[env-trinity] (no subject)

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.siskiyoudaily.com/article/20150205/NEWS/sthash.uSefeGcH.dpuf 

State reviews dry year response, warns of curtailments in 2015

	* Despite the state’s heavy rains in December, California is once again gearing up for a dry year and the effect it will have on water users.
- See more at: http://www.siskiyoudaily.com/article/20150205/NEWS/sthash.uSefeGcH.dpuf#sthash.F0wmDr9J.dpuf

By David Smith
dsmith at siskiyoudaily.com 
Posted Feb. 5, 2015 at 10:46 AM 


Despite the state’s heavy rains in December, California is once again gearing up for a dry year and the effect it will have on water users. 
Late in January, the State Water Resources Control Board issued notice of a surface water shortage and the potential for curtailment of water right diversions this year. 
In 2014, 5,603 state water rights holders had their rights curtailed, disallowing their ability to divert water. The notice states that water rights will once again be curtailed this year if precipitation does not increase significantly over the next couple of months. 
The curtailments begin with junior water rights holders, whose rights have been established the latest. Should those curtailments not be enough, they can extend to holders of more senior rights. 
The SWRCB also recently released its review of last year’s efforts to conserve water during the dry year, identifying a number of issues the state had and potential solutions. 
The report reviews the response to the 2014 dry year and the response that was initiated in 1978 during that decade’s major drought. 
The report recommends that the state board improve the accuracy and timeliness of water demand and supply data; increase the spread of information to involved parties, such as supply forecasts and expected dates of curtailment; and develop additional tools for analysis and enforcement of the water rights system. 
The report also identifies what the board believes would be the “ideal” water rights system for the state, based on comments received after last year’s curtailment effort. 
That list includes adjudication that accounts for all water rights, including the most senior riparian and pre-1914 rights, and extinguishes unexercised rights for all streams. The report also suggests that there should be an establishment of minimum in-stream flow for all streams and real-time management of flows and diversions “that accurately tracks water availability and the need for curtailment based on the accounting of water rights, hydrology, and by ensuring that minimum in-stream flow levels are met.” 
The Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors in the past has expressed alarm at the idea of the state using minimum stream flows as a benchmark for determining water use, but the report does not detail how the state would accomplish the real-time system, other than investing in the proper technology. 
The whole report, with all of the board’s recommendations, can be found at http://goo.gl/cecG5u.
- See more at: http://www.siskiyoudaily.com/article/20150205/NEWS/sthash.uSefeGcH.dpuf#sthash.F0wmDr9J.dpuf
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