Flow a milestone for thirsty San Joaquin River
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 17, 2010 at 7:16 am
From the Stockton Record:
“The San Joaquin River is flowing from Friant Dam near Fresno to the Delta, a symbolic milestone in a process to restore the normally dry stream.
The fact that it’s news that a river runs from the mountains to the sea says something about the history of the San Joaquin.
The last time this happened was 2006, but only because officials were desperately trying to flush swollen Central Valley streams and prevent a flood.
This is the first time in more than a half-century that the river has flowed uninterrupted in a non-flood year, officials said. The river apparently connected with itself late last week at the confluence of the Merced River.
“Dead and buried rivers don’t usually come back to life. This is an important moment,” said Bill Jennings, head of Stockton-based California Sportfishing Protection Alliance. … “
Read more from the Stockton Record by clicking here.
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Friant Dam releases more water: Phase 2 of San Joaquin River restoration gets under way
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 3, 2010 at 8:12 amFrom the Fresno Bee:
“Federal officials again began additional water releases from Friant Dam this week in the effort to reconnect the San Joaquin River with the Pacific Ocean.
The first releases were in October, but officials stopped the restoration flow in late November to allow scheduled maintenance at the Mendota Dam, 60 miles downstream of Friant Dam.
For decades, sections of the San Joaquin have been dried up downstream of Friant Dam, which was built in the 1940s for irrigation and flood control.
Under a 2006 agreement among farmers, environmentalists and federal officials, the river and long-dead salmon runs will be revived over the next eight years. … “
Read more from the Fresno Bee by clicking here.
Storms make dent in drought
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 28, 2010 at 7:53 amFrom the Valley Voice Newspaper:
“Tulare County – A series of storms that deposited less water in the Valley than expected, did come through with plenty of snowfall, and while no one is saying the three-year dry spell is over, things are certainly looking up.
Rainfall for the week in Visalia amounted to less than 2.5 inches, but the series of six storms left more than five feet of new snow at Farewell Gap at the 9,500-foot elevation above Visalia and nearly four feet of snow at Quaking Aspen at 7,200 feet above Porterville.
When the storms began, there was less than three feet of snow on the ground at both locations, but according to state Department of Water Resources sensors on Tuesday, there were 7.5 feet at Farewell Gap and 6.5 feet at Quaking Aspen.
Vic Hernandez, river operations supervisor, Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District, said this year is certainly looking better than the past few years, but it is still too early to tell if the dry-spell is at an end. … “
Read more from the Valley Voice Newspaper by clicking here.
San Joaquin River flows stop below Mendota Dam
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 21, 2009 at 8:07 amFrom the Fresno Bee:
“The first revival flows of the San Joaquin River have stopped about 30 miles downstream of Mendota Dam, well short of fully refilling the dried riverbed.
Reconnecting the entire river probably won’t happen until next year, but federal officials collected a lot of information from monitoring wells during the seven-week experimental flow that ended Friday.
Officials believe a lot of water was lost in a section that has been mostly dry for the last half-century.
“As we sort out all the data, we’ll have a better feel for how much we lost and how the river reacted,” said Jason Phillips, restoration program manager for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. “But there were no surprises.” … “
Read more from the Fresno Bee by clicking here.
Trip tests waters of revived San Joaquin River
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 13, 2009 at 8:11 amFrom the Fresno Bee:
“FLOATING ON THE SAN JOAQUIN RIVER — My plastic kayak suddenly ran aground in a place where the San Joaquin River has flowed only a few times since the 1950s. But I was only briefly caught on a shallow gravel bar about 40 miles west of Friant Dam.
It was one of many unexpected encounters on an otherwise smooth float that began Wednesday with a monstrous barn owl and ended with an iPhone.
The kayak trip was an up-close peek at a section of the rejuvenated San Joaquin that not many people have boated over the last several decades because it usually is dry.
It will be months, if not years, before the river becomes fully navigable, but the day is coming when it might provide an important new recreation amenity for the Valley. But questions remain unanswered: Who will settle conflicts between power boats and kayakers? Who will provide access points? …”
Read more from the Fresno Bee by clicking here.
Going where the San Joaquin River flows
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 12, 2009 at 6:49 am
From the Fresno Bee:
“The boat launch at Friant Cove is flooded with ankle-deep water, our first indication the San Joaquin River is no longer just a trickle.
(Oops. Someone forgot to plan for that.)
Thanks to court-ordered releases that began Oct. 1, the San Joaquin has been all over the news. It’s unfortunate, though, that most of the coverage centers on water politics instead of what a restored river can mean to those who live here.
Let farmers and environmentalists argue over flows. The rest of us should just go with it.
So that’s precisely what three of us did Monday, sitting in our kayaks as Gov. Schwarzenegger grandstanded for his water bond near Friant Dam.
Besides your humble narrator, the group included Eric Kaai, who manages Fishermen’s Warehouse, and Greg Talbot of Clovis, an overnight supervisor at Target who was operating on no sleep.
“I’ve always wanted to paddle the river but never had the chance to do it,” Talbot said. …”
Read more from the Fresno Bee by clicking here.
