southern growers if supplies dry up next summer.Against that backdrop, the institute's report estimates its recommendations could save up to 3.4 million acre-feet of water each year. An acre-foot of water is enough to cover an acre of land with a foot of water, or the amount of water used annually by an average family of four.Just one of the proposals ---- watering crops only when they need it ---- would save enough water to fill Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite National Park 10 times over, Gleick said.Some of the report's recommendations have merit while others are unrealistic, said Mike Wade, executive director of the Farm Water Coalition, a Sacramento-based nonprofit education group."Farmers choose crops that they know they can sell," Wade said. "They shouldn't be arbitrarily asked to switch to different crops merely because they use less water."Wade also feared the institute wants to change historical water rights laws that protect farmer's supplies, though he welcomed the report's call for financial incentives for farmers who save water.Gleick said the institute was careful to make recommendations that use readily available methods and technology and wouldn't harm the state's farmers. The report predicts that growing more high-value fruit and vegetable crops that consume less water could boost growers' productivity and profits.Meanwhile, legislators are considering a bipartisan proposal made by Schwarzenegger and Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein along with agricultural and business groups to restructure the state's water system.The $9.3 billion plan includes building more reservoirs and possibly a canal routing fresh water around the brackish delta. The proposal has stalled as legislators remain stuck in budget negotiations more than two months into the fiscal year that began July 1.The Pacific Institute study argues that the emphasis should be on saving water instead of new water projects that place a greater financial burden on the public. Changing farm practices would mean less need for groundwater or water that flows through the environmentally fragile delta to two-thirds of the state's population.The report suggests the state could avoid planting 10 percent of its fields as one drought response. And it says California should consider retiring 1.5 million acres of poorly drained land in the San Joaquin Valley to save water and pollution cleanup costs.But a representative of a 3,000-member trade group said that California could not effectively conserve water without also shoring up the state's water infrastructure, particularly in the delta."We're just not going to be able to crop-shift our way out of water shortages," said Wendy Fink-Weber, a spokeswoman for the Western Growers Association. "We think it's irresponsible to suggest it."#http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/09/07/news/state/zb54df31ea9bda62d882574bd0077c2eb.txt Delta-based farms can curb water use, study saysThe Contra Costa Times- 9/8/08…By Mike Taugher, Staff Writer If farmers who rely on the Delta watershed made greater use of weather sensors and other technology to more efficiently irrigate crops, they could reduce their water use by 13 percent — an amount equal to more than half of all the water pumped out of the Delta, a study to be released today suggests. And farmers could further cut water use in the beleaguered watershed by planting less pasture and more fruits and vegetables, the study says. The Oakland-based Pacific Institute concluded in the report that farms in the regions of the state that depend on the Delta and its upstream tributaries — the Sacramento Valley, the San Joaquin Valley and the Tulare basin — could use significantly less water and still maintain a healthy agricultural economy. "There are lots of these things that farmers are already doing, but they have to happen faster because the Delta is collapsing," said Peter Gleick, director of the Pacific Institute. Although there is dispute over the degree to which water pumped from the Delta is to blame for the environmental crisis, those problems are forcing water managers to reduce deliveries. The cutbacks have especially hurt farms, which use four times more water than cities and industries combined. Gleick said that despite pressure for a proposed canal to carry water around the Delta and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's push to build more dams, decisionmakers should first look at how much water could be saved by maximizing efficiency. "They're moving fast without all the information they need," he said. "It's irresponsible to make decisions about infrastructure when you don't know how much infrastructure you need." State water and agriculture representatives said that improved conservation is important but that alone will not solve the Delta's water supply and ecosystem problems. "We strongly support conservation, both agriculture and urban," said Lester Snow, director of the state Department of Water Resources. "It's got to be part of the solution. We don't think conservation replaces the need to deal with storage as well as fixing Delta conveyance." A California Farm Bureau water attorney agreed. "The magnitude of the problem is just too big to fool people into thinking ag conservation can get us out of having to debate (a possible peripheral canal)," said Chris Scheuring, adding that the farm bureau is still neutral on the canal. "The more drip (irrigation) we can put in, where it pencils out, the better," he said. "That compares to the more low flow toilets and the less swimming pools, the better." The report is the latest of several from the Oakland-based environmental research group on California water use. In 2003, the institute reported on ways to improve water use efficiency in California cities. The report released today recommends a series of changes to financial incentives, regulations and education to improve the efficiency of water use on the farms that take water upstream of the Delta, in the Delta and from pumps that draw water out of the Delta. Among the recommendations: n"‚Grant rebates or tax exemptions for purchases of efficient irrigation equipment; n"‚Reduce farm subsidies for low-value crops that use a lot of water;n"‚Implement new water rate structures and require farmers in the federal Central Valley Project to fully repay the cost of the project; increase regulation of groundwater; n"‚Require greater water use efficiency through stiffer regulations;n"‚Better monitor and track how water is used in California. The report is available on the Pacific Institute's Web site, www.pacinst.org.#http://www.insidebayarea.com/entertainment/ci_10409155 San Joaquin proposal part of big public lands billThe Sacramento Bee- 9/7/08…By Michael Doyle Ambitious San Joaquin River restoration plans are part of a huge public lands bill whose national scope brings both risk and reward. Senators returning to work next week will confront a 760-page package that wraps together more than 90 separate bills. One would restore water flows and salmon runs in the San Joaquin River below Friant Dam. The river bill is big just by itself, with an estimated price tag of several hundred million dollars.  