The mass-stabbing attack that left 10 people dead has rocked the community of James Smith Cree Nation. Nine of the victims were from the community. The federal government is promising a review of why Miles Sanderson was released from prison and his supervision in the community. Sanderson has been unlawfully at large since May. Pearlboard documents show Sanderson has a history of drug use and violence. He was serving a four-year sentence in a federal penitentiary for assault, robbery and uttering threats. Then, after serving two-thirds of that sentence, he received a statutory release. He was supposed to be under supervision in the community, but he failed to report to his parole officer in May, and police have been searching for Sanderson ever since. Her husband was one of the accused.  Our family is here to forgive. This woman shouldn't have to bear that kind of guilt and shame and responsibility. I just come here to personally thank the RCMP, all of them. Every single one of them. They left their families behind to come and help us and to help us grieve. We can finally grieve. A lot of people were chased out of their houses in our community scared. It's been the hardest few days of my life. The parents of Miles Sanderson spoke to CBC News this afternoon before he was arrested. In that interview, they urged Miles to turn himself in peacefully. A message they hoped would reach their son. They say they have not had contact with him. The parents did not want to be named, but they did want to apologize to survivors and families of the victims. And a warning. This is hard to hear. I apologize to all the people who are affected, the whole community of James Smith and surrounding areas. I'd like to give all my sincere apologies to the families that my son has hurt. From my bottom of my heart, I meet it. I'm so sorry. I don't know what else to say, what to do, but I do apologize. Please try to forgive, I know you can't right now, but please, please, I'm very sorry, honestly. Before we begin, I would like to first acknowledge the land on which we gather on is treaty number six and current home of the James Smith Cree Nation. Over here with us today are the family members of the people who have lost their lives. Chief Wally Burns is from James Smith Cree Nation. Where to begin or where to start? I've been thinking for the past few days, no words can emphasize the feelings that we're going through. There are a lot of us, the families, the membership that are seeking help. There's a lot of emotions right now. No words can express anything on the things that happen. I commend the families that are here, courage, the love. We ask all of you. We ask all of you to come together with prayers and thoughts. I'm trying to hold myself together with the words that need to come out. We ask three things, three things from the governments. We ask that we have our own tribal policing. We ask for awareness and addictions. We ask for treatment centers.  We don't wish this upon anybody. You know, I've been thinking and today was the day, supposed to be at 10 o'clock but moved to 11 for this conference call. Today we found out the monarch that served Canada has passed. She wrote a letter to James McCree Nation on behalf of the monarch expressing the condolences to the families, the friends, to the community and to the rest of the world. This story has reached people around the world and the Queen has sent a message of support. Release this morning, Queen Elizabeth wrote, I would like to extend my condolences to those who have lost loved ones in the attacks that occurred this past weekend in Saskatchewan. My thoughts and prayers are with those recovering from injuries and grieving such horrific losses. I'm mourned with all Canadians at this tragic time. I'd like to thank the Prime Minister of Canada for taking time to speak to us, his ministers and also the other governments, level of governments. I'd like to thank the Premier for coming. I'd like to thank everybody that's here but this is not why we're here. We are here for the families to support them in time of need. My nephews lost their father, my best friend, my family on the left lost their sister. These acts of violence have to stop and they have to stop now. With the way that the world's going now, I think it takes the whole community to back and support the youth, our elders, our community members. I got a lot of calls yesterday from different chiefs from all over Canada expressing their condolences to the family. I commend Chief Clarence Louie for reaching out. I commend those other chiefs that came in to the community yesterday to visit the families. I'd like to thank our team, the team that was set up without them, you know, I think we'd be scattered all over the place. Bringing us back to a circle, making us understand we're here for them. We're here to make them heal. We've got to collect all the resources that we can to help them heal. We've got to protect our community, fight against drugs and alcohol. I'd like to thank those communities, far and wide, different countries, nations that express their condolences to the family. I'd like to thank our warriors that are here today, making sure we're safe. I'd like to thank the sweatlots keepers, the knowledge keepers that are here helping in our own customary way. I thank our singers that gave us the honor song. I thank the people behind the scenes, making sure everybody is safe. And most of all, I thank the RCMP, working with them all hours of the night, asking for reports, updates, you know, without them and the help, you know, this guy wouldn't have been caught. So I thank you from the bottom of my heart. There's no words to express or close off my words, just with a heavy heart, but we all have to come together as a community, as Canadians, as a whole. So in closing, God bless you all and thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, our council. Mr. Justin Burns, Gerald Mackay, Debbie McClain, and Vice-Chief Alvin Moustis. So with that, I thank you. God bless you. Chief Kelvin Sanderson of the Czechosday-Pasen First Nation. We're going to ask for help from our elders, our elders, our elders, our helpers, our lodges, our elders, for lifting up the pipes far and near. For this young fellow that's holding my bonnet today, so many of our membership that we lost affected me too, my relatives, my nephews and nieces, we're having a hard time here. For all the help, though well, this is coming far and near, we'll get there all over to our visitors, to all the condolces to the families, and no one's that are in the hospitals. It'll take a while for our community to heal. And we're starting that process today. As you can see, so many tents around here in our tepees, the fires that were lit and further families will be soon put out when we are done our grieving and saying our farewell. It's windy. They're here with us, very strong wind, they come here, and our smudging, our elders that help us heal too as leaders. Our leaders will need that help too if they're having a hard time. I'd just like to thank all the provincial and federal governments for all the response they gave us. Our community will take a while for us to heal our tepees and will not come down until we reach every one of our family members, our relatives, our relatives, our friends, all our reverents that are coming for our near to help us here. Whoever comes out there and come and help us heal here, be we chayah, come and help us out, you're more than welcome to come and stay in our community for how long it takes. As you can see, it's very grateful that we finally have some closure here. We're not the only ones that are impacted, as you know, it's impacting us all, whether it's in the cities, in our First Nations communities, but not the forgettable, let's get some solutions, the mandates and the commitments that provincial and federal governments made for us. That time will come, but not, let's not drag it on, because our members here too are very angry. We can make these solutions, the tragedies that maybe some other First Nations are going to endure. Sorry how I'm speaking a little bit of Cree, but that's our language here within me and Pauliak. Like I say, a nice, no. Thank you. Chief Robert Head of the Peter Chapman First Nations. First of all, I want to thank the elder for the prayers this morning, the elders. I want to thank the Creator for allowing us another day in this world. And on behalf of Peter Chapman Band, we want to start off by extending our condolences to all the families here and the families involved in. Our deepest sympathies to each of the families on the losses that you endured and suffered. I just want to remind all Canadians that First Nations people, we've been here in this country, we call Canada now. We've been here tens of thousands of years before arrival of the Europeans, before the cities, before the towns, before the Saskatchewan. We were here all this time, living on the land amongst our people. We have our own laws. We have our own justice system. We have our own culture, our own religion, languages all across Canada, our people lived here. We signed treaties in the 1800s. We gave up our lands, which you call Canada now, and the provinces. And we ask you Canadians, Canadian people, honour our treaties, honour our treaties, work with the government. We need help in our First Nations lands to implement our own justice system, implement our own laws, implement all the things under the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that have been outlined. If we did all of those things, our people would be good. We would be set. We wouldn't have problems like we have in our lands, under funding, lack of housing. We wouldn't have those problems. We would be just as well off as your regular average Canadians. So I ask you to get behind the government and start implementing our Truth and Reconciliation recommendations and honour our treaties. We gave up so much so that you guys could have so much, and that's all we ask. I just want to say to the families, the Chief Council here, we're honoured to be your leaders. We've been working diligently for years, and we still work to this day. We've lost loved ones ourselves. My first cousin passed away, and it was very hard for each and every one of us in this community. Very hard for the leadership. We had to respond very quickly to help all the people. And here on the ground, it was like a war zone. I've got to thank STARS, you know, they had four helicopters here, and they were just coming down and landing and taking people to the hospital, and they did such a good job organizing and making a command centre there at the band office and helping all the injured get off to the hospital. Right now we still have 14 families that are in the hospitals there. We have loved ones in the cities, depending on their family members, and our prayers go out to them for a speedy recovery. We love our people. We're very close knit here. Each and every one of these is a heartbreaking incident that nobody should ever have to go through. And it's very nice of you all to be here to hear our story, because this is something that can be avoided. We can avoid this. You know, we've heard First Nations travel police. You know, we need First Nations justice systems. We need support for mental health. We need addiction centres. These are some of the things that we can address. Grand Chief Brian Hardlock of the Prince Albert Grand Council. I want to thank our great creator for giving us this beautiful day. Thank you Elders for the opening prayers. Thank you. So really, in this first conference, as the Grand Chief, I have the Vice Chief to my left and the Chief of Hadron Lake, Denny Nation, to my right here, to support me. And really sending the condolences to the families. The condolences to the families affected in this terrible, terrible event. Of course, our thoughts and our prayers to those families who have lost their loved ones and the ones in the hospitals, we pray for them for recovery. I want to also, of course, or I should say, we acknowledge that James Smith Cree Nation, the Emergency Operations Center, which was formed under the strong leadership of the Chief and your council members, James Smith Cree Nation, Sagastipi Cree Nation, and Peter Chapman. There is an outpouring of support locally, regionally, nationally, and also internationally. President Biden gives his message. We heard the Prime Minister and ministers saying that world leaders sending their condolences to this community. We acknowledge that, and we thank them for that. Of course, a special thank you, a special thank you to the RCMP. Brenda Lecky is here, Commissioner Ronda, Commissioner F Division. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All the first responders that did their work for the protection, again, for the community of James Smith Cree Nation and also the surrounding communities. In the area of justice, I have to say this, that the criminal system, again, has failed the indigenous community, the people. This incident sheds light on a fractured system where the parole board has to be more transparent and to make some fundamental changes in consultations with First Nations peoples. The justice system needs to work with our members, our leaders of our First Nations, and establish, in this case, a transition period for those dangerous offenders that are within the system. As we move forward, this is a call for the Attorney General, the Commissioner, and the First Nations leaders have always said this, and it is time, it is time. Our bylaws, our bad council resolutions, they have to be enforced by the RCMP. They have to be. In the area of justice, the term restorative justice, we have to get back to that. That system must be the way forward. Again, we have to have those sentence encircles, those justice committees in our communities, and this can be done voluntarily. There has to be funding for that. PAGC, in the area of policing, PAG, with the mandate that achieves, they did a policing and also a justice symposium in 2019. The recommendations were made there in the area of policing, self-administered policing, injustice. Attorney General, you have those recommendations within your office. I call on you to review that. Prince Albert Grand Council, along with the FSI, and again from the mandate from the chiefs. They have been doing work in tribal policing, self-administered policing. The chiefs gave that mandate. And I remind the federal government budget 2021 proposed to provide 4 to 3.7 million over five years beginning 2021-2022 to co-develop, to co-develop a legislative framework for First Nations. PAGC has been working with the federal government after the chiefs' mandate to develop tribal policing framework. PAGC, along with the chiefs, will be meeting with the federal government immediately to discuss how we can move forward. Prince Albert Grand Council has started this work and the roadmap was developed. In March of 2022, this mandate reaffirmed through another chiefs' meeting. PAGC began meeting with provincial and federal officials to begin a feasibility study. We are now waiting for that funding, for that feasibility to look at the models that are out there. The Ontario models, the Manitoba models in tribal policing. During these hard times, tenuous times, that our love and passion for one another is what the First Nations of People defines us. There's no doubt that in the upcoming days, weeks, months, we'll be challenging, but we will be there. We will do it, chiefs. But to the people out there, we will be there. Reach out to the services that are out there. We will be there for you, but as leaders, let's listen to our people. Let's listen to our people. Let's listen to our grassroots people. Let us listen to our elders. Nannasko Monk. Nannasko Monk. Nannasko Monk Manitoba. Our Sandpete commissioner, Brenda Lucky. Thank you. Thanks so much to the James Smith Cree Nation to have us here to be here during this difficult time. And it's really with a heavy heart that we stand here. The loss felt by the families, the loved ones and the community for those whose lives were taken in this horrific event is unimaginable. And you know I was really struck by earlier today we were in the TP and the elder was talking about the two sides of a heart, the anger and the healing and you have the commitment of the RCMP that we will stand by you and healing this community and giving everything we can to give you strength and to help you through this most difficult time. The commitment of Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore and her team to work with First Nations leaders, we talked about earlier about community led and community driven and community focused solutions to keeping First Nations communities safe, working together towards solutions for increasing our indigenous recruitment so that we can provide that structure so that we can work together for a self-governed police service. This can never happen again. This senseless violence we need to work together. Once again my deepest condolences on your loss. I can't even imagine what you're going through and you have our commitment to work with you. Thank you. I'm going to give this medallion to Scott Mota to keep his promise in front of you to work with us. Let's get this healing going and the commitments that they said here in this mic to work with our chiefs, our FSIN and our tribal chiefs on behalf of all of our communities, Chagastepes and James Smith and Peter Chapman, our colleagues, our counselors. So if you don't mind Premier Scott Mota to come up here and accept this medallion and to start that work and that foundation. Honourable Scott Moe, Premier of the Government of Saskatchewan. Tina and I thank you to Chief Burns, Chief Sanderson and Chief Head for bringing us all together here today to support the community of James Smith First Nation but also to support the families that have experienced more tragic loss over the course of the last couple of few days now and I bring on behalf of the Government of Saskatchewan, I bring on behalf of the people from corner to corner in this province, our condolences, our love, our support and our prayers. I've talked to my colleagues, other premiers from across the nation and they have virtually all reached out to offer their condolences and their thoughts and their prayers and I think it's fair to say that all of Pianata is with you during this very, very difficult time. Arkand's sister, Bonnie Burns. Burns and her adult son, Gregory, were killed on Sunday. Arkand says one of his nephews was stabbed but survived. How can somebody do this to women and children? Words can't express the pain that we're feeling. She was killed by senseless acts. Her son, she was protecting her son. She was protecting these three little boys. This is why she's a hero. She's a true matriarch in the First Nations way of living which is our women take care of our homes. Driving to the community that day was the longest two hours of my life not knowing what to expect. In the back of my mind I thought about my family, what are they thinking? Holding each other, my first reaction when I got there was to go see my sister and my nephew and touch her and hold her, couldn't do that. None of our family could do that. Right outside of her home she was killed. That day I wanted to turn to alcohol. I wanted to turn to it so bad that I could taste it. To my understanding these young boys want to stay in the community and be with their friends and go to school there and that's what we're going to support because that's what's going to make them happy. She was always with her family. She was the caretaker of her home. They had a beautiful home and that's what we want people to remember her as. She's not a victim. She's a hero. Started a GoFundMe campaign raising money to support her five children including two foster children whose lives have been ripped apart. On Wednesday morning the corner service and RCMP released all the names of the victims. Nine of the ten are from the James Smith Cree Nation. They range in age from 23 to 78 years old. It's windy. They're here with us. As a Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations. Something significant happened here during the Honors Song. Those flags fell to the ground. Some of us older people went to go and lift it up, put it back on its feet until these younger men, the youth, took over. So the James Smith people, Peter Chapman and Tchaikovsky, they said our prayers and condolences to you and your families, to this lady that's grieving here, to the people in the hospital that we went and visited the last couple of days. The rebuilding and the healing and the grieving is going to begin with our little ones. That's what they did there. They picked up where the old people left off to build a better life for the three First Nations. These three young men, we thank you for doing that. That was a significant thing that happened. Chief Robert Head, Chief Wally Burns and Chief Kelvin and your people, again our prayers and condolences to you as you continue to heal, continue to grieve, Grand Chief and your executive. Somewhere in First Nation country, there is a state of emergency. Right now, there's a state of emergency and the implementation of the grassroots people, your direction to create a safer, healthier community. Brenda and Rhonda, I want to call you ladies up here. It takes one month to make real change in our communities in Canada. Know your heart is in the right place. Receive in your eyes and feel it in your words. There are so many resolutions and BCRs at Chief and Councils, right across this country. We're going to get there, we're going to get there. We have an update from the Saskatchewan Health Authority today about those who were injured in the attacks, two are in critical condition at hospital, eight are in stable condition, seven people have been discharged.


Introduce Jim Mayer. Jim, right here to my right, my right, your left, is President and CEO of California Forward, a bipartisan public interest effort to bolster democracy and improve the performance of government in California. Jim was part of the team that developed and launched California Forward in 2008. Prior to that, Jim was Executive Director of the Little Hoover Commission in Sacramento, an independent, oh, that's, there we go, an independent and bipartisan state panel that reviews state programs and policies for efficiency and effectiveness. He also served as a journalist for 10 years, with the Sacramento Bee as well as the Bakersfield Californian. Here, a little bit closer to home in Yolo County, Jim serves on the board of the Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District and is also a Director on the Yolo County Resources Conservation District. He and his wife Andrea also own an olive orchard and make award-winning olive under the frate sole label. Jim Mayer. Good evening, everybody. We're awful glad you're here. This is really one in a series of a great civic effort here that we should all be very proud that we're part of and we're grateful to the leadership for convening occasionally around important topics and nothing at the moment seems to rise to the occasion about how we're going to provide water to our community in the state of California in coming years. We're going to, what we're, the plan for tonight is we've got really a terrific group of speakers and we've asked them all to do something very torturous, which is to keep their opening remarks to five or seven minutes so that over the course of walking down the table here, we'll get a nice arc of both California and statewide perspectives, short term, long term and hopefully very long term in terms of sustainability. And that will enable us to have a lot of time for you to ask the questions that are most important to you because you are all reading about these issues and the conditions and we want to make sure that we're filling in your knowledge gaps. So you do have a card or your neighbor has a card and you'll wretch it out of their hands because there's a shortage of everything. And feel free to write down your questions and either Susan or Petrea will pick them up. So if you, when you fill them up, pass them down the line and let the person on the end of the row hand them to Susan. And that way we will efficiently try to cue those up. I'm going to quickly, very