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New report says providing water for fish is the surest way to create water supply reliability for California farms and cities

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 24, 2008 at 6:14 am

From Yuba.Net:

California’s salmon are teetering on the edge of extinction and the salmon fishing industry is facing economic devastation, but a report released today establishes a framework to help address this crisis. The report concludes that providing a more reliable water supply for the San Francisco Bay Delta Estuary could help save fish, including salmon, while also helping to ensure adequate water for farms, cities, and the 25 million Californians who rely on the Bay-Delta’s water.

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) report is titled “Finding the Balance: A Vision for Water Supply and Environmental Reliability in California.” The report outlines steps that state and federal leaders must take to end a vicious cycle of water shortages and environmental near-disasters, and instead create a stable and reliable water supply. That, in turn, should help guarantee environmental reliability - a condition where all necessary ecological, political and economic systems are in place to ensure the Bay Delta and its fisheries are self-sustaining into the future.

“Our water supplies will remain vulnerable as long as we allow the environment to remain at the brink of disaster,” said Laura Harnish, EDF’s Regional Director in San Francisco and an author of the report. “For decades, water users have sought to pump additional water out of our Central Valley streams, then species have declined, and ultimately the courts are forced to step in to prevent an environmental catastrophe. This paper outlines a way to break our endless, self-defeating water cycle and improve both water supply and environmental reliability for California’s future.”

Read more from Yuba.Net by clicking here. Read the full text of the report by clicking here.

July 24, 2008 · Filed Under Water & the Environment