Pyramid Peak, Echo Summit
January 2015

Pyramid Peak, Echo Summit
December 28, 2015

Upper Bear River Reservoir
January 2015

Upper Bear River Reservoir
December 28, 2015

In the midst of rain and snow, the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) is poised to extend the emergency conservation regulations next month, while issuing warning letters for failing to meet conservation mandates.

The SWRCB has released its proposed regulatory framework for Extended Emergency Regulation for Urban Water Conservation.  A draft Emergency Regulation will be released for public comment in mid-January 2016 with consideration for adoption in early February.

See Proposed Urban Water Conservation Regulations

While the proposed regulatory framework as some flexibility, it has not gone far enough, according to John Kingsbury, Executive Director of Mountain Counties Water Resources.

Letter to State Water Board: Kathy Frevert SWRCB January 2016

On December 9, 2015, the Placer County Water Agency (PCWA) received a letter from the State Water Resources Control Board’s Office of Enforcement.  The letter notified PCWA that its cumulative water conservation had fallen more than 1% below the conservation target of 32%, set for PCWA by the State Water Board, and advised PCWA to immediately take additional steps to enhance its water conservation efforts.  The letter concluded that the State Water Board may initiate formal enforcement if PCWA does not meet its conservation requirement in the future.

PCWA Response to Water Conservation Warning Letter

CCWD BOARD APPROVES WATER TRANSFER POLICY PRINCIPLES

The Calaveras County Water District Board of Directors unanimously approved water transfer policy principles at a regular board meeting Wednesday, December 9. To the District’s knowledge, no other water agency in the state has formally adopted comprehensive water transfer policy principles of this nature.

The principles will ensure that any water transfer by CCWD would advance the fundamental interests of the District in providing safe, reliable and affordable water supplies in the community for years to come. They were carefully designed to protect and preserve CCWD’s underlying water rights – some dating back to the Gold Rush – by maximizing their beneficial use and in turn improving the long-term reliability and affordability of local water supplies.

Click here to see more

Water Transfer Policy Principles

FEMA AWARDS $2.8 MILLION IN GRANT FUNDING TO CCWD

The Calaveras County Water District is pleased to announce that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has officially awarded $2.8 million in grant funds to build a pretreatment facility at the Jenny Lind Water Treatment Plant. It is critical that CCWD construct this facility to help cope with the severely degraded water quality in the Calaveras River Watershed, which was caused by the devastating Butte Fire. Once constructed, the pretreatment facility will remove suspended sediments in the water, which will allow the existing plant to operate efficiently and continue providing safe, reliable water service to the greater Rancho Calaveras area.

Click here to see more

On December 9, 2015, the Placer County Board of Supervisors proclaimed a local emergency for the high number of dead and dying trees across the county. The move follows Governor Jerry Brown’s emergency declaration and seeks federal resources to help in the removal of dead and dying trees.

Click to read more

Mountain Counties Water Resources Association is very pleased to welcome and introduce new members:

Please Welcome:

Municipal Consulting Group (MCG) – Ken Payne, P.E.

kpayne@municipalcon.com

Ken is also the interim general manager for the El Dorado County Water Agency

Janelle Nolan & Associates Environmental Consulting

janelle@jna-consulting.com

website: http://jna-consulting.com/

City of Folsom

Marcus Yasutake,

Environmental & Water Resources Director

myasutake@folsom.ca.us

website:  https://www.folsom.ca.us/

NEW WEBSITE SPONSORS

Click to see Members Helping Members Page

MEMBER NAME CHANGES

RBF Consulting now Michael Baker International, Inc.

URS Corporation now AECOM

The State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) has indicated that an extension of the Emergency Regulation to conserve urban water supplies in 2016 may be needed depending on the amount of precipitation (both rainfall and snow accumulation) that the State receives during the upcoming winter months.  The SWRCB will be holding a workshop next Monday, December 7, to solicit the types of changes (if any) to the emergency conservation regulatory framework.

The SWRCB is interested in receiving public comment on the following questions:

1. What elements of the existing Emergency Regulation, if any, should be modified in an extended Emergency Regulation?
2. What additional data, if any, should the State Water Board be collecting through the Emergency Regulation and how should it be used?
3. How should the State Water Board account for precipitation after January 2016 in its implementation of any extension of the Emergency Regulation?