quickly introduce this esteemed panel and we're going to move right down from my right, your left. And then each of them will will take a few minutes to share their kind of opening comments on this important issue. The first person all the way down on my far right, your left is David Guy, who's the president of the Northern California Water Association. And again, we're incredibly lucky to have David in the Sacramento Valley and we're incredibly lucky to have him here tonight. David's been the president of NACWA since June of 2010. Before that, he spent three years in Yosemite as the chief executive officer of the Yosemite Association. And before that, he was the president and CEO of NACWA. So if you're tracking this, he ran NACWA. He must have thought he solved the water problems. He went to live gloriously in Yosemite and after three years got bored with Yosemite and moved back to the Sacramento Valley in order to help us manage and really leave a good water legacy. So we're grateful for David and David being here tonight and he's going to give us a kind of a nice Northern California perspective on things. Sitting next to David is Tim O'Halloran. And similarly, we're very fortunate to have Tim in our community. Tim is the general manager of the Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District. Tim came to Yolo County in July of 2003 when we hired him away from Kings River where he was the Kings River water master. So another whole story about an incredibly complex river system in the state of California and he was the water master of that system for five years. And prior to that, for ten years he was at the Imperial Irrigation District, that mammoth irrigation district, all the way down on the Mexico border. The last few years he was there. He was the superintendent of water operations for that system. So if you're tracking his career, he's moving from north to south, or excuse me, south to north. And we're hoping to keep him here in Yolo County as long as possible. The side lights on Tim is that before going to work in the irrigation business, he lived on a Kibbutz in Israel. He speaks Hebrew and he collects maps. So we'll see where all of that leads us today. Next to Tim is Senator Lois Wolk. And everyone in this room knows the tremendous contributions of Senator Wolk, Assemblywoman Wolk, City Council member Wolk. We all know that she loves the environment and is an avid, avid, avid advocate for it. We know that she's done the best she can to set up structures to provide adequate resources, to provide adequate policy for the sustainable use of water in general and certainly her very, very beloved Delta. It's not the only thing Lois cares about, but it certainly is a lasting part of her career. Of course, now she's in the Senate when she was in the Assembly. She was the first woman, chairwoman of the Assembly Water Parks and Wildlife. And I guess up until that point, the men in the Assembly wanted wildlife all to themselves. But Lois rested that away from her. So we're from them. So we're very grateful that she can be here. Next to Lois is County Supervisor Jim Provenza. And Jim is here tonight for a lot of reasons, but most importantly, because he has been the supervisor on the Olo County Board, who's been tasked with the job of really being the steward for California's water resources on behalf of the Board of Supervisors. And he's been very actively involved in the conversations regarding the Baydelta Conservation Plan and other issues that will have direct impacts on Olo County. And so Jim's been here to do that. Jim's background, of course, is as a lawyer. He started in legal aid. He now works for prosecutors. So he sees, obviously likes to see things from different perspectives. He works for Los Angeles County, but we'll probably not talk about that tonight, given how Los Angeles County oftentimes plays in water issues in Northern California.  We're grateful for his work on the county supervisors on behalf of all of us in Yolo County and water in particular. And finally, we have Jay Ziegler. And Jay is the Director of External Affairs and Policy for the Nature Conservancy in California, which is a tremendous position to be in not only for the lands and the projects of the Nature Conservancy, but because the Nature Conservancy is such a thought leader on sustainable resource policy in the state of California and nationally. And so we're grateful that Jay, a Davis resident, is here with us tonight and for the work he does at the Nature Conservancy. Jay has a very esteemed background of his own, working as Deputy Controller under Gray Davis, working for Secretary Bruce Bappet, when he was Secretary of Interior, a really a collective but complementary set of policy challenges and backgrounds that allows him now work on long term sustainability issues here for the Nature Conservancy. So as you can see, we could sell tickets, we should have had more chairs, but we're grateful for you to all be here today. And we'll begin with you, Mr. Guy. Thank you, Jim. Can folks here back in the room? Okay. Okay. Good. Well, thank you all for making the time tonight to come out and talk about what obviously is an issue that is in the news in California right now. I'm going to start just to kind of give a little bit of an overview and set the stage, I think for a lot of the other discussion that will come after I'm, as Jim mentioned with Northern California Water Association. And so we represent pretty much the water suppliers and the local governments from Sacramento North to Reading. And that includes this year in Nevada on the East, the Coast Range on the West. And I think as folks know, you know, that area, obviously, it's a large area. It includes about 2 million acres of farms, family farms. It includes six national wildlife refuges, 50 state wildlife areas. It had we have about half of the threatened endangered species in California, including things like the salmon that we all care about. And of course, you have the capital of Sacramento, the cities like Davis, and many other communities sprinkled throughout the region. And I think the thing I'm just going to start off with is of course, everybody's hearing a lot about the drought. And I guess I'll just say that it's very real in the Sacramento Valley. And let me just give you a little bit of a flyover for those who kind of want to see what exactly is going on in the region. The important thing is it's affecting all of those uses that I just mentioned in in various ways is what we have and Tim will talk about it from a Yolo County perspective. But we have this kind of strange convergence this year, where we came into a year with low carryover storage in the major reservoirs, coupled with a very dry year 2013, I believe is characterizes the driest year on record. And of course, until some of these recent storms, it's been pretty, pretty dry. So it's really the convergence of that low carryover storage that we usually depend upon when we have dry years, combined with that low precipitation, and that's what is creating the dynamic that we're now seeing in the Sacramento Valley. Tim is going to talk about the situation in Yolo County and the flood control water console. I'll let him do that as you go a little bit up north in the Valley. Folks that are in Dunnegan North know that on the west side of the Valley right now are looking at a zero allocation from the Bureau of Reclamation, and will be relying entirely upon groundwater and possibly maybe as the year goes on with some water transferred from other users within the Valley. As you go to the east, folks along the river, and that includes folks from Conway North, already 108 in Yolo County, they have the so called settlement contracts. They are now looking at a 40% water supply from the Bureau of Reclamation. We're hoping that number will continue to go up with these storms and with some other things that are emerging. But again, they're looking at right now at a 40% water supply. As you go to the east, folks over on the Feather River are looking at 50% of their supplies. And then as you go into this year of foothills, you have dynamic much like you have here in Yolo County, where folks have their own reservoirs. And you'll see anywhere from a zero allocation up to a larger close to maybe 75 to 100% even in some areas. But again, it's really kind of a mixed match just depending on the storage reservoirs. And then of course, as you go into the city of Sacramento, I think folks saw the dynamic that emerged that with Folsom being down so low earlier this year, there were several entities in the Sacramento metropolitan area that we're looking at having some access problems to water, even though they had the rights to the water, they weren't going to be able to pump it. The storms seem to allay that at least for the moment. And there's enough water in Folsom now to access. But that was really on the verge of a pretty major disaster for some of the urban areas within the Sacramento metropolitan area. And then you have like the wildlife refuges that are looking at right now around 40% supplies. So as you look across the board, major water supply reductions, of course, one of the things that happens in the valley is folks know is that either if you don't have surface water, a lot of folks will pump groundwater. And in a lot of places, that's the way it's designed. Tim will talk some about that. But in other areas, we're just going to be looking this year, I think at unprecedented levels of groundwater pumping that we just haven't seen before in the Sacramento Valley. And of course, that's why that's going to become a whole debate this year that Lois and others will probably be talking about. So as what kind of we look at as we kind of think about the kind of this year is I think the first thing is we're trying to look at water management scenarios where you can achieve multiple benefits. And for example, on the Sacramento River system, we know that there's a certain amount of water, for example, behind Lake Shasta. And so our hope is that for example that you can utilize that water to provide cold water to benefit salmon, and that then you can divert that water for use in the refuges, you convert that water for use by the farms, and that that will help the birds in the Pacific Flyway. And so I think there's going to be a lot of opportunities this year to look at kind of how do you stretch that available water as far as you can and use it for these multiple benefits. And I think that's the strategy that at least we're trying to work with we're working with folks like Jay and others and trying to explore how to best do that. Jim had asked me to talk and also Supervisor Saylor will be talking a little bit later about the North State Water Alliance. And I'll just give a couple of quick background on that and then we can talk about it more as folks would like. But this was an entity that essentially, many of you remember, I think the leadership I give a lot of credit usually to Helen Thompson, with the rural urban connections process that brought the rural and the urban parts of the Sacramento Valley together some years ago, through this rock strategy. And I think that has really been a great platform to have a variety of discussions that really have now led to the formation of this North State Water Alliance, where we're speaking with one voice as the North State Water Alliance. And the idea is that we're going to be talking about the Sacramento Valley in a unified way. And that there's three pieces to what we're talking about. We're obviously looking at ways to operate the projects the Central Valley Project, the State Water Project, as well as obviously the folks that have their own projects in a way that maximizes the benefit for Northern California. And I think that's this year has obviously highlighted the importance of that. And we can sure talk about that in a lot more detail. Infrastructure, second piece. And again, this is going to be part of the bond discussion that Senator Wolk will talk about and others. But obviously, we need to have an infrastructure and that's infrastructure for conservation for fish and bird projects, as well as things in our view like sites