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Friday, February 10, 2006 Quote of the Day: "Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever." Napoleon Bonaparte Born on this Day: Charles Lamb, Boris Pasternak, Jimmy Durante, Lon Chaney, Jr., Leontyne Price, Robert Wagner, Roberta Flack, Mark Spitz, George Stephanopoulos, Greg Norman, Laura Dern, and Dude Mowrey. On this Day in 1933: The singing telegram was introduced by the Postal Telegraph Company of New York City. Sent to more than 20,000 readers nationwide... and thousands more via our lineup of online ads like the one above that appears on watertechonline.com Latest postings: Suburban Water Systems: Quality Assurance Manager City of Upland: Lead Water Utility Worker III/IV/V Amador Water Agency: Supervising Engineer - Amador Water Agency City of Sunnyvale: Water Pollution Control Operations Manager San Diego County Water Authority: Fleet Mechanic I/II Want more? See all postings. Today's News —  North County Pipeline Shutdown Pipeline shutdown to end three days early (NC Times, 2/10) "Set against a backdrop of construction crews working overtime at the R.A. Skinner Treatment Plant in Winchester on Thursday, regional water officials announced that they expect to end what has become a nerve-wracking pipeline shutdown on Sunday ---- three days earlier than expected." Lake Skinner water plant opening changed (Riverside P/E, 2/10) "Unseasonably warm, dry weather has prompted water officials to spend $250,000 to shave three days off a Lake Skinner treatment plant shutdown that has squeezed some area growers." MWD expects to turn the faucet back on sooner (SD Union Tribune, 2/10) "In response to urgent requests from North County water officials to turn the supply of treated water back on, expansion work will be completed sooner than expected at the Robert A. Skinner Filtration Plant in Temecula, officials said yesterday. " Water crisis leads to ag user shutdowns (Fallbrook Village News, 2/09) "At a press conference held Tuesday, multiple North County water agencies, including Fallbrook Public Utility District and Rainbow Municipal Water District, said they have been left with no choice but to shut down agricultural water users if necessary to conserve the quickly dwindling supply of water until upgrade work on the Lake Skinner Filtration Plant expansion is completed on approximately February 15." —  Other Water Supply Olivenhain water agencies doing some sharing (SD Union-Tribune, 2/10) "Five years ago, the Olivenhain Municipal Water District was in the same predicament as some neighboring agencies are now – agencies that have asked their customers to let their lawns and gardens go dry during the current water shortage." Water plan would let state save for drought (SD Union-Tribune, 2/10) "California may soon be able to store a vast emergency pool of water that could help carry the San Diego region through prolonged dry spells – without building an expensive new reservoir or damming a river." LAFCO reconsiders water plan (Fresno Bee, 2/9) "The Local Agency Formation Commission Wednesday agreed to take a proposed county water service area north of Clovis back to the drawing board — literally." —  Water Elsewhere Arizona drought team gathered by Governor (Arizona Republic, 2/9) "As fires burn forests that should be buried in snow and rain gauges measure only dust, Gov. Janet Napolitano has summoned members of Arizona's new drought response team and asked them to help the state cope with one of the worst dry spells in decades." New Mexico snowpack lowest in 25 years (Santa Fe New Mexican, 2/9) "Snowpack in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of Northern New Mexico as of Feb. 1 was the lowest since 1981, federal officials say. Early predictions call for well below-normal runoff through the spring snowmelt season." Brisbane plans to drill streets for water (The Australian, 2/9) "Brisbane became the latest city yesterday to try to tap an unexploited ocean of groundwater below its streets in an attempt to ease its growing water supply crisis." NSW Government told of water three years ago (The Australian, 2/9) "The NSW Government was told in 2003 that more water lay in aquifers under the Sydney basin than can be stored in Warragamba Dam - three years before it shelved plans this week to build an electorally unpopular desalination plant on Botany Bay." Desilting rivulets the answer to India's problem (Times of India, 2/8) "With the Jharkhand government looking for fresh ideas on watershed programmes to deal with the problem of depleting water resources, a geologist has suggested the desilting