San Joaquin River’s new flow faces legal glitch
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 17, 2009 at 9:35 amFrom the Fresno Bee:
” The San Joaquin River’s first pulse of restoration water — moving slowly about 45 miles downstream of Friant Dam — soon may hit a temporary block. Except this barrier is legal, not physical.
So far, the water flow to reconnect the dried river with the Pacific Ocean has gone without a hitch. The first release of water on Oct. 1 went nearly 40 miles in less than three days, passing north of Fresno in a part of the river that still has water.
The flow dropped to a crawl, as expected, beyond Gravelly Ford where water has not flowed regularly for several decades, federal officials said. They estimate it will reach the Mendota Dam late this month.
Owners of the dam, the Central California Irrigation District, want an agreement spelling out the details of operating it as new water flows through.
Water officials, who say talks are going slowly, say they may ask state officials to stop any water releases from Mendota Dam until federal officials complete the agreement discussions. …”
Read more from the Fresno Bee by clicking here.
Barry Nelson: Hope is a thing with fins
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 16, 2009 at 6:58 amFrom Barry Nelson at the NRDC Switchboard blog:
“Two weeks ago, the Bureau of Reclamation turned the valves on Friant Dam and sent a big shot of liquid hope down to the Delta. This hope came in two forms. First, the San Joaquin has suffered for years from excessive water withdrawals. Returning water to 60 miles of dry river bed starts the process of reviving one of California’s great rivers and its salmon fishery. Given that the San Joaquin is one of the major tributaries of the Delta, restoring flows will help this beleaguered ecosystem as well.
But the restoration of flows offers another form of hope for the Delta. For two decades, the future of the San Joaquin River was the subject of a divisive political and legal battle, with NRDC leading the environmental and fishing community. The other side included farmers and cities that rely on San Joaquin River water. Many dismissed restoration as impossible. The debate was not always polite. But two years ago, after quiet and challenging negotiations, peace broke out. …”
Read more of Barry Nelson’s post by clicking here.
Water from Friant hits Gravelly Ford
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 6, 2009 at 7:26 amFrom the Fresno Bee:
“Water released for the San Joaquin River restoration project reached Gravelly Ford on Sunday as expected, officials said Monday.
Water was released 40 miles upstream from Friant Dam on Wednesday to start the project. The goal is to restore an uninterrupted, year-round flow of water to parts of the river that have been mostly dry since the dam was completed in 1944, so that salmon can return.
The water is expected to move more slowly after leaving Gravelly Ford because it will enter drier sections of the riverbed, said Pete Lucero of the Bureau of Reclamation. …”
Read more from the Fresno Bee by clicking here.
Oakland Tribune editorial: New life for an old river; settlement revives the San Joaquin
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 6, 2009 at 7:14 amFrom the Oakland Tribune, this Media News editorial:
” …The water flows that began last Thursday are the beginning of one of the largest river restoration projects in the nation. As is true of all major water policymaking in California, reaching a settlement on the San Joaquin was far from easy.
Success required cooperation and compromise among a number of interested parties, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, Friant water users and the federal government.
The settlement addresses the needs of farmers and other water users as well as fishing and recreational interests, most of which were willing to work toward a solution that is now starting to bring life back to the San Joaquin.
Nearly 20 percent of the water will remain in the river instead of being diverted for agriculture. However, farmers also win because they get greater reliability of minimum water supplies. …”
Read more of this editorial from the Oakland Tribune by clicking here.
California river restoration begins amid debate
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 3, 2009 at 6:33 amFrom the Associated Press:
“When Darrell Imperatrice was a boy, California’s San Joaquin River teemed with so many King salmon his father could catch 40-pound fish using only a pitchfork.
Then the salmon vanished from the icy river for nearly 60 years, after a collosal federal dam built to nurture the croplands below dried up their habitat.
Now, as federal officials try to bring the fish back through a sweeping restoration program of the state’s second-largest river, those who know it best are debating its value and its virtue.
“There were so many salmon back then, you could fish any way you wanted, even dynamite. But when they built that dam, thousands of fish lay dead on the banks,” said Imperatrice, who at age 82 still treasures his father’s fishing gear. “There’s no real restoration that will bring back the river I knew.”
Friends of Imperatrice’s family helped build the dam after the Great Depression, hauling sand up the channel and running cranes to build the 314-foot concrete wall that now holds back the Sierra Nevada snowmelt. …”
Read more from the Associated Press by clicking here.
San Diego could benefit from river restoration
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 3, 2009 at 6:01 amFrom the San Diego Union Tribune:
“Water release from a dam in Northern California is breathing new life into a dry stretch of the San Joaquin River. Reviving the river will improve San Diego’s drinking water too.
The Natural Resources Defense Council has worked to restore historic flows on the San Joaquin River.
For the first time in nearly 60 years water is now being released into the dry riverbed from the Friant Dam near Fresno.
The NRDC says the release is a critical step in restoring California’s failing salmon industry.
Monty Schmitt is the NRDC’s San Joaquin River Restoration Project manager. “You guys get a fair amount of water for drinking water down in Southern California comes from the Delta,” Schmitt says. “Adding fresh new flows of water to the Delta from the San Joaquin is going to contribute to improving water quality.” …”
Read more from KPBS by clicking here.
Friant Dam water release under way
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 2, 2009 at 6:43 am
From the Fresno Bee:
“Several piercing blasts from an air horn Wednesday evening heralded the historic release of water from Millerton Lake for the eventual restoration of the San Joaquin River.