reservoir, which we think could add a lot of flexibility into the Sacramento Valley system and take some pressure off the region as well. And then obviously the third leg of that is what we're calling kind of regulatory certainty. And right now it's really hard to manage water when you always kind of have a regulatory cloud hanging over you. And I think right now, at least in the state of California, we could benefit from aligning some of the regulatory policies of the state of California in a way that really allow folks like Tim and others to manage water, I think in a much more effective manner. So I think the bottom line is, is I think we're looking for solutions in the North State. I think that's what the North State Water Alliance is about, to try to invest in our own resources as we go forward with help from things like general obligation bonds and some other opportunities to partner. But I think we really need to invest in this region in our water supplies, much like folks around this room have done for their water supplies. So I'm going to stop there and we'll look forward to the discussion as we go forward. Thanks, David. Why don't you go and pick it up, Tim? Okay. Good evening, everybody. Thanks for coming out tonight. And you know, I see a lot of familiar faces in the audience, but I see a lot of new faces. And that's really great. And for those people that aren't as involved in water in Yolo County as, as some of the rest of us, I think this panel really represents the collaboration that's really special. One of the Jim mentioned my career moving north south to north. Okay. Everybody hear me okay back there? Okay. You know, one of the things I've really enjoyed about this area is the collaboration between urban and agriculture and between just all the citizens of Yolo County. And that's part of the story, the risk story of Yolo County water, the collaboration that exists. And I'd also like to mention Jim hit on my introduction about being the water master of the Kings River. When they asked me to talk tonight, you know, I said, well, what do you want? He said, well, you know, kind of the plumbing, the basics of Yolo County water. And I thought, geez, that's great. I've gone from being this almost biblical title of water master to being a plumber, essentially. So, so that's it. But anyway, I'm going to in five minutes to five to seven minutes give you a snapshot. A lot of you know it already. Some of you maybe know at least parts of it a lot better than I do. But just give you kind of for, for opening up the discussion, just a sense of where the water comes from and how it works here in Yolo County from an institutional perspective. So I'm going to try to answer three questions. Where Yolo County's water comes from and where it is used? Who manages the water in Yolo County? And what are the big picture issues facing Yolo County water resources going forward? And I showed Senator Wolk a little graphic up here that I can't share with everybody, but 33 water agencies in Yolo County. And of course, Senator Lois has been a longtime player in Yolo County water. I think she was even a little taken aback by the number there. So there's a lot of players. I'm represent one district. It's a pretty big district for the ag water in Yolo County, but it's by no means representative of all the water in Yolo County and certainly doesn't deliver any urban water. But the district, the Yolo County flood control and water conservation district. And if you have hard time saying that, just remember YCFCWCD and it comes a lot, it comes a lot easier. Well done. Want to give it a try? No. I speak Hebrew a lot better. We operate the Clear Lake Cache Creek water system. It's called the watershed. And of course, that's the water that's 90 miles north. I'm sure most everybody in the room knows where the K-Pay Valley is and K-Pay, our diversion dam, our facility that starts distributing the water through a network of 160 miles of canals that run through western Yolo County. It starts 90 miles upstream of that in Lake County at Clear Lake, a natural body of water and and Previa and also up there is a reservoir called Indian Valley Reservoir that's not that well known, but it's very significant and it also represents a very fantastic story for Yolo County where the the the city's actually helped finance the building of the Indian Valley Reservoir, which is used primarily exclusively for ag cultural water. Why would the cities of Woodland and Davis pay for a reservoir that benefits agriculture? Well, the reason is the groundwater that David mentioned, it connects us all and four of the three of the four incorporated cities in Yolo County Woodland winners, and I see the city manager and the mayor of winners here that's great, and Woodland have been traditionally on groundwater. So what we do as a farming area, the water used, the groundwater we use, impacts the water availability for the urban areas, at least of those three cities, two of which, as most people in this room undoubtedly are aware, are switching over to Sacramento River water shortly. West Sacramento is the other city that that is in Yolo County, and they they take Sacramento River water already. They got a great right on the Sacramento River and they do that, but so there's Cache Creek, Clear Lake system, it's a rain fed system, it's always a little bit funny for me when people ask how's the snow melt, you know, climate change, how's it going to affect the snow melt into into Lake Clear Lake, and I say well it doesn't work that way, it's a rain fed system, but that the Sacramento River, David hit on the, you know, we our system, the Clear Lake system, goes out to the Yolo bypass. Everybody knows where the Yolo bypass is, right? And and along the eastern side of Yolo County is the most of these water agencies, the settlement contractors, already one of the Reclamation District 108, Conway Ranch, River Garden Farms, tremendous water rights on the on the Sacramento River. Donegin Water District is an exception of that. They have a junior water rights up in Donegin, so they have, as David said, a zero allocation this year. The other ones have 40 and hopefully more for this year, but but so that's it. So imagine Yolo County, the western side fed by Clear Lake and Cache Creek system, the eastern side by the Sacramento River, and then the cities on groundwater. So that's the plumbing if you will. It's not as good as Moses splitting the water, but Lake Berryessa, we're in Davis, you know, Puda Creek and Winters is here and, you know, the Puda Creek's a tremendous landmark for them, but from a water supply perspective, we don't get anything. As Helen Thompson has, you know, I've talked about before, you know, Yolo County missed a big opportunity back when they built Lake Berryessa to sign up for contract water. It would have, you know, sometimes the historical decisions that aren't made or as important as the ones that are made and think of what the cities of Davis and Woodlands and Winters could be, you know, enjoying the better, you know, the water quality of Lake Berryessa if back when they built that they'd sign up for the contracts. Last thing I'll say on where the water comes from and all that, all of our water is owned by the state of California.  People say, well, we've got to protect our water. Well, the truth of the matter is the water is, belongs to the state of California. We have water rights to use it beneficially and reasonably. And, and what we do have in Yolo County that's very nice is very strong water rights, whether it's pre-1914 on the Clear Lake system or the settlement contracts on the Sacramento River, we've got tremendous water rights, but we don't own the water and I always remind people, be a little careful when you say protecting our water because when you go up to Lake County, I go up to Lake County a lot. And they have a different view of how we're using our water. Who manages the water, the 32-minute water management entities. I already hit that. Let me just close with talking about current and future critical water resource issues. I'm sure somewhere at Jim Provenza will talk or Senator Wolk possibly talk about the BDCP.  It gets a lot of airplay, but I worry about that a lot, not in terms of whether it happens or not, but whether it allows, it takes so much focus, takes the oxygen out of the room as they say, that we don't work on the things that are protecting the infrastructure that we have, improving the ground water that we have a lot more ability to actually do something about than some of the bigger picture issues. So I don't focus on the BDCP. Other people have to, certainly Yolo County for land use reasons, has to involve themselves deeply in that. But what I do think about is the short term. There's this year and Senator Wolk would probably talk more about this, but there's going to be ground water legislation. What opportunities does that present for us? What threats and opportunities? You know, the future of my district relies on conjunctive use, conjunctive water use management, using the ground water with the surface water. Maybe there's some tools that we can get out of this regulation. But anyway, the point is, is that this next year and a half, a couple of years, is going to consume a lot of our time on the short term here with ground water, as the state looks at regulating that in a bigger way. On a longer term basis, what I think is going to dominate the water managers of the future's interest in Yolo County and throughout the state is water quality issues. The irrigated lands program, the storm water for the ag cultural areas, the storm water programs for the urban areas, tremendously expensive things.  But some of these issues are really going to change our way of life. Certainly the Davis woodland, woodland Davis water treatment plant that's coming online is a response to water quality regulations. And there's going to be more of that as we go along. And then lastly, I'll just say land use issues in general, especially as you look, I took Don Saylor out, supervisor Saylor out the couple of weeks ago looking near this town of winners in the tremendous conversion to permanent crops anywhere you drive.  And of course that's driving a lot of the groundwater thinking. But anyway, that's my snapshot of the water system in Yolo County. Again, I just applaud everybody in Yolo County that works collaboratively together. One thing I did miss that is really, really important, the Water Resources Association in Yolo County and umbrella organization worked on an integrated regional integrated regional water management plan. Petrea's back there. She was a key part of it in 2007 and we've updated it. But it's a way to unite to work on our water issues in an integrated fashion and collaborative fashion. And again, I know there's a lot of people in this room that have been involved in that process. So I'll close with that. Thank you very much, Tim. Senator Wolk. Thank you. I think it's really good to be here. Thanks for pulling all this together. And Tim just gave you really what is an incredibly wonderful summary of water in Yolo County and water in California and what the issues are. It's especially timely. The drought gives us an opportunity because people are focused on water, which they usually are not statewide. So this is a real opportunity to move the lots of lots of issues forward and lots of policy forward. And the governor certainly has taken on the issue of groundwater management and groundwater monitoring and you're absolutely correct. That's going to be a major issue over the next six months. I'm focused on a water bond and I believe that there will be an effort by the governor to put together a bond that will be on the November ballot. It's not an easy task but a necessary one. Currently there's an $11.4 billion bond that's on the ballot that most people agree does not have a chance even with the drought of the heightened concern about the drought passing for a number of reasons. There are a number of qualities that a successful bond will need in order to pass. It will need to be smaller than $11.4 billion. It will have to have absolutely no pork and no earmarks in the bond. It will have to