[env-trinity] SF Chronicle November 27

[Byron Leydecker]

Pass law to cut delta water use, panel says

 <mailto:kzito at sfchronicle.com> Kelly Zito, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, November 27, 2008

 

								

Over the next two years, California should pass laws cutting water
consumption by 20 percent, shore up strategic levees, study new reservoirs
and pass Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's $9 billion-plus water bond, according
to a set of preliminary recommendations released Wednesday by a
Cabinet-level panel.

 

 
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*
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/27/BADV14C9FE.DTL&
type=newsbayarea> Open and closed on the holiday 11.27.08 

The Delta Vision Committee, charged with advising policy makers on the
future of the failing Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, said the proposals
are aimed at spurring discussions among committee members and stakeholders
who will gather Dec. 5 in Sacramento.

In addition to authorizing additional funding and bolstering infrastructure,
the committee proposed designating the delta a National Heritage Area,
increasing the state's supply of recycled and desalinated water and cracking
down on water permits violators. Water rights permits ostensibly set the
amount of water that may be diverted from any water source.

The preliminary proposals grew out of a 20-month study by the independent,
governor-appointed Delta Blue Ribbon Task Force. Last month, the task force,
comprised of scientists, policy experts and planners, set two, equal,
over-arching goals for work on the delta: Restoration of the ecosystem and
the creation of a stable water supply for California.

Now, the Delta Vision Committee must decide which nuts-and-bolts steps to
include in its recommendations to the governor and Legislature by Dec. 31.

The delta, a 1,300-square-mile estuary, acts as a giant funnel, delivering
water - mostly from the north - to approximately 25 million Californians,
many of them in Central and Southern California. Over the last several
years, lawmakers, scientists and water users have watched, unnerved, as
water quality has deteriorated and fish populations crashed.

Adding insult to injury, the delta is now embroiled in drought and a legal
fight pitting environmental interests against operators of the federal and
state pumps that send water to cities and farmlands statewide.

Taking steps to mend the delta would aid farmers, cities and wildlife alike.

However, some critics contend the ambitious effort echoes that of CalFed, a
coordinating body formed in the mid-1990s that held many of the same goals
as the Delta Vision group. According to the delta task force's analysis,
lack of leadership and accountability doomed many of CalFed's initiatives.

 

 

Byron Leydecker, JCT

Chair, Friends of Trinity River

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810

415 519 4810 cell

 <mailto:bwl3 at comcast.net> bwl3 at comcast.net

 <mailto:bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org> bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org
(secondary)

 <http://fotr.org> http://fotr.org 

 

 

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