The rest of the legislation is even bigger, covering everything from a new West Virginia wilderness to a proposed William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site in Hope, Ark. "A large package like this will draw more bipartisan support," noted Democratic Rep. Jim Costa of Fresno. "You have more collective interest, and it's bipartisan." But the same size that attracts multiple sponsors can also make measures like the Omnibus Federal Land Management Acts Bill a big, fat target. With only a few weeks remaining in the congressional session, lawmakers will have to balance the bill's benefits against its potential political costs. "You're facing an unbelievable threat that only you can defeat," Charles Cushman, president of the American Land Rights Association, warned his followers in a recent mass e-mail. While some individual provisions in the big bill may be worthwhile, Cushman said, "a lot are bad." He is attempting to rally conservatives and private property advocates against a bill that he calls "no way to run a government." In truth, omnibus bills are precisely the way Congress often operates. In 1992, for instance, canny authors of the controversial Central Valley Project Improvement Act included it in a package of more than 30 other bills. Even lawmakers leery of the CVPIA, which devoted more of the region's water to protecting the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, found other reasons to accept the overall bill. "I resent, as have others, the fact that we are here held hostage to … the Central Valley Project while we tried to attend to other legitimate projects," Republican Sen. Malcolm Wallop of Wyoming said at the time, "but we were unable to break that." A staunch conservative, Wallop nonetheless voted for the 1992 Western water projects package, which passed the Senate by an overwhelming 83-8 margin. Some of the same environmental activists who backed the 1992 law are now supporting the San Joaquin River restoration effort. This time, though, they are joined by some farm and water organizations, including the Friant Water Users Authority. "Congress, sometimes when they are having difficulty passing individual bills, will package them up together, warts and all," said Ron Jacobsma, the authority's general manager. The San Joaquin River restoration bill is designed to implement a lawsuit settlement first filed in 1988. The bill authorizes $250 million for channel improvements and other work needed to return salmon to the San Joaquin River by 2013. Some lawmakers, including Republican Rep. Devin Nunes of Tulare, and some farmers, including those in the Chowchilla Water District, have raised concerns about potential loss of irrigation water. In part because of the conflict, the Chowchilla Water District has withdrawn from the Friant Water Users Authority. "We are about to start an aggressive ad campaign to educate farmers about the settlement," said Tal Cloud, a Republican political activist who has been rallying opposition to the river deal. The San Joaquin River portion spans 35 pages, about 5 percent of the Omnibus Federal Land Bill's total verbiage. It is the most expensive of the California provisions. The Senate package also includes up to $23 million for a proposed underground storage project in Madera County.#http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/1216153.html Drought relief loans available to farmers but not yet neededThe Patterson Irrigator- 9/5/08…By James Leonard A federal loan program designed to help farmers who have suffered losses because of this summer’s declared drought has gone largely untapped, especially by local farmers.Not one farmer from Stanislaus County has applied for one of the emergency loans, which offer up to $500,000 at low interest rates to family-sized farm operators who can prove they have been directly impacted by the drought, declared earlier this year by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to U.S. Farm Service Agency regional spokesman Paul Lehman, 12 loans totaling $1.78 million have been granted in California since the fiscal year began on March 4. John Oosterman, loan manager for the FSA covering Stanislaus and Tuolumne counties, said none have come from the West Side or anywhere else in the county.“At this point, nobody has applied,” Oosterman said. “It can benefit a number of people, but so far, apparently there’s not been a need for the loan program, at least in Stanislaus County.”That doesn’t mean local farmers aren’t feeling the drought. They’re just finding ways to deal with it.Oosterman said droughts damage crops in different ways than freezes or excess rain during bloom. While those unexpected events can cause sudden, major damage, droughts can typically be planned for and worked around if they are not too severe.Stanislaus County Supervisor Jim DeMartini, himself a farmer, said some have let ground go fallow this season to conserve water. And while water allocations have mostly been cut back, they are not yet low enough to cause too much alarm.“You’d have to have some kind of economic disaster of some sort (to qualify for an emergency loan),” DeMartini said. “And I don’t know if you can make the case that you’ve got that for most people. Water supplies are tight, but I think everybody has enough to get by.“We all wish we had more than we have, but we can get by with less.”Ed Perry, director and farm adviser with the agriculture office of the University of California Cooperative Extension in Modesto, said the current drought isn’t nearly as bad as those that hit California in the 1970s. He said the impact of a drought is different now, though.  “The major difference today is there are more demands on the available water than in the ’70s,” Perry said. “That’s a huge concern, especially for agriculture. (The county’s population) is many timeslarger, so the demand for water has gone up tremendously. Any drought today is relatively more severe because of the competition for water.”Perry and DeMartini both noted the added negative impact of a court decision to shut down some pumps in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta — a major source of water for local farmers — to protect the Delta smelt, a tiny fish believed to be endangered by the pumps.For now, it appears farmers are making due with less water. They’re more than a little nervous about the coming winter, though.“I think everyone is concerned about next year,” DeMartini said. “If the drought continues, there would be a problem.”For information: www.fsa.usda.gov/pas/disaster/assistance1.htm.#http://pattersonirrigator.com/content/view/2107/42/ 2. Supply –Editorial California can grow more food AND take less water from the delta - The San Francisco Chronicle- 9/8/08CALIFORNIA'S WATER: A VANISHING RESOURCE, Agencies get aggressive in efforts to curb waste - San Diego Union Tribune- 9/8/08Editorial  Catching liquid gold - The Pasadena Star News- 9/7/08Drought losses pass a quarter of a billion dollars - Central Valley Business Times- 9/8/08Water measure could dampen home sales: Draft ordinance to enforce a conservation standard for all - The Antelope Valley Press- 9/5/08Cal City concerned about water supply, availability - Antelope Valley Press- 9/5/08 Editorial California can grow more food AND take less water from the deltaThe San Francisco Chronicle- 9/8/08…By Heather Cooley and Juliet Christian-Smith We can do more with less. Nations in drier climates around the world and forward-thinking farmers in California already are using less water to grow more crops - with greater profits. It is time for California to implement economic and environmental policies that encourage farmers to use water more efficiently, both for the good of the environment and to sustain a robust agricultural sector.  The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is in a state of crisis, both as an ecosystem and as a water supply. Almost half of the water used for California's agriculture comes from rivers that once flowed to the delta, and more than half of Californians rely on water conveyed through the delta for at least some of their water supply. It is imperative that we recognize what both the recent court decisions and the scientists are saying: We're taking too much water from the delta.  Given that agriculture accounts for about 80 percent of delta water consumption, reducing withdrawals from the delta will inevitably affect farmers. We have two options, two very different paths to reduced agricultural water use. One is to choose to let events evolve as they will, which may lead to growing disruptions in the agricultural sector, uncertainty about the reliability of food production, and the weakening of a vital component of our traditional economy. The other is to work toward a carefully planned and efficient agricultural sector, long-term protections for land and water resources, and the production of more high-valued crops grown with efficient irrigation systems that are effectively managed to respond to weather and crop conditions.  By changing what crops are grown and how we grow them, the report concludes that we can achieve substantial water savings, ranging from 0.6 million to 3.4 million acre-feet of water annually, and for far less than building new, centralized water storage. In fact, if we look at water savings in "dam equivalents," the scenarios examined in the study could save as much water as three to 20 dams the size of those being proposed. But for the agricultural sector to make such adaptations and investments, the state needs to implement policies and incentives that support water conservation and efficiency improvements. Farmers are already trying to undertake many of these strategies, but they need to overcome some difficult financial, legal and institutional barriers. There are numerous ways to move forward, including:-- The state can offer tax exemptions and rebates for farmers who upgrade to more efficient irrigation systems.