Water quality supervisor: Rainfall dangerously low so far in 2015
LAKE HERMAN WATER has long been considered a backup source for Benicia.
File photo
While Benicia has taken several measures to save water, and municipal and community efforts have brought consumption down 20 percent and more to meet state and local goals, those efforts need to continue, Jackson said.
Speaking Monday to members of the Community Sustainability Commission, Jackson presented a chart of California’s rainfall trend over the past 40 years. The irregular graph had peaks in the early 1980s, when California received as much as 40 inches of winter precipitation, and in the 1990s, when the state saw several years with precipitation between 30 and 40 inches.
That rainfall began to decline after 2010, however, plummeting from 30 inches to little more than 15 inches and, so far, barely 5 inches this year.
CSC Commmissioner Ershely Raj said she had seen a NASA report that 11 trillion gallons are needed to get the state’s reservoirs to pre-drought status. “It’s crazy how many people think it’s not an issue,” she said.
Fortunately for Benicia, Jackson said, Lake Barryessa’s water elevation, which plummeted to 300 feet in 1993, remained at the 420-foot level or more until 2010, when it dropped to 405 feet.
It rose again to 435 feet in 2011, but has declined since then, and now is at 410 feet, Jackson said.
He said what worries him is the current state of California’s snow water content. “We’re at 20 percent, and it doesn’t look good for rain,” he said.
The state normally would have more than twice that amount by now, with more often arriving through January, February and into March and April, he said. He expects the 2014-15 winter to be counted as another dry year.
Without more snow, which provides the state with a significant portion of water, he said California could experience a lack of water comparable to the 1976-77 year, one of the driest in recorded history.
Benicia’s water normally comes from three main sources, Jackson said.
The city contracts with the state for 17,200 acre-feet of water through the State Water Project. No matter how much the city gets, it must pay the entire contract.
In most years, the city gets a large percentage of its order. However, because of the severe drought, last year the state initially said Benicia and other contractors would get just 5 percent of their order. Then the state decided none would get a drop. Finally, that decision was revised back to 5 percent, but the water wasn’t released to contractors until September.
In 2015, Benicia is anticipating to get 15 percent of its contract, or 2,580 acre-feet. The city has another 3,100 acre-feet of water in the Solano Project, in Lake Berryessa, and another thousand in Lake Herman for a total production of 6,680 acre-feet, which is still about 3,274 shy of the city’s 2014 demand, which was 9,954 acre-feet.
The shortfall is covered by banked water and purchases of additional water, Jackson said. The problem with the carryover of unused water the city has banked, he said, is if Benicia keeps under-using its allotment, that allotment is cut back.
Of the total used, 4,788 acre-feet of untreated water from Lake Herman is used by Valero Benicia Refinery in its cooling towers and boilers, he said.
He said the Water Treatment Plant distributes another 5,164 acre-feet each year to residential and commercial-industrial customers; however, as has been reported, the city can’t account for 26 percent of that water.
“We believe we know” how that water “disappears,” he said.
Most has been attributed to the city’s water meters, many of which are 20 years old or older, he said, adding that some of them do not provide accurate monitoring. “Some read zero when there is some flow,” Jackson said.
But the city’s aging water pipes also could be leaking as much as 500 gallons a day, he said.
Benicia has met its goal of a 20-percent reduction in consumption when compared to usage in 2013. To do so the city used a public outreach program, from restaurant table-top cards to signs and informational articles, urging voluntary conservation. That saved 360 acre-feet of water, Jackson said.
Benicia also has offered water surveys in conjunction with other agencies, so that residents and commercial sites can discover ways to cut back on water use and expenses. Jackson said information on how much water has been saved through the residential and business surveys and business incentives hasn’t been tabulated.
The Council imposed outdoor watering restrictions that saved 603 acre-feet of water, he said. In conjunction with other agencies, Benicia offered rebates for replacing water-wasting appliances and lawns with more efficient machines and drought-tolerant landscaping. The turf-replacement rebates cost the city $17,000, at $1 for each square foot up to 1,000 square feet per customer, and is expected ultimately to save 2.1 million gallons.
Jackson said appliance replacements are expected to save a little more than 5 acre-feet of water.
Benicians in particular responded to the “cash for grass” turf replacement program. Nearly 8,000 square feet of turf has been replaced since the program’s inception four years ago, and the city has among the best records of participation in the program.
The city also encouraged water recycling, not just water from the Wastewater Treatment Plant but also graywater adaptation so residents can use washing machine water for irrigation; and the question of using effluent as an alternative seal water supply is being studied. Despite the $225,000 cost to pursue the project, Jackson said it ultimately could provide cost savings to customers.
