[env-trinity] Metropolitan Water District Authorizes Purchase of Delta Islands

[Dan Bacher]

http://fishsniffer.com/index.php/2016/03/09/metropolitan-water-district-authorizes-purchase-of-four-delta-islands/

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/3/8/1498357/-Metropolitan-Water-District-Authorizes-Purchase-of-Delta-Islands


Photo of Delta smelt courtesy of Department of Water Resources


Metropolitan Water District Authorizes Purchase of Delta Islands

by Dan Bacher

As Delta smelt and other fish species reach record low population  
levels and fishermen and fisherwomen brace for salmon restrictions  
this season, the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of Southern  
California authorized the purchase of four islands in the San  
Francisco Bay-Delta for an undisclosed sum at a closed session of  
their Board of Directors meeting on the morning of Tuesday, March 8.

The Metropolitan Water District is a “regional wholesaler that  
delivers water,” according to the MWD website: www.mwdh2o.com. MWD,  
Southern California’s most powerful water agency, is one of the  
strongest proponents of Governor Jerry Brown's California Water Fix to  
build the controversial Delta Tunnels. MWD’s 37-member Board of  
Directors represents 26 agencies in Southern California.

“The deal is highly controversial in Northern California, as it would  
put Southern California’s most powerful water agency in control of a  
group of Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta islands that can serve as water  
storage areas or entry points for the proposed $15 billion Delta  
Tunnels projects,” observed Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive  
Director of Restore the Delta.

For months, MWD has been considering the purchase of islands now used  
for farming. “The islands mirror the path of the plan for the Delta  
Tunnels proposal," said Barrigan-Parrilla.

The four island deal includes Bouldin Island, Webb Tract, Holland  
Tract, and Bacon Island, covering approximately 20,369 acres of the  
Delta, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. (http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Southern-California-water-giant-agrees-to-buy-6878573.php 
)

Here is a map of the islands in the path of the Delta Tunnels: http://www.restorethedelta.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/tunnel_overlay9-18-15_S-1.pdf

“It is troubling for the Delta region that Metropolitan Water District  
is going to acquire such a significant portion of Delta land and Delta  
water rights,” said Barrigan-Parrilla. “They have the resources to  
change law and policies statewide to maximize their access to Delta  
water in their favor. They will own two islands that are directly in  
the path of the proposed Delta Tunnels project, eliminating eminent  
domain concerns for that portion of tunnels construction.”

“We believe that having MWD as a neighbor is an existential threat to  
the future of the Delta and Delta communities,” Barrigan-Parrilla  
emphasized.

Barrigan-Parrilla noted that after nine years and a quarter of a  
billion dollars spent on the proposal, Delta Tunnels backers have  
still has not produced a “legally acceptable plan that can pass  
environmental standards.”

On October 30, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)  
issued the California Water Fix Draft Environmental Impact Report a  
failing grade of “Inadequate” due to lack of science about the impacts  
on the Delta ecosystem and endangered species. This report came on the  
heels of critical scientific reviews of the report by the Delta  
Independent Science Board and other panels of scientists.

The “existential threat” to the future of the Delta and its  
communities that this MWD purchase represents is the last thing that  
the Delta needs now, considering that the population of Delta smelt  
has plunged to its lowest level in recorded history, according to the  
California Fish and Wildlife’s Spring Kodiak Survey.

The January trawl survey produced only seven fish, while the February  
survey yielded only just seven fish. The Delta smelt, an indicator  
species that demonstrates the health of the Delta Estuary, was once  
the most abundant fish on the estuary, numbering in the millions. (http://www.capradio.org/articles/2016/03/07/delta-smelt-populations-plummet-2nd-year-in-a-row 
)

As Delta smelt populations near extinction, recreational, tribal and  
commercial salmon fishermen face restrictions this year, due to the  
low abundance estimates for Sacramento and Klamath River Chinook  
salmon. As is the case with the Delta smelt, salmon populations have  
plummeted due to massive water exports out of the Sacramento-San  
Joaquin River system and the Trinity River, the largest tributary of  
the Klamath, along with poor management of northern California  
reservoirs by the state and federal governments and declining water  
quality. ( http://fishsniffer.com/index.php/2016/03/03/sacramento-and-klamath-river-salmon-ocean-abundance-estimates-are-down-in-2016/)

The construction of the Delta Tunnels facilitated by MWD's purchase of  
the Delta islands would hasten the extinction of Sacramento River  
winter Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta and longfin  
smelt, green sturgeon and other species, along with imperiling the  
salmon and steelhead populations of the Klamath and Trinity rivers.
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