John Kingsbury…. In order to establish a fair statewide regulation, R-GPCD should include several variable factors specific to each water purveyor including population density, population growth, east slope-west slope, temperature, rainfall, evaporation rates, topography and socio-economic measures, such as lot size and income, land use, and past conservation efforts…..

…Further, the SWRCB is by authority and mandate focused on the reducing water demand side of the equation affecting people, agriculture, habitat, and the environment.  The SWRCB is encouraged and supported to concurrently seek implementation of projects to increase water supply across the state and address the multiple drivers that affect fish in the Delta to help mitigate the demand on California’s stressed water delivery system for people, the Delta and its watershed….

MCWRA Comment Letter to the SWRCB:  Jeanie Townsend Dec 2 2015

By: John Kingsbury, Executive Director, Mountain Counties Water Resources Association

Once the smoke cleared from the 2014 King Fire, MCWRA started coordinating tours with several partners through the fire area that consumed more than 97,000 acres of precious timber, wildlife habitat, and soil.  These tours set up for the media, southern CA water purveyors, state agency representatives, county supervisors, my Board of Directors, and others, gave everyone an opportunity to see the landscape first-hand and to hear varied forest management practices and restoration efforts from both federal and private landowners.

The first time I set foot in the burn area I was walking on four inches of soil now sediment at the bottom of Pilot Creek in El Dorado County east of Georgetown.  It was sort of an eerie feeling as remnants from tree stumps smoldered and the forest now appeared as if I was standing on the moon looking at nothing but dead trees.  A vision of the long-term effects to one of our watersheds is troublesome.  But we are not alone.

Last month I had a unique opportunity and pleasure to meet forester Robert “Bob” Williams. Bob is the president of Pine Creek Forestry and works on the east coast in New Jersey within the Pinelands National Reserve.  We met up with Sierra Pacific Industries forester Rob Fecko and toured the forest already showing signs of erosion and silted creeks and rivers.

Throughout the day, I found it enlightening as these two foresters shared similar experiences and concerns regarding forest management practices and watershed restoration efforts.  I shared the frustration that the watersheds in the Sierra are at great risk.  From a California water supply perspective, we should all be concerned as the reservoirs and the natural conveyance system’s fill with sediment, degrading water quality, reducing hydropower generation and public water supply.

There are better ways to approach our forest management practices, but until that happens, as Bob Williams put it in his letter (attached), “it isn’t a question of if it will burn, but when it will burn.”

It is time to unite as this is not a west coast crisis or east coast crisis but a national crisis!

Letter from Robert R. Williams, C.F., R.P.F.: Pine Creek Forestry Letter to MCWRA 10-20-2015

Yesterday, October 30, 2015, the North State Water Alliance (Alliance) and MCWRA Executive member Placer County Water Agency (PCWA) submitted comments on the Recirculated Draft Environmental Impact Report/Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (RDEIR/SDEIS) for the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP)/California WaterFix (CalWaterFix) Project (Project).

Letters including detailed supporting technical analyses were provided as part of ongoing efforts to advance our regional water stability in the North State.

NSWA:

Letter: nemethwaterfix.letter&commentsoct2015

Technical Analyses: nswawaterfix.exhibitsoct2015

PCWA:

Letter & Technical Comments:  PCWA Comments on BDCP-California WaterFix RDEIR-SDEIS

On October 16, 2015, approximately 130 attended the Mountain Counties Water Resources Association event held at The Ridge Gold Course & Event Center in Auburn titled: The Truth Be Told:  The Delta, The Tunnels, The Tributaries.

The event was underwritten by SAGE and hosted by PCWA.  The event was also video recorded.

Speakers included:

• Ara Azhderian, Water Policy Administrator, San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Authority
• Mark Cowin, Director, Department of Water Resources
• Andy Fecko, Director Resource Development, Placer County Water Agency
• Campbell Ingram, Executive Officer for the Delta Conservancy
• Don Nottoli, Supervisor, County of Sacramento
• Roger Patterson, Assistant General Manager, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
• Steve Rothert, California Director, American Rivers

Panel moderated by: David Guy, President, Northern California Water Association

Mavens Notebook by Maven reported on the event in two parts and can be viewed by clicking on the links below.  