Benicia is one of the few cities tapped to participate in the Solano County Water Agency’s $60,000 grant-funded pilot program, WaterSmart Software Home Water Use Reports Study, in which 5,000 Benicia water customers, chosen randomly, get to compare their consumption with that of neighbors with a similar profile.
The city itself set an example, particularly the Parks and Community Services Department, Jackson said. “That’s extremely helpful, he said. “It sets the standard for other communities in Solano County. … It’s a real community effort.”
But while Benicians have done “a great job,” he advised, “Keep on doing it.”
In the future, Jackson said, he hopes recycled water projects at Valero Benicia Refinery, which could conserve 2,127 acre-feet a year, and a smaller effort at the Wastewater Treatment Plant, which could save 41 acre-feet of water a year, can be put in place.
Valero is looking at whether Wastewater Treatment Plant water might be usable in its cooling tower, because that water doesn’t need to be processed by reverse osmosis, Jackson said.
He said under the program, 1.9 million gallons of recycled water could be delivered daily to the refinery instead of discharging the effluent into the Carquinez Strait. He said it could cost $175 to $277 for each acre-foot.
The treatment plant handles 2.16 million of gallons each day, he said. A 2009 report, “Water Reuse Project Preliminary Design Report,” proposed treating wastewater with microfiltration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet light disinfection before pumping the water to the refinery, he said.
The refinery uses about 4 million gallons a day, Jackson said. But he said recent discussions with Valero officials indicated that the cooling tower water demand is about 2 million gallons a day, and that water requires less expensive treatment.
That project could save 25 percent of the water used, making it “a game-changing project,” he said.
More water would be saved, or at leased accounted for, after old meters are replaced and through leak detection, Jackson said. Those new meters would be accurate, he said, and would make billing fairer to all customers.
Apart from the hope for additional snows or the requirement to shop for additional water sources, Jackson said additional reviews of home water use, more money for turf replacement rebates and evapo-transpiration controllers in the city’s parks could bring the city closer to its goal of water sustainability.
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A number of items do not add up:
500 gallons per day in leaks is probably a bit low as that adds up to 182,000 gallons per year or less than about the amount used by one single family residence that has a big yard and 5 people living there (i.e., leaks are probably more than this). But the loss of what has been estimated of 20% due to bad metering (or no metering) means the rest of us are paying 25% more than we need to. If only 80% of the water is billed, the rates have to be 25% higher to collect the revenue needed. That needs to end and the City needs to find the places who are not paying or are paying to little and replace (or install) meters NOW.
Benicia typically uses about 10,000 acre feet per year, half to Valero. Valero should have done their water conservation (boiler) project by now. That is supposed to reduce use by over 300 acre feet (enough for 700 to 800 homes). Is it done? Is the reduction included in the estimates of water need for 2015?
We keep hearing that residents saved over 20%, which would be about 1000 acre feet last year. The need estimates in the article do not seem to have included that. Have they? What is next year’s need with that taken into account?
California and the drought more news the community can use—-
From the above article:
“CSC Commmissioner Ershely Raj said she had seen a NASA report that 11 trillion gallons are needed to get the state’s reservoirs to pre-drought status. “It’s crazy how many people think it’s not an issue,” she said.
From the article below: more information for our community members, appointed and elected representatives to seriously contemplate…
“No End In Sight For California’s Climate-Exacerbated Drought”
While parts of California did receive heavy rainfall in December 2014, there is no end in sight to the drought. Aside from the fact that there was not nearly enough precipitation to return snowpack to its normal level, there’s this: NASA reports that the state would need 11 trillion gallons of water to fully recover from the three years of drought it has experienced.
By December 16, California had recorded about 94 billion gallons of rainfall, which sounds like a lot until you realize that’s less than 1% of what NASA says is needed.
The Pacific Institute’s Dr. Peter Gleick sums it up succinctly enough in a recent blog post: “The State of the California Drought: Still Very Bad.”
FYI; Dr. Gleick’s article cited above is another excellent source of detailed information for our local decision makers to consider as we go forward into a very uncertain future.
http://www.desmogblog.com/2015/01/29/no-end-sight-california-s-climate-exacerbated-drought
California and the drought—-Beyond the climate change deniers and anti-science crowd—-
From the above article:
“CSC Commmissioner Ershely Raj said she had seen a NASA report that 11 trillion gallons are needed to get the state’s reservoirs to pre-drought status. “It’s crazy how many people think it’s not an issue,” she said.
From the recent article below: more information for our community members, and our appointed and elected representatives to seriously contemplate…
“California has about one year of water left. Will you ration now?”
