Delta advocates plan Capitol rally; Peripheral canal looms large in estuary debate

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 3, 2009 at 7:43 am

From Stockton’s Record:

Hundreds of Delta advocates plan to rally next week at the state Capitol, fearing that behind-the-scenes negotiations by legislators over the future of the estuary will shut them out of the debate until it is too late.

Earlier this week, it appeared a key committee hearing would take place next week, on Tuesday or Thursday. Grass-roots group Restore the Delta sent an alert to its members, warning that the proposed legislation - perhaps a combination of existing bills - could include authorization of a peripheral canal. That hearing is now in question as legislators grapple with the state budget. Some advocates are concerned there could be no hearing at all.

“One public hearing for a set of water policies that has far-reaching and expensive implications for the entire state is a mockery of the democratic process,” Restore the Delta director Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla said in her message to members. “We are tired of the decisions being made without our consent and involvement,” she wrote.

Read more from the Record by clicking here.

Wednesday’s top of the scroll: Dutch expert offers advice on saving Delta

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 1, 2009 at 7:24 am

From the Sacramento Bee:

Tropical islands and mountain glaciers get all the attention. But the planet’s river deltas are the real front lines of climate change. Sharing that message is a goal of the Delta Alliance, a new effort by officials in the Netherlands to unite people around the world struggling to manage river delta regions. This includes Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Nigeria – and California.

Scientists have advised California to prepare for 55 inches of sea level rise in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta by 2100. Protecting communities and the Delta freshwater supply, which serves 23 million Californians, will be a complicated and pricey task.

The Dutch have lived below sea level for hundreds of years. They’ve survived by building massive levees that are the envy of the world. Last week, a delegation from the Netherlands visited San Francisco and the Delta. One result is a planned September symposium in California on common challenges.

On Thursday, The Bee interviewed Bart Parmet, director of the Deltateam for the Netherlands Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, during the delegation’s stop in Sacramento.

Read the interview from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.

CSPA goes to war with Schwarzenegger over Delta salinity standards

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 25, 2009 at 8:37 am

From Dan Bacher of the Fish Sniffer:

The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance is going to war with the Schwarzenegger administration over its failure to comply with California Delta salinity standards in an evidentiary hearing in Sacramento on Thursday, June 25.

“The State Water Resources Control Board is again attempting to provide the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) with a shield to protect the agencies from the law: in this case, DWR/USBR’s 31-year failure to comply with salinity standards in the Delta,” according to Bill Jennings, chairman of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance. “Compliance with the salinity standards would also benefit fish.”

The hearing takes place as the California Delta ecosystem is in its worst-ever crisis, due to massive water exports from the estuary to corporate agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley that result in increased saltwater intrusion into the Delta. This increased salinity not only endangers Sacramento River Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other fish populations, but threatens Delta farmers who depend on fresh water to irrigate their crops.

“In a sense, the hearing is not about DWR and USBR: it is about Governor Schwarzenegger’s and the State Water Board’s ability and willingness to enforce the law,” emphasized Jennings. “It is about whether anyone can rely on the assurances, guarantees and promises to implement, comply with and enforce statutory and regulatory requirements.”

Read more

Restore the Delta commentary: The good, the bad, the confused and the ugly

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 25, 2009 at 8:17 am

From Restore the Delta, this commentary:

Many different legislative initiatives have been appearing at both the Federal and State level centered on solving the Delta crisis. This newsletter is dedicated to analyzing these efforts.

First, the good. After a great deal of consultation with our Delta supporters, Restore the Delta has decided to support Senator Lois Wolk’s Conservancy Bill SB 458. We believe that it is one piece of a multi-prong effort toward improving governance, funding, and most importantly future management of the Delta. This conservancy bill provides, thus far, the best representation of Delta interests within the structure of a state conservancy. We also applaud Senator Wolk’s consistent effort to remind her colleagues that Delta communities and people have to be part of any future governance changes within the Delta.

While Restore the Delta does not believe that a conservancy alone will solve the primary crisis in the Delta - the crisis of poor water quality and insufficient flows. But a well funded conservancy that represents Delta farming and ecological interests, along with more than adequate fresh water flows into the Delta and a permanent reduction in exports, can help to bring about Delta restoration. Our one question for the Senator regarding the bill, however, still relates to fees. We want to see fees paid into the conservancy to be used only for Delta conservancy projects.

More good. Last week on the floor of the US Congress, Congressman Mike Thompson (D - District 1) and Congressman George Miller (D-District 7) successfully defended the Delta and salmon fisheries from an exemption to the Endangered Species Act. In a tight roll call vote last week, the House voted “no” on Congressman Nunes’ s amendment to the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2010 to override the biological opinion on salmon.

Click the “Read More” to read Restore the Delta’s ‘bad, confused, and ugly’. Read more

Fixing the Delta is critical, says commentary; compromise is essential

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 20, 2009 at 8:29 am

From the San Diego Union Tribune, this commentary by Ellen Hanak, director of research and a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, and Jay Lund, a professor of environmental engineering and co-director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis:

Now in a third year of drought, Southern Californians are once again facing the realities of living in a region with variable and unpredictable rainfall. Voluntary rationing, increased water rates and a proliferation of water-use restrictions are the order of the day. This is an opportunity for residents to achieve durable gains in water conservation. One key to resolving the state’s biggest long-term water crisis: fixing the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

We believe there is a solution to the crisis in the Delta — the hub of the state’s water supply and the focus of years of conflict — that balances the state’s need for both a reliable water supply and a healthy ecosystem. But it’s one that requires compromise. For Southern Californians and others who rely on Delta water supplies, it is likely to mean taking less water from this source in the future than they’ve gotten in the past.

The most recent flare-up in this troubled region began in 2004, when the populations of several key fish species crashed, including the endangered delta smelt. In 2007, the fish crisis became a water supply crisis: To protect the delta smelt, a federal judge restricted the operations of water export pumps at the Delta’s southern edge. In 2008, he made a similar ruling to protect Chinook salmon. Yet the numbers have continued to tumble for smelt, salmon and other species, raising the specter of additional cutbacks. Compounding these environmental woes, the fragile levees that help keep Delta waters fresh face a high and increasing risk of failure from earthquakes and floods. A catastrophic failure of Delta levees could shut down the pumps for months or even years.

Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area depend on the Delta pumps for nearly a third of their water supplies, and Delta water irrigates nearly a third of the farmland in the San Joaquin Valley. It is not surprising, then, that water managers in regions that rely on Delta exports are reacting to the crisis with a sense of urgency.

Read more of this commentary by clicking here.

Governor Schwarzenegger issues statement supporting Two Gates Fish Protection Delta project to bring more water to Californians; & Aquafornia answers the question, what’s the Two Gates project?

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 20, 2009 at 7:57 am

From Governor Schwarzenegger’s office, this press release:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today issued the following statement regarding the Two Gates Fish Protection Demonstration Project, designed to protect Delta smelt and increase the reliability of water exports:

“With mandatory water restrictions and crops lying fallow, it is clear that every Californian is suffering from our water shortage - and this project will provide much-needed relief. While I remain committed to getting a comprehensive water deal done this year, I will aggressively work with local, state and federal officials toward the speedy approval and completion of the Two Gates project so that California’s bread basket can continue to feed the world.”

