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Snow surveyors on Thursday reported that water content in California’s snowpack is only 52 percent of normal, with the spring melt season already under way.
“With most of the wet season behind us, this is more gloomy news for our summer water supply,” said California Department of Water Resources Director Mark Cowin.
After a record dry January and February in much of the state, DWR on Friday decreased its water delivery estimate, or allocation, from 40 to 35 percent of requested amounts from the State Water Project (SWP).
The 29 public agencies that purchase SWP water requested just over four million acre-feet of water for this calendar year. Collectively, the agencies supply more than 25 million Californians and nearly a million acres of irrigated agriculture.
Pumping restrictions imposed this winter to protect Delta smelt and salmon are another reason for the low water delivery estimate.
November and December were unusually wet, but between Nov. 1 and Feb. 28, fishery agency restrictions prevented DWR from pumping more than 550,000 acre-feet of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to store in San Luis Reservoir.
On Thursday San Luis – a summer supply pool for both the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project – is 63 percent full.
“This is the kind of conflict we are working to resolve through the Bay Delta Conservation Plan,” said Cowin.
The Bay Delta Conservation Plan would reduce harm to fish from altered stream flows caused by the south Delta pumps serving the SWP and Central Valley Project. Pumping there at times causes reverse flows which may disorient or entrain fish.
Officials said the comprehensive plan’s large-scale habitat restoration would also improve Delta conditions for fish and wildlife.
The November and December storms built California’s snowpack water content to 134 percent of normal by Jan. 2, when DWR and cooperating agencies conducted this season’s first manual survey. Manual surveys and electronic readings have recorded the water content decline since dry weather set in.
Statewide, the season’s second manual survey on Jan. 29 found the snowpack water content at 93 percent of normal for the date. On Feb. 28, the season’s third manual survey found the snowpack water content at 66 percent of average
Thursday’s survey – finding snowpack water content at only 52 percent of normal – is particularly significant because this is the time of year the snowpack normally is at its peak before slowly melting with warming weather. The season’s final survey on or about the first of May will check the rate at which the snowpack is melting. Snow normally provides about a third of the water for California’s homes and farms as it melts into streams, reservoirs and aquifers.
Electronic readings indicate that water content in the northern mountains is 55 percent of normal for the date, and 55 percent of the April 1 seasonal average. Electronic readings for the central Sierra show 57 percent of normal water content for the date and 57 percent of the April 1 average. The numbers for the southern Sierra are 40 percent of average for the date and 40 percent of the April 1, full-season average.
DWR and cooperating agencies conduct manual snow surveys around the first of the month from January through May. The manual measurements supplement and check the accuracy of the real-time electronic readings from sensors up and down the state.
Despite the dwindling snowpack, most key storage reservoirs are above or near historic levels for the date thanks to November and December storms.
Lake Oroville in Butte County, the State Water Project’s principal storage reservoir, is at 108 percent of its average level for the date – 83 percent of its 3.5 million acre-foot capacity.
Shasta Lake north of Redding, the federal Central Valley Project’s largest reservoir with a capacity of 4.5 million acre-feet, is at 102 percent of its normal storage level for the date, 82 percent of capacity.
An acre-foot is 325,851 gallons, enough to cover one acre to a depth of one foot.
Reservoir storage will meet much of the state’s water demand this year, but successive dry years would create drought conditions in some areas.
This week’s conditions, including the State Water Project allocation, could change with April storms.
The final SWP allocation for calendar year 2012 was 65 percent of requested deliveries. The initial delivery estimate for calendar year 2011 was only 25 percent of requested SWP water.
However, as winter took hold, a near record snowpack and heavy rains resulted in deliveries of 80 percent of requests in 2011.
The final allocation was 50 percent in 2010, 40 percent in 2009, 35 percent in 2008, and 60 percent in 2007. The last 100 percent allocation – difficult to achieve even in wet years because of pumping restrictions to protect Delta fish – was in 2006.
California Attorney General Kamala Harris has announced a $1 million California Homeowner Bill of Rights implementation grant to The National Housing Law Project.
“Californians were hit hard by the mortgage crisis and many people are still struggling to stay in their homes,” Attorney General Harris said. “The California Homeowner Bill of Rights gives borrowers more opportunities to stay in their homes, and this grant will help make sure the law is applied across the state and that everyone gets the protection they are entitled to.”
The California Homeowner Bill of Rights (HBOR) is a set of landmark laws that extend key mortgage and foreclosure protections to California homeowners and borrowers.
The laws, which took effect at the beginning of this year, restrict dual-track foreclosures, guarantee struggling homeowners a reliable point of contact at their lender, impose civil penalties on fraudulently signed mortgage documents and require loan servicers to document their right to foreclose.
This grant will maximize consumer benefits from the HBOR, while minimizing abuses of the law by providing training to California consumer and housing attorneys from both private and nonprofit firms.
The National Housing Law Project will partner with Western Center on Law and Poverty, National Consumer Law Center and Tenants Together to implement this grant.
The National Housing Law Project and its partners will use the grant to:
- Provide high-quality, on-site trainings and webinars to consumer and housing attorneys on how to maximize the HBOR’s protections.