“As our “wet” season draws to a close, it is clear that the paltry rain and snowfall have done almost nothing to alleviate epic drought conditions. January was the driest in California since record-keeping began in 1895. Groundwater and snowpack levels are at all-time lows. We’re not just up a creek without a paddle in California, we’re losing the creek too.”
“As difficult as it may be to face, the simple fact is that California is running out of water” —
Right now the state has only about one year of water supply left in its reservoirs, and our strategic backup supply, groundwater, is rapidly disappearing. California has no contingency plan for a persistent drought like this one (let alone a 20-plus-year mega-drought), except, apparently, staying in emergency mode and praying for rain.”
“In short, we have no paddle to navigate this crisis.”
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-famiglietti-drought-california-20150313-story.html
“For the ignorance of the public
is the real capital of monopoly”
—Henry Demarest LLoyd,
Wealth Against Commonwealth,1894
California and the drought—-
From the above article:
“CSC Commmissioner Ershely Raj said she had seen a NASA report that 11 trillion gallons are needed to get the state’s reservoirs to pre-drought status. “It’s crazy how many people think it’s not an issue,” she said.
From the recent post below: more information for our community members, and our appointed and elected representatives to seriously contemplate…
“Fracking versus California Aquifers”
“If standing, please sit. Falling over backwards can cause serious injury.”
“Fracking for oil requires enormous quantities of water injected with high pressure deep underground. And, a concoction of toxic chemicals (trade secret formulas) are mixed in. The after-effect “waste water” is disposed by inserting it back into the ground. Sound crazy?”
Remember the statement at the start of this article about California’s dependence upon its aquifers, once surface water resources dry up?
“State officials allowed oil and gas companies to pump nearly three billion gallons of waste water into underground aquifers that could have been used for drinking water or irrigation.”
“According to Hollin Kretzmann, Center for Biological Diversity, “It’s possible these aquifers are now contaminated irreparably.”
But, it gets worse. Still sitting?
California’s Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources revealed that nearly 2,500 wells have been permitted to inject oil and gas waste into federally protected aquifers. Recently, the state ordered 12 wells to shutdown, bringing the number of shutdowns to 23 wells, so far. “Records show that some of those 12 wells had been injecting into high-quality drinking water since the late 1970s.”
“The state is still in the process of reviewing all 2,553 improper permits. They’re prioritizing their review based on the type of injection well (disposal or enhanced oil recovery) and by the quality of the water into which those wells are injecting. The wells that have been shut down so far are disposal wells injecting into the cleanest drinking water – a group of just 176 wells. Regulators anticipate that reviewing just those 176 wells will take another three months. Reviewing the remaining 2,377 permits will take at least two more years. In the meantime, oil and gas operators are free to continue injecting into these disputed wells.”
Question :When does the state Attorney General bring charges against state regulators and the oil and gas company;s for crimes against humanity/planet?
No water, no life. No blue, no green.
—Sylvia Earle
http://dissidentvoice.org/2015/03/californias-one-year-water-supply-vs-fracking/
“For the ignorance of the public
is the real capital of monopoly”
—Henry Demarest LLoyd,
Wealth Against Commonwealth,1894
California and the drought—-
From the above article:
“CSC Commmissioner Ershely Raj said she had seen a NASA report that 11 trillion gallons are needed to get the state’s reservoirs to pre-drought status. “It’s crazy how many people think it’s not an issue,” she said.
From the recent post below: more information/news for our community members, and our appointed and elected representatives to seriously contemplate…
“California’s water loss has been terrifying. But people everywhere should be scared, not just Californians, because this story goes far beyond state lines. It is a story of global climate change and industrial agriculture. It is also a saga that began many decades ago—
“California’s water resources are being mismanaged, according to Janet Redman, director of the Climate Policy Program at the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank. “The management of water from California’s historic aquifer and snow and rivers and lakes doesn’t match the use right now,”
“The truth is that California’s Central Valley, which is where the vast majority of the state’s farming businesses are located, is a desert. That desert is irrigated with enough precious water to artificially sustain the growing of one-third of the nation’s fruits and vegetables, a $40 billion industry.”
“Think about it. A third of all produce in the United States is grown in a desert in a state that has almost no water left. That produce is trucked from the West Coast all over the country in fossil-fuel-consuming vehicles, thereby contributing to the very mechanism of climate change that is likely to be driving California’s historic drought.”
“It is not a place that agriculture, at the scale and at the scope that exists now, should exist,” Redman explained.
“The food journalist Mark Bittman, writing in The New York Times in 2012, summed up the dire situation in California’s Central Valley: “For the last century or so, we’ve been exploiting—almost without limitation—its water, mineral resources, land, air, people and animals.”
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/03/20/solve-californias-water-crisis-we-must-change-nations-food-system