Under the plan, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation would install and operate removable gate structures in two key locations in the central Delta. The Two Gates Project is designed to provide the same or better protection for delta smelt and other sensitive aquatic species at the State Water Project and federal Central Valley Project, while allowing additional water for use by municipal and agricultural water users south of the Delta. The gates would be temporary facilities to be removed after five years.

Today, Governor Schwarzenegger traveled to Mendota in the Central Valley to view some of the worst affects of our three-year drought. There, he announced that he has requested a federal disaster declaration from President Obama for Fresno County and issued Executive Order S-11-09, activating the California Disaster Assistance Act.

So what is the Two Gates project? Here’s a description from the June 9 board meeting of Metropolitan Water District:

The Two-Gates Fish Protection Project is a key near-term project that, according to modeling analysis, should assist in reducing entrainment of Delta smelt and other sensitive aquatic species at the state and federal Delta pumping facilities without adversely affecting Chinook salmon, steelhead, sturgeon or Longfin smelt. The Project would be implemented by installing of an operable gate structure on Old River and Connection Slough in the central Delta between the cities of Stockton and Antioch. Hydrodynamic modeling analyses have also indicated that gate operations could improve water quality in the central and south Delta.

Staff from Metropolitan, San Luis Delta Mendota Water Authority, and Contra Costa Water District have been working together to analyze the Project’s benefits and impacts, and to initiate development of the environmental review documents. The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the US Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) would likely act as lead agencies under the California Environmental Quality Act and National Environmental Protection Act, respectively.

Read more from the MWD Board of Directors notes by clicking here.

Environmental groups sue regional water board over Tracy discharge permit; Permit authorizes massive increase in pollutants discharged to degraded Delta

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 19, 2009 at 7:32 am

From the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance and the Environmental Law Foundation, this press release:

Today, the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) and the Environmental Law Foundation (ELF) filed a lawsuit against the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Board) for issuing a permit to the City of Tracy allowing increased discharges of polluted wastewater to the seriously degraded Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The Complaint, filed in Sacramento Superior Court, alleges the Regional Board failed to comply with fundamental state and federal antidegradation requirements in issuing the Tracy wastewater discharge permit.

“The Tracy permit is a poster-child of the state’s failure to comply with laws designed to protect the water quality and fisheries of the Delta,” said CSPA Executive Director Bill Jennings. “Antidegradation requirements are fundamental to protecting the estuary and the Regional Board, under pressure from dischargers, has abdicated its responsibility to protect the people and environment of California,” he said.

Erin Ganahl, an attorney with ELF observed that, “at a time when Delta water quality is deteriorating and Delta smelt and other fish species are hovering on the brink of extinction, the Regional Board’s actions in allowing massive increases in the discharge of toxic pollutants in violation of state and federal statutes are simply unacceptable.”

The Regional Board issued the permit in May of 2007 and CSPA and ELF appealed it to the State Water Resources Control Board (State Board). The State Board reviewed the appeals and, on 19 May 2009, remanded the permit back to the Regional Board to correct several deficiencies (i.e., final limits for salinity, ammonia, narrative toxicity and elimination of a dilution credit). However, the Board dismissed core claims that addressed Tracy’s degrading pollution and the antidegradation laws by suggesting that the Board was considering a revision to the antidegradation policy, apparently believing that voicing consideration of modifying a policy excuses compliance in the meantime.

Antidegradation provisions of the Clean Water Act and the state’s Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act were established to prevent degradation of waters beyond certain levels. In other words they establish a floor beyond which degradation is simply not allowed. For lesser degrees of degradation, the provisions explicitly mandate that permitting agencies must perform a detailed socioeconomic and alternatives analysis of potential degradation from the proposed action and make findings, supported by evidence, that any degradation is justified by important social or economic development. The Regional Board refused to conduct the required antidegradation socioeconomic and alternatives analyses for the Tracy permit even though it allowed major increases in pollutant loading.

Without benefit of an adequate antidegradation analysis, the Tracy permit allows the City to discharge 78% more aluminum, 62% more arsenic, 78% more barium, 54% more copper, 77% more fluoride, 78% more iron, 79% more lead, 14% more nickel, 114% more silver, 88% more thallium, 75% more zinc, 78% more MBAS, 78% more Nitrate (N), 77% more phosphorus, 78% more chloroform, 74% more dibromochloromethane, 77% more MTBE and 78% more 2,4-D. Additionally, there was no evaluation of increased toxicity caused by additive or synergistic interactions between metals.

The Delta is one of the most degraded and polluted waterbodies in the Central Valley. It is listed as an “impaired waterbody” and Toxic Hot Spot” under state and federal law and its aquatic ecosystem is collapsing. Toxicity from pollutants, along with water exports, have been identified by state and federal scientists as one of the principle causes for the catastrophic collapse of the Delta’s pelagic (i.e., Delta smelt, splittail, threadfin shad, longfin smelt, striped bass) and salmonid (steelhead, sturgeon and winter, spring and fall-run Chinook salmon) fisheries.

Michael Lozeau, an attorney representing CSPA stated that, “As the Delta’s water quality continues to decline, the Regional Board is opening the pollution spigots more rather than ensuring that the Delta’s cities and industries take steps to reduce their already dangerous levels of pollution. California’s water quality law is supposed to protect water quality, not shield polluters from its requirements.”

CSPA is a non-profit public benefit conservation and research organization established in 1983 for the purpose of conserving, restoring, and enhancing the state’s water quality and fishery resources and their aquatic ecosystems and associated riparian habitats. CSPA has actively promoted the protection of water quality and fisheries throughout California before state and federal agencies, the State Legislature and Congress and regularly participates in administrative and judicial proceedings on behalf of its members to protect, enhance, and restore California’s water quality and fisheries. CSPA’s website is: www.calsport.org.

ELF is a California non-profit organization whose mission is to reduce pollution in California’s waters and ensure public access to clean water for recreational, commercial, consumptive, scientific and wildlife purposes. ELF is dedicated to the protection of human health and the environment. ELF’s website is: www.envirolaw.org.

Brief coverage of this story from Stockton’s Record by clicking here.

Carquinez water flows in to revive Martinez tidal marsh

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 18, 2009 at 7:14 am

From the Times-Herald:

For the first time in about a century, water from Carquinez Strait began rushing Tuesday up a slough in the shadows of heavy industry on the Martinez shoreline. The tide gates were opened shortly after 10 a.m. and water flowed into a reach where it could convert up to 200 acres of seasonal wetlands into a permanent tidal marsh.

It was the second attempt to restore Peyton Slough just east of Interstate 680, before the Benicia Bridge. In 1997, a levee was breached and tidal gates were opened for about three hours before regulators shut the project down because of heavy copper and zinc contamination from a smelter that was at the site until the 1960s.

The polluted dirt was covered up, the slough rerouted, and on Tuesday they tried again, this time with the Bay Area’s top water quality regulator watching and smiling. “This is a big step, to be able to open this (tide gate) to let the water flow in a more natural situation,” said Bruce Wolfe, executive officer of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control District.

Read more from the Times-Herald by clicking here.

State Water Board launches another assault on Delta water quality

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 10, 2009 at 12:30 pm

From Bill Jennings, of the CSPA, posted at IndyBay.org:

The State Water Resources Control Board (State Board) is yet again discarding long-existing regulations protecting water quality (and fisheries) in order to protect the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the United States Bureau of Reclamation (Bureau) from their continuing violations of the Public Trust and Bay-Delta water quality standards.

