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Delta levees and water is everybody’s problem, says editorial

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 15, 2008 at 7:24 am

From the Tracy Press, this editorial which discusses the levees protecting many Delta and Central Valley cities:

… the levees standing between those communities and disaster also protect the Delta water supply we depend upon.

Their problem is, by extension, ours.

So Tracy residents shouldn’t be surprised that this city is also near the heart of the region’s biggest and most far-reaching water debate. About 10 miles near, to be exact. That’s where the Banks and Tracy pumping plants suck water from the Delta and send it to Parts Previously Unwatered — most notably, the Los Angeles Basin, the traditional villain in the battle for the state’s most precious commodity. Those pumps and the recipients of their water loom large in California’s future — and in the fight to save the Delta from declining health and death.

I’d love to pile on and paint Southern Californians as the baddies. It would, at least, be easy. Millions of southlanders get their water from Northern California. They have a history of plundering other’s wet stuff. And they haven’t exactly been wise with their own resources — why else would the Los Angeles River be more famous for a “Terminator 2” motorcycle chase than for carrying water?

In reality, if you’re looking to call out folks for being Delta water thieves, there are plenty of options. Valley farmers take their share from the pumps, as do millions of people in five Bay Area counties. Tracy even takes its cut.

The point is, the Delta is a shared resource, one that suffers from a demand larger than its supply. But that hasn’t stopped officials and activists from dreaming up ways to more efficiently exploit it.

One of the most popular, at least with water interests south and west, is a peripheral canal. It’s a centerpiece of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plan to ensure that a stream of water flows safe, supposedly, from the effects of a devastating earthquake or flood that could render normal Delta water undrinkable.

In an echo of 1982, when voters slapped down the original Peripheral Canal, the idea has been roundly criticized here as a grab of “our” resources by “outside” interests. San Joaquin County supervisors voted unanimously in opposition to the canal in late 2007, and editorial boards up and down the valley have taken the proposal to task.

“I plead with elected officials to look elsewhere for answers to meet the state’s sure-to-grow water demand”, the writer says. Get the full text of this commentary by clicking here.

February 15, 2008 · Filed Under Delta Issues, Levees

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