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Draft of strategic report for Delta vision recommends creating a new entity that would decide how and when water would be exported to farmers and cities, among other things

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 22, 2008 at 10:16 pm

The strategic plan from the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force is posted online (see above), and will be the focus of next week’s Delta Vision meetings. More from the San Francisco Chronicle:

Overhauling how California uses, moves and stores water while protecting its environment will come at a steep cost, according to a report released Friday.

Meeting the long-term water needs of a growing population — now at nearly 38 million — while balancing protections for water quality and wildlife could cost between $12 billion and $24 billion over the next 10 to 15 years. The cost could be as high as $80 billion, according to a draft plan sent to a task force formed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

At the heart of the state’s massive water storage and delivery system is the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the region targeted by Schwarzenegger’s task force. The staff report outlines recommendations for improving the delta’s ecosystem, building a canal or pipeline to move drinking and irrigation water around the delta, and strengthening the region’s levees.

“A delta fix is going to be very expensive — it’s just that simple,” said Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies.

The report also recommends creating another government entity to oversee the delta, an idea that drew skepticism from Quinn. He said water contractors were concerned they might have less say over how much water they receive, even though they will be paying for most of the delta’s improvements. The new entity would decide how and when water would be exported to farmers and cities in Southern California and the San Francisco Bay area.

The idea of taking water-export decisions away from the state Department of Water Resources was supported by the grassroots group Restore the Delta, which includes delta residents, business leaders, farmers, fishermen and environmentalists. The department is more concerned with moving water to farmers and Southern California than environmental protection, said the group’s executive director, Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla.

Read the rest of this article from the San Francisco Chronicle by clicking here. Brief coverage from Mike Taugher and the Contra Costa County Times by clicking here.

The Metropolitan Water District issued this statement via Business Wire:

“Delta Vision’s emerging strategy is the kind of innovative and dramatic blueprint that can lay the groundwork for historic change. The estuary deserves the kind of comprehensive approach to restoring the ecosystem and altering the water system that Delta Vision is calling for. The co-equal objectives of protecting the Delta and providing reliable, safe water supplies for the state economy require the kind of balanced approach that Delta Vision has in mind. Delta Vision provides a valuable road map to success for legislators, water districts and the many Delta stakeholders. Environmental studies now under way must identify the specific balance of ecosystem and water system conveyance improvements. Deliberations in the Legislature must ultimately resolve the correct governing structures for restoration and other Delta activities. Metropolitan looks forward to engaging in all these discussions with the kind of balanced, yet bold, mindset that is emerging through Delta Vision.”

June 22, 2008 · Filed Under Delta Vision Task Force

Comments

One Response to “Draft of strategic report for Delta vision recommends creating a new entity that would decide how and when water would be exported to farmers and cities, among other things”

The Trout Underground on June 22nd, 2008 10:35 pm

“He said water contractors were concerned they might have less say over how much water they receive, even though they will be paying for most of the delta’s improvements.”

Quinn conveniently ignores the fact the state water contractors are also largely responsible for the diversions which are killing the Delta, and since they’re the main beneficiaries of the diversions, it stands to reason they’d be the ones to pay for them.

I mean, who else?

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