be a consensus full of it will have to have consensus projects projects that are very important to the local regions and can be achieved over the next five to 10 years. It can have no relationship whatsoever to the tunnels or to the BDCP. And if those if that if those general principles are met I think we have a shot at passing a water bond. And when I say a shot I mean a shot. It's not inevitable. Water bonds never pass with a whole lot of support. They're in the 50s often the low 50s. So it's really important that it be that the projects that are that are delineated that the areas that are focused on are consensus and relate to the entire state. My bond 848 is 6.8 billion. It's probably still too high. But it focuses on near term solutions over the next five to 10 years in five broad categories. The first is the development or diversification of existing regional water supplies using all of the tools and the techniques that local water districts are interested in. And that is recycling groundwater cleanup conservation stormwater recapture and reuse desalination. Those are the projects that local water districts throughout the state are very much interested in moving forward and that rate payers are willing to fund and that's critical. The second general area has to do with addressing this bond needs and must address critical drinking water issues. There are over a million citizens in the state of California that do not have access to hot to good quality drinkable primary water supply. That's unacceptable in the eighth largest economy of the world and everyone is committed to a to meeting these critical drinking water needs. Many of which are in the central valley. The third major area will be the delta ecosystem restoration and levy enhancement in the delta. The fourth broad category has to do with storage. Both groundwater below ground groundwater and surface storage projects included in that would be sediment removal in the one hundred and seventy plus dams that we have. UC Berkeley just did a study that showed that over 50% on average 50% of the capacity of existing storage reservoirs are are plugged up because of sediment for a whole lot less money than building new dams we can get the sediment out and we ought to start doing that. In addition to whatever other projects rise to the top and can be funded. In addition seismic retrofit would increase our exist some existing storage facilities. St. Louis San Louis is one of them. The last area the last broad category is watershed efforts encouraging those supporting those the existing watershed efforts throughout the state of California that are very much these watershed groups are partners with the state partners with the local community and with landowners and actually do a tremendous amount in terms of water quality locally. So eight four eight is out there. There are seven eight other bonds as well. But I think that ultimately what matters is the consensus the local projects that bear some relationship to the needs of the local strong relationship to the needs of the local community and not having a bond be a referendum on a controversial project like BDCP or the tunnels. So that's what I think we need to move forward with. Thank you very much Senator. Supervisor Provenza. Thank you. I'm going to stand so I can see everybody. Thank you. They gave us these water glasses and as you can see I drank all mine. Jim drank all his. I'm saving. I have mine. Got a little bit left. Tough summer ahead. Jim's is pretty much gone. So I'm going to propose now that I'm still thirsty. I'm going to propose we redistribute this water so I can have some more. But seriously, thank you very much for having me here. Water obviously is a very important issue. And thinking of the time frames back to the barriers to decisions which were made over 50 years ago. That's that 50 years. That's an important number of years because when we look at the Bay Delta conservation plan, the state is looking at issuing permits that will last for 50 years. So the decisions we make now could very well and will affect us for the next 50 years and beyond. So that it demonstrates why our board of supervisors has placed such a great importance on making the correct decisions and hopefully we are. What our fundamental principle really is what we call the YOLO way and I can't take credit for that. Helen Thompson, Betsy Marchand, and some of the supervisors here that serve with me on the board have been an integral part of that. But what that concept is on the YOLO way is that everybody works together and makes everything work. You don't have one interest trump another interest. And the best example I have of that is the gravel mining that we have in YOLO County. There was a fight between environmentalists and the gravel companies which was settled with a historic settlement that has money from every ton of gravel that's taken from the ground. There's money put back into restoration. So we're actually creating a parkway which is going to be better than what was there before we got into the effort. And that's what we refer to as the YOLO way, getting people to work together to make things work. And in the context of water and the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, everybody thinks of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan as the tunnel project and it is. We don't know if that's going to happen or not. And it's not necessarily it's not going to be my decision whether that goes forward and we could all take various positions on it but that will either happen or not. But along with that in the Bay Delta Conservation Plan over 20 other conservation projects. In addition to that there's a federal biological opinion, a federal court case that's ordering us to do certain things that we're going to have to do regardless of whether that goes forward. Well, how does that affect YOLO County? It affects YOLO County because both the courts through the biological opinions and BDCP have focused on the YOLO bypass as a place to do habitat for fish, to protect, preserve and actually enhance salmon and other fish species. And so our first question was well how does that affect us? And can we really do this? Can we do some of these projects that the state and federal government want to do that the water contractors have been told they have to do if they're going to continue to export water? And that has some significance in even outside of the area of habitat protection because every year water goes into the ocean that might otherwise flow down to other people who need that water because of the need to address the needs of the various fish species. So can we do this? Can we address that issue without adversely affecting YOLO County's interests? And so what we did was we started with several studies. We started with an agricultural impact study where we looked at all the farming in the bypass. We looked at all the things that would potentially suffer if you were to essentially lower or put a gate on the Fremont Weir and put more water into the YOLO bypass. Putting more water into the bypass could affect agriculture, could also affect the Vicphasio wildlife area and all the terrestrial species. And it could also indirectly affect the Port of West Sacramento which is important to us economically because the port exports a lot of the rice. Well we got good news and bad news when we did the study. We found that some of the iterations of those projects would put so much water so laid into the year into the YOLO bypass that the farmers would be unable to plant. That we lose our rice crops, crops some or all of our rice crops and suffer damage to the tune of nine million dollars a year in 2010 dollars for the next 50 years in total economic damage. Well that is unacceptable. But what our study also showed was that there's ways to do it that don't result in those consequences. If you were to increase flooding into the bypass but end it earlier end it by early March the loss is in the hundreds of thousands or in a range that could be addressed. So the next step is we began negotiations with the state. We said we really wanted to establish three things. We want to first of all make sure that the project is tailored so that it doesn't do lasting damage over time to the agricultural industry in Yolo County. Secondly for any loss that is incurred for agriculture or for the economy of Yolo County we would like there to be compensation. After all we're willing to help the rest of the state but we shouldn't have to pay for it. We're paying for our own water our own increased rates and everything else. We shouldn't have to pay for benefits for other parts of the state. And we researched what's happened in other parts of the state and found that in various water projects throughout the state the water contractors and the state have paid compensation to areas that have suffered in order to keep those areas whole. We said let's let's do a reasonable project that balances interest. Let's address it just like Yolo County would do and balance all those interests. And then secondly let's make sure that the county doesn't suffer economically. And then thirdly we said we want to be involved in the governance of that project. If you're going to affect our land use in Yolo County for the next 50 years we need to be in a co-equal role with the state and federal government on any governance entity. And if you meet those three conditions we think we can help you and we think we can go forward. Regardless of what happens with the tunnel project or anything else we think that we can work together to balance interests and to make everything work. And right now we're in a series of negotiations. Our staff is meeting on a daily or weekly basis with the state and federal government. Our supervisors Oscar Villegas and myself are the water committee. We're meeting once a month with Secretary Laird and then our board is meeting regularly to discuss all of these issues and to set policy. We hope to have some type of agreement worked out with the state and federal government by September. We've set that deadline and it's been agreed to by all sides. We're very hopeful and optimistic that this can be done but it's really the only way things can move forward. You can't have everything tilted in one direction or another. You have to take care of the environment. You have to take care of agriculture. Take care of habitat. Take care of water. And those things are possible but you have to have an open mind to doing it a way that protects everyone's interests. There was mention of a multi-benefit project and that's another thing we're looking at as to whether we could combine some of the work that's going on in the flood control area with what's going on with the habitat and BDCP to see if we could develop a project that would limit impacts and result in multiple benefits and decrease costs. Those things are all possible if we work together. And then lastly on a broader scale though I don't know how many of you saw that article in the New York Times this morning about global climate change but the science is such that it is getting worse and it's starting to affect us now right now. I asked one of the scientists at the Delta Conservancy if our current weather might be a result and the response was well we don't know but there's a high probability that it is. So the other thing Yolo County is trying to do is our part to address climate change issues by developing alternative energy sources for the county and encouraging by that example others to do the same. Optimistic going forward but we have a lot of work to do. Thank you. Thank you very much Supervisor. Now I just want to remind everybody that if you've got a question fill out your card and hand them off to the side and they'll get picked up and of course if you don't do that you get my questions. So I'm sure your questions are better than my questions so I encourage you to take the time as Jay completes our round here for you to put your thoughts on paper. So Jay. Jim asked me to talk a bit about sustainability of water use in California and I do want to say and acknowledge this panel Senator Wolk Supervisor Provenza David and Tim Yolo County is