The News Review:

- California American Water Ends Water Year Below Limits
- Community meeting to discuss water rates in Bay Point
- SF panels OK $4.4 billion Hetch Hetchy upgrade
- Rain. Finally.

California American Water Ends Water Year Below Limits
MarketWatch 
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In 1995, the State Water Resources Control Board found that California
American Water did not have the right to nearly seventy percent of the Carmel
River water used to supply Peninsula homes and businesses. The finding was
driven by studies that showed the company’s wells near the Carmel River to be
pumping river underflow rather than groundwater, as was previously understood. Since 1995, Cal-Am has been diligently working to obtain a new water supply. Because an immediate reduction of seventy percent would have been
unrealistic given the community’s water demands, the State authorized Cal-Am
to reduce its pumping by twenty percent until an alternative resource could be
found. The 20% reduction limited Cal-Am to 11,285 acre-feet a year from the
Carmel River. As of September 30, 2008 — the official end of the water year
– California American Water’s pumping was at 10,659 — 626 acre-feet under
the state limit. The Seaside Basin, which was recently determined through a court
adjudication process to be dangerously overdrafted, is permitted for an annual
pumping of 3,849 acre-feet.
Related: Stay fit with aqua aerobics

Community meeting to discuss water rates in Bay Point
San Jose Mercury News,  USA 
at Bay Point First 5. The state Public Utilities Commission required the private water supplier to submit a plan to fluoridate Bay Point’s water as a condition allowing it to raise rates by 6. 18 percent to improve service quality earlier this year. 29 letter from Golden State to the PUC described how much it would cost for fluoridation and reducing chlorine byproducts — the other issue raised during community meetings in 2007 — along with possible rate increases to recover the costs. Studies have linked the byproducts, known as trihalomethanes, to higher rates of miscarriage and cancer risk.

SF panels OK $4.4 billion Hetch Hetchy upgrade
San Francisco Chronicle,  USA 
tmpl –> The approval of the program’s environmental report marked a key step in advancing a series of projects that San Francisco Public Utilities Commission officials say is necessary to keep the system functioning after a major temblor. The program includes digging a 5-mile tunnel under the bay for water supplies and replacing a seismically unsafe dam at the Calaveras Reservoir. The program involves 85 individual projects, including laying sections of redundant pipeline, to maintain water supplies for the city Public Utilities Commission’s 2. 5 million customers in San Francisco, Santa Clara, Alameda and San Mateo counties. The water comes primarily from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park. The aging water system cuts across five active fault lines and could be severely damaged in a serious earthquake, SFPUC officials warn.

Rain. Finally.
San Jose Mercury News,  USA 
place_ad_here(”adPosBox”); of their contracted water supply from the Delta next year. That figure will rise if more storms hit the state, but even if it turns out to be an average year those contractors will probably get no more than half their supply, Snow said. The water supply pinch is due to several factors. First, the last two winters have been dry. Second, last winter was highly unusual in that it was progressing normally but then storms abruptly stopped after February. Water managers had already allocated water supplies based on the assumption that there would at least be some rain in the spring, and state and federal water officials drew reservoirs down to meet those promises. On top of that, a court order was issued last year that curtailed pumping of Delta water to protect a severely imperiled fish, Delta smelt.