-- Courts and regulators can apply California's water-rights laws more rationally to ensure water is being used reasonably and beneficially.-- Water use measurement and monitoring should be drastically improved. -- Misguided federal and state subsidies that encourage wasteful use of water can be redesigned to encourage efficiency and conservation. Farmers have been moving in the right direction for decades, growing more food with less water under difficult conditions. Let's remove the barriers in their way and help them move even faster. Agricultural water-use efficiency can be improved through careful planning, by adopting existing, cost-effective technologies and management practices, and by implementing feasible policy changes. Our findings show that it is possible - indeed, far preferable - to take less water and still improve the delta's economic and environmental conditions. Not only can we do more with less; we must do more with less.  A new report from the Pacific Institute, "More with Less: Agricultural Water Conservation and Efficiency in California - A Special Focus on the Delta," offers a roadmap to the better option: significantly reducing delta withdrawals and groundwater overdraft while still sustaining a strong agricultural economy. Heather Cooley and Juliet Christian-Smith are senior research associates at the Pacific Institute, a nonpartisan research institute that works to advance environmental protection, economic development and social equity. The institute's new report, "More with Less," is available at www.pacinst.org.#http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/07/EDTK12OSFV.DTL CALIFORNIA'S WATER: A VANISHING RESOURCE, Agencies get aggressive in efforts to curb wasteSan Diego Union Tribune- 9/8/08…By Mike Lee and Michael Gardner Since November, Bill Stephens and his fellow water cops have issued more than 450 warnings and tickets to water wasters in Riverside County. They've targeted commercial, industrial and institutional customers in the Eastern Municipal Water District from Moreno Valley to Temecula.  This month, Stephens started to cite residents for excessively using water. After two warnings, homeowners will be fined $100 or more. “You see a lot of waste. You just see it everywhere,” Stephens said.  He mainly writes citations when water is streaming off landscaped areas or sprinklers are spraying onto pavement.  Water cops are the way Eastern, California's fifth-largest water district, is emphasizing the statewide drought. There are few equivalent programs in San Diego County, where officials are relying almost entirely on voluntary conservation despite some calls for mandates.  One exception is the Padre Dam Municipal Water District in Santee, whose employees recently were deputized to report water misuse, including irrigating between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Violators are sent a warning, and repeat problems can result in fines of $75 or more.  “It's time to get serious,” said Mike Uhrhammer, spokesman for the Padre Dam district.  The odds are increasing that similar restrictions and enforcement measures will become the norm throughout California next year. Water levels of major Northern California reservoirs that also supply Southern California are dropping dangerously low: the Folsom, Shasta and Oroville lakes are one-third full. Last winter's snowpacks in the Sierra Nevada were meager and there wasn't much rainfall.  Next year “could be the worst drought in California history,” Lester Snow, the state's water chief, said at a recent hearing in Fresno.  The actions of a few aggressive water agencies provide a glimpse of what 2009 and beyond likely holds for residents in San Diego County. They have raised rates for those who exceed allowances, threatened repeat offenders with flow restrictors and banned outdoor watering on certain days, according to a survey by the Association of California Water Agencies.  Sacramento-area districts have tried several tactics. One has adopted an odd-even daily outdoor watering schedule, another shuts off deliveries to farmers and ranchers three days a week and a third adds a surcharge to the bills of customers who haven't met its conservation standard.  As of Friday, homeowners and businesses in Folsom, along the American River, are allowed to irrigate landscaping only on specified days and never between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m.  In Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa recently signed an ordinance that doubles fines and prohibits watering lawns between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.  “We are stating unequivocally to all residents that anyone wasting our most precious resource will pay the price,” Villaraigosa said.  First-time violators in Los Angeles will receive a warning, and repeat offenders will be fined $100 – twice the previous penalty. The fine for businesses will climb to $200, up from $50.  “Communities throughout Southern California must implement mandatory restrictions on the most wasteful outdoor uses of water and those restrictions need to be made permanent,” said Bill Townsend, president of the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners.  Long Beach adopted regulations in September 2007 that limit outdoor watering to Monday, Thursday and Saturday and only for a specified time on each of those days. The city also encourages customers to anonymously report wasters online. Such tips have generated 3,000 letters of warning to alleged wasters, but the Water Department hasn't resorted to fines.  “Our board wanted to make wasting water as socially unacceptable as lighting up a cigarette in a crowded room,” said Ryan Alsop, spokesman for Long Beach's water agency.  Alsop said Long Beach has recorded some of its lowest water use in a decade during seven of the past 11 months.  In San Diego County, only farmers have been subject to mandatory water cutbacks of 30 percent so far. They registered a 48 percent decline in use in the first seven months of 2008 compared with the same time last year. In contrast, voluntary conservation efforts by homeowners and industrial users have netted a 6 percent reduction year over year, well below the target of about 10 percent.  The independent San Diego-based Utility Consumers' Action Network says that is not enough.  “We are still in a state of denial. I think that most of the residents of San Diego and the policymakers think that we live in Michigan,” said Michael Shames, executive director of UCAN. Shames recently issued a study that compared local conservation efforts with programs worldwide.  “I was really, really surprised at how timid and how uninspiring and modest our efforts have been,” he said.  His recommendations include prohibiting new or expanded lawns, forcing developers to offset new water use, changing prices to more heavily favor conservation and starting a door-to-door public education campaign.  “The most effective approach will be a combination of both restrictions and pricing, along with greater community involvement,” said the UCAN report.  Some water officials and local leaders such as Bruce Reznik, executive director of the environmental group San Diego Coastkeeper, have said the region needs to take stronger measures. San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre repeatedly has called for the city to force reductions in water consumption.  Decision-makers in the San Diego region have rejected mandates for several reasons. Those include the potential for economic disruption, public animosity and logistical challenges created by enforcing mandates.  They also point out that Metropolitan Water District, Southern California's main wholesale water supplier, hasn't said whether it will reduce deliveries next year.  “We don't want to get too far ahead to where we are overreacting,” said Dana Friehauf at the San Diego County Water Authority. The authority supplies water to 24 member agencies, who serve almost all of the county's residents.  Friehauf said the county's “thoughtful, planned approach” means giving the current voluntary conservation program and a countywide advertising campaign more time to work.  