really one of the places in California where you have to conclude that the glass is more than half full and so and I say that for a number of reasons I think the county has been a progressive leader in water management under Tim's leadership under the engagement constant engagement of the Board of Supervisors as a model for how to more sustainably manage water resources How important is that? Well by the most conservative estimate California's water balance is at least a million and a acre feet out of balance that is in an average year we're using a lot more than we get in the watershed and that sounds overwhelming but if you just take the Sacramento River Basin that's 20 million acre feet roughly of water that falls into the basin from the most of it that is stored in the Sierra Nevada and so this isn't an unsolvable problem but we just have to work a lot more effectively together in order to get there David and Senator Wolk and Jim have also noted the importance of groundwater management the irony of California is that we have one of the most progressive sets of laws about surface water resources and we completely ignore the relationship to groundwater we can't do that any longer and so I think that in this crisis moment under Senator Wolk's leadership and that of others in the legislature we're about to get around that corner and acknowledge that these seemingly I think all of us could agree connected resources actually have to be managed in a more integrated way and to do that we'll require a breakthrough and an acknowledgement that we all have a responsibility to each other responsibility to future generations to better track this and this resource in a way that we can confidently have it there when we're in drought periods so that we can rely on that groundwater resource more actively and I think that Senator Wolk has underscored the importance of the water bond as a tool to bring more flexibility to the system we actually need incentives for active conjunctive use projects that help us store water in the ground help us store water above ground where it makes sense and to more actively monitor that resource on a statewide basis and so I think that we are using this moment of crisis to actually come together in a dialogue to better understand the precarious nature of California's water management system to date about a billion dollars in federal monies have been directed to emergency response in the drought and I want to just kind of speak for a moment about the environmental challenge of this because so about 700 million of those funds are from state agencies 222 million from the federal government and of that total 2.3 million is dedicated to environmental response related to the drought and I just want to underscore that we as an organization and the Nature Conservancy has about 100,000 members in California pride ourselves on finding common ground solutions David alluded to partnership agreements that we work on with the Sacramento River water agencies along the Sacramento River watershed we are a landowner and a farmer in the Delta we have habitat and policy interests throughout California but at its heart we have to kind of come to terms with some of the challenges that are just right in front of us in a painful way and as hard as this drought is going to be for farmers and I have a great deal of sympathy for the challenges that farmers are going to face throughout California and as hard as this drought is for communities already and some 100 communities have declared shortages of less than 200 days of available water supply if you are a bird or a fish it is really really tough out there and it is going to get worse as the year goes along and I do appreciate partners that at the table that are really striving to make our environmental laws work and it's really refreshing to work with this group of people to find exemplary projects of protecting water quality for people and for natural systems and for protecting wetlands and broader habitat values for migratory birds and to try to keep enough water in the system to keep the legacy of salmon in California alive and these are things that I think all of us on a conceptual level buy into as really critical priorities but this is going to be stressed in a way that has never been before this balance between the needs of people and the environment and it's a pleasure to be here in Davis tonight what I would leave you with is that I think we need to work together actively to make sure that we use this crisis to push reform down the road to make sure that Senator Wolk's efforts in the water bond are rewarded so that we have flexible incentives for the right kind of conjunctive use projects so that we can undertake monitoring water management better groundwater management together in a more holistic way to really address California's water management challenges and with that let me turn it back to Jim but thank you for the opportunity to be with you tonight so why don't we pause and give them all a great round of applause for their leadership and their clear thinking and their concise answers so hopefully we've got some clear and concise questions maybe even complete and clear and concise answers so who's got them all right here comes Betraya never takes her very long so the first question I think is going to deal with one of our big themes this year and hopefully going forward is this interaction between groundwater and surface water and particularly this year given the large number of new ag wells that are being drilled how's that going to impact groundwater in rural areas like asparto so Tim you do a lot of monitoring specifically in Yolo County what's your expectation for what happens with our groundwater? Do I have to be concise? 40 minutes first of all how do we know the district and along with the Water Resources Association Yolo County has an extensive groundwater monitoring program we have the district alone has 150 wells that we monitor that cover our area from winters to Davis along the southern part of our boundary up to Denigin up to the Denigin hills and our north part of our boundary so and then we've got a number of other the county the Cache Creek gravel program has wells that they monitor the cities provide data it's all on a regional it's all on a database that's on the WRA website if you want to look at it it's a little bit techy it's a little in fact you've got to sign up for a 10 minute training course for it that's done online but anyway so how do we know and what's going to happen this year first off if I didn't say it exactly like this Yolo County in general has really good groundwater situations of course you're talking that's coming from a guy that spent some years down in the San Joaquin Valley where things are just going on a steep decline all the way so everything's relative in life but but generally speaking we're in good shape there's places I worry about the Yolo Zamora area which is up near near near Cache Creek at Yolo going north of there that's a ground where they don't the Temecluza Canal was originally expected to extend down to there and bring surface water they didn't extend that back in those days so they relied solely on groundwater there's a zone of depression there city of winters we're watching them close closely not so much the city but the area around there there's a lot of new plantings on what we're grazing grounds and a lot of new wells in the ground other than those two hot spots though I think we're in pretty good shape and even in those we watch the trend come up and down the hydrograph if you will and I think we're in pretty good shape that doesn't mean you're well if somebody's sitting out there with a well that sits down at a hundred foot and they just have a neighbor that put one in and six hundred foot right next to them they're going to see impacts and you know and that's that's one of the things that we have to struggle with as a community is what do we do about those situations but overall as a regional groundwater base and I think we're in pretty good shape this year okay thanks Tim let's take it from the legislative perspective is if there is going to be legislation this year Senator do you have some thoughts on where you see that going and what good legislation might look like and David I know you can weigh in on that from a NAQA perspective as well I think the importance of groundwater to California not not just in in a drought year but just in general is that it's about 30 percent of the water supply and in drought years it rises to 40 and above and the fact that the main thing that you need to know is that we don't know the quality or the quantity or how it behaves so one of the first jobs is to figure out to measure it to figure out what it where it is how much of it there is and that we we don't we must have that information to begin with and it's been a tremendous struggle in the legislature to do anything with groundwater because people guard their groundwater and are afraid that if that information is out there that the next step will be somebody will take it namely the state probably but that's really the wrong way to look at it the first step toward protecting it is knowing its condition its recharge capabilities and how it's being used beyond that you run into all kinds of very difficult questions Tim made reference to cropping pattern changes that have happened in the south central valley the what used to be crops that were that were put in again depending on the amount of water they would get have now changed so that their year round orchards being put in and grapes and things that need to be irrigated all year round that creates a very different kind of water profile and portfolio then then has existed previously they have the right to do that but water is more than just someone's individual right to do whatever they want especially when water is a resource for all of us there's also the issue of subsidence which has been increasing dramatically existed earlier and has gotten worse certainly in the central valley and elsewhere and then there's this whole issue of fracking which requires tremendous amounts of water and is a going to be a tremendous boon in the southern you know in the in the central part of the state a well takes about a million gallons of water a year think about it so you know this may be a desirable energy policy but it has incredible implications on our groundwater so there are a number of very serious issues and I applaud the governor he's stepped into this and you know when Jerry Brown steps into something as we know from redevelopment and we know from the enterprise zone tax credit change and wanting to fix the budget he usually gets it done so that's why it's important for us in Yolo county using the Yolo way to figure out what's important about our groundwater and and what we need to know about it and therefore that's the first step in managing it and protecting it so David broadening the perspective just a little bit for all of your members throughout the valley where where water groundwater regulation is a pretty controversial idea do you see something moving forward and how do we reconcile some of those long-standing concerns yeah good question Jim let me just first start with I think the my sense is is that the groundwater discussion to me feels different than it's ever been before I think I think this drought in a strange way is probably helping bring it into focus and I think that this feels to me like it's a it's a different conversation as Senator Wolk mentioned the the governor has made some very strong statements in both his California water action plan and his state of the state and most of his comments have focused I think on areas that have had chronic overdraft and the idea that in those areas that the state in this case presumably the state water board at this point it seems like will need to somehow intervene to try to help those areas kind of come back into into balance and so I suspect and again Senator Wolk can tell me if she feels otherwise but I think that will be at least the first part of the conversation is something focused around those and as as Tim mentioned we don't have a lot of that in the