This despicable charade is another poster-child of why the Schwarzenegger administration’s “assurances,” “guarantees,” “promises,” and even “regulations” aren’t worth a warm bucket of spit. CSPA is prepared to go to the mat in opposing this blatant effort to immunize DWR and the Bureau from the law.

The State Board has issue a Notice of Public Hearing to determine whether to modify Order WR 2006-0006 that, in part, adopted a Cease and Desist Order (C&D) against the DWR and the Bureau. Notices of Intent to participate in the expedited evidentiary hearing are due by 19 June, testimony and evidence circulated to hearing participants by 22 June and the hearing will occur on 25 June. CSPA will participate fully in the hearing by direct testimony, evidence, cross-examination and rebuttal.

The State Board adopted delta salinity standards in 1978 and reaffirmed them in 1995 and 2006. The salt standards were set at levels protective of Delta agriculture; however, the standards also serve to protect the aquatic ecosystem. The DWR/Bureau, who operate the State Water Project (SWP) and Central Valley Project (CVP), were assigned responsibility for meeting the standards because Delta salinity is controlled by SWP/CVP export pumping, salt loading via export pumping and releases of water from upstream project reservoirs. CSPA participated in those hearings.

The salinity standards have been routinely exceeded over the last 30 years. In 2006, the State Board finally issued a C&D against DWR and the Bureau over salinity violations. Despite repeated subsequent violations, the State Board has refused to enforce the 2006 Order. CSPA testified in the C&D hearing.

Read more of Bill Jennings commentary at IndyBay.org by clicking here.

Wednesday’s top of the scroll: Army Corps orders thousands of trees chopped down on levees nationwide

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 10, 2009 at 8:00 am

From the Sacramento Bee:

The Army Corps of Engineers is on a mission to chop down every tree in the country that grows within 15 feet of a levee - including oaks and sycamores in Louisiana, willows in Oklahoma and cottonwoods in California. The corps is concerned that the trees’ roots could undermine barriers meant to protect low-lying communities from catastrophic floods like the ones caused by Hurricane Katrina.

An Associated Press survey of levee projects nationwide shows that the agency wants to eliminate all trees along more than 100,000 miles of levees. But environmentalists and some civil engineers insist the trees pose little or no risk and actually help stabilize levee soil.

Thousands of trees have been felled already, though corps officials did not have a precise number of how many will be cut.

The corps has “this body of decades of experience that says you shouldn’t have trees on your levees,” said Eric Halpin, the agency’s special assistant for dam and levee safety.

The saws are buzzing despite the outcry from people who say the trees are an essential part of fragile river and wetland ecosystems. “The literature on the presence of vegetation indicates that it may actually strengthen a levee,” said Andrew Levesque, senior engineer for King County, Wash., where the corps wants trees removed on the six rivers considered vital to salmon populations.

Read more from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.

Assembly passes Delta bill package

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 5, 2009 at 2:54 pm

From YubaNet.com:

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) announced today the California State Assembly has approved four bills to help resolve the current crisis in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the heart of California’s water system and the most valuable estuary on the west coast of North and South America. These bills reflect recommendations from Governor Schwarzenegger’s Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force and Cabinet Committee.

“The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is a critical respiratory system for California’s water supply and ecosystem,” Bass said. “These bills represent important steps in preventing the collapse of the Delta, which would have catastrophic effects on the health of our environment and economy.”

The bill authors include participants in the Speaker’s 60-day process to review the Delta Vision Strategic Plan and consider how best to fix the Delta.

Read more from YubaNet.com by clicking here.

Delta debate rages five years later; Some say Jones Tract disaster played key role

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 3, 2009 at 8:17 am

From Stockton’s Record:

Engineer Tom Rosten drove the winding levee road three times that June afternoon. The next morning, Rosten, still wearing his bathrobe, answered the telephone. Thirty-five minutes later he stood at the edge of a 200-foot abyss where the road he had traveled hours earlier had crumbled away and torrents of water spewed onto farmland.

“When I got up there and saw what had happened, I said, ‘Oh, my God,’” Rosten said. “There’s just nothing we can do.”

Indeed, at that point it was a question only of how long it would take the water to spread across Upper and Lower Jones tracts, flooded five years ago today. More than 12,000 acres of farmland was swamped, dozens of farm workers were displaced, and only a mad rush saved Highway 4 and prevented floodwaters from spreading to the south.

Read more from The Record by clicking here.

Miracle: Delta export pumps were silent on May 31!, says Bill Jennings of the CSPA

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 2, 2009 at 3:57 pm

From Bill Jennings of the CSPA, posted at IndyBay.org:

May 31: The Day the Pumps Shut Down

I suggest that we set aside 31 May 2009 as an annual CSPA holiday in celebration of the Day the Pumps Shut Down. Perhaps, 31 May should be our annual fundraiser, as it symbolizes our holy grail. Attached is a pdf of May salvage and exports.

Admittedly, the stoppage only occurred because salvage of Delta smelt at the state and federal project pumps had reached 423 the previous day and the legal limit for “take” in May was 449. DWR and the Bureau would have been in violation of the take provisions of the federal Endangered Species Act had they salvaged 27 more Delta smelt the next day.

More from Bill Jennings by clicking here.

Wednesday’s top of the scroll: Time for the governor to wade into the delta, says commentary: “Governance is the one issue everybody tries to ignore. Achieving it requires brave leadership and heavy lifting. It requires leadership by the governor.”

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 27, 2009 at 7:54 am

From the San Francisco Chronicle, this commentary by William K. Reilly, member of the Governor’s Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force:

Clean, abundant water is something most people take for granted. Yet, with California in its third year of drought, that nonchalance is no longer justified. Across the state, there is a growing consensus that we cannot go on as before, and that we need serious change in the way in which we view and use water. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has taken on some of the fearsome challenges California faces on his watch. But he has yet to meet the water challenge.

The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is ground zero in the water debates currently taking place at the state Capitol. The delta provides water for more than 25 million Californians and 3 million acres of agriculture, supporting a $400 billion economy. But the delta’s ecosystem is crashing, portending a water crisis for the entire state.

Schwarzenegger has called for a 20 percent reduction in statewide water use, a notably bold recognition that excessive water use and population increase are doubly threatening to our water future. But he and legislative leaders have not acknowledged that the critical missing ingredient in water management in the delta is governance.

Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle by clicking here.

Worn-out ferry to make way for more reliable Real McCoy

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 27, 2009 at 6:11 am

From the Sacramento Bee:

A new Real McCoy, the venerable Delta ferry important to farmers, is on the way.

The Real McCoy is operating but worn out, said California Department of Transportation officials. Continuing to repair it would not be financially prudent, said Caltrans. The current vessel has been in service 63 years. The age of the ferry, deterioration of its hull and an outdated drive system convinced officials that a more reliable vessel was needed.

Read more from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.

Going with the flow: Sludge boat sailors keep tanks, Delta clean

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 25, 2009 at 8:12 am

From Stockton’s Record:

The phone won’t shut up. But that’s to be expected on a holiday weekend. Thornell Washington answers as his 24-foot boat plows through heavy wake along the Stockton Deep Water Channel.

“Yeah, we can be there in 12 minutes,” he tells the caller, and veers off toward Paradise Point Marina, where the Don’t Worry About It needs to relieve herself, septically speaking. On the way, Washington - who never thought he’d own a boat, much less service them - listens to the blues, toots the horn and waves at familiar faces.

