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Making the Delta work tomorrow: Recovering fish while supplying water reliably

Posted by: Maven on September 26, 2009 at 7:12 am

From Ann Hayden, Senior Water Resource Analyst at the Environmental Defense Fund’s On the Water Front blog:

“The Bay-Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) may become the law of the land (and water) as early as 2011. If it does, how well will it protect endangered species? And how much water will be determined to be safely exported to the farms and cities that depend on Delta supplies before any major possible changes to habitat or infrastructure are implemented?

The BDCP is known to many as a controversial and complex planning process that aims to provide long-term operating permits for the state and federal projects that convey water from northern California to farms and cities in the central and southern parts of the state. In exchange for these permits, the projects will implement a Habitat Conservation Plan that meets recovery standards specified by the Endangered Species Act.

Skeptics abound, and are mostly focused on the BDCP’s long-term plans. The largest controversy has focused on the inclusion of a “peripheral canal” to move water around, rather than through, the Delta before being delivered to farms and cities.

Even if a canal is part of the solution (and that is far from a foregone conclusion), it is critical that before permits are approved, we determine how to operate the system in the near term, before new infrastructure is in place—and to do it in a way that enhances species recovery rather than simply preventing the further decline of species. …”

Read more from the On the Water Front blog by clicking here.

September 26, 2009 · Filed Under Delta Issues

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