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As the unprecedented drought continues in California, a number of the state’s coastal rivers and streams are in danger of reaching critically low stages later this summer, threatening rural drinking water supplies.
However, state officials said plans are now in place to assist landowners that store water for use later in the season through a state program.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) announced Thursday that they will expedite approval for the installation of storage tanks by landowners who currently divert water from these important rivers and streams.
The action comes under the State Water Board’s Small Domestic Use (SDU) registration program.
Installing tanks to divert and store water when flows are higher will help improve rural water supply reliability and fire safety while also relieving pressure for in-stream diversions during the drier months when fish need it most.
The State Water Board has an existing statewide registration program for domestic use of water, allowing home water uses such as drinking and fire protection.
These small domestic registrations must comply with general conditions from the State Water Board and typically receive project specific conditions from CDFW.
Landowners eligible for the SDU program currently can request approval to divert to storage. However, this can be a lengthy process requiring site-specific evaluations that address in-stream and habitat needs.
With Thursday's action, CDFW has essentially “pre-approved” the installation of storage tanks that meet the general criteria.
The State Water Board has agreed to incorporate these criteria as conditions of approval, and to expedite the issuance of the registrations.
This action will result in the collection of water during any upcoming precipitation events, taking advantage of higher flows, and using the stored water later in the season when there may be little to no water available.
Some of these water tanks can provide months of storage to meet domestic water supply needs.
“We have been working in these coastal communities for many years, and have good reason to believe that these emergency changes are going to be welcomed,” said Charlton H. Bonham, Director of CDFW. “Many landowners who have wanted to take these steps can do so now more quickly with greater regulatory certainty from our department.”
This action is designed to capture water when it is raining and right after rain events. It is not designed to expand any applicant’s existing water right or amount of diversion.
Capturing rain when it falls from the sky and storing it for use later can also help reduce the impacts to fish and wildlife from diverting water from streams during the driest times of the summer.
Thursday's action was the direct result of suggestions made by local communities and fish conservation organizations such as Trout Unlimited, Mattole River Sanctuary Forest and the Salmonid Restoration Federation.
“The drought is going to be really hard for fish and wildlife as well as agriculture and people,” said State Water Board Executive Officer Tom Howard. “CDFW and the State Water Board are open to any solution from any corner of the state on how to make it through these tough times together.”
Expedited permitting is available to applicants that meet all of the criteria set forth in the program. SDU program eligibility can be found at http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/registrations/ .
Eligible parties are those that are already diverting from a stream under a riparian basis of right in CDFW Regions 1 or 3.
The party should be diverting for domestic and fire protection use only, and has or will install a rigid style water storage tank. The storage tank should be big enough in size to store at least 60 days of water supply for the house.
Parties who are eligible will need to accept the general CDFW conditions, most importantly that they will use the stored water as a substitute for withdrawing additional water during the summer when flows are lowest. The State Water Board will expedite processing of registration forms where the party meets the CDFW eligibility criteria.
This will help protect fish during periods of low stream flow, especially this year with the drought conditions.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The local housing market showed a big improvement in February.
The Lake County Association of Realtors said the February median sales price of single family residences in Lake County rose nearly 22 percent when compared to like sales in January.
“The winter months can be slow for the real estate market, not only in Lake County but throughout the state,” said Lake County Association of Realtors President Rick White. “However it was good to see that February sales rebounded significantly when compared to the previous month’s sales and they were significantly better than the February 2013 sales.”
According to statistics taken from the California Regional Multiple Listing Service, the number of single family residence sales in February (54) was up 59 percent over like sales in January (34).
The median sales price in February came in at $162,450, with January’s median showing $133,450. There was a 38-percent increase over the February 2013 median sales price of $117,500, Lake County Association of Realtors reported.
Statewide there have been a number of factors keeping first time home buyers out of the market, the association reported. The factors include tight credit requirements, rising home prices, low inventory and all cash buyers.
In February more than 40 percent of the sales in Lake County were financed with cash and the inventory levels dipped from 8.4 months in January to 5.6 months in February, according to the association's report.
A bipartisan group of 32 legislators are urging their colleagues to include funding for the California Land Conservation Act, better known as the Williamson Act, in the 2014-15 State Budget.
The Williamson Act assists counties and cities with subvention payment funding to protect agricultural and open space lands, however, funding has been suspended since the beginning of the 2010 fiscal year.
“In addition to preserving California’s vital agricultural industry, the Williamson Act preserves open space and wildlife habitat, protects watersheds, and helps reduce greenhouse gases,” said Nate Beason, RCRC chair and Nevada County supervisor. “The Williamson Act is vital to the financial health of local government, and by signing onto this letter, these members of the Legislature have acknowledged the importance of this funding to local communities.”
