[env-trinity] Environmental Water Caucus Unveils Real-Time Drought Response

[Dan Bacher]




http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/10/1283581/-Environmental-Water- 
Caucus-Unveils-Drought-Response

Environmental Water Caucus Unveils Real-Time Drought Response

by Dan Bacher

As the drought continues, Governor Jerry Brown and other politicians  
continue to promote the Bay Day Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to  
build the peripheral tunnels as the "solution" to solving  
California's water problems.

Others in Congress, such as Representatives David Valadao and Devin  
Nunes and House Majority Leader John Boehner, are using the drought  
as an opportunity to promote legislation that will eviscerate  
protections for Central Valley salmon, in order to ship Delta water  
to corporate agribusiness interests and oil companies, and to build  
more dams throughout the state.

On the other hand, the Environmental Water Caucus, a broad coalition  
of fishing groups, Indian Tribes, conservation groups and  
environmental justice organizations, has released a response to the  
drought pointing to ways that permanently use less water and better  
manage the hundreds of existing dams and reservoirs that already exist.

"With a history of recurring drought in California- 40% of recent  
years have been drought level years -California ought to be well  
prepared for these conditions.  Instead we have another of the usual  
'emergency drought proclamations' from the Governor," said Nick Di  
Croce, Co-Facilitator of the Environmental Water Caucus.
	
Di Croce cited the kinds of actions that are "really needed to get us  
out of this recurring cycle," as recommended by the member  
organizations of the Environmental Water Caucus. These include:

•	Provide funding of mandatory programs for urban and agricultural  
efficiencies and conservation.  This would include measures such as  
incentives to purchase high efficiency toilets, clothes washers and  
dishwashers, storm water capture, urban landscape replacement,  
groundwater cleanup, waste water treatment and recycling, green water  
infrastructure, and higher technology farm irrigation practices and  
equipment.  All of these actions have proven successful in the recent  
past, especially compared to the costs of water from new dams.

•	Develop water pricing guidelines to incentivize reduced use of  
urban and agricultural water with local baselines and steep upward  
price escalation for usage above the baselines.

•	Develop enforceable regional per capita water usage targets based  
on the efficiency and conservation measures adopted.

•	Report and monitor groundwater usage in order to minimize  
groundwater overdraft.  California is the only major state that does  
not monitor or control its groundwater.

•	Retire impaired farmlands in the San Joaquin Valley which now  
pollute our groundwater and rivers and use excessive amounts of  
irrigation water; these lands could be repurposed as solar farms.

•	Develop water pricing incentives for planting crops which directly  
contribute to the nation’s food supply.  As we reach the limits of  
our water supply, we need to question the use of that valuable  
resource in order to ensure the best use of our water.

•	Reduce exports from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta to a  
sustainable level aimed at protecting our water supplies as well as  
fish and habitat.

•	Operate major dams with a larger reserve held back for the 40% of  
low water years that can be anticipated.  The major orientation of  
dam operations should be to protect water quality, drinking water,  
fisheries, and habitats.

•	Reduce water district contract amounts to a more reasonable level  
in keeping with future reduced water supplies and to eliminate the  
current “paper water. ”The state has promised 5-1/2 times more  
water rights than the water that actually exists," said Carolee  
Krieger, Executive Director of the California Water Impact Network (C- 
WIN), a member organization of the Environmental Water Caucus.

•	Restrict the use of water for fracking oil and natural gas.  The  
limitations of our water supply require that we not use that resource  
for a completely new water polluting industry.

•	Assure that adequate water supplies are provided to disadvantaged  
communities and that the water quality for poorer communities meets  
healthy standards.

"These are the kinds of actions that will be a real and permanent  
drought response," emphasized Di Croce.

I agree. There is no need to build the twin tunnels or new dams when  
all of these much better options for restoring the Bay Delta Estuary,  
California rivers and coastal waters while providing water for the  
needs of Californians are available.

Likewise, we must ban the environmentally destructive practice of  
hydraulic fracturing that uses precious water needed for drinking  
water supplies, family farmers and fish at at a time when California  
reels from the impacts of a record drought. We cannot allow one  
single drop of water to be used to expand fracking in California.

The member organizations of the Environmental Water Caucus include  
the AquAlliance, Butte Environmental Council, California Coastkeeper  
Alliance, California Save Our Streams Council, California  
Sportfishing Protection Alliance, California Striped Bass  
Association, California Water Impact Network, Clean Water Action,  
Citizens Water Watch, Desal Response Group, Environmental Justice  
Coalition for Water, Environmental Protection Information Center,  
Earth Law Center, Fish Sniffer Magazine, Foothill Conservancy,  
Friends of the River, Food & Water Watch, Granite Bay Flycasters,  
Institute for Fisheries Resources, The Karuk Tribe, North Coast  
Environmental Center, Northern California Council, Federation of Fly  
Fishers, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations,  
Planning & Conservation League, Restore the Delta, Sacramento River  
Preservation Trust, Sierra Club California, Sierra Nevada Alliance,  
Southern California Watershed Alliance and Winnemem Wintu Tribe.

For more information, go to: www.ewccalifornia.org

Contacts:
Nick Di Croce, Co-Facilitator, Environmental Water Caucus
troutnk at aol.com, 805-688-7813
Conner Everts, Southern California Watershed Alliance
connere at west.net, (310) 804-6615
Eric Wesselman, Executive Director, Friends of the River
eric at friendsoftheriver.org, (510) 775-3797
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