Pumping sewage from houseboats may not be glamorous, but then again, Washington’s Septic Brothers office is a 700-square-mile playground, and his clientele are carefree folks who, well, aren’t worrying about it. And when Washington makes his rounds this Memorial Day weekend, he sees a world many city dwellers can’t even fathom.

It starts Sunday morning not with hoses or tanks but a stranded motorboat, which stalls and is pushed against the rocks near Village West Marina in north Stockton. Washington tows him to the dock. The man is not deterred. “It ain’t over yet,” said Mark Soran of Modesto. “I still got food and beer.”

Read more from The Record by clicking here.

Historic water tower begins journey to new home along Delta

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 22, 2009 at 7:48 am

From the Sacramento Bee:

For all of Dick Brann’s life, the water tower has been perched along the banks of the Sacramento River. The 132-feet-tall tower has been as much a part of the river town’s identity as striped bass or the nearby lift bridge. When you saw the tower from boat or car – and you could for miles away in the flat-as-a-pool-table Delta – you knew Rio Vista was near. “It’s a landmark,” he said.

Brann never saw the water tower being built even though he grew up here. After all, he’s only 92. The water tower is more than a century old.

The bottom tank of the two-tank tower supplied water for drinking, and the top one fed a flume that transported asparagus into a cannery.

Read more from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.

From Stockton’s Record:

It will be refurbished, painted, loaded on a barge and shipped across the river to the site of a new Delta visitor center that one organizer said is expected to break ground within a month. The goal of the center: to give the often-overlooked Delta a new identity.

Dozens of witnesses, including some from Lodi and Stockton, watched as workers atop the 132-foot-high tower prepared the 50,000-gallon upper tank for removal. Sparks rained down from the platform.

“The Delta has been part of my life for 60 years now, and I hate to see it go down the tubes,” said Stockton fisherman Jay Sorensen. “This landmark is going to raise the profile of the Delta.”

Read more from the Record (which includes a slideshow of pictures) by clicking here.

California’s broken system for water delivery

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 17, 2009 at 8:27 am

From Mike Taugher of the Contra Costa Times:

Near the end of a 117-mile canal that takes delta water to the heart of one of California’s richest agricultural regions, thousands of farmworkers and their supporters gathered in mid-April to demand more water. The main artery connecting the vast farms of the western San Joaquin Valley to the heart of California’s water delivery system — the delta — is going dry, leaving the nation’s largest irrigation district without much of its most unpredictable commodity, water.

For farmers and their employee, the effects are dramatic. Unemployment in Mendota, the southern terminus of the Delta-Mendota Canal, is at 40 percent. Fields are drying up and the possibility is real that some farms might go out of business.

But even among the thousands of protesters who were preparing for a four-day march, one was as likely to find employees of farms with plenty of water as not. Those who retain historic water rights on the San Joaquin River do not have to depend on delta pumps, and they have full shares. Farmers with several water sources, those with their own reserves and those with older, more senior water rights will fare better than those who do not.

And so it is in a California drought. At stake are the survival of species, the fate of millions of acres of agricultural land and, some argue, the state’s economy, not to mention the livelihoods of delta residents and the safety of drinking water in parts of the Bay Area.

Read more from the Contra Costa Times by clicking here.

Army Corps put on notice for failure to regulate Delta power plants

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 17, 2009 at 8:11 am

From PR Newswire, this press release from the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta:

The Coalition for a Sustainable Delta and the Kern County Water Agency (KCWA) today filed a Notice of Intent (NOI) to sue the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) for ongoing violations of the Endangered Species Act. The violations stem from the ongoing failure of the Corps to regulate two electrical generating power plants located in Contra Costa and Pittsburg, California. The plants’ operations are known to kill significant numbers of delta smelt and other listed species and have a significant adverse impact on the estuary.

“The Corps has clearly failed to fulfill their obligations under the Endangered Species Act to take measures to protect the delta smelt and other threatened and endangered species,” said Michael Boccadoro, spokesperson for the Coalition. “At a time when water deliveries to farms and residents are being severely curtailed by federal agencies and the courts, we cannot allow federal regulators to turn a blind-eye to a significant factor in the demise of the Delta and its fisheries.”

The Corps has continually failed to ensure required conservation measures are being implemented to minimize and mitigate the take of listed species by the two power plants. Although the power plants are only operating at a fraction of their full capacity, recent monitoring data and analysis of that data show that they are having significant, adverse impacts on protected fish species particularly the threatened delta smelt and state- listed longfin smelt. In fact, in light of the precipitous decline of the delta smelt population, the level of take at the power plants may be jeopardizing the species. Operation of the power plants also results in destruction of critical habitat needed to sustain the species.

The power plants are owned and operated by Mirant Delta LLC and are located in the heart of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta). During operation, the power plants use antiquated and controversial once-through cooling systems that take large volumes of Delta water and then discharge the heated water back into the estuary. A recent study shows that delta smelt and longfin smelt are present throughout the year in the vicinity of the power plants, with juveniles of both species present during months of heaviest pumping activity and therefore vulnerable to being destroyed. Extrapolation from Mirant’s own limited monitoring data indicates that in 2008 the power plants may have taken as many as 150,000 delta smelt.

“Unless and until we address these other factors that impact the Delta, California residents, businesses and farms will continue to suffer from unnecessary water supply restrictions that are costing tens of thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars,” said Jim Beck, Kern County Water Agency General Manager. “It is imperative for federal and State regulators and the courts to immediately broaden the remedies and address this and other stressors on the Delta and its native fishes before our economy is further devastated.”

In addition to today’s Notice of Intent, the Coalition has previously sent a Notice of Intent to Sue Mirant Delta LLC over operations of its power plants.

For more information, or to obtain a copy of the NOI and Cramer Fish Sciences Analysis of the Mirant Monitoring Program, visit www.sustainabledelta.com

The Coalition for a Sustainable Delta is an ad hoc group of water users who depend on the delta for a large portion of their water supplies. The Coalition is dedicated to protecting the delta and is committed to promoting a strategy to ensure its sustainability.

Researchers study earthquakes’ effect on delta

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 13, 2009 at 8:08 am

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

California’s vast delta, where the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers pour their waters toward the sea, could be in serious danger when the next major earthquake strikes along the Hayward Fault - or on any of the other faults that make up the San Andreas zone, scientists have long warned.

Now a new study is under way to detail just how seismic waves from future quakes would travel through the delta’s thick sedimentary earth and whether the waves might grow stronger or weaken as they travel.

The nature of the ground beneath the delta’s surface would greatly affect the damage a quake could cause to the waterway’s miles of levees, which shelter roads and farms, and to the giant pumps near Tracy that send water to the state’s parched southern regions.

In the study approved by the U.S. Geological Survey, seismologist Donna Eberhart-Phillips of UC Davis and two colleagues at the University of Wisconsin hope to gain insights into the delta’s reaction to quakes of any size by recording the earth’s movements during the small temblors that occur often along the Hayward Fault as well as along many of Northern California’s smaller faults.

“We need to know how the energy from earthquakes travels through the upper 2 to 3 miles of the delta’s earth - what the properties of that earth are, how the speed of a quake’s seismic waves are attenuated when material in the region absorbs energy, and how a quake’s effects propagate throughout the delta,” Eberhart-Phillips said.

Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle by clicking here.

Peter Moyle, John Durand and William Bennett: Change needed for better Delta ecosystem

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 8, 2009 at 8:12 am

From the Sacramento Bee, this commentary:

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is changing, and the pace of change is accelerating. While the ecosystem still contains an abundance of fish, invertebrates and plants, many are undesirable species that were not around a few decades ago. In the near future, we can expect to see even more dramatic change. We can either fight it at great expense – and lose – or figure out how to make change work in our favor.

Most big decisions for the Delta today are made in reaction to lawsuits, levee breaks and droughts, often to prevent change. We think it is possible to break this cycle of reactive management by understanding the Delta’s history. Understanding the past makes possible reasonable predictions of the future, allowing a more proactive approach to managing the Delta and its ecosystem.

The Delta began as a vast freshwater tidal wetland, intimately connected to its inflowing rivers and their floodplains, as well as to saltier parts of the San Francisco Estuary downstream. Starting in the mid-19th century, the Delta was altered by blocking off floodplains with levees, creating Delta islands through diking and draining marshlands, and diverting water upstream.

Then, dozens of dams were built for irrigation and urban water supply. At the same time, myriad non- native species invaded the region. The native fish were left to survive in barren rock-lined channels and tiny bits of floodplain and marsh habitat.

Given the extent of the transformation, it is a miracle that only two native fish species were driven to extinction, with most species remaining fairly common until recently.

Read more from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.

Panel: Wastewater ammonia ‘likely’ alters Delta

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 23, 2009 at 8:30 am

From the Sacramento Bee:

A panel of independent scientists has affirmed in a new report that ammonia from urban wastewater is a “likely” contributor to environmental shifts in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. But the panel, assembled by the CalFed Bay Delta Authority, says more research is needed to determine where ammonia fits among numerous threats to the estuary.

The Bee reported last year on emerging research suggesting that ammonia from treated urban sewage, discharged continuously into Central Valley rivers, may disrupt the Delta food chain. The Sacramento metro area’s wastewater, treated by the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District, is the largest source of ammonia in the Delta.

But the research has been hotly disputed by the sanitation district and others. So CalFed agreed to host an independent review of existing science. That review, released last week, raises more questions than it answers. But significantly, the four scientists on the panel conclude the subject merits further study as a potentially significant factor in the degradation of Delta.

Read more from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.

Coverage wrap-up: Interior chief says Calif. water system outdated

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 16, 2009 at 8:23 am

From the Fresno Bee:

After the helicopter flyover, Salazar told reporters that California’s massive system of reservoirs, pumps and canals was outdated, built a half century ago and designed for a population half the size of today’s 37.7 million.

He pledged that the federal government was ready to help California overhaul its system and deal with its drought. “It is time to modernize, it is time to make hard choices, and it’s time for the federal government to re-engage in full partnership with the 21st century water system for the state of California,” he said.

The $260 million is part of $1 billion announced by the Bureau of Reclamation for water projects intended to create jobs across the West. California’s share will fund a host of projects, including new wells for farms and cities, temporary water lines to help feed orchards and grape vines year round, rock barriers intended to improve water quality in the delta and fish screens. An additional $135 million will be available to all states for grants for water recycling projects.

“By themselves, these investments cannot and will not solve all the problems we face, but they are a first step,” Salazar said during a news conference at Mather Field, a former Air Force base in the Sacramento suburb of Rancho Cordova.

More from the Fresno Bee by clicking here.

Salazar was noncommittal on the issue of the peripheral canal and more dams, according to Dan Bacher in a commentary posted at IndyBay.org:

“This is the third year of drought and this is a reminder to all of us that it is critical that we have to upgrade California’s aging water infrastructure,” said Schwarzenegger. “So we must do everything we can to have clean water, to have reliable water supply for the future. We must invest in our future and protect our precious resources. And it is critical that we fix the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ecosystem and that we provide water storage, above-the-ground and below-the-ground water storage.”

However, Salazar was very noncommittal and vague when asked by a reporter where he stood on a peripheral canal and more dams. “You know, the reality of it is that there is a set of issues here that we need to work through in a way that recognizes the passion and the history that essentially brings farmers to fight for every single acre-foot of their water and municipalities to fight for their water, for environmentalists to fight for the endangered species issues which are so critical to them,” said Salazar.” So there’s a lot of passion about these issues.”

“But I do believe that there is enough at stake here and this drought that we are in, in California today, may be really the impeller, the impeller with the leadership of the Governor, with the leadership of the General Assembly, the Members of the House of Representatives, some of who are here today, others who are not, like Congressman Miller on the Senate side, or Senator Feinstein and Senator Boxer, to really help us move with a way forward that will address.”

Salazar pointed out what he thought were three fundamental issues:

• First, how we deal with the issues of municipal water supplies so municipalities will have a reliable water supply;
• Secondly, how we address the issues of ecosystem restoration and take care of endangered species;
• Thirdly, how we address the realities of agriculture and the economics that come along with agriculture.

“So those issues are all on the table, they have been on the table for a very long time,” added Salazar. “But frankly, there has not been enough of an impetus, really, to get us to a successful global solution of those issues. And it’s my hope that with the leadership of the people here in California that the Department of Interior can play a helpful role — a helpful role — in helping us craft that plan for the future.”

More from Dan Bacher at IndyBay.org by clicking here.

Michael Gardner of the San Diego Union Tribune covers Salazar’s comments about lifting ESA restrictions, as some Republican legislators have urged:

Afterward, Salazar pledged to work with state officials to develop a uniform approach to solving California’s difficult water issues, particularly how to restore the delta.

Legal actions to protect fish have diverted as much as 40 percent of the water that would normally flow through the delta to agriculture and cities in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. As a result, farms are fallow and laborers idle. That has prompted some Republicans to urge the president to convene a rarely used panel of administration officials – widely dubbed the “God Squad” – that has authority to override the Endangered Species Act and allow water to flow more freely.

“Without question, we have been devastated,” Senate Minority Leader Dennis Hollingsworth said in a letter asking for the administration to intervene. Hollingsworth, R-Temecula, represents part of San Diego’s North County.

Responding to a question, Salazar yesterday said that setting aside safeguards would just be a “temporary fix.”

“That is not a solution here,” he said. “The solution we are looking for has to be comprehensive in nature.”

Salazar said he sympathizes with farmworkers, hundreds of whom are on a four-day march across the dusty Central Valley to draw attention to their plight. He added that renowned farm-labor activist Cesar Chavez “was a friend of mine.”

“I feel in my heart very much for those people who are being affected, the members of the United Farm Workers of America … I know the kind of suffering that they are currently undergoing,” Salazar said. “Our hope is some of the money we have made available today will help.”

Read more from the San Diego Union Tribune by clicking here.

Representative Jim Costa expressed his disappointment in this article from the Merced Sun-Star:

But with double-digit Valley unemployment and federal irrigation deliveries slashed to zero south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, some still insist money won’t be enough. “Today’s announcement is very disappointing in that it does little to help our farmers and farm workers in the next six to twenty-four months, should we continue to experience ongoing dry circumstances,” said Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno.

Nine California lawmakers back legislation to exempt the region’s water projects from the Endangered Species Act. Some have urged Salazar to carve out exemptions on his own. Others have stoked public resentment.

