[env-trinity] L A Times Editorial - Westlands Implications

Tue May 29 10:22:52 PDT 2007

Opinion: Preserving the imperiled California Delta; The fragile Northern
California ecosystem from which L.A. gets much of its water can't wait very
long for a plan to fix it

Los Angeles Times - 5/26/07

By Bill Stall, contributing editor to the Opinion page

DELTA AND DAWN, the wayward humpback whales stranded near Rio Vista, have
taught thousands about the location of the California Delta, where the
Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers meet and flow toward San Francisco Bay.
It's about time: An estimated 23 million of us receive some or most of our
water from the delta.

And the delta is in trouble. Has been for at least 30 years. But this year,
the juvenile population of the endangered delta smelt - an "indicator"
species - dropped by 93%, a plunge toward extinction that could signal
imminent disaster. Arresting that disaster could require a cut in water
delivered to you and me. 

The delta is a 700-square-mile maze of river channels, sloughs, marshes and
mostly artificial islands protected by a tenuous levee system. Two giant
water-delivery systems - the State Water Project and the federal Central
Valley Project - draw their water from the delta and send it southward in
canals to the farms of the San Joaquin Valley and homes and businesses in
Southern California.

The problem is that extensive pumping over the last half a century has
disrupted the environment of the delta. Fish sometimes end up in the
machinery, and the pumping is so strong that it sometimes reverses the
natural river-to-delta-to-bay water flow. Temperature, depth and salinity
are affected. On top of that, increased irrigation using pumped delta water
means increased irrigation runoff, which has reduced the overall quality of
delta water. 

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Delta Vision task force recognizes the problem,
and it is supposed to produce a comprehensive solution to a host of delta
problems by the end of 2008. Good luck. 

Efforts to address the situation go back to the 1960s and the original State
Water Project, which was supposed to deliver 4.2 million acre-feet of water
a year to Kern County farms and urban Southern California (one acre-foot
meets the needs of two families for a year). But the project was only
half-built, and it delivers only half the water that was promised. The
biggest missing piece is the "peripheral canal," meant to bypass the delta
and deliver Sacramento River water directly to the pumps and the aqueduct,
while still injecting enough fresh water downstream to maintain the
ecosystem.

In 1982, however, California voters voted down the peripheral canal because
northerners feared a Southern California water grab. So the delta struggled
along for another 20 years as the demand for water increased.

Next came Cal-Fed, a consortium of state and federal agencies and a score of
"stakeholders" (environmental groups, commercial fishermen, urban water
users, irrigators, etc.) that attempted to negotiate an end to the state
water wars. The process had a warm and fuzzy feel, and in 2001, we got a
multiyear, $13-billion plan for more infrastructure, to be paid for by state
and federal funds. 

Turns out, however, that consensus works best when it comes to "protecting
the environment" and "serving the needs of people." This one fell apart over
details like where to spend the money first and who would pay which bill.
Each stakeholder wanted to come out ahead, but there's not enough water left
in California for "win-win" solutions. It didn't help that the federal
government never came up with its share of the cash.

The delta doesn't have another 30 years for more warm and fuzzy
negotiations. The state - beginning with Schwarzenegger's task force - must
make tough decisions now. 

Once and for all, it has to build a canal or another conveyance to send
Sacramento River water to the aqueduct without destroying the delta. This
time, the design must allay northern fears of a water grab. And, like new
reservoirs, dams and levees (which the system also needs), the project
should be paid for by those who will benefit from it. That means irrigation
districts and urban water districts must raise money and pass the costs to
their customers.

The state should immediately buy up thousands of acres of irrigated farmland
on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and give it a rest. That land is
laden with poisonous selenium; the more it's irrigated (with delta water),
the more the tainted runoff pollutes the environment. 

And finally, California needs a tough water czar - a real enforcer with the
authority to implement a broad plan and let the experts work out the
details. The Times once proposed Bruce Babbitt, who worked water wonders as
governor of Arizona and secretary of the Interior - and bent arms during the
Cal-Fed negotiations - as the ideal candidate. Assuming he's available, it's
still a good idea. 

Byron Leydecker

Friends of Trinity River, Chair

California Trout, Inc., Advisor

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810 

415 519 4810 cell

bwl3 at comcast.net

bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org

http://www.fotr.org

http://www.caltrout.org

 <http://www.fotr.org>  

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