- Train more than 800 lawyers.
- Provide support in cases that raise important legal issues or have potential for broad impact.
- Create a library of litigation materials to help attorneys maximize the HBOR’s benefits.
- Produce a report that analyzes the HBOR’s statewide impact and identifies compliance problems.
Funds provided through this grant were secured by Attorney General Harris through the $18 billion National Mortgage Settlement.
Established in 1968, The National Housing Law Project seeks to advance housing justice by advocating for affordable housing, litigating to uphold homeowners’ and tenants’ rights and offering technical assistance to legal aid attorneys who work with low-income families.
The State Bar has partnered with the Attorney General’s Office to administer the grant and monitor compliance. The National Housing Law Project will provide quarterly financial and program reports to the State Bar and the Attorney General’s Office.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A Napa County man alleged to be responsible for a series of bank robberies around the North Bay and Lake County has been arrested.
Novato Police arrested Joshua James Metoxen, 23, of American Canyon on Thursday just before 2 p.m., according to the Marin County Jail.
Metoxen was identified earlier this month as the suspect in two bank robberies in Middletown, one at Westamerica Bank on Feb. 27 and another on Tri Counties Bank on March 7, as Lake County News has reported.
A $750,000 warrant was issued for his arrest shortly after he was identified as the suspect, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
Law enforcement officials also believed Metoxen may have been responsible for bank robberies in Mill Valley, Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park and Novato, where a suspect with a similar mode of operation – handing tellers notes demanding money but not showing a weapon – and similar physical appearance was reported.
Metoxen was booked into the Marin County Jail on Thursday night. At that point the Novato Police Department had not issued a statement about the circumstances of his arrest.
Additional details will be posted as they become available.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A new report on health in counties across the United States has ranked Lake County next to last in the state of California due to high mortality, poverty and poor health behaviors.
The 2013 County Health Rankings, now in their fourth year, are conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.
The rankings, which are based on the latest publicly available data, are online at www.countyhealthrankings.org .
The County Health Rankings examine 25 factors that influence health, including rates of childhood poverty, rates of smoking, obesity levels, teen birth rates, access to physicians and dentists, rates of high school graduation and college attendance, access to healthy foods, levels of physical inactivity, and percentages of children living in single parent households.
For Lake County, the rankings have typically put the area on the lower end of the state in terms of health outcomes, but for 2013 Lake County is shown at No. 57 out of 58 counties, with Alpine County receiving no rank.
Lake County Public Health Office Dr. Karen Tait reviewed the findings, noting that the rankings’ organizers changed some of the measures this year. “I think that might affect it a little bit,” she said of the ranking change, also noting wide margins of error.
“We clearly have our challenges, there’s no question about that,” she said.
Lake’s rate of premature death is nearly twice that of the state, with high rates of adult smoking, obesity and drinking, according to the rankings.
The teen birth rate also is above the state average, the report showed.
The motor vehicle crash death rate is 26, more than two and a half times the state rate of 10, according to the data.
Regarding clinical care, the rankings showed that Lake County residents’ access to primary care physicians equaled one doctor for every 1,799 residents, compared to one for every 1,341 residents on average statewide and the national benchmark of 1,067 residents to one physician, the report showed.
For dentists, the picture was worse in Lake County, with the rankings showing 2,634 residents to every one dentist, compared to 1,417 residents to one dentist statewide. The national benchmark is 1,516 residents to one dentist.
Preventable hospital stays for Lake County residents were shown to be higher in the report, while diabetic screenings were the same as the state average, but mammography screening was less frequent than statewide.
Even though employment is increasing, there is still a high number of children in poverty, with the data also showing increases in violent crime, Tait pointed out.
Lake County did receive good marks for its physical environment, and the rankings also found that Lake’s high school graduation rate is better than the state average, although the number of residents with a college education falls short of the state average.
Tait said many of the health concerns Lake County has arise from lifestyle issues, such as smoking and drinking.
“We’ve just consistently had high smoking rates, and I think they’re getting worse,” she said.
She said she finds the rate of smoking particularly shocking, since people are aware of the risks. Heavy drinking also has gotten worse, she added.
Tait and the Lake County Health Services Department are now embarking on a “Climb to the Peak of Health” public awareness campaign, which urges people to take steps to begin chipping away at their personal health issues.
“I think we know that the biggest factor in good health relates to lifestyle,” she said.
The update to the county’s health needs assessment also is under way, which will help give local policymakers a better idea of the county’s specific health needs.
Like Tait, other local medical professionals see the issues.
“We recognize there are health challenges in Lake County that contribute to our county health status rankings,” said David Santos, vice president of operations at St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake.
In addition to the campaign Tait and the county are undertaking, Santos said there is another effort under way to address those health challenges.
In partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake recently was awarded a two-year Community Transformations Grant that will directly address physical activity, nutrition, emotional well-being and smoking cessation in an effort to improve the health status of Lake County, according to Santos.
He said the hospital is working with a community collaborative, led by Susan Jen, to accomplish the grant objectives.