Sacramento Valley at the time being without said there are some areas as Tim suggested that we're watching very closely we have been doing some a variety of studies a variety of work in the valley including Yolo County to try to look at some of those issues look at some of the additional cropping changes to look at some of the additional demands on water in general and we're working with nature or conservancy and some others to try to understand that you know kind of a relationship between surface and groundwater in different parts of the region as well so that we can look at concepts of sustainability you know in a little bit better better way so I guess my kind of quick sense is that I think the first round of legislation I'm guessing we'll focus on those areas that are going to be chronically overdrafted but then I think the challenge for us as a region is to come together and figure out what we think ought to move forward you know what do we want as a region and again I think I look at Yolo County and what Tim described you know the database again let me give out a call out again to you know then Assemblyman Thompson you know she carried a bill back in 2001 I believe it was that was AB 303 that helped us in the valley throughout the valley including Yolo County understand the resource better and we just continue to build upon that database to build upon that understanding and I think that awareness is really the the starting point for this and then I think as a region we need to develop kind of regional strategies much like you know folks did when they created the Yolo County flood control and water conservation district did I say that right why is he FWD? yeah yeah why season yeah should have stuck with the first oh yeah I did it better yeah the kaboots I mean the uh yeah anyway the Yolo way that's much easier to say so uh anyway I think that's at least my thought is is that we develop kind of some of these regional sub-basin type approaches much like you've done the the Yolo way so to speak we have a number of questions that really deal with the rubric of efficiency issues and or reuse and or desal and not sure who the best person on the panel maybe maybe you senator with your just your perspective on it do you see where we are with this drought moving forward some of those more extensive either reuse or desal or efficiency measures that that we've been progressing relatively slowly toward in California is the time we had a tipping point for those as well and what do you see happening to move those along I think one of the unifying features of all of the bonds is a focus on these uh regional water projects that encompass all the things that that Jim mentioned those are the things that throughout the state of California local water agencies are interested in doing they're interested in reuse they're interested in conservation further conservation they're interested in cleaning up the dirty groundwater all things that rate payers are willing to to support and desalination as well the integrated regional water management plans of the state various parts of the state the chunk of the bond money assuming we get a bond about a fifth of the money would go toward whatever projects the integrated regional water management projects have you know plans have listed and they're different from one place to another they can be desalined some places it can be conservation and others that can be other things in in other places so it rewards the local efforts and that's really what I think people are very very much focused on there's been a paradigm shift these these giant big projects like the train like you know these big things that's not where people are they're focused on local communities on things that can be achieved locally that they're they can see the results and they're willing to put money behind it whether in schools or libraries or anything that's been a real shift over the past 10 years and we ought to take advantage of it with this water bond thank you senator so there's some a number of questions here about how do we find that right balance between environment and human use and in some cases even between environmental uses and environmental benefits and and so supervisor Provenza and Jay that take us a little bit deeper in the struggle we're in here in terms of the delta in particular and and the ability to both use the Yolo Basin to provide agriculture to provide the wildlife refuges and potentially to help restore the the fish trees which not only are fish but are in the case of the salmon are an industry of themselves so give us another obviously this is a very sophisticated audience and they want to know a little bit more about how we're going to go about balancing those in the details I think it's really important to recognize that those interests can be balanced but that the trick is getting people to work together for example with with agriculture and fish projects and in the Yolo causeway in the areas where there's agriculture you have to you have to figure out a way to have both work at the same time and one of the things that we found was that if you're paying attention just how many acres like we want so many acres for a habitat project that's not a very good approach because those acres are currently being used for agriculture but if you ask okay how can we how can we use that same land for both and as I mentioned earlier if you you can do all the flooding you want earlier in the year with significant benefit for federal endangered fish species we were able to show that the damage to agriculture is minimized well so what about after that what if you want to address the environmental needs or fish needs after that point then you talk about well let's let's figure out where we put the water at that point can can we direct the water to certain locations not just flood say 17,000 acres or flood too large of an area can we look at other areas other than those areas that have been identified one of the things that we're trying to look at now is in the flood control efforts they are looking at the possibility of actually expanding the bypass in the Elkhorn area by widening the Fremont Weir which would actually put more water north of I-5 now that would impact agriculture but at the same time we might be able to provide some flood benefits in Yolo County that would make it very much worthwhile both to agriculture and to our population and we're at the very beginnings of looking at that is there a mutual mutual beneficial project could we then move the footprint for the fish project to that area or part of the footprint to that area and lessen the impact on agriculture and then gain a benefit not only for species but for flood protection and is there a win-win or a net gain for Yolo County in that and we think if everybody is willing to sit down and work together towards that goal that's very possible Excellent Jane, any thoughts? Yep So picking up where Jim left off which I think is critical is that we actually have shared goals here and I think the Nature Conservancy approaches these kinds of challenges in the through the lens of can we make this work from a restoration ecology from a scientific perspective in balancing environmental needs and needs of people and I think the first thing we've got to do is back to what I initially talked about is better rationalizing California's water balance how much water can we actually afford to export out of the Delta and under what conditions and I think that's really the heart of the question that we need to figure out around the Bay Delta Conservation Plan Stepping back from that just a bit I think that we also need to figure out in rationalizing our needs can we find a way to protect those environmental values that we care about in the Delta which include agriculture which include the Delta as a regional resource for California can we also address one of the issues that Tim talked about earlier the conversion of land types so that we're thinking about making the valley a place that is hospitable for migratory birds and that we're not crowding out every place that is valuable for habitat with orchards and proliferation of vineyards and so we've got to have a much bigger conversation here about whether we can get to shared goals and then applying the best science we can and recognizing that we've got to have an adaptive process that has real understandings about one not increasing exports of water from the Delta south and we've got a reconcilal as Senator Wolk noted earlier we've got a reconcilal that we can only support so much agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley so some land has got to be taken out of production in the San Joaquin Valley in order to make this work and we're probably going to have to have more storage certainly more below ground storage and all likelihood additional above ground storage where it makes sense and where it passes the cost benefit test in order to balance all those values out and these are tough things for me to say as an environmental advocate but we've all got to kind of give something up in order to make it work and you want to add anything in particular around reconciliation ecology I would say the definition of rest reconciliation ecology is in the eye of the beholder and where you stand on a particular issue so and I think the best example of reconciliation ecology is the state and federal wildlife refuge system which actually was established as mitigation for the impacts of the central valley project and recognizing that that was going to dry up what used to be just a hundred years ago wetland habitat that proliferated through the central valley and so that is an experiment that is a continuing work in progress and as Tim noted earlier our refuges are being shorted water at a dramatic rate in a year in which paradoxically at the northern end of the flyway we're expecting an extraordinarily beneficial summer for migratory birds to which they will come back south and find 30 percent of the wetland habitat that they saw three years ago available for food and nesting and that can create just that will stress the flyway system at an exorbitant level really presenting a great likelihood of avian flu and cholera epidemics that we have never seen before and so these are really serious issues that we have to we can't take those public resources that are the heart of reconciliation economy reconciliation ecology and put them on an altar of the economy and pretend that if we short these resources they'll continue to be there because they will not they require our continued investment over time same root word though oikas yes latin for home so there's a number of questions in here around the economics of all of this and of course all of the long term projects we've talked about will require some additional investment there's also the short term or localized economic impacts including the ones around the bdcp but for the folks out there in a very pragmatic standpoint whether you're a farmer in the olo county flood control and water conservation district or you're in a city in the short term you're going to be asked to pay more for less and what's the best way for the public to understand the importance of investing in this water system and recognizing that there are times when we're going to actually pay more for less you can all jump at that right away or we can let me open it up by saying in our district in every district in every situation is different but we we make our money we stay in business we support ecology programs as well as our infrastructure programs by water sales and we're going to have zero water sales this year from releases from storage so we're expecting 80% of our budget to take a hit that's going to impact our ability I talked with the state water resource control board the other day in a drought hearing about you know they're asking what could they do to the state do to help out I said you know some of these if these programs of groundwater monitoring are important to figure out a way to help us sustain these through the drought period longer term it's going to require the district to take a hard look at how we structure our rates schedule and have conversations