The horn offered a five-minute warning to anyone downstream before a pair of 18-inch valves at the base of Friant Dam were opened at 5:54 p.m., sending jets of water roaring into the river at the rate of 185 cubic feet — or about 1,400 gallons — per second.
The federal Bureau of Reclamation is releasing the water as part of a settlement that Valley irrigation districts, environmentalists and the federal government approved three years ago. The goal: to restore an uninterrupted, year-round flow of water to parts of the river that have been mostly dry since Friant Dam was completed in 1944, so that salmon can return.
The water rushing through the valves is in addition to water already flowing through the Friant Dam powerhouse turbines, bringing total releases to 350 cubic feet per second. That’s what’s required under the terms of the 2006 legal settlement intended to restore a salmon run to the San Joaquin.
Earlier Wednesday, farmers and others unhappy with the river restoration staged a protest at Friant Cove, about two-thirds of a mile downstream from the dam. Calling themselves Families Protecting the Valley, the group fears the restoration efforts will eventually dry up their allocations of water from Millerton Lake and force them to pump more water from an already stressed underground water table. …”
More from the Fresno Bee by clicking here.
The release of water had been delayed throughout the day while the Bureau of Reclamation waited to receive the permit.
[Embedded video deleted due to annoying feature of starting to play automatically.]
Additional coverage:
- San Joaquin river restoration hits a snag, San Francisco Chronicle
- San Joaquin restoration delayed, commentary by Dan Bacher
- Restoration project begins on California river, Associated Press via the San Francisco Chronicle
San Joaquin River restoration hits a snag while Reclamation waits for permit
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 1, 2009 at 7:52 amFrom the Fresno Bee:
“A long-awaited plan to restore the San Joaquin River has hit a snag — the federal Bureau of Reclamation has not received a state permit to release water from Friant Dam.
Initially, the plan was to release the water by noon today, said the bureau’s spokesman, Pete Lucero.
But on Wednesday, the California Water Resource Control Board’s legal counsel was still reviewing the bureau’s water-release permit to determine whether it is legally sound, said William L. Rukeyser, the board’s spokesman.
The board plans to hand over the permit to the bureau, which operates the dam, by 3 p.m. today, Rukeyser said.
If that happens, water releases could begin late this afternoon or Friday, Lucero said. …”
Read more from the Fresno Bee by clicking here.
Salmon restoration begins on San Joaquin: First flow begins today
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 1, 2009 at 7:48 am
From the Valley Voice Newspaper:
“Water was to begin flowing down the San Joaquin River today as part of the settlement to restore the salmon fishery to the channel that has been mostly dry the past 60 years.
To many, the water flow is historic, calling it the beginning of the rebirth of one of the West’s largest rivers. For others, it is the loss of what has become the most volatile resource in California – water.
For nearly two decades, a settlement was hammered out between environmentalists, water and ag interests over how to restore the salmon fishery in the San Joaquin River. Before Friant Dam was built above Fresno, the mighty San Joaquin flowed through the Valley, eventually winding its way to the San Joaquin Delta. Salmon were plentiful as riverboats made their way from Fresno past Firebaugh, a western Fresno County community named after one of those riverboat captains.
However, for the past 60 years much of the river channel has been dry, especially from the Mendota Pool west of Fresno until where the Merced River merges with the San Joaquin, the first of many rivers that eventually merge with the San Joaquin. …”
Read more from the Valley Voice by clicking here.
From the Fresno Bee:
” … In the experimental first phases, officials will test how the river responds to the new flows. Thursday, the rush of water from Friant Dam will more than double to 350 cubic feet per second.
Still, the average person probably won’t notice, said Pete Lucero, spokesman for the federal Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the dam. “Movement of the river will be a little high,” he said. But “it won’t be a dramatic change.”
Indeed, it will take a few days for water to even reach the first dry stretches of the riverbed.
“We expect it will end up somewhere past Gravelly Ford, 30 river miles from Friant] dam,” Lucero said.”
Read more from the Fresno Bee by clicking here.
From the Los Angeles Times:
” … “The real change is going to happen 38 miles downstream when the water gets to Gravelly Ford, where it’s bone dry and the river will slowly creep back into life.”
Except during flooding in exceptionally wet years, that and another stretch of the San Joaquin have been dead for more than half a century.
Scientists will monitor the new flow’s temperature, depth, water quality and path. Does the renewed river stay in its dusty bed or spread onto adjacent cropland? How do the flows deposit sediment that can nourish salmon spawning beds?
Come spring, another, slightly larger test release will be made.
“This is truly amazing given the number of people who once said it would never happen. And now we are a day away,” Schmitt said Wednesday. “
Read more from the Los Angeles Times by clicking here.
Oops! Didn’t mean to live this one out… Coverage of this story from the San Francisco Chronicle – click here.
A river will run through it
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 30, 2009 at 7:38 amFrom Stockton’s Record:
“Thursday something will begin that many thought would never happen: the rebirth of the San Joaquin River.
Small releases of water will be made from Friant Dam north of Fresno. It was construction of that dam that diverted and essentially destroyed the San Joaquin River.
