Wednesday, October 31, 2012

News articles and links from October 31, 2012


WATER SUPPLY

Blog
From Bibberche - Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012

DELTA

Story
From Stockton Record - Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012

Blog
By Ian Boisvert
From BlueSky Mediation & Law - Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012

FISHERIES

Story
From Indian Country Today - Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012

MEETINGS

Story
From Western Farm Press - Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

News articles and links from October 30, 2012


Fisheries

Blog
By Barry Nelson
From NRDC - Monday, Oct. 29, 2012

Coalition response...This author and others continue to point toward the flow of water through the Delta as the deciding factor in improving fish populations but they neglect to address issues that today's scientists are increasingly pointing toward as the cause of dwindling fish populations. Scientists from the Pacific Marine Management Council and the National Marine Fisheries Service have identified poor ocean conditions---warm temperatures and reduced food supply---as the leading cause of the salmon population decline. Results of these studies have been published in the last two years, which are much more current that any studies used to approve legislation 20 years ago.

The deadly impact of predatory fish such as striped bass on juvenile salmon is also absent in this article. In the past 20 years, which coincides with the passage of CVPIA, studies by the California Department of Fish and Game and UC Davis have shown a strong increasing trend in the abundance of warm water predatory fish in the Delta, including largemouth bass. These predatory fish create a "blood bath" for juvenile salmon as they make their way through the Delta to the ocean, according to fishing guide J.D. Ritchey in an article he wrote for Outdoor News --- http://farmwater.org/salmonslaughter.pdf.  

Consider also the refusal of the fishing industry, both commercial and recreational, to embrace proposals that would lead to the catch and release of wild salmon, thus protecting their populations. These groups have rejected suggestions that only hatchery salmon with clipped fins be caught and kept.

Furthermore, the four-year-old study the author refers to in citing that Reclamation "does not dedicate and manage 800 kaf of water from headwaters storage through the Delta" is another example of only providing part of the information. Discretionary authority is granted to Reclamation in its treatment of the 800 kaf of B2 water as upstream actions (increased releases for fish) and Delta actions (export cuts for fish). What the author fails to mention is that Reclamation routinely exceeds its B2 water budget --- http://farmwater.org/B2Budget.pdf.  

Continuing to claim that flows alone are the answer to the declining numbers of salmon fails to fully present the facts that scientists and others are dealing with in an effort to provide Delta ecosystem restoration and establishing a reliable water supply.

WATER SUPPLY

Blog
By Darrell Gentry
From ACWA - Monday, Oct. 29, 2012

DELTA

Story
From Stockton Record - Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012

Story
From California Economic Summit - Monday, Oct. 29, 2012

Monday, October 29, 2012

News articles and links from October 29, 2012


Rivers

Column
By Dan Bacher
From Marysville Appeal-Democrat - Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012

Coalition response...Farmers were assured that water they gave up for the restoration program would be recaptured, recirculated and reused to continue to produce food on the family farms it once irrigated. They are still waiting for those plans to be developed as envisioned in the ROD. In the meantime, ongoing loss of irrigation water will result in consumer uncertainty at the grocery store on the quality, abundance and cost of fresh fruit and vegetables and the potential loss of on-farm jobs.

Seepage that occurred from the initial experimental restoration flows that flooded farmland adjacent to the river was no surprise to farmers in the area. They warned that the planned process of increasing the river flows would threaten their crops and they were right. The pending lawsuit seeks to have the flows adjusted to protect private property until such time as necessary improvements are made to the river and levees, as required in the federal legislation implementing the Settlement.

WATER SUPPLY

Story
From SF Chronicle - Monday, Oct. 29, 2012

Story
From Western Farm Press - Monday, Oct. 29, 2012

Announcement
From Chico Enterprise-Record - Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012

Blog
By Jeanne
From Jolly Tomato - Friday, Oct. 26, 2012

Press release
From USBR - Friday, Oct. 26, 2012

DELTA

Report
From Delta RMP

Friday, October 26, 2012

News articles and links from October 26, 2012


WATER SUPPLY

Story
From YubaNet - Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012

DELTA

Blog
By Nancy Vogel
From BDCP - Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012

COURTS

Story
From Scoop San Diego - Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012

Thursday, October 25, 2012

News articles and links from October 25, 2012


Water supply

Blog
By Peyton Fleming
From Think Progress - Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012

Coalition response..."Reality-based water pricing" might work well in those situations where there is the option of passing along the higher costs to the ultimate consumer, such as in our cities. Residents have little choice but to pay the higher costs. But agriculture presents a different situation. Farmers cannot pass reality-based water costs along to consumers, who ultimately benefit from water used to grow crops. California farmers are already paying the costs to obtain water to grow a food supply that we all have come to rely upon. Increasing water costs to farmers according to a reality-based formula can only mean farmers going out of business and losing their farms while consumers face the potential of a reduced food supply and increased costs. It doesn't make sense.