The Williamson Act is a state-established program that preserves agricultural and open space lands through property tax incentives and voluntary restrictive use contracts.
Private landowners, in exchange for lower property taxes, enter into rolling 10 or 20 year contractual commitments with participating counties and cities to keep their land in agricultural and/or compatible open space use.
In exchange, the state provides the counties and cities with a partial replacement for their foregone property tax from the land enrolled in the program.
The Williamson Act has proven effective for the state, protecting more than 16.5 million acres, or nearly one-third of all privately owned land in California.
However, intended to be a partnership between the state, counties, cities, and landowners, state subventions have not been paid since 2009, and counties and cities are struggling to meet their responsibilities under the Williamson Act as a result.
RCRC has organized a coalition of nearly 30 agricultural, environmental, and local government groups to advocate on behalf of meeting the terms of the original partnership agreement through the funding of Williamson Act subvention payments.
On Wednesday the California Legislature’s Joint Legislative Audit Committee, or “JLAC”, approved a request to audit the California Department of Public Health's Licensing and Certification Division's regulation of long-term health care facilities.
The request was made by Assemblymember Mariko Yamada (D-Davis), chair of the Aging and Long-Term Care Committee, after a recent oversight hearing revealed complaint investigation back-logs in the thousands, leaving unanswered questions about how safe long-term care health facilities are, and the effectiveness of the state’s safety enforcement apparatus.
“With this approval from JLAC, we are making progress toward understanding the barriers that prevent the Department of Public Health from completing timely investigations of allegations of abuse and misconduct at our long-term care health facilities,” Yamada stated. “This audit request should help re-focus a commitment to quality and safety, and restore confidence that that the state of California will respond quickly and decisively when a vulnerable individual’s health or safety is in jeopardy.”
The Joint Legislative Audit Committee (JLAC) investigates, studies, analyzes, and assesses the performance of government agencies and other public entities in California to ensure programs are achieving their legislative intent with the goal of improving government performance.
In January, Assemblymember Yamada co-chaired a joint oversight hearing of the Assembly Committee on Aging and Long-Term Care and Assembly Committee on Health after recent media accounts alleged wide lapses in regulatory enforcement.
Testimony revealed thousands of backlogged complaints of mistreatment, misconduct and abuse that have languished for years with incomplete investigation leaving medically frail, dependent adults at risk of potential harm.
Yamada has also introduced AB 1816 to address investigation timelines, and create a statutory barrier to future investigation back-logs.
AB 1816 requires an investigation be completed within 40 working days of receipt of a complaint, with allowances for extensions under circumstances where evidence is difficult to obtain or verify.
Existing law mandates investigations be initiated within 2-10 days, but does not explicitly require or stipulate to an investigative endpoint.
Yamada represents all or parts of Colusa, Lake, Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Lakeport Police officers have arrested a young Lakeport man they say is responsible for a series of gasoline thefts and burglaries in the city in February and March, and also took two others into custody for drugs and weapons possession.
Alexander Gene Gard, 18, was arrested on Monday, according to Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen.
On Wednesday, police also arrested 55-year-old Gary Lee Gard, Alexander Gard's father, and Alicia Sarris, 50, on drugs and weapons charges, Rasmussen said.
From Feb. 16 through 19 the Lakeport Police Department had reported on a total of approximately 12 vehicles being targeted for gasoline theft, as Lake County News has reported.
The incidents occurred in the Del Lago area, 15th Street, 1800 block of S. Main Street and the 800 block of Third Street. Rasmussen said the Del Lago incidents also included the theft of a stereo from one vehicle.
At that time police reported that the vehicle involved in the thefts was a white Ford Ranger and that the driver was described as a white male adult, 19 to 23 years old, with a thin build, and short hair and wearing a flat bill cap.
Rasmussen said Lakeport Police officers continued to investigate these cases and due to their work combined with numerous leads from the community, identified Alexander Gard as a suspect and his 1997 white Ford Ranger as a suspect vehicle.
However, at the time Gard was identified as a suspect, there was not sufficient evidence to make an arrest or complete an affidavit for search warrant, Rasmussen said.
Then, between Feb. 19 and March 9, numerous other gasoline thefts, thefts from vehicles and burglaries were reported in the city of Lakeport, including the 300 block of Forest Drive, Lake County Vector Control equipment yard and vehicles on Esplanade Street, the 1000 block of Martin Street, 1300 block of N. Forbes Street and the 1100 block of N. Main Street, according to Rasmussen.
