ACWA e-News for June 16, 2010

ACWA and the Department of Water Resources are sponsoring a series of interactive workshops on the SBX7 6 Groundwater Elevation Monitoring Program. Passed as part of the comprehensive package on water enacted by the Legislature in November 2009, SBX7 6 requires groundwater elevation monitoring for all 515 groundwater basins /sub-basins in California to better manage the resource during normal, wet and dry water years.

The Save Our Water public education program is educating Californians on the importance of conserving water year-round – even in wet years.

An ACWA-opposed bill affecting immunity provisions between public agencies and design professionals has been postponed for hearing to June 30 in the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

SB 972 (Wolk) would remove the ability of local public agencies to negotiate indemnity provisions with design professional, architectural and engineering firms, leaving the local agencies liable for any claims arising from construction and subsequent use of facilities. This would affect the financial ability of agencies to undertake construction of new water projects and facilities.

The State Water Resources Control Board has posted a new online report on efforts to improve the state’s water quality monitoring and assessment. The report captures 2009 achievements by the Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program (SWAMP) as well as anticipated accomplishments in 2010.

The online report also includes links to ongoing SWAMP activities and resources, statewide monitoring programs, regional monitoring programs, SWAMP methods, quality assurance and data management tools.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed legislation extending a cost-sharing program for levee maintenance and improvements in the Delta.

SB 808 (Wolk) extends the state’s authorization to reimburse local agencies for up to 75% of levee maintenance and improvement costs. Without the bill, the state would not have been able to provide more than 50% reimbursement after July 1 of this year.

The measure extends the program’s authorization to July 1, 2013, which coincides with the state’s deadline to reassess it plans and priorities for protecting Delta levees.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation today announced it has increased its Central Valley Project allocations for agricultural contractors south of the Delta to 45%, up from 40% announced in May. The increase is due to improved precipitation this spring and better-than-expected pumping conditions in the Delta, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said in a statement.

A joint agency task force today announced a near-term science strategy to support water operations in the Delta and a preliminary strategy for completing an integrated biological opinion covering the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan and water project operations.

The Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District has withdrawn its request to increase wastewater discharges from the Sacramento Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant, citing progress on water conservation and reductions in per-capita wastewater flows.

The district submitted a request in 2005 to the Central Valley Regional Water Quality control Board seeking to increase its permitted maximum discharges from 181 million gallons per day (mgd) to 218 mgd.

A stakeholder panel created to assist the Department of Water Resources in developing new statewide water conservation requirements will meet June 22 in Chino. The meeting, set for 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., will take place at the Inland Empire Utilities Agency.

Today, the Senate voted 47-53 on the motion to proceed past debate on Senator Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) resolution of disapproval (S J Res 26). The resolution would have overruled EPA’s green house gas endangerment finding. The resolution needed a simple majority of 51 votes to proceed.

Earlier this week, the White House threatened to veto the resolution if it passed.

In an action published in the Federal Register on June 8, the U.S. EPA adopted a final rule allowing twelve alternative methods for testing drinking water contaminants.  

The new methods do not replace previously approved methods, but instead are added as additional methods considered equally effective.  Some of the new methods improve on existing ones in that they, among other things, eliminate some labor intensive sample preparation steps and reduce the need for solvents and potentially hazardous materials in the testing process.

The Senate Energy & Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water & Power received testimony on pending legislation before the Subcommittee, including S. 2891, the Hoover Dam Allocation Act and H.R. 4252, a bill directing the Secretary of Interior to conduct a study of water resources in the Rialto-Colton Basin in California on Wednesday, June 9.

HooverPower

A June 8 memo from White House Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag directed all non-security Executive Branch agencies to reduce their budgets by five percent for FY 2012.

The memo called on agencies to “restructure their operations strategically” rather than to reduce spending across the board.  Eliminating low-priority programs and activities, reorganizing processes, and focusing on “high-priority performance” goals are all suggestions that were listed.