It will take time, work and millions of dollars to bring the river back to life, but the fact that it’s even being attempted is nothing short of a miracle. That miracle was aided by a 2006 court settlement among environmentalists, south Valley farmers and the federal government allowing water flows from Friant.
Nobody really knows what will happen. Nobody knows when – or even if – salmon runs will begin again in the San Joaquin River. Nobody knows if the existing channel can handle the water, if its riverbanks and levees are up to the task. Nobody knows what water in the channel means to the water table under nearby farmlands. Nobody knows the cost, or what will need to be done or how long it will take. …”
Read more from the Record by clicking here.
Monday’s top of the scroll: Too much water? Seepage a concern on the west side
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 28, 2009 at 8:20 amFrom the Merced Sun-Star:
“When the San Joaquin River restoration begins Thursday, farmers and government officials will be watching for something pretty rare on the west side of the Valley — too much water. They’re concerned that in some stretches of the river — where it hasn’t flowed for decades — water could seep into the ground, overfilling aquifers and drowning crops.
The danger of water flowing over the banks is small. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation says it won’t introduce more water than the river channel can handle.
Because the government will improve the water channels as part of the restoration process, long-term flooding dangers actually may lessen as a result of the river project, officials said.
“The amount of water needed for salmon restoration is way below the flood stage,” said Dave Koehler, director of the San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust. …”
Read more from the Merced Sun-Star by clicking here.
Sunday’s top of the scroll: River Revival – Eyes are on rejoining the San Joaquin to the ocean, but reintroduction of Chinook salmon is still years away
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 27, 2009 at 7:47 am
From the Modesto Bee:
“It all starts Thursday with a gentle surge of water to be released from Friant Dam into the San Joaquin River.
A massive, unprecedented and unpredictable river restoration project will begin, reawakening miles of dried riverbed and salmon runs that have been extinct for six decades.
Since the dam east of Fresno was built in the 1940s, long stretches of the river have been dry. Parts have become a gutter for the San Joaquin Valley, collecting muddy seepage, trash and abandoned cars.
Now, in a nine-year effort that could cost up to $1.2 billion, the 350-mile San Joaquin will be reconnected with the Pacific Ocean.
Salmon, which once teemed in its waters, may again migrate from near Fresno to the ocean.
The project begins with test releases to determine how the river will respond. Engineers then will widen the riverbed in some places and dig new channels around obstacles. …”
Read more from the Modesto Bee by clicking here.
From Stockton’s Record:
” … Three hundred and fifty cubic feet per second – enough to fill an average swimming pool in seven seconds but hardly a raging torrent – will mark the first flows on the San Joaquin River since environmentalists, farmers and the federal government reached a trumpeted settlement in 2006, ending nearly two decades of litigation.
The water won’t get far before it’s sucked into the sandy bottom of the river channel, but as the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation ramps up releases from Friant this winter and next spring, water will likely reach portions of the San Joaquin channel south of Merced that have been dry for half a century with the exception of flood years.
The San Joaquin, which passes through Stockton, will become an unbroken stream below Friant. A rebirth and a resurrection, supporters said Friday.
“If you could track the statements and general sentiment about restoring the San Joaquin River, it started off from ‘You’ve got to be dreaming’ to ‘If it does happen, it’ll never really work,’ and now here we are reaching the first major milestone,” said Monty Schmitt, San Joaquin project manager for the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the primary litigants in the 1988 lawsuit.
“It’s a huge accomplishment,” Schmitt said. …”
Read more from Stockton’s Record by clicking here.
Michael Fitzgerald: Dam! This will be a sight for sore eyes
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 27, 2009 at 7:36 amFrom Stockton’s Record, this column by Michael Fitzgerald:
“Something historic – you could say miraculous – will occur Thursday on the San Joaquin River.
A dam operator working in a tunnel deep within Friant Dam outside Fresno will punch buttons on a control panel. Four great valves will rumble open at the dam’s base.
Fresh Sierra water will gush forth from Lake Millerton, thunder into a “stilling basin” and thrash onward into the bed of the parched San Joaquin River.
Water, 98.5 percent of which was diverted at Friant, drying the upper San Joaquin, killing the salmon runs, decimating other fisheries, blighting the river, bleeding the Delta, robbing Stockton of its natural heritage, will flow down the river again.
It is the court-approved settlement of the San Joaquin River restoration lawsuit. …”
Read more from the Stockton Record by clicking here.
First step in restoring the San Joaquin River about to begin
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 25, 2009 at 7:29 amFrom KFSN, Fresno’s Channel 47:
“The first major step in restoring the San Joaquin River is about to get underway. Flows out of Millerton Lake, through Friant Dam will begin October first. Michael Jackson, of the Bureau of Reclamation’s Fresno office says it will start small.
“I don’t know that they will notice anything substantial with this relatively minor increase.”
The initial increase in the flow out of Friant Dam may not be enough to push water into the 60 mile stretch of dry riverbed West of Fresno. But a bigger release in November should do that. Flows will be increased gradually over the next few years to help restore the natural river environment. …”
Read more from KFSN by clicking here.
San Joaquin River restoration proposal gets hearings this week
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 27, 2009 at 6:58 amFrom the Fresno Bee:
The first major fix in the long-awaited San Joaquin River revival will come before the public this week at meetings about rerouting the river around Mendota Pool — a barrier to migrating salmon.
