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ByHeatherHoelscher hhoelscher@redbluffdailynews.com @DN_Heather on Twitter RED BLUFF More than 65 local businesses gathered Thursday at the 4th Annual Business Expo And Mixer to promote themselves and connect with the community at the Red Bluff Community Cen- ter. "This year has been the biggest thus far," said Dave Gowan, presi- dent and CEO of the Red Bluff-Te- hama County Chamber of Com- merce. "This is a great opportu- nity to promote local businesses and organizations in Red Bluff and Tehama County." The chamber aims for an event that brings the community to- gether and sets up a good network for local businesses, Gowan said. Food, drinks, live music and raffle prizes, including a 42-inch television raffle, were all a part of the evening. The grand prize win- ner of the television was Sandy Roberts. Organizations that came out and participated in the festivities included American Cancer Soci- LOCAL BUSINESS Ch am be r holds su cc es sf ul business expo By Julie Zeeb jzeeb@redbluffdailynews.com @DN_Zeeb on Twitter RED BLUFF The Tehama County Board of Supervisors voted Tues- day to align standards for state and local responsibility areas fol- lowing a Jan. 1 change of state rules to make it easier for fire per- sonnel responding to incidents, whether from Cal Fire or Tehama County Fire. The presentation was a contin- uation of a December presenta- tion by then Fire Marshall Matt Chamblin, who now serves as the assistant chief, with a public hearing portion to receive com- ments on the change. As of Jan. 1, the state changed some stan- dards, such as driveways and ad- dress lettering size for new con- struction. Historically, the county has chosen to make the standards the same throughout the county since Cal Fire and Tehama County Fire FIRE CODE Su pe s vo te to align re sp on de r territories Staff Report @redbluffnews on Twitter CORNING The driver killed in an early morning crash Friday on State Route 99W south of Galla- gher Avenue in the Corning area has been identified as Catherine Shuman, 58, of Corning, accord- ing to a press release issued mid- day Friday by the California High- way Patrol. Shuman, who was found unre- sponsivelyingacrossthe frontseat of her vehicle, was pronounced dead about 6:45 a.m. Friday at the scene by medical personnel, who had attempted to treat her upon their arrival on scene. The cause of the crash, which occurred about 6:20 a.m. Friday is pending further investigation, the release said. Shuman was driving north on 99W, south of Gallagher Avenue, at an unknown speed when she allowed her 1999 Ford Ranger to drift off the road and onto the east shoulder. Shuman over-corrected and lost control of the Ford, which came back onto the road, crossed both lanes of traffic and left the west road edge. The vehicle went through a wire fence where the left side hit a tree stump before running over a small tree and continuing into a the yard of a residence, where it knocked down several wire chicken coops. FATAL OnedeadinStateRoute99Wcrash By Julie Zeeb jzeeb@redbluffdailynews.com @DN_Zeeb on Twitter RED BLUFF California Depart- ment of Water Resources (DWR) Engineering Geologist Erin Smith from the Red Bluff office gave a talk Thursday at the Sac- ramento River Discovery Center program on groundwater man- agement and sustainability. "Two years ago, we had a 40- foot well go dry here and that's 100 yards from the Sacramento River," said Discovery Center Ex- ecutive Director Bobie Hughes, when introducing Smith. "That's groundwater and that's scary. It's such an important topic right now." Smith began the talk by defin- ing groundwater, which is some- thing she relies on heavily living on a Hooker Creek area prop- erty in Cottonwood that has a domestic well, she said. In sim- plest terms groundwater is water found in the ground in unconsol- idated alluvials or in mountain areas in fractured rocks. Groundwater is important is because it is used by so many, from domestic well users to mu- nicipalities and farmers as well as sewer systems, plants and an- imals. The majority of agricul- tural irrigators within Tehama County use groundwater and about 40 to 50 percent of people statewide rely on groundwater, Smith said. Because of this huge reliance on groundwater, it's im- portant to collect data across the state to get a better picture of what is happening to it. The Sustainable Groundwa- ter Management Act was passed in 2014 but it is not a new con- cept, Smith said. The hope is that with a management plan in place, there won't be any further decrease in groundwater. DWR had Bulletin 118, about the need for groundwater sustainability, as far back as 2003. Part of the discussion cen- tered around what could happen if groundwater is over-pumped, meaningmorewaterispulledout through pumping than the well is able to recharge. Smith listed six consequences of over-pump- ing, included chronic lowering of groundwater levels, reduction of groundwater storage, depletion of interconnected surface water, degraded water quality, sea wa- terintrusionandlandsubsidence. In the case of land subsid- ence, too much water pumped out leaves the clay dirt dry and it collapses, Smith said. The best way to understand groundwater is by studying it, which is why DWR has monitor- ing going on at local wells across the state. One of the biggest fears over the Groundwater Sustainabil- ity Act is that every well will be monitored for usage, but Smith said that is not something the state is putting into place and it would be up to a local agency. The idea is to encourage all local agencies interested in management of their local groundwater basins to have a Groundwater Services Authority in place prior to the June 2017 deadline for high and medium priority basins. Tehama County is mostly me- dium priority basins with one high priority basin shared with Butte County. Priority was de- termined through DWR using a number of factors including the number of wells, overlying pop- ulation, irrigated acres and pro- jected population to give a score. The Tehama County Flood Control District is in the pro- cess of seeking approval to be a GSA for the area. For more Department of Wa- ter Resources groundwater in- formation, visit http://www.wa- ter.ca.gov/groundwater/bound- aries.cfm. GROUNDWATER DISCOVERY PROGRAM TALKS SUSTAINABILITY JULIEZEEB—DAILYNEWS Department of Water Resources Engineering Geologist Erin Smith presents on groundwater management and the drought on Thursday at a Sacramento River Discovery Center program. U DowJonesIndustrial 15,973.84 (+313.66) U Standard & Poor's 1864.78 (+35.70) U Nasdaq 4337.51 (+70.67) BUSINESS Winter has shut off the rain and cranked up the heat, rais- ing jitters that El Niño may not be a drought buster. PAGE A7 DROUGHT Where'sElNiño?Dry spell stokes worry Kenya's ideal climate for growing large, long-lasting roses makes it a top Valen- tine's flowers exporter. PAGE B8 VALENTINE'S DAY Those red roses might just be from Kenya EXPO PAGE 9 FIRE PAGE 9 SacramentoRiverDiscoveryCenterhostsdiscussionongroundwatermanagement Have a great day, Roger Meyer. GOOD MORNING "Two years ago, we had a 40-foot well go dry here and that's 100 yards from the Sacramento River." — Bobie Hughes, Discovery Center executive director Check out what's going on in your neighborhood and the community. PAGE A2 CALENDAR Community.....A3 Farm ................A6 Lifestyles........A4 Opinion............A8 Sports.............. B1 Weather ........B10 Index............... ## INDEX SomeSun High: Low: 73 49 PAGE A10 » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, February 13, 2016 $1.00 AN EDITION OF THE CHICO ENTERPRISE-RECORD Jean Barton The cattle convention in San Diego Farm A6 Los Molinos FFA keeps up momentum at Arbuckle Lifestyles A4 FollowtheDailyNews on Twitter to keep pace with breaking news and events @REDBLUFFNEWS FOLLOWUS ONTWITTER Volume131,issue61 7 98304 20753 8 Web bonus More news and opinion. redbluffdailynews.com