Part 1:  http://mavensnotebook.com/2015/10/28/the-truth-be-told-the-delta-the-tunnels-and-the-tributaries-part-1/

Part 2:  http://mavensnotebook.com/2015/10/29/the-truth-be-told-the-delta-the-tunnels-and-the-tributaries-part-2/#comments

Video:  http://videossc.com/MCWRA/101615/, includes a picture slide show from ground zero in Mountain Counties – “A very moving video”, Mark Cowin, Director, California Department of Water Resources

Pictures from the Gallery:  https://mountaincountieswater.com/meeting-schedule/general-membership-meeting-archive/pictures-from-the-gallery/

NOTICE OF AVAILABLE WATER TO DIVERT UNDER PRE-1914 WATER RIGHTS FOR THE YUBA, AMERICAN AND SAN JOAQUIN RIVER WATERSHEDS

SENATE BILL 88 – Water Measurement and Reporting Regulation

Senate Bill 88 was signed by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. on June 24, 2015. Sections 15 through 18 of SB 88 add measurement and reporting requirements for a substantial number of diverters. The measurement requirements authorized under SB 88 could go into effect on or after January 1, 2016. The State Water Board is adopting a regulation to implement these new provisions.

The legislation authorizes the State Water Board to adopt a regulation requiring measurement for water right holders and claimants who divert 10 acre-feet of water or more per year. The measurement requirement would apply to approximately 12,000 water right holders and claimants. The legislation also authorizes the State Water Board to adopt a regulation requiring annual reporting from statement holders and persons authorized to approriate under a permit, license, registration (small domestic, small irrigation, or livestock stockpond), or certificate for livestock stockpond use.

The legislation authorizes the State Water Board to adopt an initial regulation as an emergency regulation that shall remain in effect until revised by the State Water Board. The adoption of the initial regulation is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)

The State Water Board anticipates that the new measurement requirements could present challenges to the regulated community. The State Water Board is holding meetings and workshops in affected areas around the state to receive input on key issues to be addressed in the emergency regulation. See the Meetings and Workshops section below for more information. The State Water Board will use the input from the meetings and workshops to shape a draft regulation which will be broadly circulated around the State in mid-November. The draft regulation will be presented for discussion at a State Water Board Workshop on November 18, 2015.

The emergency regulation is tentatively scheduled to be presented to the State Water Board for adoption at its Board meeting on December 15, 2015. If the emergency regulation is approved, it will be sent to the Office of Adminstrative Law for approval. The State Water Board is attempting to have an emergency regulation adopted by January 1, 2016, when the measurement requirements authorized under SB 88 could go into effect.oo

INFORMATIONAL MEETINGS

The State Water Board is scheduling five public meetings to provide the public opportunity to help formulate the proposed regulation to implement the measurement and reporting authority under Senate Bill 88. A quorum of the State Water Board may be present at the meetings. However, no State Water Board action will be taken.

For more information:

LINK TO SWRCB SITE

SENATE BILL 88

On-Line registration for the October 16 program will be closing at noon this coming Monday.  RSVP today before it closes.

In 2012, Governor Brown issued a statement and said, “State and U.S. governments will make sure implementation of BDCP will not impose any obligations on water users upstream of the Delta to supplement flows in and through the Delta.”  Now that the BDCP has become the California Fix and California EcoRestore, what rules and regulations will be in store upstream if and when the tunnels become a reality.

 This program will not debate the merit of the tunnels, but the upstream facts about the California Fix and California EcoRestore if and when there is construction of a new conveyance system. 

RSVP for Tickets http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2293599

Date:  Friday, October 16

Doors Open:  9:00 a.m.

Program Starts: 9:45 a.m.- 3:00 p.m.

Location:  The Ridge Golf Club and Event Center, 2020 Golf Course Rd, Auburn, CA 95602

Program Underwritten and Sponsored by:                                                                                                                                                       

 Program Host:

 

Confirmed speakers:

• Ara Azhderian Water Policy Administrator, San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Authority
• Mark Cowin, Director, Department of Water Resources
• Andy Fecko, Director Resource Development, Placer County Water Agency
• Campbell Ingram, Executive Officer for the Delta Conservancy 
• Karla Nemeth, Deputy Secretary, California Natural Resources Agency; Governors senior advisor on water policy
• Don Nottoli, Supervisor, County of Sacramento
• Roger Patterson, Assistant General Manager, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
• Steve Rothert, California Director, American Rivers

These speakers will sit on a panel moderated by David Guy, President, Northern California Water Association.

RSVP for Tickets http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2293599

Questions about the program should be directed to John Kingsbury @johnkingsbury.mcwra@gmail.com or by calling 530.957.7879