On Monday, at approximately 9:30 p.m., Lakeport Police officers were continuing their investigation of Gard and monitoring his residence. Rasmussen said they located Gard driving his white Ford Ranger slowly past parked vehicles in the Shoreline Shopping Center Parking lot.
Officers followed Gard and conducted an enforcement stop in the 2100 block of S. Main Street. At that time officers located concentrated cannabis, stolen auto parts and a tool box, and also found tools and supplies identified as being taken from a vehicle burglary and theft at the Lake County Vector Control equipment yard on Esplanade Street on March 5, Rasmussen said.
Gard was arrested and booked for possession of concentrated cannabis, possession of stolen property and burglary. Rasmussen said Gard's white Ford Ranger was impounded as evidence to be taken to a secure facility for further search and examination processing for additional evidence.
Rasmussen said that on Tuesday Lakeport Police officers completed an affidavit for search warrant for Gard’s residence and vehicle.
On Wednesday at approximately 7:05 a.m., Lakeport Police officers – assisted by California State Parks officers – served the search warrant at Gard’s residence in the 900 block of Armstrong Street, Rasmussen said.
There officers located suspected methamphetamine, controlled narcotic pills, digital weight scales, suspected drug pay and owe notes, marijuana possessed for sale, controlled substance paraphernalia including methamphetamine smoking pipes and hypodermic syringes, a .22 caliber rifle and ammunition, tools stolen during the Lake County Vector Control vehicle burglary and equipment yard theft, and a stereo reported stolen from a vehicle in the 1300 block of N. Forbes St. on March 9, Rasmussen reported.
Rasmussen said police also arrested Gary Gard and Alicia Sarris at the residence during the search warrant service.
At noon on Wednesday Lakeport Police officers served the search warrant on Alexander Gard’s vehicle and processed it for evidence. Rasmussen said officers located and seized numerous tools and vehicle accessories identified as being stolen from the Lake County Vector Control vehicle burglary and theft from their equipment yard, a methamphetamine smoking pipe and burglary tools including gasoline siphoning equipment.
In addition to Alexander Gard’s prior charges, he was booked for possession of controlled substance paraphernalia, possession of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana for sale and possession of burglary tools, Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen told Lake County News that his agency had no previous contacts with Alexander Gard.
Gary Gard – who Rasmussen said was arrested in April 2007 for failure to provide – was arrested and booked for possession of a controlled substance, possession of controlled substance paraphernalia, being armed in the commission of a felony, possession of marijuana for sale and for possession of a narcotic substance.
Sarris was arrested and booked for possession of a controlled substance, possession of controlled substance paraphernalia, possession of marijuana for sale and being armed in the commission of a felony. Rasmussen said her record includes a 2001 arrest for an annoying phone call.
Bail for Alexander Gard, Gary Gard and Alicia Sarris was set at $15,000 each. All three remained in custody on Wednesday evening, according to jail records.
Rasmussen thanked the many community members who provided information to assist officers in this investigation.
“We had quite a few leads, and that helped us,” Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen said that, so far, police do not have any information about Alexander Gard being connected to reports of gas thefts happening in the county jurisdiction.
With Gard having been found at the time of his arrest with siphoning equipment, “He was definitely a guy to watch out for,” said Rasmussen.
Rasmussen said the Lakeport Police Department will continue its community policing efforts to work with community members, groups, other city departments and agencies in an effort to arrest offenders and eliminate these crimes in the city of Lakeport.
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A 4-year-old Kelseyville boy's question has been selected to be among those to be answered by astronauts from the International Space Station, which is 250 miles from Earth and circling the planet at 17,000 miles per hour.
The astronauts will answer questions during a two-hour “Hello from Space” special on National Geographic television on Friday, March 14, at 8 p.m.
Heather Koehler, the principal of Pomo Elementary School in Clear Lake, received notification that her son Eli Carlson's video question will be included in the special.
Eli said his question is, “How is it in space?”
The astronauts, Rick Mastracchio and Koichi Wakata, will beam their pretaped answers back to the Houston Control Center in cooperation with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration during the program.
Their responses will be fielded by Soledad O'Brien and Mike Masimino.
Ironically, Eli and his grandmother, Caryn Stardancer, were assembling a model NASA shuttle when they learned that his question was one of the many selected from both children and adults.
“I got the model in a box my grampa bought me,” said Eli.
“They (NASA) said it will depend on timing whether Eli's question will be shown,” Koehler said.
Viewers “will see a lot of different people in 'Hello from Space,'” she added.
Email John Lindblom at