with our our water customers about water availability charges groundwater recharge charges you know there's any number of vehicles and it's not going to be easy there's prop 218 that you know as a barrier but we're expecting an immediate impact to our deals unfortunately our farmers I think this year would be happy to pay more for less but they they're not going to pay anything for nothing so any other perspectives on that I think just from a 30 000 foot level one of the problems I think in California and in the west is that what we are paying for water the cost of the water doesn't really reflect its real value or what it costs to provide it if if the price were more reflective of its value you wouldn't have the kinds of crazy decisions that you have in the west for the westlands water district the west side of the south central valley which is putting in year-round crops when they are junior water rights holders and don't get cannot expect to have water all year round that's not realistic but the price of the water is so cheap that those kinds of decisions can be made and then there are a number of other reasons why but there needs to be a better rational pricing of water so that it truly reflects its value and the societal cost of providing it and that will mean in my view that the cost of water will increase so it sounds like one of the challenging conversations for the coming year is to is to reconcile groundwater and surface water management and how to put in make some progress on reforms on that and one of the ones what the public is going to be the value of water and the water escape and how we're going to do a good investment in stewardship of our resources we have maybe one final question that we can answer on and maybe give everyone on the panel a shot at a minute or so of answering how will we as citizens of Yolo County be educated on policy and what can we do to stay involved what is it what's the if this is that time where people are paying attention what do we want to pay an attention to and how can they contribute to a better solution in years ahead and then we'll go right down to David and okay you know again I'm a the plumber here the nuts and bolts guy and there's a wonderful organization called the Water Resource Association of Yolo County it's an umbrella organization and it in and of itself doesn't have any authority or power but it it brings all the water players together and talks about the issues and and helps develop strategy we have a technical committee that meets once a month and a and a board of directors that meets quarterly that's one way to stay involved at a very local level very nuts and bolts obviously if you're a citizen of Davis or or Woodland you have plenty of opportunity have had over the last couple years to engage on those issues but but that's where I'd leave it Jim I don't have much to add I guess I would just say that you know kind of from somebody who looks at Yolo County from a valley wide perspective I think you have a wonderful governance structure here in Yolo County that I don't see in a lot of other places with many of the layers that Tim referred to you obviously have a a board of supervisors the members of which are very engaged in this issue and I think are leaders in this area you have the WRA you have the Yolo County flood control district you have your city councils and so to me I think in Yolo County you have I think an incredibly representative government with respect to water supplies and I just think the staying engaged in that and whichever level you are most comfortable I think is is very positive we haven't talked much about the BDCP which is out there and the tunnel proposal I think that in addition to everything that was said just now I think there are many organizations that really could use the activism and the energy of Yolo County and of Yolo County citizens thinking of restore the Delta in particular there's a lot the Delta does not have the same political power that the rest of the state has and it's really important to get involved in these issues particularly about the BDCP and I was very amused when you when you mentioned reconciliation ecology the fact is that you can't sit around the table if you have a real disparity of power and that's what this is about we really do need to unify Jim and the Delta counties have done a tremendous job in working together in cooperating and it's made a real difference in terms of what Yolo County has been able to achieve and I hope we'll be able to achieve within that process but it really requires the citizens you all to get involved and there are plenty of organizations the League of Women Voters is very active in the Delta communities I would encourage you to get involved this will affect our region in a major way a major way I concur with that I think Davis we really do set an example for other communities our water usage compared to other communities in the area is already quite a bit lower and we're I think going to be another 20% below that so we set an example in terms of our approach to the environment and our approach to conservation but I think the second part of that that Senator Wolk alluded to is actually being actively engaged in these issues that affect us in the region and the state because it is to a certain extent about power who has it and who doesn't and the more active citizens are more informed you are the more we'll be able to accomplish so I would encourage everybody to participate in forums like this and educate yourself on the issues and continue to work hard on it bring this home to an area that Yolo County has really been a state leader on thanks to Tim's leadership and the investment of the agricultural community working together in balancing management of groundwater resources with ongoing needs and recognizing the need for creative storage of that water so that it's there in drought times like this and I just want to underscore the benefits of this in this county we can set a new paradigm for California policy in this area and I would encourage residents of the county to actively participate in this debate in the capital it really is about having a sustainable water resource for future generations it is about water quality both for the environment and for people it is about keeping saltwater intrusion out of our aquifers it is about providing opportunities to creatively store water and recharge aquifers so that we continue to have perennial streams flowing around us and the wildlife that depend on that resource and so I think there's there's really something special here and we need to kind of bottle it up and take it to Sacramento and really help people understand the value of sustainable groundwater management so in summary I think this is going to be a very hot dry painful year with a lot of dislocation in certain parts of the state harm and challenges and but what you hear from this panel is a commitment to creativity to collaboration to developing integrated solutions that have multiple benefits that can be measured by a triple bottom line and Yolo County has a chance not just to follow but to lead and to continue to lead on this issue so with that I'm going to pass it off to Don Saylor who's going to give us our closing remarks and thank yous thank you let's give these folks a round of applause I think that Mr. Guy is almost a Yolo one do you think he's almost got the Yolo way down at least he can he knows it when he sees it and that's a that's a good step he's ready he's ready so you know Jim Mayer always does a wonderful job of facilitation and and he did it did it again tonight and these these folks are really knowledgeable individuals in this topic and no place else in the state would you find this kind of a group gathered together just for the purpose of sharing with what with this wonderful community this this group didn't just happen upon the scene here we have if you look around four people who are volunteers working for the Davis media access and you you'll notice that they have four cameras and they've been doing the sound all night this is going to be broadcast on channel 15 probably in about a week's time or so give or take and it's at two weeks time and it's the same time it'll be available online on on the DMA website Davis media access as well as on saving California communities website so you can access both of them just by googling those those phrases Davis media access or saving California communities but we do have some costs associated with the production of the video and we ask if you're willing and interested there's a little collection plate back there and Lucas Lucas for Erics is holding it if you turn back you'll see he's right back there with a big smile and a jar of jar of cash I'm not sure if they're connected but that's what's going on this I'm so delighted to just be able a part of saving California communities and several of the other people who are a part of that core group are here this evening this is Davis Campbell who is a former member of the Yolo County Board of Education Susan Lovenberg who is a member of the Davis Board of Education and Lucas for Erics for Erics who is a member of the Davis City Council but many of you who are here now have been actively participating in the in the saving California community series for some time and you know right Michael so you know that this is not just the first and it's not the last as you look at that saving California communities website please if you have some issues that you think would be would benefit from this kind of a discussion or if you'd like to engage further just sign up online we have email addresses for a good number of you if you'd like to leave your email address if you haven't done so yet then we'll be sure and include you on the list when the next kind next things come out I want to share this I want to commend this document to you the one that David Guy referred to at the beginning this is put together by the the northern California water alliance that alliance is is a consortium of several different organizations valley vision say cog northern California water association I'm leaving somebody out I'm not sure the metro metro chain okay so several several and what we've we've come together to really take a look at how these how the issues affecting us all in water policy and in water reality this year and then in the time to come how they play out because it's a as you heard tonight it's a complicated set of issues so one of the one template that you've got this is like a Rosetta stone it's meant to be your decoder ring on water issues so if you look down one side you see the issues here the issues drought BTCP biological opinion and then across you'll see the timeline for when things are when key decisions are being made and what you're going to see there is that 2014 is a pretty big year there's some major issues that are coming up in 2014 but they don't just stop there they go on for quite a while and you see also this array of impacts across the side on the on the centerfold you see this this array of impacts and the blue dot shows which of these different issues result in an impact in one of those categories this is this is a very significant set of issues for all of us you've heard tonight and this the idea of this one is to give you a sense of where where you find more information and how these issues interplay on the back page are is an identification of the key organizations and individuals who will be engaged in these issues over this next those this next set of years this 2014 again is a very big year not everybody received a copy of this document if but if you put your we will you can get it on the website of the north state water organization is that right david okay so you can northstatewater.org you can get you can access this same information and again give us give us your your email and and we'll we'll go ahead let's see I think should we introduce each other and go through a welcoming no we'll we'll stop for now thank you very much susan is there anything further that we should say thank you for coming everybody and we'll see you see you soon bye bye


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