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At the Drought Summit hosted by the Department of Water Resources (DWR), Director Lester Snow announced the creation of a 2009 Drought Water Bank, a program designed to facilitate water transfers.
“We are in the midst of a drought right now and California potentially faces another dry year in 2009. It’s clear that we must find solutions to our water crisis,” Snow said. “A water bank provides a valuable tool to help provide water to communities who need it most. This is just one of the many ways the state is working to address the drought.”
Secretary for Resources Mike Chrisman, Secretary for Food and Agriculture A.G. Kawamura, State Water Resources Control Board Executive Director Dorothy Rice and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Regional Director Don Glaser participated in the summit.
Information about the state’s water and reservoir supply, drought modeling and forecasts of future water allocations, financial and programmatic assistance and other efforts to help water contractors, local water agencies, farmers and all state water users cope with the drought.
A significant recent action was the expedited funding of $17 million in Prop 50 Drought Assistance Program grants last week to local water agencies and districts to implement water saving projects.
At the summit, local agencies had the opportunity to share examples of how a lack of water is affecting their communities and made recommendations about how the state can support local water agencies, large and small, as they grapple with the shortages.
On June 4, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued Executive Order S-06-08 declaring a statewide drought, which directed state agencies and departments to take immediate action to address the dry conditions. He also issued a State of Emergency Proclamation for nine Central Valley counties (Sacramento, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Kern) to address that area’s urgent water needs.
For the Northern Sierra, this spring and summer were the driest on record since 1921. In addition, 2007 and 2008 made up the ninth driest two-year period in 88 years of record keeping for the Northern Sierra.
Statewide precipitation for the six-month period February through July 2008 was 45 percent of average – the fourth driest of 114 years on record.
State reservoir capacities are at severe lows, with Folsom at 31 percent, Shasta at 34 percent and San Luis at 13 percent.
By the end of this water year (Sept. 30), Lake Oroville will reach its lowest carryover storage since the drought of 1977.
Clear Lake's levels are just slightly above those at this time last year, according to DWR's California Data Exchange Center.
The water shortage is affecting the state’s economy, slowing down development projects and forcing growers to fallow land. For example, farmers in northern San Diego County are stumping avocado trees and pulling out citrus trees due to water shortages. The Westland Water District reports that one-third of the farmland is being fallowed this year, at a loss of at least 500 jobs. The California Department of Food and Agriculture reports the result of the drought is a $260 million loss to the state’s ag industry this year.
Preliminary information shows that the 2009 water year likely will also be severely dry. State water planners are preparing for a protracted drought by instituting a variety of programs intended to conserve water and stretch the state’s resources.
To implement the 2009 Drought Water Bank, DWR will purchase water from willing sellers, primarily from water agencies upstream of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
This water will be transferred using State Water Project (SWP) or Central Valley Project (CVP) facilities to water agencies that are at risk of experiencing water shortages in 2009 due to drought conditions and that require supplemental water supplies to meet anticipated demands. Water acquired by the 2009 program would be available for purchase by public and private water systems in California based on certain needs criteria.
Water supplies from the 2009 Drought Water Bank will be open to all water providers who can obtain water from the Delta either directly or by exchange with other water providers who have access to Delta water supplies from the SWP or CVP.
For additional information about the drought, visit the Department of Water Resource’s drought web page at www.water.ca.gov/drought.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office reported that detectives found the body of an adult male in a grave in a marijuana grow between the Bear Creek Canyon power plant access road and Socrates Mine Road on Wednesday.
The Santa Rosa Police Department contacted sheriff's detectives on Tuesday with information that a missing person from their area may have been shot and killed in an illegal marijuana grow here in Lake County, Bauman reported.
Later Tuesday morning, detectives – using the information provided by Santa Rosa Police – located a very large-scale marijuana growing operation in the area of Highway 175, south of Socrates Mine Road, he said.
Bauman said that when detectives entered the marijuana grow, they confronted several suspects that were believed to be armed and who immediately fled into the woods.
Due to the size, complexity and terrain of the search area, the Sheriff’s SWAT team was summoned for a specialized search, air support was requested from the California Highway Patrol, and the Sheriff’s Mobile Incident Command Post was deployed to the area, according to Bauman.
The investigation and search for suspects in the immediate area extended into Tuesday night and the SWAT team remained inserted in the grow through the following day, said Bauman. During the night in which there was little to no visibility, SWAT members reported hearing subjects trying to re-enter the illegal grow but attempts to contain those subjects were unsuccessful.