of rivulets and digging new ponds for solving the problem before the advent of summer." —  Fluoride Supreme Court turns down Watsonville's appeal (Santa Cruz Sentinel, 2/10) "A state dental group will likely offer the city money as early as next week to fluoridate the local water supply." —  Surface Water State water decision botched, court rules (Stockton Record, 2/10) "State water officials botched a water rights decision six years ago that granted water exporters the right to use each other's pumps to keep California Delta waters healthy, a state appeals court ruled Thursday." MWD board approves contract for Big Bear study (Big Bear Grizzly, 2/8) "Imagine five grown men holding their noses to eat their Brussels sprouts or swallow icky tasting medicine. That picture is the Big Bear Municipal Water District board voting to approve a contract for services related to identifying the sources of lake sediment."   —  Stormwater and Levees Yolo County priority 1: Levee repair (Woodland Daily Democrat, 2/9) "Repairing Sacramento River and Cache Creek levees will be the top priorities as Yolo County goes after federal money this year." Who pays if Valley floods? (Sacramento Bee, 2/9) "If a levee breaks in the Central Valley and nearby homes are flooded, who should be responsible for the damages - the state or the local government? " —  Wastewater Who will pump septic tanks in Los Osos? (SLO Tribune, 2/10) "Water quality regulators refuse to identify publicly the 45 property owners in Los Osos who could be forced to pump their septic tanks six times a year." Los Osos CSD may begin quest for new loan (San Luis Obispo Tribune, 2/9) "Los Osos Community Services District leaders could take the first steps Thursday towards applying for a state loan — the same type of loan the district rejected last November." Tuolumne County septic rules confound (Modesto Bee, 2/9) "After listening to speakers from a standing-room-only crowd complain that septic system regulations are driving property owners to the poor house, Tuolumne County supervisors Tuesday ordered staff to work with the community to figure a way out of the morass." —  Yucca Mountain Yucca funding an issue - again (Associated Press, 2/8) "President Bush's $2.77 trillion budget proposal for 2007 seeks $544 million to continue work licensing a proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain." —  Local/Agency News MWD passes on Mayor's choice for director (LA Times, 2/8) Thanks to Carl Haglund for this one: "Despite intense lobbying by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, directors of the Metropolitan Water District voted Tuesday to offer the agency's top job to its general counsel, Jeffrey Kightlinger, according to sources familiar with the decision." Lake County giving water its own department (Lake County Record-Bee, 2/9) "With water an increasingly important issue in Lake County, the Board of Supervisors will discuss next week a proposal to separate the county's Water Resources Division from the Public Works Department." California Water Awareness Campaign's scholarship program accepting applications (Riverside Press-Enterprise, 2/9) "Applications for the California Water Awareness Campaign's water-industry scholarship program are due by March 15. The program is cosponsored by the Eastern Municipal Water District and other state water agencies." Mesa district featured on Costa Mesa CMTV24 (Mesa Consolidated Water District News Release, 2/9) "Mesa Consolidated Water District (Mesa) is proud to announce that it iscurrently featured on the CMTV24 show 'Discovering Costa Mesa.'" —  Everything Else AWWA announces the availability of conference proceedings: 2005 Distribution System Symposium Proceedings (DSS) (AWWA News Release, 2/9) "The 2005 conference held September 18-21, in Tampa FL, again provides proceedings on CD-ROM to give you fast access to all the papers presented at AWWA's 2005 Distribution & Plant Operations Conference.     About the California Water News The California Water News is a weekday e-mail with links to current news stories in the California water resources industry.  Subscription is free to qualified persons!  Please go to our subscription page to subscribe.  For more information, you can also see some frequently asked questions. Referrals to new subscribers are welcome, as are suggestions for new links, news stories, opinion pieces, and your agency's press releases.   Any documents you e-mail us may be published on our web site and linked to from the News, subject to editorial discretion. Ken Harlow Brown and Caldwell 400 Exchange, Suite 100 Irvine, CA 92702 714-689-4852