As part of the project, officials also plan to widen more than 10 miles of the existing river channel leading up to the pool, which forms behind Mendota Dam.
The $100 million to $200 million project is considered a linchpin in restoring salmon in the river. The fish need a clear path around Mendota Dam to swim upstream to spawning grounds.
The bypass and channel widening are the first of many projects over the next seven years to re-establish the state’s second-longest river. Limited experimental flows from Friant Dam are scheduled to start Oct. 1.
Read more from the Fresno Bee by clicking here.
Monday’s top of the scroll: San Joaquin soon will begin flowing year-round; Filling, restoration of river due to begin in October
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 15, 2009 at 8:01 am
From the Fresno Bee:
The San Joaquin River will finally flow year-round as a long-awaited restoration begins in October. And officials finally have figured out what to do with a 20-mile stretch of the river that has been choked with brush and unused for decades.
A new environmental document answers years of questions about the bottleneck, northeast of Los Banos. It will simply be bypassed for now using a flood-control channel, but the stretch later may be restored as a functioning part of the river at a multimillion-dollar cost yet to be determined.
That challenge is on hold for further study. But after decades of rancorous debate and legal action, the biggest river restoration in the West will wait no more.
An agreement among government officials, environmentalists and farmers compels officials to fill the river with water starting Oct. 1. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation this month set forth an environmental document with plans for the first flows.
Read more from the Fresno Bee by clicking here. You can read environmental documents and find out much more about the San Joaquin River Restoration project by clicking here.
Picture credit: Photo of the headwaters of the San Joaquin River by flickr photographer jcookfisher.
Daniel Weintraub: River restoration project offers a sprinkling of hope
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 26, 2009 at 7:41 amFrom the Sacramento Bee:
When the chinook salmon come back to the San Joaquin River, it will be a miracle. But the wonder of the river’s restoration won’t be in the biology involved, which is well established. Or the engineering needed to bring the river back to life. Most of what is required has been done before.
It’s the politics that make this project so remarkable.
Few issues in California, or anywhere in the West, cause as much bitter division as water. Yet in the foothills east of Fresno and the flatlands stretching toward the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the warring parties have finally put down their arms and are working together on a project that should benefit the environment, the fishing industry and the local economy. Even the farmers at the heart of it all have signed on to the deal, though many of them still wish they could remain set in their ways.
Thanks to recent changes in federal law and a commitment of federal money to the project, the San Joaquin River restoration, debated for nearly 20 years, is about to begin in earnest. The first water for the newly re-created river will flow through Friant Dam in October, if all goes according to plan, and it will then flow into parts of the river that have been dry for decades. Within a few years, thousands of salmon should be swimming upstream through what is now a parched valley landscape.
Read more from Daniel Weintraub’s column in the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.
Don’t wait until it’s too late for the San Joaquin River, says commentary
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 24, 2009 at 8:04 amFrom the Modesto Bee, this commentary written by Eric Caine, a teacher at Merced College. The first half of the commentary is discussing how angry some people are over the San Joaquin River Restoration, which has been the subject of years and years of litigation. Some people are bitter and angry at the courts, and other people see a different target:
The courts aren’t the only target for people’s wrath. Rep. Devin Nunes of Visalia, himself a politician, blames politicians. Of course it’s usually the politicians from that other party, in this case the Democrats, who are to blame.
Nunes claims “radical greenies” bent on “destroying our economy in the San Joaquin Valley” have taken over the Democratic Party and have engineered a “man-made drought.” The Republican congressman isn’t too clear about how the “greenies” managed to bring about three consecutive years of less than average rainfall, but perhaps the explanation is forthcoming.
It’s easy to forget that water shortages have been a looming threat for decades, and easier still to forget the San Joaquin River and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are near a state of collapse because we have ignored their health.
Deferred maintenance always comes with a steep price, especially in the case of rivers and waterways.
Those calling for delays in beginning the task of restoring our waterways have good reasons for their positions, but they have forgotten that these are the same reasons we’ve always used to postpone the inevitable.
As painful as the fix is now, the consequences of a total collapse would be even worse, and unless we act soon, we’re looking at a total collapse. We should have learned by now that the longer we wait, the worse it gets. Action now is painful; action later may be too late — not just for salmon, but for all who depend on healthy rivers and waterways.
Read the full text of this commentary from the Modesto Bee by clicking here.
Nunes condemns lands bill; says passage eliminates “all hope for construction of Temperance Flat, a new reservoir urgently needed to address the ongoing ground water shortage throughout the San Joaquin Valley”
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 26, 2009 at 10:05 amFrom Congressman Devin Nunes’ website:
Today, Congressman Devin Nunes reacted to passage of the San Joaquin River Settlement legislation.
“Today’s action by Congress represents a major setback for our region. The officials responsible will be remembered as architects of the economic and environmental catastrophe that follows,” said Rep. Nunes.
The San Joaquin River Settlement legislation will force the diversion of 250,000 acre feet of surface water in order to accommodate the creation of a new salmon fishery – a fishery experts believe will not succeed. These diversions come at a time when many communities across the valley are already faced with critically low ground water supplies, water quality issues, as well as ongoing legal challenges threatening further losses.
