[env-trinity] Contra Costa Timwes 1 20 11

[Byron Leydecker]

Panel seeks public input on Delta water issues

New effort to tackle water supply reliability and ecosystem restoration.

 
<mailto:mtaugher at bayareanewsgroup.com?subject=Inside%20Bay%20Area:%20Panel%2
0seeks%20public%20input%20on%20Delta%20water%20issues> By Mike Taugher
Contra Costa Times

Posted: 01/19/2011 04:21:52 PM PST

Updated: 01/20/2011 06:09:39 AM PST


The state has hit the pause button on one fast-moving Delta plan but another
equally speedy one gets under way this week and it could determine the
estuary's future.

The newly formed Delta Stewardship Council, which is to develop a plan to
restore and protect the estuary, scheduled its Bay Area stop Thursday in
Concord.

Its Delta Plan, mandated by 2009 state law, is meant to be a legally
enforceable long-term strategy for a more reliable supply of Delta water to
farms and cities and to restore the Delta's imperiled ecosystem. It is
required to do so in a way that protects Delta communities.

The Stewardship Council plan will touch on how water is used statewide,
flood safety and other issues.

A first draft is due out next month and the plan must be done by the end of
the year. 

That's a highly ambitious schedule, and it is not clear how specific the
plan will get. 

For example, will it embrace tunnels to deliver water south from the
Sacramento River or rule them out? And if it embraces them, will it
recommend a particular size? Will it make determinations of how much water
is available to pump out of the Delta?

In any case, it will have to address the conflict at the heart of the
problems in the Delta -- the conflict between a seemingly unlimited thirst
and a limited, and thanks to global warming, uncertain, water supply, said
the chairman of the council.

"It's going to be fairly sober on the need to live within our means," said
Phil Isenberg, chairman of the Delta Stewardship Council. 

The Delta supplies water for about two-thirds of Californians. Some, like
500,000 Contra Costa residents, get all of their water from it. Others, like
those in Southern California, rely on the Delta for about one-third of their
water.

Two batteries of pumps near Tracy also supply irrigation water to about 2
million acres of San Joaquin Valley farmland.

The meeting in Concord is one of seven up and down the state being held
through Tuesday. The idea is to gather as many ideas as possible from the
public to help shape the plan.

It also will set standards that local governments, including Contra Costa
County and East Contra Costa cities, will have to comply with, especially in
land use. Wetlands restoration plans could reduce property tax revenue if
they take agricultural lands out of production, a sensitive issue for local
governments.

"We keep trying to get our foot in the door -- don't forget the impacts on
local government," said Contra Costa County Supervisor Mary Piepho, whose
district includes portions of the Delta, including Discovery Bay.

The Delta Plan is mandated by state law and is under the guidance of the
newly formed Delta Stewardship Council. 

By contrast, the Bay Delta Conservation Plan is less sweeping in that it is
essentially a strategy to comply with endangered species laws by building a
canal, or tunnels, to move water and to restore wetlands to improve
conditions for fish.

The Bay Delta Conservation Plan is mostly driven by contracting water
agencies that take water out of the Delta, but its steering committee also
includes environmentalists and government biologists.

It is on hold for now as the Jerry Brown administration takes stock and
consultants rush to complete an extensive scientific analysis. 

That analysis is meant to determine whether fish populations will be helped
or harmed by the $12 billion plan to take Sacramento River water through
tunnels beneath the Delta and to restore wetlands. 

Federal biologists have been critical of the work, but the consultants have
been trying to address the criticisms and hope to have a report done this
month or in February.

The big question is whether routing water past the Delta from modern intakes
on the Sacramento River, rather than the Tracy pumps, and restoring wetlands
is enough to justify the amount of water farms and cities south of the Delta
want.

If the answer is no -- that less water is available -- that could lead
agencies to determine that the project does not make financial sense. 

If the Bay Delta Conservation Plan bypasses make sense, the Delta
Stewardship Council must include it -- with a peripheral canal or tunnels
carrying water under the Delta -- in the Delta Plan.

Thursday's meeting is from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Concord Senior Center, 2727
Parkside Circle.

 

 

Byron Leydecker, JcT

Chair, Friends of Trinity River

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810 land

415 519 4810 mobile

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

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

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

 

 

 

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