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Delta fish-protection project draws local opposition

Posted by: Maven on October 31, 2009 at 7:49 am

From the Contra Costa Times:

“Known as the Two-Gates Fish Protection Demonstration, the project would install two gates along Delta channels between Bethel Island and Discovery Bay to see whether they prevent Delta smelt from dying in pumps near the Tracy area. Some East Contra Costa County residents argue that the plan would threaten the health of the Delta, water quality and recreational boating.

The U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation plans a five-year study on the gates’ effectiveness in protecting the fish from pumps that deliver water from the Delta to Central and Southern California. It’s hoped that the project would allow more water to flow south without killing the fish.

Officials from the bureau have recently gone to cities throughout the state to hear public comments about the plan. They stopped this week in Discovery Bay, where nearly 600 people came to discuss potential effects on the town.

Some complain that boaters would need to take longer routes to get to and from Discovery Bay when the gates are closed, and that pumping more water from the Delta would increase the salinity of the town’s water.

Resident Chris Steele said he couldn’t support the project as currently planned, and that the town needed more time to review the studies by the Reclamation Bureau. He thinks the primary goal of the plan is to pump more water out of the Delta.

“It’s really frustrating,” Steele said. “There are other techniques to save these fish, and they haven’t looked at any of them.” …”

Read more from the Contra Costa Times by clicking here.

October 31, 2009 · Filed Under Delta Issues

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