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Task force’s Delta Vision report not so visionary, says Delta farmer/engineer

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 16, 2008 at 7:16 am

From the Tracy Press, this commentary written by a Delta farmer & engineer:

The November report to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger by the Delta Vision Task Force contains a wealth of information and an extensive analysis of Delta protection needs and water supply issues. It correctly states that the present method of exporting Sacramento water through Delta channels is not acceptable either for protection of the Delta or for reliability of water supply for much of California. Unfortunately, however, some of the report’s basic conclusions and tentative recommendations are based on assumptions that are not physically feasible.

Prior to the vision process, the task force members and Schwarzenegger apparently decided that a peripheral canal of some sort was necessary for water supply and that the Delta could be protected better than it is while operating an isolated conveyance canal. These assumptions are wrong, but the task force did not discover this, because it ignored the reasons why a canal is not necessary for water supply and the reasons why the Delta would be trashed if Sacramento River water were exported through a canal.

The plan also fails to explain that the basic problem is that the state’s population has already outgrown the developed water supply. It ignores a plan that was submitted and could meet objectives without a canal.

The report seems to build on the preconception that exporting water through an isolated conveyance facility (aka a peripheral canal) is necessary for water supply reliability and that it can also be compatible with protection of the Delta. This apparent pro-peripheral canal bias led to a failure to address either the impacts of a canal or alternatives that would meet the vision’s goals.

It is acknowledged that “there is not sufficient information” to ensure that a canal is a viable solution. Then the report refers to “an assessment of a dual conveyance system as the preferred direction.” The report does not call for analysis of the effect that any isolated conveyance would have on salinity in Delta channels, including in the south and central Delta during months and years when the river flow is low. A technical analysis will soon be available that demonstrates the inevitable rise in salinity. This rise would be a disaster.