On Wednesday at about 7:30 am, Sheriff’s Incident Command received a report that two male Hispanic subjects had been seen running down Highway 175 from the area and acting suspiciously, Bauman said. A sheriff’s patrol unit in the area responded and both were detained.
He said deputies recovered near the roadway a loaded 9mm handgun which one of the subjects had attempted to discard when deputies contacted him. Both suspects were arrested for suspicion of cultivating marijuana and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
An investigation into the illegal grow continued throughout Wednesday while sheriff’s detectives interviewed the two suspects about the operation and the alleged homicide. Bauman said evidence of long-term occupation by an unknown number of suspects was located in several grow sites in the area and several more firearms were recovered.
Interviews with the two arrestees confirmed not only their connection to the marijuana grow, but also to the homicide and one of them agreed to lead detectives to the area where the homicide victim was located, said Bauman.
Late on Wednesday afternoon, detectives located the grave and found the partially decomposed body of an adult male, and also recovered a sawed-off shotgun.
Investigation of the illegal operation continued through Wednesday, said Bauman. The State Department of Justice CAMP Program provided both personnel and air support to assist the sheriff’s office with the eradication of nearly 20,000 marijuana plants, and the movement of personnel and equipment in and out of the homicide scene.
Eradication of the marijuana operation concluded late Wednesday but the processing of the homicide scene continued into Thursday, said Bauman.
The body of the apparent homicide victim as yet to be positively identified and any connection to the missing person case out of Santa Rosa has yet to be confirmed, he added.
Both the illegal marijuana operation and the suspected homicide were committed by means of trespassing on privately owned lands, with no connection to the property owner he said.
The investigation is ongoing, Bauman said.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
A local horse was found to be carrying the disease this week, though specifics on the animal's location have not been released, said Dr. Jamie Scott, Lake County Vector Control District district manager and research director. Scott confirmed the find to Lake County News on Wednesday.
The state's West Nile Virus Web site reports that the equine case was one of two reported across the state this week, with the other being in Riverside.
The state reported that this week's equine cases brings the total statewide to eight horses in six counties – in addition to Lake and Riverside, Orange, Sacramento, San Diego and Fresno also have reported infected horses.
Also on Wednesday, the first dead bird found in Lake County with the virus was confirmed, Scott said.
The bird in question was an American crow collected in Lakeport on Aug. 21, said Scott.
Approximately 1,658 dead birds infected with West Nile Virus have been found in California this year, according to state officials. That's nearly double the tally at this time last year of 878.
Scott provided Lake County News with a summary of West Nile Virus activity since 2003, which shows the disease's activity is down across all categories this year as compared to last with the exception of equine cases. There were none in 2007.
The first human West Nile case was discovered in the county in 2004, with two others in 2006, and none reported since then.
Statewide, this year human cases total 132, compared to 199 in 2007, according to state officials.
West Nile Virus cases are down this year in horses, according to state statistics. There have been eight equine cases this year, compared with 19 at this time in 2007.
Mosquito samples also are up statewide, totaling 1,244 so far in 2008 compared to 771 at this time last year.
Three Lake County mosquito samples – two from Lakeport and one from Upper Lake – tested positive for West Nile Virus last month, as Lake County News has reported. Last year there were eight local mosquito samples that tested positive.
No sentinel chickens or squirrels have tested positive for West Nile locally this year, Scott reported. Statewide there have been 134 sentinel chickens and 13 squirrels reported to be infected.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
James Roland Pagan, 32, of Hidden Valley Lake was in court Wednesday for a preliminary hearing.
He's charged with murder for the March 21 stabbing death of 10-year-old Tessa Faith Walker. He's also facing an attempted murder charge for stabbing Tessa's sister, 14-year-old Kristen.
The girls reportedly were on their way home from school when they were attacked, as Lake County News has reported.
Pagan has pleaded not guilty to those allegations as well as charges of willful cruelty to a child and force causing great bodily injury.
He's being defended by attorney Ken Roush, who Lake County News was unable to contact late Wednesday.
Wednesday's preliminary hearing was a fairly quick one, lasting about an hour and a half. “We just put on a bare bones case,” said Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff, adding that not all of the evidence was put forward at the hearing.
Hinchcliff said he couldn't publicly discuss the prosecution's theory about Pagan's alleged part in the attack.
Pagan is scheduled to return to court for an arraignment on Oct. 6, said Hinchcliff. At some point after that, a trial date should be set.
Hinchcliff said he anticipated that Pagan will go on trial next year.
Pagan remains in the Lake County Jail without bail.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson