Membership Meeting Archive

March 9, 2012

  • The March 9 General Membership Program March Agenda drew 82 people to The Ridge in Auburn. (Gallery Pictures)
  • Placer County Supervisor Chair Jennifer Montgomery provided the Welcome
  • EID Board Member and MCWRA President Bill George reported that the Association Membership is at 61 and new members since the December 9 include: County of Amador, Amador County Farm Bureau, Tully & Young (member and website sponsor), Steve Frost Consulting, Aragon Solutions, Atkins (website sponsor), Peterson/Brustad (website sponsor), EN2 (website sponsor)
  • Reported that Board of Directors appointed Dr. Scott Miller, a Board Member at NID, to the Legislative Committee and Lesa Osterholm, Water Efficiency Coordinator at NID, to represent the Association at the California Urban Water Conservation Council.
  • The Board of Directors took action
    • to Accept and Thank Ron Skaggs Condor Earth Technologies sponsorship of GIS capabilities that will be linked to the MCWRA website
    • Thanked Jeff Lodge of Wood/Rogers for their sponsoring the Association with graphics and printing material to help us as we develop “the telling of our Story” (A program to show the watershed stewardship and investment that has statewide benefit)
    • Established a “Technical Advisory Committee” to improve value for its members by creating a mechanism for member Information sharing and participation in cost-sharing projects and programs; and to help identify and raise emerging Issues that could Impact the membership.  Matt Young (PCWA) and Jeff Meyer (CCWD) have joined as Committee members and Bill indicated that the Association still needs a couple more Water Purveyors to fill out our committee roster and to contact John Kingsbury if you are interested
    • Adopted the Membership Dues Restructure that the Board has been working on since last November.  Bill reported holding two membership workshops and the Board considered several options to enhance the Association’s advocacy.
  • TUD’s General Manager and MCWRA Legislative Committee Chair Pete Kampa provided an update on legislation
  • CCWD’s Board Member and ACWA Region 3 Chair Bob Dean provided discussion relevant to his interest in working with ACWA to establish Source Water Policy Principles
  • ACWA’s Executive Director Tim Quinn updated the membership the Ag/Urban process with the Delta Stewardship Council, his perspective on the Water Bond and the need for public financing that works for California as a while
  • Foresthill Public Utilities District’s General Manager Leo Havener provided the background and history that has led to the District’s financial crisis .  PowerPoint Presentation: Foresthill Public Utilities District – Leo Havener
  • City of Roseville’s  and California Urban Water Conservation Council Board Member (CUWCC) Lisa Brown provided an overview of the Council and its activities. PowerPoint Presentation: California Urban Water Conservation Council Presentation – Lisa Brown
  • State Water Resources Control Board Erin Ragazzi, along with Les Groger of the State Board provided an overview of the State Board’s role and and approach to the Delta flows and upstream tributaries.  PowerPoint Presentation: State Water Resources Control Board – Erin Ragazzi
  • Department of Water Resources, Gary Lippner, P.E. provided an overview and update on the California Water Plan and Regional forum, specific to the Mountain Counties.  Gary encouraged attendance at the April 2 Regional Workshop in Folsom or at one of the Satellite facilities set up for the region. PowerPoint Presentation: Department of Water Resources – Gary Lippner

The next General Membership meeting will be on June 8, 2012 in the Auburn area (TBD)

December 9, 2011

  • The Association held its General Membership meeting at El Dorado Irrigation District in Placerville  attended by my more than 70 people.
  • Agenda
  • The Chairman of the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors opened the program advocating for the protection restoration of our state’s watersheds through proper forest management.  ”The key is to assist water consumers throughout the state in understanding that the true cost of their water includes the cost of forest management, and that they need to invest back into the forests where their water supply originates”
  • Dale K. Hoffman-Floerke, Deputy Director and Russ Stein, Program Manager for the California Department of Water Resources provided a PowerPoint presentation overview of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan that is on track for completion in early 2013.  Dale described the BDCP relationship to the Delta Stewardship Council, the importance of the Delta to California, the key Delta seismic and flooding risks, importance for a long-term solution, the many agencies and organizations involved in the process, the covered species, the BDCP strategy for habitat restoration, water facilities and operations, and stressors on the Delta ecosystem.    Russ reviewed the 10 conveyance alternatives and the analysis behind each alternative.