“The outlook is grim and there is no way to sugar coat the seriousness of the challenge before us. I expect 300,000 acres of farmland to be forced out of production thanks to this backwards approach to restoring the San Joaquin River. Additionally, this legislation will eliminate all hope for construction of Temperance Flat, a new reservoir urgently needed to address the ongoing ground water shortage throughout the San Joaquin Valley,” said Rep. Nunes.
Nunes, the author of legislation in 2003 that authorized a new feasibility study for the construction of Temperance Flat, has long warned Friant and others involved in the San Joaquin River Settlement talks about the unintended consequences of their actions. He provided alternative restoration proposals, as well as options to recover water lost during restoration. None of Nunes’ suggestions were accepted by Friant or the Natural Resources Defense Council.
“It is hard to imagine a more flawed approach than the one Congress has taken today. Greed, dishonesty and the vain hope of relief from lawsuits seemed to be the primary motivation for passage of this deal,” said Rep. Nunes.
For more information on the San Joaquin River Settlement and its impact on the San Joaquin Valley, visit www.nunes.house.gov.
Editorial: Pelosi must stand up for lands bill
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 14, 2009 at 7:20 amFrom the Sacramento Bee, this editorial:
Here’s an urgent task for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: Remove Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., as chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. The need became clear on Wednesday, when Peterson was instrumental in narrowly defeating a landmark public lands bill that was the result of years of bipartisan compromise.
The Senate passed this highly popular bill in January on a 73 to 21 vote. House members voted 244-182 in favor of the bill – two votes short of a needed two-thirds majority.
The problem: Peterson helped hold this noncontroversial bill hostage to amendments being pushed by the National Rifle Association. Specifically, the bipartisan Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (Senate Bill 22) was held up because the NRA wanted to attach an amendment that would create a law allowing concealed, loaded weapons in national parks.
For a committee chairman to allow the narrow agenda of a special interest group to take precedence over a broad-based bill in the national interest is unacceptable – particularly for someone who chairs a committee overseeing many of the nation’s public lands.
Pelosi can’t just let this pass. There have to be consequences.
Read more from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.
House shoots down public lands bill with California projects, including San Joaquin River Restoration
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 11, 2009 at 8:32 pmFrom the Fresno Bee:
Democratic leaders suffered an embarrassing defeat Wednesday as the House failed to pass a public lands bill packed with California projects.
Loaded with provisions restoring the San Joaquin River, preserving Sierra Nevada wilderness and storing Madera County groundwater, the 1,248-page bill secured a solid House majority. The 282-144 vote, though, fell just short of the two-thirds margin needed under the special rules in play.
“They were trying to be too cute by half,” said bill opponent Rep Devin Nunes, R-Visalia. “This was a completely ridiculous process.”
The House vote does not permanently kill the public lands bill. Before it returns, though, the House leaders who miscalculated Wednesday will have to reconsider their tactics.
The leadership’s first tactical decision was to fold 172 different provisions into one giant package. This big-tent approach is typical for public lands legislation, because it diversifies political support.
The provisions range from new Pacific Northwest scenic trails and Everglades National Park additions to designating new Sierra Nevada wilderness in honor of former California congressman John Krebs. By Wednesday morning, though, the bill’s size worked against it.
Read more from the Fresno Bee by clicking here.
San Joaquin River wrangling continues
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 16, 2009 at 6:01 am
From the Fresno Bee:
The revival of the San Joaquin River will officially begin with a shot of fresh water in October — capping decades of courtroom battles and years of delicate negotiations over funding.
But the wrangling over the state’s second-longest river is far from over.
People are only now beginning to discuss other issues, such a proposal by developers in Madera County to pour treated sewage into the river not far from salmon-spawning areas.
San Joaquin River wrangling continuesSome people also are wondering how to keep downstream water users from siphoning the restoration water. And east-side farmers, who will give up irrigation water for the restoration, want authorities to recapture and return some water to farm fields.
Meanwhile, a lot of people are ready to argue about the exact course of the rebuilt river.
Congress soon is expected to give the green light to $88 million in restoration funding for a settlement in the river lawsuit, which was filed nearly 21 years ago to restore salmon to the river. The full restoration price tag could eventually be 10 times higher.
The restoration would make the river a continuous stream again, connecting a fractured, 153-mile stretch from Friant Dam to the mouth of the Merced River. Beyond the Merced the river has remained a flowing stream to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
With the first revival flows coming this fall, local activists say it’s time to consider the river differently.
“It will become a statewide drinking water source. It will become habitat for endangered species and migratory fish,” said Chris Acree, executive director of Fresno-based Revive the San Joaquin. “It will become a new recreational source.”
Read more from the Fresno Bee by clicking here.
Don Curlee commentary on San Joaquin River restoration: “What kind of convoluted reasoning supports spending hundreds of millions in federal tax money and stealing millions of acre feet of agricultural water to restore a river that has been dry for 60 years just so salmon can frolic in the stream?”
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 2, 2009 at 6:32 amFrom the Visalia Times Delta, this commentary:
The fishermen and hunters I know don’t always get their game, but they seem to know where to find it. Oregon and Alaska are popular destinations to find salmon. Makes me wonder why some folks propose spending millions to bring salmon to the fishermen of the San Joaquin Valley.
What kind of convoluted reasoning supports spending hundreds of millions in federal tax money and stealing millions of acre feet of agricultural water to restore a river that has been dry for 60 years just so salmon can frolic in the stream?
This is the scenario presently on the table in a bill before Congress. The version omits the $500 million in federal funding that was proposed originally, putting even more of a ridiculous burden on farmers and private enterprise. At one point the proposal included an even exchange of new water for the amount released down the San Joaquin River. That suggestion also has been withdrawn.
People who discuss the issue point to the decision by federal Judge Oliver Wanger ordering implementation of the plan. The judgment was based on environmental law and precedence. Water purveyors who disburse water for farm use saw the congressional proposal as the least intrusive of several proposals.
The predicament underscores the awesome power that environmentalists and fish worshipers have achieved. They seem to dictate the costliest, most unreasonable actions based on the flimsiest evidence. They’ve been doing it for 50 years or more, and they seem to gain momentum with each decision made by helpless judges and intimidated legislators.
Read more of this commentary from the Visalia Times Delta by clicking here.
Finally, progress on the San Joaquin, says editorial
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 20, 2008 at 3:33 pmFrom the Capital Ag Press, this editorial which praises the recent progress made on the San Joaquin River restoration:
As Marvin Hughes, chairman of the Friant Water Users Authority, put it last week in a Fresno Bee opinion piece, “It should be plain to everyone in the Valley by now that the courts are the worst place to make decisions about San Joaquin Valley water supplies. Without the settlement the litigation would resume and we would have to return to court and put control of our water into the hands of a federal judge whose previous rulings strongly indicate that he will send water down the river to re-establish a salmon fishery regardless of the cost to the Valley.”
The deal Feinstein announced means CVP “exchange contractors” won’t see any decrease in their CVP contract deliveries, and they retain rights to divert from the San Joaquin if the canals dried up.
Some farmers, and rightly so, don’t like that. Judge Wanger, acting on behalf of threatened Delta smelt, has limited CVP and SWP pumping from the Delta for six months out of each year. Add to that the CVP practice of shorting Westside water deliveries during drought years, and you can understand the unease.
It took courage for Feinstein to take the lead on this settlement. She’s come a long way from being mayor of San Francisco. Central Valley farmers can thank her for caring. Also due thanks as the settlement bill moves forward are a bipartisan trio of congressmen: George Radanovich, a Republican, and Democrats Jim Costa and Dennis Cardoza.
Read more from the Capital Ag Press by clicking here.
San Joaquin River restoration bill clogged; Fish and Game Commission votes to cut water deliveries
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 20, 2008 at 3:27 pmFrom the Capital Ag Press:
Delay in the action on the San Joaquin River restoration bill until early 2009 is cutting it close. Interim flows down the river are scheduled to begin next year.
The legislation, authored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., funds the massive restoration project aimed at returning a salmon run on the river. On Monday, Nov. 17, lawmakers in Washington, D.C., decided to postpone action on the large public lands bill that included Feinstein’s bill.
The Senate will take up the bill when the new Congress convenes. Stalled since 2006, the bill provides $88 million in funding, far short of the $250 million in the original legislation. The funding will implement the settlement reached between east side water users and environmental groups in 2006.
Water users who receive San Joaquin River water stored behind Friant Dam agreed to send part of their water down the river channel to restore a salmon fishery. In the settlement, they are promised that the amount of water they lose will be capped, and there will be improvements in the water delivery system to route water back to them.
Recent news of further restrictions for the longfin smelt could have implications for Friant water users:
New restrictions in delta pumping to protect longfin smelt would not directly affect the water deliveries to exchange contractors, Chedester said, but it could impact the Bureau of Reclamation and how it operates the water delivery system. If the bureau can’t deliver water from the delta, they will have to take it from Friant, he said, because the districts hold senior water rights.
Get the full story from the Capital Ag Press by clicking here.
Irrigation contractors agree to support San Joaquin River Restoration Act
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 19, 2008 at 7:52 amFrom the Western Farm Press:
The major water districts in the San Joaquin Valley have thrown their support behind the controversial San Joaquin River Restoration Settlement Act after an agreement was reached to protect their water rights.
The San Luis and Delta Mendota Water Authority, Merced Irrigation District, the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors Authority, the Merced, Turlock, Modesto, Oakdale and South San Joaquin Irrigation Districts, and Westlands Water District announced the River Restoration Act.
An agreement regarding amendments to the act that calls for water contract security for these “third party” water agencies has eliminated their concerns that other amendments of the act that would enable the legislation to move forward under congressional “pay-go” rules could result in water supply reductions for the third party water agencies.
“It was important that the third parties not be impacted by the latest amendments that were proposed by Sen. Feinstein on Sept. 26,” says Dan Nelson, executive director of the San Luis and Delta Mendota Water Authority. “After receiving the proposed amendments, the third parties identified four areas of impact, including protection of water rights, prevention of seepage impacts to lands adjacent to the river, additional fish barriers and no introduction of anadromous fish until mitigation measures are completed.
“The protection of existing water rights and contracts has always been a fundamental issue for the third parties — and one particular group, the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors Water Authority, had to receive the legislative guarantee of no modification of their senior rights as set forth in their Exchange Contract before the legislation moved forward. This legislative guarantee is consistent with the settlement itself which provided the settlement would not have adverse effects on third parties.”
