Bill could sink water export plan
Measure effectively stalls idea of towing Gualala, Albion water down coast to San Diego

September 1, 2002

By CAROL BENFELL
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

An Alaska entrepreneur may have to wait at least five years before he can bag millions of gallons of water from the Gualala and Albion rivers and tow it south to thirsty San Diego.

Ric Davidge, president of Alaska Water Exports in Anchorage, said last week he had completed an application to the state Department of Water Resources to withdraw the water and was waiting for the department to post the notice opening the public comment period.

But a bill that cleared the state Legislature on Saturday could put that posting off for some years.

In addition, a study under way by the Sotoyome Resource Conservation District in Santa Rosa could show that water exports would hurt the rivers.

The bill, authored by Assemblywoman Pat Wiggins, D-Santa Rosa, gives the University of California system five years to study the potential effects of reduced Northern California river flows -- including the Gualala and Albion -- on salmon and steelhead populations.

The legislation, which now goes to the governor, also would require the Department of Water Resources to use the UC study in making a decision about water export proposals such as Davidge's.

"I think the study will need at least five years to complete. We need a significant number of years to get an accurate picture, given the fluctuations in weather," Wiggins said Friday.

An earlier version of the bill, now defunct, would have given Mendocino County supervisors veto power over water exports from Mendocino County rivers.
Davidge made headlines in January when he proposed removing 30,000 acre-feet of water each winter from the Albion and Gualala rivers, pumping it into battleship-size plastic bags, and towing the bags to San Diego.

Faced with a federal order to reduce their dependence on the Colorado River, Southern California cities are looking at a variety of unconventional options for obtaining water, including storing surpluses under the Mojave desert and buying water rights from Imperial Valley farmers.

Davidge's company has pursued water transfer plans in the Pacific Rim, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and North Africa.

In an interview last week, he said he reduced his withdrawal request for the Gualala and Albion rivers from 30,000 acre-feet to 14,900 acre-feet because of technical problems with transporting the larger amount from the mouth of the river.

One acre-foot is 326,000 gallons, roughly enough water to supply a family of four for a year.

Davidge said he will be contacting municipal water utilities along the coast, offering to buy their excess water to help meet the 30,000 acre-feet he seeks.

He also is in the process of changing the name of his company from Alaska Water Exports to Aqueous, Davidge said.

Davidge, a former Alaska state water official and onetime deputy assistant Interior Department secretary under former President Ronald Reagan, said only the "excess flow" of the river would be removed and there would be no adverse effects on the environment.

But a study of the lower Gualala River now under way by the Sotoyome Resource Conservation District, a public agency in Santa Rosa, may dispute that.

The $100,000 study, funded by the state Coastal Conservancy, will among other things assess if the river needs those heavy storm flows to flush out sediment that would otherwise settle to the bottom, silting over and destroying fish spawning grounds, said Rick Kaye, a project assistant for the conservation district.

"The river has to be able to wash itself out. We may need high water levels to flush out the system," Kaye said.

The two-year study, conceived and funded long before Davidge's proposal became public, will also look at the conditions of the estuary at the mouth of the Gualala river, where fresh water and ocean water mix.

The estuary is critical to salmon survival because it serves as a nursery where the fish can rest, eat and grow, and undergo the bodily changes that allow them to live in salt water instead of river water.

The study will examine water quality and quantity, tidal fluctuations, and how salinity levels change with the tides and the weather. It will also examine the kinds and abundance of water insects, such as water skippers and mayflies, that provide food for young fish.

The data will be used to establish a baseline for monitoring the river's health. Then the effectiveness of restoration projects can be measured, as well as any impairments caused by human action, said Kerry Williams, district director of the conservation district.

You can reach Staff Writer Carol Benfell at 521-5259 or cbenfell@pressdemocrat.com.

 

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