Click on this link for PowerPoint presentation:  MCWRA- BDCP Briefing -12-8-11

  • Senator Ted Gaines addressed the audience in the afternoon and expressed his views on the state’s budget, water bond and   upstream water reliability and sustainability concerns as the State addresses the Delta issues.

September 9, 2011

June 10, 2011

At the June 10, 2011, quarterly General Membership meeting, Executive Member and City of Folsom Mayor Andy Morin welcomed more than 80 people to his town to later hear from a panel of experts to discuss “THE FUTURE OF THE SIERRA NEVADA WATERSHED”.

Speakers included Phil Isenberg, Delta Stewardship Council Chair, Michael Jackson, Water Rights Attorney, Jim Metropulos, Senior Advisor to the Sierra Club, and Roger Patterson, Vice President, Metropolitan Water District.

Moderated by Rita Schmidt-Sudman, Executive Director, Water Education Foundation, the speakers addressed several issues specific to the 2009 comprehensive 5-bill water legislation package, senior water rights, the Delta Plan, conservation, water transfers and what it means for the Sierra Nevada watershed and tributaries to the Delta.

As part of the 2009 legislative package, “co-equal goals” established as State water policy, are to create “a reliable water supply for all of California, not each sub-set, and to improve and restore an eco-system done in a way that respects the unique characteristics of the Delta,” said Phil Isenberg.  “The Stewardship Council will vote and will adopt a legally enforceable plan in November of this year.

When addressing the additional flows needed for the Delta, Phil Isenberg said “It’s not a question of more flows, it’s also the pulsing of the flows, frequency, inactions with other actions that occur that come closer to recognizing a more natural hydrograph.  Conceptually, that is easy to do, but it requires water system managers and ecosystem managers to jointly make those decisions and as you know the tension between water supply and ecosystem hasn’t disappeared just because a bunch of laws got past.”  “The co-equal goals is at least a start to recognize that social values require decisions to be made concurrently and hopefully out of a revitalized Bay Delta Conservation Plan.  Whatever their decision is for facility improvements, which we think is probably inevitable, and what that means in detail and also in operation regime, does something more than promise system improvements to the delta ecosystem.”

Barbara Balen, MCWRA and Tuolumne Board member summed up a common concern and said “we, (water purveyors), are concerned as we watch this process as stewards are now being considered stressors. The Watershed is paramount in sequestering water in snowpack.  We manage the forests, we manage our watersheds and it has everything to do with water reliability and quality, and so when I hear about the dimensions of a new canal and look at conditions of the watershed, forest fires, debris flow, and water purveyors being asked to be the janitiors of the watersheds, I can’t help to wonder in the time of climate change and unchecked demand, why isn’t there more talk about protecting the source water, protecting the Sierra.

Roger Patterson commented that Metropolitan’s “number 1 priority is to come up with a plan for the Delta that can work for all of us, essentially to let us fix our conveyance system so we can restore our water supplies that we had in 2005, which is 75% of our contract on average. In addition, we need to have a plan that will work for the folks in the Delta that will contribute to recovery of the species that we are all worried about.”  Roger went on to say that “no matter where you are in the state, certainly for us, we need to care about the watershed because that is where water supplies for the entire state originate. We all have an interest in making sure it works for the entire state and that we protect the watershed.”

“We need all the people working together to solve these problems, the Sierra Club can’t be successful nor can water agencies without collaboration on how our watersheds are working to get a handle on the problems that face us today” said Jim Metropulos.

 

 


 



 

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