Urban Water Institute, Inc.

March Newsletter Announcements

michael — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 06:31:54 +0000

Save the Date: The Urban Water Institute’s 20th Annual Water Conference will be held August 14-16, 2013 at The Hilton Mission Bay Resort in San Diego.

Notes From Panel with Kevin Hunt, Ed Means & Ron Gastelum

michael — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 05:35:19 +0000

Below are 6 key issues that were addressed during the open microphone session with Kevin Hunt, Ed
Means and Ron Gastelum. The below phrases and ideas were given by the attendees that participated in
this session. Almost every person in attendance contributed at least one idea to this conversation.

Labor Costs
1. Savings by consolidating water agencies?
2. Taking over smaller districts increases labor costs.
3. Is it important for the General Manager to be involved in negotiations?
4. Are there generous benefits for these times? We need to balance costs and keep up customer service for the district.
5. Agencies get burnt out on details with negotiations.
6. Supporting retired workers increases the labor costs.
7. We can’t let the public agencies get so far ahead of the private agencies.
Pension Liability
1. Contracts are very difficult to change.
2. Often you entice employees with better benefits packages when the economy is booming, but when the economy begins to decline you are put in a tough situation.
3. There is volatility on the investments side of things.
4. How do you continue to compensate for offered benefits in a bad economy?
Energy & Power
1. How to manage energy: conserve, find cheaper energy and limit the impact of regulatory initiatives on energy costs.
2. We don’t understand energy as an important sector of our economy.
3. The energy/pump cost is increasing.
4. We need to explore renewables further. Pump storage will only work for larger districts.
Chemicals
1. The chemical industry benefits from the natural gas energy revolution
Supply Cost
1. The supply cost is huge in the regulatory process.
2. Focusing on conservation is a short term plan.
3. Bidding against each other amongst water districts will end up driving up water costs.
Debt Service/Capital expenditures
1. Our systems are aging. Our population is increasing. Can you defer capital expenditures?
2. Private sector funding… how can we tap into this? The Bond money will dry up in 2014.

For further information on presentations from the Spring Water Conference in Palm Springs, please visit
our website www.urbanwater.com.

Steve Robbins, Posthumous Award

michael — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 05:25:01 +0000

Family, friends and associates of Steve Robbins, General Manager of the Coachella Valley Water District, who recently passed away, were present for the presentation of a “Lifetime Achievement Award” for Steve’s many contributions to the water industry. The lunch time ceremony was addressed by Steve Bucknam, Institute Chairman, who introduced Peter Nelson, Coachella Valley Water District, and Allan Levin, who accepted the award on behalf of Steve’s family.

Obama’s choices to lead EPA and Energy reflect his climate views

michael — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 05:23:56 +0000

Obama nominates Gina McCarthy as EPA secretary and Ernest J. Moniz to lead the Energy Department. President Obama picked a chief for the Environmental Protection Agency who has long worked on combating climate change and an Energy Department secretary closely associated with increasing use of natural gas and renewable energy, further signaling his intention to take on global warming, although not as dramatically as some activists would like.

California starts year with record dry conditions

michael — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 05:22:51 +0000

California is poised to shatter an all-time weather record by notching the driest January-February period in recorded history across the northern Sierra Nevada.

Sahara Desert dust affects California water supply, study finds

michael — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 05:22:13 +0000

Dust particles blown from Asian and African deserts can increase rain and snow in the Sierra Nevada, researchers report. High-altitude dust blown thousands of miles across the Pacific from Asian and African deserts can make it rain and snow in the Sierra Nevada, according to new research that suggests tiny particles from afar play a role in California’s water supply.

Following driest January and February ever recorded, Sierra snowpack at 66 percent of normal

michael — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 05:21:33 +0000

After the driest January and February in the Northern Sierra since modern records were first kept in 1920, California’s Sierra Nevada snowpack has dropped sharply to 66 percent of normal, state officials announced Thursday.

The Governor’s Water Plan is a Job Creator Too

michael — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 05:20:51 +0000

In the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, an important concern about the future is how efforts to restore the estuary may affect the local economy. The Bay Delta Conservation Plan is proposing 30,000 acres of habitat restoration in the next 15 years, and considerably more in the following 35 years. Some of that restoration will occur on lands that are currently used for agriculture. To better understand the jobs impact of restoration, the BDCP commissioned an analysis from natural resource economist David Sunding of the University of California, Berkeley.

Priming the pump for a water bond

michael — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 05:20:01 +0000

Ellen Hanak, Co-Director of Research and Senior Fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), testified at a Feb. 26 legislative hearing concerning California’s capacity to incur additional water bond debt. (The Legislature has placed an $11 billion water bond on the November 2014 general election ballot to fund a wide variety of water projects, including water conservation and recycling; groundwater storage, protection and cleanup; and watershed protection and restoration.) Hanak made the following remarks at a joint informational hearing of the Senate committees on Governance and Finance, and Natural Resources and Water Conservation.

Delta tunnel foes tracking $11 billion water bond

michael — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 05:18:58 +0000

An $11 billion water bond passed by lawmakers more than three years ago – but not yet brought to the public for approval – could be a major priority in 2013, and Delta interests will be watching closely.