Behind the scenes, area water managers are preparing for the worst. Most districts are creating special drought pricing rates that, like power bills, will charge customers much more for greater use. Many also are preparing to stop allowing connections for new development.  The San Diego Water Department recently began publicizing its water-waster hotline, which has existed for several years.  In late July, Mayor Jerry Sanders issued a Stage 1 drought declaration. Among other things, it means that water wasters could eventually be fined.  “We're developing a protocol for how this would work,” said Kurt Kidman, a spokesman for the Water Department.  Kathy Wall of Scripps Ranch said she has adopted several conservation measures, including telling her children to take short showers.  Wall said she dreads the prospect of mandates and water cops.  “I just feel saddened that voluntary solutions haven't worked,” Wall said. “I don't want to police my neighbors. I really don't want any part of it.”#http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20080908-9999-1n8water.html Editorial  Catching liquid goldThe Pasadena Star News- 9/7/08SOUTHERN California is not focused on what to do with rainfall when it becomes street run-off, the kind that gushes from parking lots and overflows storm drains.  The kind we've seen in the Gulf Coast cities during nonstop hurricane coverage but not lately here in parched Southern California.  Not focused? Because our region is in a drought. Water departments and agencies instead are urging customers to reduce home water use; some, as is Pasadena, are warning that residents caught hosing down driveways will be ticketed for wasting water.  But now that autumn is almost here and that means the start of the rainy season, it's time to put in place new technologies that can capture rain water when it falls and - fingers crossed - it will fall. Because wasting the liquid gold from the sky is just as detrimental to the water quantity picture as "Hoser Dan" who uses his garden hose as a broom.  But there's a problem.  The local water agencies don't benefit from capturing storm water. In fact, many, like the county Sanitation Districts, treat sewage waste and turn that into recycled water. While that's positive and something we've praised, they are not set up to handle storm water.  Likewise, if more rainwater gets captured and finds its way into the water table, that creates a conundrum for the folks who pump and sell ground water. Who gets to use this bounty? How much can they charge? Without a new "use" agreement, San Gabriel Valley and Whittier area water agencies will not invest in recapture and recharge of rainwater.  What's needed is a paradigm shift in water conservation. Instead of building storm drains and concrete channels, environmental groups recommend installing bio-swales. These are earthen ditches that collect polluted street run-off and instead of a one-way trip to the ocean - it gets returned to the water table. The soil and rocks act as a natural cleanser. Nature is wonderful. Another green idea is to install a cistern underground, then allow the water to percolate into the aquifer.  Unfortunately, these kind of projects go against the grain of entrenched government, and private water agencies who could lose revenues and profits.  Maybe that's why a 2005 federal grant to include a mile-long bio-swale along Whittier Boulevard between Mar Vista Street and the Five Points is still tied up in red tape up at Caltrans.  Bio-swales and water-catching cisterns are low-tech answers to capturing rainfall and returning it to the ground where it can be pumped as potable water. Some groups, including Amigos de los Rios, which is building a new park in El Monte, are using this green technology.  Many developers are installing bio-swales as a component of a parking lot. They get it. But it will take more than small nonprofits to help Southern California save more rain water.  Conservation is still a good tool. But from 1993 to 2003, Southern Californians went from using 220 gallons of water per person per day to 180 gallons. The decrease is due to institutionalizing lower water usage through low-flow shower heads, toilets and water-stingy appliances.  In the same way, bio-swales must be institutionalized. They must become mandatory in all developments and redevelopments. There needs to be a sea change in the way water agencies, regulators and developers accommodate saving rainfall and storm runoff. Because building concrete channels that whisk away precious water to the ocean is no longer an answer. It is part of the problem.#http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/opinions/ci_10406542 Drought losses pass a quarter of a billion dollarsCentral Valley Business Times- 9/8/08 Farmers and ranches in the Central Valley and the rest of California have suffered a combined $259.8 million in losses attributable to the current drought, the California Department of Food and Agriculture says.  The biggest share is rangeland, where the loss is estimated at $94.5 million.  Cotton is next at $61.5 million. Those losses include both unplanted fields and those abandoned for lack of water.  Almost 79,745 acres are estimated as either unplanted or abandoned. Cotton is the majority of this at 48,114 acres, CDFA says.  The state’s commercial vegetable growers say they’ve lost $60.8 million worth of crops because of the dry conditions.  Other crops and estimated losses: • Processing tomatoes, $9.6 million • Cattle, $7.4 million • Melons, $7.1 million • Alfalfa (hay), $6.5 million • Grain, $5.8 million • All other crops, $6.6 million  Fresno County has the biggest loss at $73.5 million and Kern has $69.5 million in lost farm and ranch income. Other Central Valley counties and their estimated losses due to drought and lack of irrigation water through August are: • Stanislaus, $12.9 million • Merced, $12.8 million • Kings, $10.9 million • Tulare, $3.3 million  Other Central Valley counties had losses of under $2 million, CDFA says.#http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=9759 Water measure could dampen home sales: Draft ordinance to enforce a conservation standard for allThe Antelope Valley Press- 9/5/08…By JAMES RUFUS KOREN, Staff Writer LANCASTER - A draft ordinance aimed at cutting water usage would require developers to include a bevy of water conservation measures into new homes, but it would also require homeowners to meet those new-home standards if they want to sell, which could cost $6,000 to $10,000 a home.  The proposed ordinance would limit the amount of grass that homes could have and mandate separate water meters for outdoor and indoor water use, weather-based sprinkler controls and regular maintenance of sprinkler systems.  The ordinance is "purely a draft" and won't be heard by the city council until October, said city public works Director Randy Williams.  He said the city released the draft to trade groups and others to "throw out as many ideas as we can and collect their ideas in return."  "There are things included that are going to be very distasteful to some," Williams said.  Indeed, the draft ordinance drew criticism from the Greater Antelope Valley Association of Realtors, which said it could hurt the already flailing real-estate market.  "The intent is good - it's all in the name of water conservation," said Pamela Vose, chief executive officer of the Greater Antelope Valley Association of Realtors. "But this is really going to hurt."  Vose estimated retrofitting an existing home to meet the draft ordinance's requirements would cost between $6,000 and $10,000.  "Every time you sell your home, if you haven't met the requirements, this would come up," Vose said. "This just kind of came out of left field."  Palmdale's City Council will be presented a similar ordinance on Sept. 17, but that version does not include the mandate to retrofit homes before they are sold or transferred.  "Lancaster is taking a much stronger approach than Palmdale to this," said Diane Carlton, GAVAR's head of governmental affairs. "By the city's own admission, you're looking at a $6,000 to $10,000 expense to retrofit a home. In this economy, that's a big burden on people."  Retrofitting would be especially expensive because the draft ordinance requires much of the work to be done by professionals.  "If you have to get a landscape architect to go through all the planning process, that's a really onerous approach to it," Carlton said.  But that part of Lancaster's draft ordinance - the one requiring homeowners to install new systems before selling their homes - will likely be stripped, Vice Mayor Ron Smith said.  "More than likely, at this point, I'm against that," Smith said. "You can't just tell all the homeowners, 'By the way, you've got to spend $5,000 and redo your landscaping.' "  Smith said he had not reviewed the entire ordinance, which had been scheduled to go before the City Council on Sept. 23 but will be held until mid-October.  He said requirements for new and existing homes should be handled separately.  "My feeling is that this ordinance was for new development right now," he said. "Then we have to work on getting all the existing homes taken care of. … We do want to get all the 40,000 homes we have now moved up."  The draft ordinance has been presented to GAVAR members for their comments.  Carlton said GAVAR leaders are also concerned with language in the Lancaster draft ordinance that would require homeowners to landscape dirt backyards.  "They want to require landscaped front and back yards and have no more than 100 square feet of dirt," she said. "It's not really a water-saving measure."  Carlton said GAVAR representatives will be meeting with city officials to "see how flexible they will be" on changing the requirements.#http://www.avpress.com/n/05/0905_s2.hts Cal City concerned about water supply, availabilityAntelope Valley Press- 9/5/08…By ALLISON GATLIN, Staff Writer CALIFORNIA CITY - As in communities all over Southern California, water supplies and availability are a pressing concern for California City, and one residents will have to consider more often as supplies tighten.  Public Works Director Michael Bevins presented a status report and forecast on the city's water supplies during Tuesday's regular City Council meeting.  The city depends on the Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency for 25% to 33% of its water supply, Bevins said. The remainder is pumped from the aquifer below the city by a series of wells. A study commissioned in the 1990s recommended the city draw as much water as possible from the water agency, which has resulted in lower pumping rates in the recent years, Bevins said.  Although California City's supply is reasonably secure now, that is not the case across the region.  "The issues with water are regional, they're not just local," Bevins said.  "The actual supply of available water has been dropping the last couple year," Bevins said, with Northern California reservoirs - from which the southern half of the state draws much of its water - are already depleted, he said.  In addition, the pumps used to move water through the system from the north to the south have been found to be harmful to the endangered Delta smelt fish, causing such pumping to be greatly curtailed under a court order. These two issues combined mean there is much less water available from the state system, Bevins said. AVEK is cutting its deliveries to 10% to 15% of normal.  "That's about enough water to feed Wonder Acres, period," Bevins said, referring to a small section of the city located on its western boundary, near State Route 14.  Therefore, the city plans to reserve AVEK water solely for Wonder Acres, which is not adequately served by the city's well system.  The majority of residential water use, in California City and elsewhere in the southwestern United States, is outdoor use, primarily for lawns and other landscaping, Bevins said.  Depending on the area, this accounts for 50% to 70% of water used.  "Green lawns are tremendously consumptive of water," he said, noting that attitudes regarding what kinds of landscaping are best suited to the local environment are slow to change.  The city - as in much of the rest of the drought-stricken Southwest - is looking for sustainable solutions to water conservation, actions which will have long-range effect on the amount of water used. As a starting point, Bevins pointed to the water-saving tips found on Web sites such as bewaterwise.com and wateraware.org. These may be as simple as only running the dishwasher or washing machine with full loads, and adding a gallon jug to the tank of a toilet to decrease the amount of water used when flushing.  Such actions cost very little and may collectively save thousands of gallons of water each month, he said. One of the biggest problems is waste from broken sprinklers or sprinklers that spray water on the pavement instead of just on the grass or landscaping.  Homeowners should monitor their sprinkler systems to avoid such waste, Bevins said.  In addition, steps such as leaving grass a little longer in height to conserve water beneath and watering longer but fewer times per week will help reduce the amount of water used and lost in lawns.  Installing landscaping appropriate to the desert environment is another long-term solution.  "If you look around and see what nature does in the place where you live, you can have a good idea of what works with the water you have," Bevins said.  Cal City has the additional problem of leaks in city water lines due to the advanced age of the pipes.  "California City has an old water system. We generate some pretty serious water leaks," Bevins said.  Using a series of federal loans, the city is in the process of replacing the worst of these water lines to cut down on the number of leaks.  Councilman Nick Lessenevitch noted that any solution to the region's water woes will not be forthcoming from the state government.  "What's happening at the state level is a bunch of legislators sitting around on their hands," he said. "This is something we're going to have to take care of on our own."  Resident Ed Waldheim recommended inserting water-saving tips into the monthly water bills sent out by the city.#http://www.avpress.com/n/05/0905_s7.hts 3. Watersheds – Nev., Calif., officials sign landmark river dealThe Associated Press- 9/6/08…By MARTIN GRIFFITH, Associated Press Writer With the scenic stream flowing behind them, officials from Nevada, California and the federal government signed a landmark agreement that settles a century-plus-old dispute over the Truckee River's water.Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne joined local and state officials at the signing ceremony Saturday for the Truckee River Operating Agreement.The complex document allocates the river's waters between the two states, and balances the interests of urban users, downstream farmers and the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe."I'm so happy that President Bush signed off on it," Reid told a crowd of about 400 at a downtown Reno park. "It's an example of what teamwork and bipartisanship can accomplish."The Truckee flows more than 100 miles from the California side of Lake Tahoe to its terminus at Pyramid Lake on Nevada's high desert, about 30 miles northeast of Reno.Under the agreement, California will get two-thirds of Lake Tahoe's water to Nevada's one-third, while Nevada will receive 90 percent of the Truckee's water to California's 10 percent. It also calls for Nevada to get 80 percent of the Carson River's water to California's 20 percent.The two states approved an interstate compact on the Truckee's waters in the early 1970s, but it was never ratified by Congress.Kempthorne hailed the new agreement, saying it was similar to ones reached in recent years over the Colorado and Snake rivers. He stressed that no one surrendered any water rights under the latest deal."This day is part of a new day in the West — a day when step by step, agreement by agreement we resolve all the bitter water disputes in the new spirit of cooperation and partnership," he said.The deal stemmed from Reid-sponsored legislation passed by Congress in 1990 that directed both states, the U.S., the tribe and the Reno area's water purveyor to settle their differences over the river.Lawsuits over the Truckee spanning back to the 1800s gave it a reputation for being one of the West's most litigated rivers.Under the settlement, the amount of drought water storage for the Reno area will triple, and Reno, Sparks and Washoe County will provide water rights to improve water quality in the lower Truckee. The river system is the Reno area's only water source.Officials said the agreement will improve conditions for the threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout and endangered cui-ui fish, as well as for Nevada wetlands. It also will enhance recreational opportunities in both states.A final environmental study by the U.S. Department of the Interior and California Department of Water Resources found no significant adverse impacts from the agreement.The document concluded the settlement would provide a major boost to the river's water quality and fishery.Speakers praised Reid for his role in ending the dispute, and noted former U.S. Sen. Paul Laxalt, R-Nev., fell short in an earlier effort to resolve it."The fact that we're here today ... is a tribute to the tenacity and leadership of Sen. Harry Reid," Kempthorne said.Reid gave credit to former Rep. Barbara Vucanovich, R-Nev., and former California Gov. Pete Wilson, as well as stakeholders.U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials said they expect the agreement to be implemented in two or three years after court decrees concerning the Truckee's water are modified to include its provisions.Thousands of covered-wagon pioneers followed up the Truckee on their way to California's gold fields in the 19th century.#http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/09/06/state/n162337D97.DTL&tsp=1 4. Water Quality –Nothing Significant 5. Agencies, Programs, PeopleGREAT BASIN RANCH: WRANGLING OVER WATER: Southern Nevada Water Authority stamps its brand on the land - Las Vegas Review Journal- 9/7/08Landscape rules on how much lawn is enough differ by city: Depending on what city you live in (and sometimes what part of your city), the rules vary that govern how much greenery you have . Best to check before ripping out the grass and pouring concrete. - The Los Angeles Times- 9/6/08 GREAT BASIN RANCH: WRANGLING OVER WATER : Southern Nevada Water Authority stamps its brand on the landLas Vegas Review Journal- 9/7/08…STORY By HENRY BREAN  When the branding begins, Brandon Humphries is on horseback, his lasso turning slow loops in the air above a herd of nervous calves. One by one, he snares the animals by their hind legs and drags them to a waiting group of ranch hands, who go to work with vaccine guns and an electric iron. The air fills with white smoke and the smell of scorched hair. After about an hour of this, Humphries climbs down from the saddle and right into the path of a calf that has slipped away from the ground crew. He wrestles the 200-pound animal to the ground, then pops back up with a grin on his face and a splash of green manure across the front of his long-sleeved work shirt. He looks down at the stain and shrugs. "Shirt was going to get dirty eventually anyway," he says. A scene like this is not unusual in the lonesome valleys of White Pine County. This kind of work has been going on here for more than a century.What's strange is who Humphries' boss is.  Last year the Southern Nevada Water Authority hired him to run the string of ranches it now owns in Spring Valley, about 40 miles east of Ely. His authority-issued business cards identify him as "ranch manager," a position that rarely, if ever, shows up in the staff directory of a major municipal water supplier. Humphries' job is to oversee Great Basin Ranch, a collection of seven agricultural operations the authority has snapped up since 2006. The water agency's holdings in Spring Valley now include more than 23,000 acres, 4,000 sheep, 1,700 cows, a working hay farm, and the rights to more than 13 billion gallons of surface water and groundwater each year. The authority also has acquired more than 1 million acres of federal grazing rights, including a sheep range that stretches more than halfway to Las Vegas, some 250 miles away. The purchases were made to support a scheme to tap groundwater across eastern Nevada. By as early as 2013, the authority hopes to start sending water south through a pipeline that is expected to cost between $2 billion and $3.5 billion. Authority General Manager Pat Mulroy has described Spring Valley as the "anchor basin" for the project. More than half of the water destined to one day fill the pipeline is expected to come from there. The water project has stirred fierce opposition, and so have the purchases in Spring Valley. Critics say the authority paid way too much for the ranches and now runs them with a mixture of incompetence and reckless spending. Rancher and Assemblyman Pete Goicoechea considers it public money down the drain. "If they had to pay for those ranches with the way they're running their livestock, they'd be broke in three years," says the Republican from Eureka. "It doesn't matter who's running them, though. Christ couldn't come off the cross to run those ranches and break even with what they paid for them." But water authority officials insist the deals make sense in the proper context: They didn't buy the ranches for the livestock or the land.  They weren't looking to break into the cattle industry or set up a rural retreat where city folk could play cowboy for a weekend. They were after one thing. "We're paying market value for water," Humphries explains. "We're not buying a ranch for a ranch." And if authority officials have their way, at least some of their new groundwater holdings in Spring Valley will be sent down the pipeline to Las Vegas one day. Beyond that, the authority hasn't developed a long-term plan for the ranches yet. Though they are projected to operate at or near the break-even point starting this year, it might not make sense to keep them running as they are forever, officials say. One idea is to open up the land to the state's university system as a sort of living laboratory for agricultural and environmental research. Another idea involves setting aside a portion of the property as a public natural area. Authority Deputy General Manager Dick Wimmer says some changes undoubtedly will be made, but it's too early to say what those might be. In the meantime, authority officials have one very compelling reason to keep ranching and farming on their property: Under Nevada law, you either use your water rights or you lose them. The teamIn the first two hours of branding, the water authority's calves stop lowing only once, when a single clap of thunder crashes down from a dark cloud gathering over nearby Wheeler Peak. The animals wait in stunned silence for a few seconds to see what might happen next. Then they start up again. The ranch hands greet the thunder with a holler. Now it's a race against the weather. As any rancher will tell you, it's damned hard to brand a wet calf. Most of these cows and steers were born in Spring Valley within the last 50 days. Each is roped and dragged backward across the grass to ground crew members who restrain it with a metal device known as a Nord fork. In addition to the brand burned onto its right hip, each animal gets two vaccine shots. The males get castrated. When it's over, the calves are turned loose to rejoin their mothers, which seems to calm them instantly. The whole process takes about a minute and moves in a way that suggests an assembly line or a pit stop at a NASCAR race, with one key difference: Cars don't fight back. "It's interesting to see how they do their business, how quick it is," says water authority biologist Zane Marshall, who stops by the corral to watch for a few minutes. After snapping some pictures on his digital camera, he tries his hand once with the branding iron, then heads back out to continue his work. Marshall is in Spring Valley to check on a contract crew hired by the authority to map the area's vegetation. The crew's work will help fill in the detail on aerial photos of the valley. The goal is to catalog the existing flora and fauna so any impacts from the groundwater transfer can be tracked more easily once the pumps are turned on. "It supports long-term monitoring," says Marshall, who manages the authority's Environmental Resources Division. His team is also tracing the movements of sage grouse in the valley. Five of the birds have been fixed with radio telemetry collars, a process that sounds a lot easier than it ought to be. Basically, Marshall says, you find them where they roost at night, shine a spotlight in their eyes and crank some loud music. "Def Leppard or Metallica," he says. "It depends on when you were born." Then you just scoop up the stunned birds with a net. Humphries, who went along on one of the grouse roundups, says ranchers and wildlife biologists don't often mix, let alone collaborate as they do at Great Basin Ranch. "Usually he doesn't like what I'm doing, and I don't like what he's going to do," Humphries says of a biologist like Marshall. "Here we're colleagues on the same team working for the same purpose." On the groundSpring Valley is a patchwork quilt of sagebrush, greasewood and meadow grass, stitched here and there with stream-fed ribbons of willow and silver maple trees. It is also a science textbook flipped open to the chapter on basin and range geology. At about 25 miles wide and 110 miles long, it runs north-south between mountain blocks that rise sharply on either side like Cenozoic parentheses. To the west is the Schell Creek Range, to the east the Snake Range, crowned by Wheeler Peak, Nevada's second highest summit at 13,063 feet. The so-called "Loneliest Road in America," U.S. Highway 50, crosses the valley's midsection like a belt, its buckle the junction where U.S. 93 arrives from the south. The authority bought its first ranch here in 2006. Within a year, Nevada's largest wholesale water supplier owned more private land in the valley than anyone else. The almost $79 million buying frenzy has led some to predict that the authority could one day own all of the private property in Spring Valley. The water authority's Mulroy won't rule that out, but she doesn't think it will be necessary. "The strategic ranches we needed to protect sensitive species in the area we got. And the ranches with the greatest opportunity for reinjecting water into the groundwater table, we got those, too," she says. As Wimmer explains it, Great Basin Ranch is "not looked at as a profit center" but as a "holistic" way to manage Spring Valley's water and environmental resources. As a result, he says, what goes on there at times might bear little resemblance to a typical livestock operation, where the bottom line is all there is. Already, the authority is busy upgrading equipment, examining ways to improve water efficiency, and opening the property up to a small army of hydrologists and biologists whose primary mission is to make the pipeline pay off. The authority's opponents see a more sinister motive at work. "The only reason they bought those ranches was to provide a buffer. If they own them there's no one there to cry foul" if the water table drops, Assemblyman Goicoechea says. "They can say what they want, but that's why they bought the valley." The cowboy lawmaker does agree with Las Vegas water officials on one point: They aren't running their ranches in a way he's ever seen."There's some things they've done that have some people in the industry grinning," he says. At a recent livestock auction, for example, Great Basin Ranch agreed to some unusual sale conditions for its calves that could needlessly stress the animals and reduce their value when they are weighed for delivery in the fall, Goicoechea says. "They were the laughingstock of the auction." Not everyone is upset by the authority's presence in Spring Valley. Dennis Eldridge ranches on neighboring land that has been in his family since 1917. He thinks the authority is "doing fine" so far."They do things a little differently, but they've been fine with us," he says. "They've been a good neighbor." It should be noted that the Eldridge family is in talks to sell its 6,300-acre spread to the authority. It should also be noted that Dennis Eldridge has a reputation for speaking his mind. He says some fellow ranchers are jealous of Great Basin Ranch's new equipment and bottomless financial backing. Others just don't like change. He says people are always anxious at first when a "foreign entity" moves into the valley, especially one affiliated with the government, which he jokingly refers to as "the big thumb." As far as Eldridge is concerned, though, it's the people on the ground who count. "Brandon's always been a good neighbor," he says. "He's helped us even before they (the authority) came along." Along with Humphries, the authority directly employs three ranch hands, two of them college graduates with degrees in plant or animal science. About 30 contract workers make up the rest of the staff. Some are here from Mexico and Peru on work visas that allow them to stay for months or years at a time. There's plenty of work to go around, especially on branding day. Several members of the day's crew were up before the sun, moving wheel lines that keep the alfalfa green and tending to the two dairy cows that keep the ranch supplied with milk. Ranch hand Latara Pickering has logged 127 hours of work in the last two weeks. Her brother, Matt Pickering, literally can't remember the last time he had a vacation. Ask him, and he has to think about it for a minute. "I went and picked up my brother at the airport," he finally says. To brand every new calf on the ranch takes six full days scattered over three weeks. After that, the animals are turned out for five months to graze and pack on about 250 pounds each. In early November, the animals will be loaded into trailers and trucked to their final stop before the slaughterhouse: a ranch near California where they will be "finished" with more grazing aimed at adding another 500 pounds of beef. Humphries says the cattle operation near Bakersfield, Calif., agreed to buy the authority's first full batch of calves based on a video of the animals that was shown during an Aug. 1 auction in Winnemucca. When a smaller group of cows and steers were sold and shipped off the ranch last fall, the line of cattle trucks stretched for a mile, he says. Back in the saddleA water utility with ranch property is not as unusual as you might think. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California leases some of its land for agricultural use. So do Denver Water, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and several municipal water companies in Arizona. What makes the arrangement in Spring Valley unusual is the water authority's decision to staff its property rather than lease it. For Humphries, that meant a new opportunity at an opportune time. "At that point, I needed a job," he says. "I knew the ranch, and they needed someone to look after their investment." Humphries moved to Spring Valley eight years ago from Cedar City, Utah, to help his uncle run a hay farm. When his uncle sold the place to the water authority in April 2007, Humphries suddenly found himself out of work. Mulroy says Humphries seemed like the natural choice to look after the authority's livestock. "It's not like we plucked somebody who has never done this before," she says. "We're going to the people who know how to do these things. "The decisions on running those (ranches) are Brandon's." Before he landed in Spring Valley, Humphries ran a landscaping company, a Mormon bookstore, and a side business that sold old railroad ties in Cedar City. But cowboy life is in his blood. When he was a kid, his family used to spend part of the year on a spread near Gunlock, Utah, where his grandfather kept 120 head of cattle and "we did everything by hand." Humphries first climbed into the saddle at age 6, and within a year he was spending whole days on the range with his grandfather. He rode with blocks of wood taped to his stirrups so his legs would reach. Today, the 36-year-old Humphries lives with his wife and five children in a house with a white rail fence and a sweeping view of Wheeler Peak from the front window. "Basically, I went from operating a 600-acre farm for my uncle to operating a ranch with 1.2 million acres" of rangeland, he says. "It was quite a change." Show 'emOn this day, Humphries and his branding crew get lucky. The clouds hold off until the last calf is done. When the sky finally opens up around noon, what comes down is snow, a rarity for early June on the more-than-mile-high valley floor. The weather is a mixed bag, Humphries says. It's good for the hay crop, but it also means two guys will have to go out on graders the next day to make sure the roads through the ranch are passable. "In the ranch business in Spring Valley, what you deal with is too much water or not enough water," he says. "Both are occurring right now on the ranch." Reaction to Humphries and his employer in White Pine County seems a little like that, too. It arrives in a trickle or a flood, some of it good, most of it bad. Humphries predicts the anger and suspicion will fade over time, as "people come to realize we're here to be part of the community."Until then, he knows only one surefire way to silence the critics: "Show 'em." "That's what we do day by day," Humphries says. "We're under the microscope."