In theory, the pressure could persuade regulators to loosen water restrictions designed to protect species like the delta smelt. But in practice, environmental laws and regulations have frequently proven impervious.

A federal committee dubbed the “God Squad,” which is empowered to override species protections, has done so only once in its 31-year history. Salazar indicated Wednesday he is unlikely to invoke it now. The Endangered Species Act itself has remained intact during the past 16 years of alternating Democratic and Republican rule.

Not least, congressional leaders support key environmental laws as they currently stand. “There are no silver bullets that will solve all of California’s water woes,” Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, declared in a recent written statement. “Suspending the federal Endangered Species Act certainly won’t do it.”

Much, much more on this angle from the Merced Sun-Star by clicking here.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar pledged $260 million in federal stimulus money today to help California address its water shortages and aging infrastructure. The money is part of the $1 billion announced by the Bureau of Reclamation for water projects intended to create jobs across the West.

“In the midst of one of the deepest economic crises in our history, Californians have been saddled with a drought that is putting tens of thousands of people out of work and devastating entire communities,” Salazar said in a statement. “President Obama’s economic recovery plan will not only create jobs on basic water infrastructure projects, but it will help address both the short- and long-term water supply challenges the Golden State is facing.”

California’s share will fund a host of projects, including new groundwater wells, rock barriers intended to improve water quality in the delta, fish screens at Red Bluff Diversion dam and at the Contra Costa canal.

More from the Los Angeles Times by clicking here. (Note: Salazar then had a second press conference where he announced funding for earthquake monitoring, which you can read about in this related article from the Los Angeles Times by clicking here.)

The San Francisco Chronicle gives a rundown of what we’re getting in that $260 million:

The Bay Area will benefit from the federal funds, including $20 million that will pay for fish screens on a canal that sends water from the delta to 550,000 residents of Contra Costa County.

Officials at the Contra Costa Water District, which operates the federally owned canal, said the money will mean all of its current intake canals will have the screens, which prevent fish such as chinook salmon and endangered delta smelt from being sucked into the water system. Installation of the screens will start this summer, said district spokeswoman Jennifer Allen.

“We’ll have an opportunity to move forward on a project that’s beneficial to our customers and that provides statewide benefits … for the fish populations,” Allen said.

Other projects include:

– $40 million to provide emergency drought relief by digging groundwater wells and improve water transfers and exchanges.

– $110 million to build a pumping plant at the Red Bluff Diversion Dam near Redding to protect fish while diverting water to irrigate 150,000 acres of farmland in the west Sacramento Valley.

– $30.8 million to repair water infrastructure at Folsom Dam east of Sacramento.

– $26 million to restore fisheries (salmon and steelhead) at Battle Creek near Redding.

– $4 million to help implement the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, which seeks to restore the delta ecosystem while balancing the needs of 25 million Californians who rely on the delta for water.

More from the San Francisco Chronicle by clicking here.

Board of Supervisors wants to have greater say in future of the Delta

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 16, 2009 at 7:37 am

From the Lodi News-Sentinel:

Concerned about the possibility that Northern California could get stuck with the controversial peripheral canal proposal, the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors adopted a seven-page resolution on Tuesday to let state officials know where they stand.

In the resolution, the Board of Supervisors requests $900 million for water storage and conveyance, groundwater recharge and flood control projects in the Mokelumne, Calaveras and Stanislaus river watersheds. The county wants another $51 million for emergency levee maintenance efforts.

The bigger issue is to increase water supply through groundwater recharge and the construction of new dams, said county Supervisor Larry Ruhstaller, who has been representing the county on Delta water issues this year.

Ruhstaller criticized Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature for trying to fast-track a plan to send Delta water to the southern San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. “There are so many cooks trying to cook this broth,” Ruhstaller said in an interview Wednesday. “God help us. (The state is) trying to cook it on high. They’re not letting it simmer.”

Read more from the Lodi News-Sentinel by clicking here.

Interior Secretary to tour California delta

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 15, 2009 at 8:33 am

From the Associated Press & The Fresno Bee:

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar intends to tour California’s delta, seven weeks after creating a federal drought team to address the state’s water shortage.

Salazar is scheduled to survey the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta on Wednesday by helicopter with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Salazar spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff says the secretary wants to see an overview of California’s drought situation. Before the flight, the secretary will be briefed by the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Fish and Wildlife Service about the state of the delta and the drought.

There will also be a press conference and announcement of stimulus funding for some projects:

Salazar will hold a press conference at noon at Mather Field in Sacramento with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento, and Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Santa Fe Springs. No details on the spending package were available Tuesday. But the money is expected to be targeted at water infrastructure projects managed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

You can find the Fresno Bee article here, and the Sacramento Bee article here.

Dan Bacher has this to say:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will be coming to the California Delta, now in its greatest-ever ecological crisis, on Wednesday, April 15.

Salazar and Schwarzenegger will announce “economic stimulus projects to help water infrastructure in California and elsewhere” as part of the Department of the Interior’s investments under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) after a tour of the “drought stricken” Delta,” according to a statement from the Bureau of Reclamation. Accompanying them will be Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-5th CA) and Congresswoman Grace Napolitano (D-38th CA) .

However, it doesn’t appear like they will be stopping to talk to the locals. This staged press event looks like it may be a pitch by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to push the Secretary to support the building of a peripheral canal and more dams.

More commentary from Dan Bacher by clicking here.

San Joaquin County hopes new framework has role in water legislation

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 15, 2009 at 8:05 am

From Stockton’s Record:

When lawmakers craft California’s rules dealing with water, particularly when it concerns the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, local officials want to make sure legislators know where San Joaquin County stands.

On Tuesday, the county Board of Supervisors approved a set of goals, conditions and actions they want to turn up in a flurry of bills working their way through Sacramento. “Things are changing rapidly, even as we speak,” said Terry Dermody, former San Joaquin County counsel now hired as a water attorney for the county.

The framework reiterates the board’s support that water shipped to 25 million users throughout the state should not bypass the Delta through a peripheral canal or another form of “isolated conveyance.”

But it does not stop there. It also lays out criteria for the creation of a Delta plan, requests $51 million for emergency response and levee repair during a flood, expresses the need for an inspector general of water position, and calls on the state to allow enough scaled-down water storage projects in the state to increase water capacity 5 million acre feet more than the amount of water needs for the Delta.

Read more from Stockton’s Record by clicking here.

Striper run in the Delta has begun, sort of; but do not despair, Southern California fishermen, you can get in on the striper action, too!

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 15, 2009 at 7:59 am

From Stockton’s Record:

As long-time angler Tim O’Shea shouts when hordes of striped bass invade the Delta on the spring migratory spawning run: “It’s show time.”

Since their introduction from the East Coast in the late 1880s, striped bass have been making their traditional move from saltwater into the Delta, and sport anglers have been catching them. This spring is no exception.

The run is on, but not everywhere. Stripers seem to be loaded on the main stem of the Sacramento River, but are scattered and found in fewer numbers on the San Joaquin River side of the Delta.

“There’s nothing much on the San Joaquin River,” said Jay Sorensen, a founder of the California Striped Bass Association. “I did doing some television work on a Peripheral Canal documentary on Saturday and picked up a 21-incher off the mouth of Three Mile Slough on threadfin shad, but that was it.

Read more from the Stockton Record by clicking here.