“St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake is committed to advancing the health and wellness of our community members through specific programs like Live Well at the Clearlake Family Health Center,” said Santos. “It is our intention to address the medical needs of every resident through proven and innovative clinical initiatives that will dramatically improve the health status of our county over the next several years.”
In other report findings, Marin was ranked No. 1 statewide for having the best overall outcomes.
Lake’s neighboring counties were ranked as follows: Colusa, No. 8; Glenn. No. 25; Mendocino, No. 43; Napa, No. 24; Sonoma, No. 12; and Yolo, No. 5.
The groups that conduct the rankings noted several new and significant national trends emerging in this year’s data.
Those trends included child poverty rates that have not improved since 2000, with more than one in five children living in poverty.
In addition, violent crime has decreased by almost 50 percent over the past two decades, the report showed.
The counties where people don’t live as long and don’t feel as well mentally or physically have the highest rates of smoking, teen births and physical inactivity, as well as more preventable hospital stays, according to the report.
Teen birth rates are more than twice as high in the least healthy counties than in the healthiest counties, the rankings found.
The rankings showed that residents living in healthier counties are 1.4 times more likely to have access to a doctor and dentist than those in the least healthy counties.
“The County Health Rankings can be put to use right away by leaders in government, business, health care, and every citizen motivated to work together to create a culture of health in their community,” said Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, RWJF president and chief executive officer. “The rankings are driving innovation, unleashing creativity, and inspiring big changes to improve health in communities large and small throughout the country.”
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKEPORT, Calif. – “Lake County Live!” will return to the Soper-Reese Community Theatre for its monthly show on Easter Sunday, March 31.
The show will take place from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the theater, 275 S. Main, Lakeport. The audience is asked to be seated by 5:45 p.m. in order to receive special instructions.
For the Easter show, Lake County’s “Piano Man” David Neft will perform, along with Majide!, featuring Paul Kemp, Machiko and Jim Leonardis.
There also will be the continuing adventures of the “Ladies of the Lake” and a visit from the Easter Bunny.
The theater audience is welcome to stay after 7 p.m. for additional performances by the featured musicians.
Lake County Live! airs live on Lake County Community Radio KPFZ at 88.1 FM and is also streamed live on the Internet via www.kpfz.org .
Tickets cost $5 and are available at the theater box office at 275 S. Main in Lakeport Fridays from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., telephone 707-263-0577; at the Travel Center in Lakeport, 1265 S. Main, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday; at the door; and online at www.soperreesetheatre.com .
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Five high schools, five youth oriented programs and five other Lake County nonprofit organizations have been selected as beneficiaries of this year’s Lake County Wine Auction.
Kaj Ahlmann, president of the sponsoring Lake County Wine Alliance, announced the beneficiaries on Wednesday.
The Wine Alliance, a nonprofit organization of wineries, wine grape growers, vineyard owners, related businesses and community supporters founded in 2000, has contributed $991,302 to foster the arts,
benefit health services, and support the community while promoting Lake County as a premier growing region for fine wine grapes.
An all-volunteer board of directors and auction committee plan and direct the annual charity event.
This year’s Wine Auction, the 14th annual, will take place at the Cole Creek Equestrian Center in Kelseyville on Saturday, Sept. 21, from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.
This exciting venue, which has been used for numerous social and community events over the years will provide our guests with a unique view into the diversity of Lake County's agricultural community.
The event is open to guests 21 years and older.
The gala benefit features wine and food tastings, silent and live auctions, and dancing. Auctioneers will be Shaun Hornby and Stephanie Green.
All proceeds from the Wine Auction activities will benefit the selected beneficiaries.
Some 30 organizations, agencies and programs submitted their funding requests to the Wine Alliance, demonstrating the number of worthy programs in Lake County seeking financial assistance.
This year's beneficiaries are:
- The fine arts education programs at the five Lake County high schools – Clear Lake High, Kelseyville High, Lower Lake High, Middletown High, and Upper Lake High – will share the funds in this category.
- The Clear Lake Performing Arts Youth Programs, Yuba College Culinary Club, Operation Tango Mike, Friends of the Lake County Museum outreach program for students, Wreaths Across America, Cub Scout Day Camps, the Lake County Council of Church Women Shoes and Socks Program, People Services, Taylor Observatory student programs, Lake County 4-H.
Tickets for the Wine Auction will be available through the Wine Alliance Web site, www.winealliance.org , or by calling1-866-279-WINE to make reservations.
Information about sponsorship opportunities is available from Marie Beery, 707-278-0129. Major sponsors confirmed to date are Mendo Lake Credit Union and American Ag Credit. In addition, $5,000 matching grants have been received from Deutsch Bank and General Electric.
Honorary co-chairs for the Wine Auction are John and Joanne Van Eck, proprietors of Cole Creek Equestrian center. They will be assisted by committee co-chairs Judy Luchsinger, Lakeport, and Sharron Zoller, Kelseyville.
Members of the Wine Alliance board are Kaj Ahlmann, president; Dr. Judy Luchsinger, vice president; Sharron Zoller, secretary; Rob Roumiguiere, treasurer; and Marie Beery and Bill Groody directors.