#http://www.lvrj.com/news/27968154.html Landscape rules on how much lawn is enough differ by city: Depending on what city you live in (and sometimes what part of your city), the rules vary that govern how much greenery you have . Best to check before ripping out the grass and pouring concrete.The Los Angeles Times- 9/6/08…By Diane Wedner, Staff Writer KEEPING that thick, verdant blanket of grass watered in these dog days of summer is about as economical and conservation-minded an enterprise as gassing up the family SUV for the weekly commute or a long-distance vacation. It costs a bundle, and pretty soon you have to do it all over again.But before yanking out the Marathon and replacing it with concrete or AstroTurf, it's best to check out the myriad landscaping rules, regulations and ordinances individual municipalities enforce. Just because Los Angeles homeowners can put, pour or plant nearly anything in their frontyards doesn't mean Long Beach residents can too.  Equally confounding is that some cities are promoting water conservation, while still requiring that yards be at least half grass. Officials are scrambling to catch up with a conservation movement that many of its residents already have embraced."It's hard, because changing the zoning ordinances is a long process," said Jesse Brown, assistant planner for Burbank. "It can take a year and needs City Council approval."Add to that the different philosophies among city planning departments, and headaches are born. "We have almost no regulations whatsoever," said Michael O'Brien, a planning associate for Los Angeles."If you want to plant a drought-tolerant garden, you can," said Glendale's Neighborhood Services Administrator Sam Engle. "As long as you follow the guidelines."And therein lies the rub, or shrub, if you will: If you're going Sahara, check in first with local government.Longtime Burbank homeowners Margie and Louis Dell had Laramee Haynes do the checking for them. The Pasadena landscaper told the couple that they could implement their drought-tolerant design, which included pebbles and recycled concrete, as long as they met the city's requirement that no more than 45% of their front- and street-facing yards be hard-scaped.He tore out their tired turf and replaced it with flowering paprika yarrow, lilac verbena, red California fuchsia, deer grass and oak trees, all anchored by redwood mulch. Window planters are filled with succulents.The driveway, once a solid mass of concrete, now is made of pebbles and broken recycled concrete. A brook filled with recycled water flows through the backyard and spills into a pond stuffed with goldfish that feed on mosquitoes and algae.The Dells got fired up to make the changes after attending a Burbank water conservation workshop.A trip to the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers and Native Plants in Sun Valley, where a botanist explained drought-tolerant landscaping, sealed the deal. The nonprofit organization promotes native gardens and offers more than 300 varieties of native plants for sale."Our neighbors love our garden," Margie Dell said of her new landscaping, which requires watering only twice a year. "They want to know how to do it."Jim Brophy's neighbors had a different reaction when he ripped out the expansive front lawn of his new home and went native in the Park Estates neighborhood of Long Beach about 18 months ago.After learning about the benefits of water conservation, he planted manzanita shrubs, a palo verde tree, rosemary, Russian sage and other native species, which provide color year-round and require limited water. He's reduced yard clippings, he said, and is proud that with no edging or mowing, he's doing his part to cut down on the use of fossil fuels.His neighbors, however, haven't shared his enthusiasm."The homeowners association said that I hadn't talked it up to the board, and at an open house I attended, I heard remarks that my yard was weird and ugly," Brophy said."The irony is that people visiting the house for sale next door to me now stop by my house and tell me they love my garden. They want to know who did it and how."In Long Beach, a sustainability commission has been created to focus on new landscaping standards that may permit more hardscape, said Craig Beck, director of Long Beach Development Services. Currently, the rules vary by neighborhood, he said, but lawn is required on a fair-sized portion of residential properties."We don't want 100% hardscaping, because we're big on open space here," Beck said. "But we do encourage environmental responsibility, and we will encourage more drought-tolerant landscaping with native plants."  To find out about your city's landscaping and lawn-watering rules, visit city websites and click on the links to planning or community development departments.Here is a sampler of some Southland cities' regulations:* Los Angeles: There are some landscaping rules, but they're "scattered all over the zoning codes," L.A. City Planning associate O'Brien said. Owners of single-family homes can pretty much do as they please; the city regulates properties with duplexes and larger residential dwellings, which have different rules. Historic Preservation Overlay Zones have their own rules governing landscaping. Note, also, that Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa recently signed an ordinance that doubles fines for residents who repeatedly violate the city's "drought buster" rules, including a ban on watering lawns between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.For more information, go tocityplanning.lacity.org/.* Long Beach: Residents are "encouraged" to dedicate no more than 50% of their frontyards to concrete, said Development Services Director Beck. Wood chips and gravel are permitted, up to 100% of frontyards. Rules are set by neighborhood associations; the city "doesn't strictly enforce landscaping regulations," he added. Drought-tolerant measures are encouraged and may soon be required. Go to www.longbeach.gov/plan/pb/zd/ ordin ances/default.asp.* Glendale: Rules vary with the neighborhoods, most of which require that 40% of setback areas be fully landscaped (not all in one corner of the yard) and that the landscaped areas consist primarily of live plant material. Go to www.ci.glendale.ca.us.* Burbank: No more than 45% of frontyard and street-facing side yards may be hardscape (concrete, brick, pavers, etc.). Go to www.ci.burbank.ca.us/De partments/deptsa.htm#cdd.* Riverside: Frontyard landscaping is not regulated, other than requiring that the space be maintained at a quality at least equal to that of the rest of the neighborhood, and that varies by neighborhood. Go to riversideca.gov; click on "municipal code," then "zoning code."* Irvine: Each of the city's 80 or so master-planned communities has a homeowners association, which decides the landscaping plan. Homeowners seeking a change to their yard must get association approval.* Santa Barbara: Owners submit landscape plans to the city. Yards of single-family homes must be designed with no more than 20% of the landscaped area planted with grass or plants that are not drought-tolerant. Grass is not allowed on slopes with 20% or greater grades within landscaped areas. Landscaped areas not covered by grass, shrubs or succulents must be covered with mulch. Strict irrigation rules apply. More information is at www.santabarbaraca.gov/Gov ernment/Departments/ComDev/.# http://www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm-water6-2008sep06,0,6938785.story  ------------------------------------------------------------- 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. -------------------------------------------------------------CENTRAL VALLEY SAFE ENVIRONMENT NETWORKMISSION STATEMENTCentral Valley Safe Environment Network is a coalition of organizations and individuals throughout the San Joaquin Valley that is committed to the concept of "Eco-Justice" -- the ecological defense of the natural resources and the people. To that end it is committed to the stewardship, and protection of the resources of the greater San Joaquin Valley, including air and water quality, the preservation of agricultural land, and the protection of wildlife and its habitat. In serving as a community resource and being action-oriented, CVSEN desires to continue to assure there will be a safe food chain, efficient use of natural resources and a healthy environment. CVSEN is also committed to public education regarding these various issues and it is committed to ensuring governmental compliance with federal and state law. CVSEN is composed of farmers, ranchers, city dwellers, environmentalists, ethnic, political,and religious groups, and other stakeholders.