Hey Southern California! Want to get in on some striper action, but don’t/can’t/wouldn’t drive that far? You can fish for stripers out of the California Aqueduct! Yes, seriously, I am not joking… Check out this site: Fishing the Southern California Aqueduct with Striper Bill Check out the size of those fish! Striper Bill will tell you where you can go and what you’ll need, plus fishing tips and more. What could be more fitting for an area that has concrete-lined rivers anyway?

State must rescue delta from crisis, says Representative Martinez & State Senator Wolk

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 12, 2009 at 7:45 am

From the San Francisco Chronicle, this commentary by Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez and State Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis:

California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the largest estuary on the Pacific Coast of the Americas, is in crisis. Multiple species of fish are in rapid decline. First the delta smelt, and then the steelhead and salmon that once migrated through the estuary by the tens of thousands. Now, even the orcas that feed on the salmon are threatened. The dominoes are falling every day.

This crisis didn’t happen overnight. It came after years of mismanagement by the federal and state water and wildlife agencies that ignored what the science was telling them and resisted new realities about climate change.

Fortunately, change in Washington is giving Californians new opportunities to rescue our delta from the failed policies of the past. With a new administration committed to sustainable energy and environmental policy, it is time to form a new state-federal-local partnership to save the delta.

We need this vital region - its ecosystem and its economy - to thrive. Working together, we can use new tools to meet our clean water needs, overhaul the responsible agencies, and implement a new management plan that is grounded in science - and gets results.

But first we must realize that there are no silver bullets that will solve all of California’s water woes. Suspending the federal Endangered Species Act certainly won’t do it. Nor will sprinting to commit billions of taxpayer dollars to dig a water supply ditch the size of the Panama Canal around the delta.

Read the rest of this commentary by clicking here.

The Peripheral Canal II, storage, and the Delta – the solution is in our Sites

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 8, 2009 at 7:59 am

From the San Jose Examiner, this commentary by Jeff Burgess:

Delta locals are right to be concerned. Their way of life will likely change as the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) is enacted. The Delta ecosystem is so large, so impactful to the entire state, and so damaged by decades of mismanagement that it’s going to take radical, extreme changes to restore – to the extent possible – the habitat.

But Delta locals won’t agree. Their plan is simple, yet completely implausible: self-sufficiency. And it’s best delineated – from their perspective – by a local lawyer and landowner Tom Zuckerman. His idea: communities south of the Delta can be water self-sufficient, and that the best possible course of action is to turn off the pumps that feed the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project.

Talk about a non-starter.

Conservation had to be part of the solution. Both the Governor and water contractors are advancing conservation as a key tenant in the solution to California’s water crisis. However, to go from conservation to regional self-sufficiency is simply too narrow-minded.

We’re all Californians, and California’s water is a statewide resource – regardless of where we as individuals live. In fact, water is a regional and nationwide resource. As an analogy, how would we Northern Californians feel if Oregon and Washington stopped sending cheap electricity from Northwest hydropower projects to us? Would those same folks who were barking “it’s our water” at BDCP scoping meetings applaud our Northwest neighbors if they flipped the electrical export switch to OFF? Would those folks enjoy life by candlelight – embracing energy self-sufficiency?

Read more from the San Jose Examiner - including why the author thinks the Sites Reservoir should be built - by clicking here. Then, for more on the Sites Reservoir, continue on to the next post.

Dan Bacher commentary: American Rivers names Sacramento-San Joaquin River as most endangered; portrays the peripheral canal as a possible alternative to solving the problems of the Delta

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 8, 2009 at 7:31 am

From Dan Bacher:

American Rivers, a Washington-based conservation organization, has named the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system, including the California Delta, as the most endangered river in the U.S.

The group released “America’s Most Endangered Rivers, 2009 Edition” today. The annual report identifies ten rivers facing uncertain futures and provides an opportunity for the public to act on their behalf. “Unless we overhaul the way we manage water supply and flood protection on the Sacramento-San Joaquin, the lives of millions of people and the entire economy of the state of California will continue to be jeopardized,” said Rebecca Wodder, president of American Rivers. “It’s time for 21st century solutions to restore the health of these rivers and protect the health, safety and quality of life of Californians.”

American Rivers called on the California Department of Water Resources, the Bureau of Reclamation and Army Corps of Engineers, and other “stakeholders” to “invest in 21st century sustainable solutions that protect water supply, farms, and cities, while restoring the health of these great rivers and their estuary.”

“The future of California is joined at the hip with the Sacramento-San Joaquin River System,” said UC Davis geologist and American Rivers board member Jeff Mount. “This Most Endangered River listing should be a wake up call to our elected leaders. It’s time to get to work restoring these rivers.”

Mount was one of the authors of last year’s highly controversial PPIC report, partly funded by Bechtel Corporation co-owner Stephen D. Bechtel Jr., that endorsed the peripheral canal as a “solution” to California water supply and Delta ecosystem needs.

However, Steve Rothert of American Rivers emphasized that the organization is not endorsing the peripheral canal. “There is not enough information now available on the potential impacts and benefits of the canal to the Delta ecosystem and its tributaries for us to make an endorsement,” said Rothert.

“Some believe that we should reject the proposal out of hand and believe that it shouldn’t be studied, but we believe it should be studied as one of the options,” Rothert said.

In a policy statement on their website, the group portrays the peripheral canal as a possible alternative to solving the problems of the Delta, the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas. In a careful review that I made of the group’s analysis of the peripheral dam proposal, it appears that the group is very favorable to Schwarzenegger’s and BDCP’s proposal, even though it hasn’t officially endorsed the canal.

“One alternative that has emerged in the BDCP process, as well as others, is the construction of what is known as the ‘peripheral canal,’ which would deliver Sacramento River water along the Delta’s eastern edge to the pumps, circumventing the Delta,” the statement reads. “The canal would protect water exports from the vulnerabilities of levee failure and reduce the alteration of water flows created by the current configuration of the pumps.”

“A more comprehensive and lasting solution would be to wean municipal and agricultural water interests from their reliance on the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers,” the group claims. “The state must also invest significantly in ecosystem restoration projects and alternative water storage initiatives.”

Read more

Coverage wrap-up: San Joaquin, Sacramento rivers top endangered list

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 7, 2009 at 7:54 am

From the Sacramento Bee:

The Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers will be named today as the nation’s most endangered waterways by the environmental group American Rivers. It will be a news flash mainly for the other 49 states.

Many Californians are already well aware of the myriad problems in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and its two main rivers. They’ve lived for several years with water shortages caused by the Delta’s environmental problems, and with the threat of its declining fish populations, aging levees and problem plumbing.

Yet making the No. 1 slot on the group’s 2009 list of the 10 most endangered rivers is a dubious distinction that both environmentalists and water users say will bring renewed urgency to finally solve these problems.

“It can’t hurt,” said Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies. “We keep telling the world this system is in crisis. It’s in crisis for the fish and the water supply. So the more attention we can get … the better off we’re going to be.”

Read more from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.

From the Fresno Bee:

Pressed by population growth and irrigation demands, and imperfectly restrained by outdated levees, the two Central Valley rivers are said to be “on the verge of collapse” in the latest assessment by American Rivers. This marks the first time either river has topped the subjective most-endangered rankings. “We really have to overhaul how we manage this river system,” Amy Kober, communications director for American Rivers, said Monday.