Read more from the Western Farm Press by clicking here.
San Joaquin River plan aims to appease districts; Waterway dispute finally settled after two decades
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 18, 2008 at 6:42 amFrom the Merced Sun-Star:
A federal bill that would restore water flows and return salmon to the San Joaquin River had some local water districts worried. But amendments to the bill were agreed upon Monday, and those amendments should drown the worries of the districts.
The bill will go before the Senate early next year as part of a big land-use package and would make sweeping changes to the San Joaquin River.
Negotiation for some of the districts was done by the Merced law firm of Mason, Robbins, Browning and Godwin. Art Godwin, a lawyer with the firm, said growers downstream of the river were worried about seepage issues. If the river gets more water flow, water would seep into the growers’ land. That could kill whatever is being grown on the acreage.
“We were worried about seepage and also about the cost,” Godwin said. The cost has been estimated to be anywhere from $500 million to more than $1 billion. Godwin said the districts were worried that the money would run out before the restoration was finished.
Read more from the Merced Sun-Star by clicking here.
San Joaquin River restoration bill postponed until 2009
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 17, 2008 at 2:15 pmFrom the McClatchy News Service:
The Senate will postpone until early next year action on a big public lands bill that includes efforts to restore the San Joaquin River, lawmakers decided Monday. While not entirely unexpected, the delay disappoints those who had hoped to resolve the long-simmering river restoration issue sooner rather than later. It also gives supporters and opponents more time to maneuver.
“It’s unfortunate that the Senate could not move on this bill,” said Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, adding that “it is my hope that the House will move quickly” in January.
The ambitious San Joaquin River plan is one of about 150 bills folded into an omnibus public lands package that’s designed to attract widespread political support. Other California elements include a Madera County groundwater bank project and a John Krebs Wilderness designation in the Sierra Nevada.
Lawmakers once spoke of moving the massive legislation during the lame-duck congressional session this week, but that schedule proved too ambitious amid ongoing negotiations over an economic stimulus deal and an auto industry bailout.
“Rather than move forward on the lands package, which is … so important to a lot of senators and certainly a lot of people around the country, we’re better off waiting until we come back,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced early Monday afternoon.
Read more from McClatchy News Service by clicking here.
San Joaquin River restoration bill nears passage
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 12, 2008 at 6:24 amFrom the Fresno Bee:
The San Joaquin River restoration effort, which has had many near-death experiences amid federal budget concerns and farmer worries, now appears poised for congressional approval as early as next week. Seemingly endless rounds of negotiations were capped this week when negotiators resolved the lingering concerns of Los Banos area farmers on the San Joaquin Valley’s west side.
This isn’t the first time negotiators have congratulated themselves, but the latest Capitol Hill progress sounds final. “I think it should satisfy all concerned,” Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Tuesday. “As far as I’m concerned, this is it.”
The negotiations answered the lingering concerns of the “exchange contractors,” who are Los Banos-area farmers irrigating about 200,000 acres on the San Joaquin Valley’s west side. Exchange contractors agreed to give up their historic share of San Joaquin River water in exchange for delta water via the Delta-Mendota Canal, but they reserved the right to reclaim their river allocation.
With these farmers mollified about future water supplies, the stage is set for the river restoration bill to be passed as part of an omnibus public lands package.
The public lands bill contains upward of 140 separate parks, wilderness and environmental provisions. Feinstein said “the odds are even” the Senate will take up the package during a brief lame-duck session next week; if it doesn’t, Congress will consider the legislation next year.
“I think this thing is ready to go,” Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, said Tuesday.
Read more from the Fresno Bee by clicking here.
An editorial by the Fresno Bee says the deal is the best agricultural interests could get, and is better than any alternatives:
The settlement requires federal approval and funding. The money was the hang-up over the past two years, as many in Congress balked over the $250 million price tag.
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who sponsored the Senate version of the legislation and worked to sort out the knotty details, rewrote the bill to provide $88 million in guaranteed river restoration funding. That helped break the logjam, but it means the balance of restoration funds must be sought in future years.
This has been a difficult two-decade passage. It might have saved everyone a great deal of costly litigation if Friant Dam hadn’t been built and water diverted from the river. But then a multibillion-dollar agricultural economy wouldn’t have grown up and down the east side of the Valley. Dozens of small communities rely on the farms that are supplied by water from behind Friant Dam, and there are plenty of anxieties about what will happen if that water is restored to the river.
In this case the law was clearly on the side of the environmentalists, and there was every indication that the courts would have ordered even more water restored to the river if the case had proceeded. It is galling to many in agriculture, but the settlement is almost certainly the best deal they could get.
Read the rest of this editorial from the Fresno Bee by clicking here.
San Joaquin County farmers and others have generally supported the settlement, hoping additional flows in the San Joaquin River would boost water quality in the Delta:
However, it’s not clear how much extra water will actually reach the area, Manteca farmer Alex Hildebrand said. The portion of the river covered by the settlement extends north only as far as the mouth of the Merced River; any extra water may be pumped back upstream to be used again by farmers, he said.
More from Stockton’s Record by clicking here.
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