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California’s dry summer – and the path forward

Posted by: Maven on April 30, 2009 at 12:42 pm

From Barry Nelson, director of the Western Water Project, posted at the NRDC Switchboard Blog:

The third consecutive dry year in California has received extensive media coverage – and will receive even more attention this summer. Some simple facts and a few recent quotes from the media demonstrate the water management challenge California faces – and point the way to practical solutions.

First, thanks to litigation and advocacy by NRDC, state and federal agencies have imposed new protections for endangered fish and wildlife in the Bay Delta that will restrict water exports, particularly compared to recent record levels of diversions. Over the past decade, numerous Delta fish species have declined precipitously, including delta smelt, longfin smelt, salmon, steelhead, and green sturgeon. However, the cause of the water shortages this year is not environmental protections (as some have alleged), but rather a third consecutive dry year. Lester Snow, director of the state’s Department of Water Resources, estimates that without ESA rules on Delta water, State Water Project irrigation allocations might reach 35 percent this year, instead of 30. Federal officials give a similar estimate – the Central Valley Project’s 10 percent allocations for south-of-Delta farmers might rise to 15 percent, they say. “If the ESA goes away this afternoon, we still have a drought,” Snow said last week. Overall, although pumping has been reduced modestly to protect endangered fish, the pumps have not been turned off, and it is drought, not environmental restrictions, that are reducing water deliveries.

Read the rest of Barry Nelson’s post at the NRDC Switchboard Blog by clicking here.

April 30, 2009 · Filed Under Drought, Weather & Snowpack

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