Based in Washington, D.C., American Rivers has been producing the “America’s Most Endangered Rivers” report since 1986. Like similar assessments produced by groups such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation — which publishes an annual “America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places” — the river rankings have neither regulatory nor legislative significance.

No objective criteria explains why the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers are considered more endangered than Georgia’s Flint River or Oregon’s Lower Snake River, which rank No. 2 and No. 3 respectively on the American Rivers’ list.

Rather, the 36-year-old environmental group wants the grim report card to rivet public and political attention. Selected rivers generally face an important policy decision — for instance, proposed dam construction — in the coming year. “This really sheds a spotlight on the problem, and puts pressure on the policymakers to do the right thing,” Kober said.

Read more from the Fresno Bee by clicking here.

From the Contra Costa Times:

The organization chooses its most endangered rivers from nominations made by environmental groups and bases the selections on the value of a river to people and the environment, the level of the threat and pending decisions that could affect it in the next year, Rothert said.

Jerry Johns, deputy director at the Department of Water Resources, argued that the report did not give adequate consideration to statewide efforts to restore the health of the Delta and its two chief tributaries.

Rivers from Pennsylvania to Alaska also made this year’s list, whose top five included Georgia’s Flint River, the Lower Snake River that courses through Idaho, Washington and Oregon, Mattawoman Creek in Maryland and the North Fork of the Flathead River in Montana.

Read more from the Contra Costa Times by clicking here.

From Stockton’s Record:

The findings are no surprise to those who have seen the rivers slowly decline - especially the San Joaquin, which flows through Stockton on its way to meeting the Sacramento in the Delta. “You better believe it’s endangered,” Stockton fisherman Jay Sorensen said Monday. “I wish you could see what the fishing was like in the ’40s and ’50s. … It was fantastic.”

One aspect of today’s report is not likely to please Sorensen and some other Delta advocates. American Rivers says a peripheral canal may be a solution for the rivers, provided that officials commit to greater water conservation, place the Delta ecology on the same level of importance as water supply, and ensure that a system of rules is in place governing how much water can be taken in the canal.

“The concern that American Rivers has expressed and that you will hear from other conservation groups is that the peripheral canal would facilitate a water grab,” said Steve Rothert, American Rivers’ representative in Nevada City. However, he said his group has concluded that a canal showed “more promise” than weaning the state off Delta water altogether.

“It will only work for us if there is a governance structure in place,” Rothert said.

Read more from Stockton’s Record by clicking here.

CALFED Science Program – Independent review of the revised Delta Risk Management Strategy (DRMS) Phase 1 report is now available

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 3, 2009 at 9:36 am

From CALFED:

An Independent Review Panel (IRP), coordinated by the CALFED Science Program, determined that the revised Delta Risk Management Strategy (DRMS) Phase 1 Report can now be used for policy decisions. The IRP feels the DRMS Report is a useful tool to inform policymakers and others on possible resource allocations and strategies for addressing levee failure risks in the Delta—with the following caveats:

1. Caution is advised when interpreting scenarios where a series of models are linked and predictions are made far into the future. Users must view estimates of future consequences as relative indicators of directions of effects, not literal predictions.

2. Ecosystem consequences are not adequately covered in the analysis. In particular, the lack of ecosystem consequences reported does not imply small ecosystem impacts. Rather, some scenarios could result in extremely large ecosystem disturbances that are not quantified by the DRMS modeling framework.

3. Some questions still remain regarding the details of certain analyses. Specific details in certain analyses need to be carefully considered to ensure scientific credibility as Phase I results are used to develop strategies for reducing risk.

“This independent review, and the Department of Water Resources’ commitment to revisions to address the review comments, has resulted in a report of greatly improved quality, credibility, and usability for the entire CALFED community,” said CALFED Lead Scientist Cliff Dahm. The detailed findings of the DRMS review, along with other background materials can be found at (http://www.science.calwater.ca.gov/drms/drms_irp.html)

More transmission lines on the way? San Joaquin County (& the Delta) could see as many as 90 miles of new high-voltage transmission lines

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 29, 2009 at 6:48 am

From Stockton’s Record:

Eighty to 90 miles of new high-voltage transmission lines, strung on 100- to 150-foot-tall towers, could one day be crisscrossing western and southern San Joaquin County to bring additional power - including renewable energy - to Northern California municipal utilities.

Environmental review of the project, which would encompass about 600 miles of new and upgraded electric lines and stations reaching north to Lassen County and south to Turlock, is getting under way with a series of public hearings this month and next.

And, judging from comments received from a few farmers in the San Joaquin Delta, where the power lines might go, planners are sure to hear a wide range of opinions.

Some farmers don’t want them, and others don’t see them as a problem. Tom Zuckerman, a Delta farmer, even sees a benefit in having them:

“It’s a perfect place to build transmission lines, because there are so few people affected by it,” he said. “Those things can create certain types of problems for farming, but if they site things in ways that make some sense, they can usually be done with very little impact to that area.”

Zuckerman is more concerned that long-term planning for the Delta - whose islands are threatened by substandard levees and land subsidence - included proposals for allowing some islands to return to marsh and wetlands.

Already, the region is crisscrossed by transmission lines, vital railroads, highways, gas and oil pipelines, and shipping canals. Building another power project “adds to the need to protect the Delta against flooding,” he said. “So much of our infrastructure out there is so important to the economy, not only to Northern California but to the entire state.”

Read more from The Record by clicking here.

Delta officials to state legislators: Remember us

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 24, 2009 at 6:38 am

From Stockton’s Record:

Officials from five Delta counties asked legislators Monday to remember the people who live and work in the estuary as lawmakers embark on what is expected to be a crucial year for the Delta.

Speaking to a new Delta stewardship committee headed by state Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis, San Joaquin County leaders said locals must figure prominently in whatever plan emerges on how to manage the Delta. “We feel this is possibly historic that the five of us have been able to get together and agree on as much as we have,” San Joaquin County Supervisor Larry Ruhstaller said.

The five-county coalition, which formed in 2008, called for the Delta to be recognized as a place and not merely as a water supply or an ecosystem.

Mike McGowan, Yolo County Supervisor, told legislators: “We are not whining,” he said. “We are trying to tell you that there are things in the Delta that are very near and dear to our hearts. … We do not want you to forget about us.”

Read more from the Record by clicking here.

Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta becomes water war’s front line

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 22, 2009 at 8:24 am

From the Press-Enterprise:

Bumping along a rutted levee road in his pickup, Steve Mello surveys some of the 3,100 acres he and his son farm in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The sinking sun warms the landscape to shades of gold and pink, and Mello’s fingers trace the upward arc of sandhill cranes, geese and egrets abandoning their evening meal in an old corn field. Mello, 53, took over this land from his father, who started as a field hand.

More than a century before, farmers carved the Delta from a swamp. They built earthen levees to protect crops from the rivers’ rising tides, pushed inward with saltwater from nearby San Francisco Bay.

Little did those early settlers know, California’s modern-day struggle for water would zero in on this verdant estuary along Interstate 5, just south of Sacramento. This triangular slice of land, a checkerboard of green and brown fields dotted with quaint farmhouses and serpentine rivers and sloughs, is the cornerstone of the state’s fresh-water system.

More from the Press-Enterprise by clicking here.

More articles, videos, photo galleries, and interactives - Check out all the special coverage from the Press-Enterprise - visit their special webpage by clicking here. Well worth the click through!

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