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Big impact for little fish on California’s water outlook, says editorial

Posted by: Maven on December 25, 2008 at 8:22 am

From the Capital Press, this editorial, which begins by giving basic background information as to why the biological opinion was rewritten and released last week:

Wanger found the 2005 Fish and Wildlife Service’s opinion “contrary to law,” and directed the rewritten biological opinion. Director Donald Koch of California Department of Fish and Game said in a prepared statement, “The information contained in the document clearly underscores the fact that the Delta as a natural community is in trouble.”

So are two out of three California residents and the farmers who irrigate roughly 3 million acres of the Central Valley. Dozens of irrigation districts and millions of people look to the Delta pumps for part or all of their water supply.

Family Farm Alliance, a water-user advocacy group with members in 17 states, filed a request for Fish and Wildlife Service revisions, saying it violates a 2001 law by reaching conclusions not backed by data and relates all manner of degraded ecological conditions to the proposed pumping plan. In addition, parties to the smelt lawsuit, ranging from the city of Redding to the State Water Contractors Association are studying the biological opinion, weighing a legal challenge.

The Fish and Wildlife Service alternative to shutting down the whole multi-billion-dollar water transfer system contained in what are called “reasonable and prudent alternatives” in a formal biological opinion, turns out to be just about the same operational strategy Wanger ordered one year ago.

The Fish and Wildlife Service, in the 410-page opinion, restricts export pumping from December through June. Added to the Wanger strategy is a set of November and December Sacramento River flows during wet years. Designed to flush smelt into wetland rearing areas, the flows would effectively cancel the ability to replenish Sacramento Basin reservoirs during those months.

Read more of this editorial from the Capital Press by clicking here.

December 25, 2008 · Filed Under Uncategorized

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