The News Review:

- Water supply falling short; rationing may be necessary
- Pipe-clogging mussels arrive in Valley water
- These 4 will fight for Pima’s water resources
- Balancing growing water demands poses challenge

Water supply falling short; rationing may be necessary
Press-Enterprise, CA 
The announcement follows two dry years and court-ordered reductions in Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta pumping that cut the amount delivered to suppliers by two-thirds, said Ted Thomas, department spokesman. The 2008 water year, which ended Sept. 30, was deemed critically dry, with statewide runoff from snowpack at 57 percent of normal. Instead of the normal two-thirds full, the state's major reservoirs are at about one-third of capacity.

Pipe-clogging mussels arrive in Valley water
Arizona Republic, AZ 
30, 2008 12:00 AM The Arizona Republic The discovery of quagga mussels in a water-diversion channel east of Mesa raises the risk that the invasive mollusk could use the Valley’s network of canals to spread farther into Arizona and possibly damage water-treatment plants. The canals supply water for most Valley communities, at least two power plants, more than a dozen urban lakes and thousands of customers of farm and residential irrigation. Salt River Project workers found 11 quagga mussels earlier this month and four more Wednesday on monitoring lines near Granite Reef Dam, where water is diverted into the canals. The thumbnail-size mussels pose no health risk to drinking water, but they can clog pipes, jam mechanical equipment, increase maintenance costs on water-distribution systems and alter riparian ecosystems. How many mussels have made their way into the diversion channel or downstream is unknown, but finding even a few on a monitoring block is significant.
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These 4 will fight for Pima’s water resources
Arizona Daily Star, AZ 
Also running for one of the four CAWCD seats are Republican Arturo Gabaldón, president of Community Water Company of Green Valley, and Pat Jacobs, an independent who is a retired courts administrator. Speaking with the Star’s editorial board, the candidates raised several key issues that will affect Southern Arizona’s ability to grow, attract businesses and perhaps even survive in the coming years. The first is reliability of water supply. During the negotiations for the CAP pipeline, "We were promised equivalent reliability to Phoenix, 30 to 40 days worth of water. We need it in place," Megdal said. Zimmerman noted: "There are double pumps from the river to south of Phoenix and single pumps down through Tucson. In the original agreement, the Tucson area’s reliability was to be as good as Phoenix’s.

Balancing growing water demands poses challenge
The Union of Grass Valley, CA 
Jack Meeks: The producers of water (26 rural “counties of origin”) supply most of California’s surface water, but their legislators will always be outvoted and outmaneuvered by the downstream counties’ 10 million votes. The NID board is a member of several statewide water associations plus the Regional Council of Rural Counties, which includes all the water-rich-and-vote-poor “hillbilly” counties. Glenn Orren: In normal years, NID has adequate supply of water to provide both for hydroelectricity generation and to support customer demand. Customer education and better usage practices will allow existing supply to go further. Nick Wilcox: At present, NID has sufficient supply to meet all needs. As consumptive and environmental demands increase in the future, however, NID will have to squarely face the narrowing gap between supply and demand. There are three ways in which NID can address this problem.