Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Open Board of Directors
San Bernardino Community College District
114 S. Del Rosa Drive
San Bernardino, CA 92408
Minutes
Present: Pete Aguilar, Dimitrios Alexious, Deborah Barmack, Carole Beswick, Tom Brickley, Ann Bryan, Ken Coate, Dick Hart, Fran Inman, Mark Kaenel, Ed Lasak, Bill Lemann, John Mirau, Charlie Ng, Tom Nightingale, Mike Page, Bev Powell, John Prentice, Bruce Satzger, Kristine Scott, Larry Sharp and Phil Waller.
Guests: Virginia Blumenthal, Robbie Broedow, Kent Hansen, Wayne Hendrix, Joe Kuebler, Matt LeVesque, Susan Longville, Larry McCallon, Marcia McQuern, Barbara Robinson, Kip Sturgeon and Stephen Wall.
Announcements: 1) The Mobility 21 Summit this year will be held on Tuesday September 6, 2011, JW Marriott at L.A. Live. Please take advantage of the early registration that will end on July 22 as the event is likely to sell out with many excellent speakers. 2) Members of the Ad Hoc Redistricting Committee have been monitoring multiple drafts that have been submitted to the Commission and the changes that continue on a regular basis. The Redistricting Commission will release documents for review on July 28th. Public comments are still being taken at the Commission Hearings. For more information please go to www.wedrawthelines.ca.gov
M/S/P: Minutes of the June 28, 2011 meeting
Ken Coate introduced Joe Grindstaff, Executive Director of the Delta Stewardship Council. Prior to his work with the Council his experience includes his appointment as Deputy Secretary for Water Policy by the State of California Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman, where he had broad oversight responsibility for all activities related to water, including the CALFED Bay-Delta Program. He served as Director of the CALFED Bay-Delta Program and as chief deputy director of the Department of Water Resources and general manager of the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority.
Originally designed to serve as a water supplement the Delta is the west coast’s largest estuary of which some 27 million Californians depend on for drinking water. Additionally, over 3 million acres of agriculture land is irrigated by Delta water.
The Delta is now at a crossroad. The Delta is in an unsustainable situation with systemic problems, drought, ecosystem degradation and flood risk. California’s water supply is in jeopardy, which has tremendous impacts to California’s economy, environment, agriculture industry and millions of residents.
California has been using more water than nature provides. Water conservation efforts must be improved and overusing groundwater in key regions continues to be a major problem. Not only is the Delta ecosystem is in trouble but there is a very high flood risk. The Delta ecosystem must be improved to ensure reliable water supplies.
The Delta Stewardship Council
California’s Delta has long been a battleground for many competing interests and efforts in recent years have yielded only incremental progress toward a comprehensive solution. Bipartisan passage of the Delta Reform Act of 2009 and companion legislation set forth groundbreaking new state policy. The Delta Reform Act created the Delta Stewardship Council (DSC) to develop a legally enforceable Delta Plan, guided by the coequal goals. The Council is an independent state agency with seven members statewide with diverse backgrounds. The DSC is directed to adopt a legally enforceable Delta Plan to achieve those goals no later than Jan. 1, 2012.
The Delta Plan seeks to achieve the coequal goals through:
· Near and long-term actions
· Drawing upon existing State and Federal Laws
· Other statewide efforts to ensure water reliability
Delta Plan does not seek to circumvent existing regulatory agencies or assume local agencies responsibilities.
Critical elements for success include improved Water Resource Management, where we live within our means and diversify and augment local and regional water supplies. All our conservation, technology, wastewater recycling, stormwater capture, local storage, ground water remediation, interregional planning and desalinization must play a part.
The Delta Flow criteria is needed to protect the ecosystem and to determine reliable levels for urban and agriculture allocations. Set flow objectives will allow for conveyance options to be considered. After 150 years of human modification the ecosystem restoration Plan envisions a healthy ecosystem that supports viable populations of native species, a more natural flow regime and adequate habitat for native species. The risk of flooding must be reduced for people, property and state interests in the Delta. Water quality improvements will address salinity levels that negatively impact fish and degrade water quality for agriculture and municipal uses. The Delta also receives soils and sediments from many sources that degrade drinking water supplies. The Delta is an evolving place, where economic development planning must occur, while achieving the coequal goals. Land Use and Resource Management must be an orderly and balanced process for conservation and development within the Delta. Natural, Agricultural and Cultural Heritage must be protected and enhanced while achieving the coequal goals.
Financial Plan
Achievement of the coequal goals requires a significant and sustained investment that will require legislative action. 14 proposed regulatory policies are included in the Draft Delta Plan with 58 recommendations. The Plan encourages state and local agencies to implement local and regional projects. It is dependent on other plans which are coming and will be updated as new information is available and sets direction necessary to achieve the coequal goals. The Council will analyze alternatives, including those presented by other organizations and develop specific financing options. After submission to the Office of Administrative Law, the complete final plan will be presented to the legislature by Jan. 2012.
A Q & A period followed.
Meeting adjourned at 8:30 a.m.