There are some great photos from a Colorado Water delivery to the Coachella Valley in this brief, general piece in The Desert Sun.

All over the West, and especially in the desert, water is a vital element we dare not take for granted. Yet even as California embarks on an endless quest for more water to provide for a rapidly swelling population, in our desert, water flows plentifully - for now.

Most of it is hidden from sight, 350 feet below ground in the Coachella Valley aquifer. But at times it's visible, by the millions of gallons, in a square mile and then some that's home to 18 percolation basins in the Whitewater River flood plain at Windy Point northwest of Palm Springs.

Operated by the Coachella Valley Water District, they make up one of three replenishment points for the giant underground reservoir. Two smaller facilities are in the Oasis and Desert Hot Springs areas.

Our water comes from far away, imported from the Colorado River by way of Lake Havasu, Ariz., in sporadic deliveries. One such delivery came in May, when these photos were taken.

The river water snakes its way through an aqueduct that pierces the mountain ranges north of the valley, then dips below ground and spills out at a rate of 300 cubic feet per second into the Whitewater River channel. (With three other delivery points in the aqueduct, that's half the potential delivery rate.) From there, it rushes south, slides under Interstate 10, turns southeast and empties into 700 acres of percolation ponds. At a rate of 2 acre-feet per acre per day, the water seeps into the aquifer, which feeds dozens of wells for municipalities and golf courses around the valley. The deepest well, 1,800 feet in the Indio area, doesn't reach the bottom of the aquifer.

Hetch-Hetchy restoration "feasible" but fabulously expensive

From the Fresno Bee, via today's BC news:

Environmentalists heard exactly what they wanted to hear in the Department of Water Resources' study on draining Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park: The project is feasible.

Those opposed to poking a hole in O'Shaughnessy Dam heard exactly what they wanted: The project could cost up to $10 billion, an incredible figure.

In other words, the long-awaited DWR report hardly moved the debate forward. That's not to dismiss the report; it just means that those inclined to debate this daydream now have vaguely better numbers to bolster their arguments.

Those arguments resumed in press releases even before last Wednesday's report was released. A chief proponent of the plan, Environmental Defense, crowed that the Schwarzenegger administration had determined "it is feasible to restore Hetch Hetchy."

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who has called water from Hetch Hetchy every San Franciscan's birthright, said the study proves that the cost of draining Hetch Hetchy is "indefensible, particularly given the tremendous infrastructure needs facing our state." Hetch Hetchy is hardly a birthright, but Feinstein is correct that draining it would be very costly.

The report's authors made no recommendation, and emphatically pointed out that every aspect of the report suffered from too little concrete information. To get better information, DWR's chief hydrologist, Gary Bardini, estimated a more complete study would cost about $65 million. There was no mention of who would pay.

Colorado flows low again

From the Las Vegas Sun, via today's BC news:

Water-system managers on the Colorado River had high hopes for high water at the beginning of this year.

Those hopes, like the snow on top the Rocky Mountains, are rapidly evaporating. The critical April-through-July runoff period in the mountains, which provides most of the water going to the river, is more than 25 percent off the average. The disappointing results make this the sixth year of the last seven in which flows were significantly below average.

"We still have a couple of weeks, but it looks like it is going to be a little disappointing," said Colleen Dwyer, a federal Bureau of Reclamation spokeswoman. The bureau is the manager of the lower basin of the Colorado River, including Lake Mead. Las Vegas and suburbs get more than 90 percent of their drinking water from Lake Mead.

Water managers and scientists earlier this year had predicted near-average runoff. Hopes were particularly high because the previous year had spectacular snowfall in some areas that at least temporarily reversed five crushing years of drought.

"Around about April or March, it was looking like another decent year," said Kelly Redmond, regional climatologist with the Desert Research Institute's Western Regional Climate Center in Reno. "Runoff was looking at being close to 100 percent. But we got warmer temperatures and less precipitation, not dramatically so, but still it was considerably drier and warmer than usual. Both those things hastened the demise of the snowpack and sent it up to the atmosphere rather than into the Colorado River."
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The warmer temperatures could mean that precipitation, when it does come, would come more as rain, less as snow. That's bad news for water-systems dependent on the Colorado River because rain evaporates more quickly and puts less water into the river.

Ken Albright, resource director of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, water wholesaler for most of Clark County, said there is some good news in this water year, which officially ends Sept. 30.

"Upper basin reservoirs are in many instances now full," he said of the lakes high in the mountains. "That is a good sign for us."

Climate Change and California

From the San Francisco Chronicle, via today's BC News:

California will become significantly hotter and drier by the end of the century, causing severe air pollution, a drop in the water supply, melting of 90 percent of the Sierra snowpack and up to six times more heat-related deaths in major urban centers, according to a sweeping study compiled with help from respected scientists from around the country.

The weather -- up to 10.5 degrees warmer by 2100 -- would make last month's heat wave look average. If industrial and vehicle emissions continue unabated, there could be up to 100 more days a year when temperatures hit 90 degrees or above in Los Angeles and 95 degrees or above in Sacramento. Both cities have about 20 days of such extreme heat now.

The good news: If emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are significantly curtailed, according to the report released Tuesday, the number of extremely hot days might only increase by half that amount.

The report, released by the California Environmental Protection Agency, comes from the California Climate Change Center, established three years ago by the California Energy Commission. Scripps Institution of Oceanography and UC Berkeley are responsible for the core research and about 75 scientists from universities, government agencies and nonprofit groups contributed to the report, which has been billed as a layperson's guide to technical documents prepared in support of initiatives to address global warming by Gov. Schwarzenegger and legislators.