By HOYT ELKINS

The Union Democrat

Calaveras County's water supply could be in peril if smart growth policies aren't adopted to prepare for an explosion in population over the next four decades.

That was the message from speakers at a conference titled "Calaveras Water and Land Use: Today and Tomorrow" which attracted a near capacity crowd Saturday to the Native Sons Hall in Murphys.

"The Sierra Nevada watershed supplies more than 60 percent of the state's water," said Patricia Hickson of the Sierra Nevada Alliance,"and, the mountain region's population of 600,000 is expected to grow to 1.5 to 2.4 million by 2040."

Robert Dean, chairman of the Calaveras County Water District board of directors, told the crowd that Calaveras County must maximize the efficient use of its share of the water supply while protecting its water rights from politically powerful and increasingly thirsty interests elsewhere in California.

Hickson and Laura Podolsky of the Local Government Commission, detailed ways in which planning for future growth can accommodate the growth of population while minimizing the impact of development on the watershed.

Most of this would be accomplished, they said, by avoiding sprawl and by recognizing that open space is critical for recharging groundwater and avoiding pollution from runoff.

An afternoon session featured Ed Pattison, CCWD's water resources manager, reporting on efforts to draft a water element for the county's General Plan Update.

Work on the water element, which is being financed by CCWD and has the blessing of the county Board of Supervisors, is supposed to address the issues of water use and efficiency; water resource protection and reliability; water quality; watershed management; infrastructure; stormwater management; public education and awareness, and interagency cooperation and collaboration.

The matter of interagency cooperation and collaboration is having some early success, according to Dean, as some of the water and sanitation districts have begun taking advantage of CCWD's purchasing power to get supplies and building materials at reduced cost.

Communications between CCWD and the smaller districts, leading to full participation and exchange of ideas and information, is one of the goals toward which Pattison's efforts have been directed.

Climate change will affect the water supply, too, Hickson declared. She noted that over the past 100 years there has been a 25 percent reduction in the April through July runoff in the Central Sierra-Sacramento Region.

"There is further evidence that the rising of the snow level will increase the incidence of rain on snow in mid-elevation forests," she warned. "This could increase the peak flows and flooding associated with storms in the winter when we have no excess storage capacity."

Plans for clearcutting in the region's timber lands make it difficult to gauge the timing of water releases from reservoirs, she added.

Supervisor Tom Tryon spoke during a question-and-answer portion of the program, saying it is becoming harder for local government to afford some of the environmental protection programs thrust upon them by state and federal law. Labor costs and the bureaucratic burdens inherent in environmental law make it increasingly expensive and almost unaffordable for counties like Calaveras to do what needs to be done, he said.