WATER SUPPLY

TV news
From KGET/17 - Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012

Story
From Western Farm Press - Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012

Editorial
From Modesto Bee - Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012

DELTA

Blog
By Alex Breitler
From esanjoaquin - Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012

Blog
By Jeff Conklin
From Delta Dialogues - Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012

Story
From Central Valley Business Times - Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012

Press release
From Rep. Garamendi - Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012

Study

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

News articles and links from October 24, 2012


DELTA

Press release
From Aquafornia - Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012

FISHERIES

Story
From Contra Costa Times - Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2012

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

News articles and links from October 23, 2012


WATER SUPPLY

Story
From CBS/AP - Monday, Oct. 22, 2012

Blog

DELTA

Story
From Sacramento Bee - Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2012

COURTS

Story
From Riverside Press-Enterprise - Monday, Oct. 22, 2012

Monday, October 22, 2012

News articles and links from October 22, 2012


Water supply

Letter
By Jeffrey Michael
From San Bernardino Sun - Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012

Coalition response...Jeff Michael is a university professor of economics and he should know better than to make a statement that farmers "are already decades behind paying federal taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in interest-free loans." Those payments are not "decades behind" and instead are being made according to contracts; just check with State Water Project (SWP) and Central Valley Project (CVP)officials.

The only "interest-free" aspect of the payment schedule is the action taken by Congress to waive the interest fee on water delivered to farmers within the CVP. These farmers are paying all other costs---construction, operation and maintenance. They are paying for the water they receive. Farmers within the SWP pay all costs, even for water not received during times of drought or delivery restrictions caused by environmental rulings.

Groundwater

Story
From EarthSky - Monday, Oct. 22, 2012

Coalition response...Researcher Bridget Scanlon does a good job in describing the global picture of groundwater and its use. She singles out California water management practices as examples of how other areas could emulate. Her suggestion to "reduce irrigated agriculture and convert irrigated agriculture to rain-fed agriculture" would have dramatic effects on food production. Consumers need to know the enormous contribution irrigated agriculture plays in providing their food supply. Reverting to a less efficient form of food production would raise food prices and reduce the choices consumers have at the store.

WATER SUPPLY

Blog
By Matt Alto
From AccuWeather - Monday, Oct. 22, 2012

Story
From Modesto Bee - Monday, Oct. 22, 2012

Radio
From National Public Radio - Friday, Oct. 19, 2012

Blog
By Wayne Lusvardi
From Cal Watchdog - Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012

Story
From Modesto Bee - Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012

Editorial
From Modesto Bee - Friday, Oct. 19, 2012

DELTA

Blog
By Jeff Michael
From Valley Economy - Friday, Oct. 19, 2012

Friday, October 19, 2012

News articles and links from October 19, 2012


Delta

(This article was previously published in the LA Times.)
Story
From SF Chronicle - Friday, Oct. 19, 2012

Coalition response...Opposition to planned water system upgrades and ecosystem improvements in the Delta puts the water supply for more than 25 million Californians at risk.  It also threatens huge swaths of farmland in the San Joaquin Valley that is the source for much of California's fruit and vegetable crops during certain times of the year.
   
Years of water uncertainty caused by drought and environmental restrictions, as well as a doubling of California's population from a time when much of our existing water system was built, tells us that the time is right to invest in our future.  As President John F. Kennedy said at the groundbreaking for San Luis Reservoir near Los Banos in 1962,  "Nothing could be more disastrous for this country than for the citizens of one part of the state to feel that everything they have is theirs and that it should not be shared with the other citizens of the state.  That is the way to stand still."

Water rights for people in the Delta, or anywhere else for that matter, cannot be impacted by new projects.  That's the law.  Standing in the way of others who want to invest in tomorrow's more efficient water supply system is contrary to what Kennedy told us 50 years ago.  And that surely is the way to stand still.

WATER SUPPLY

Story
From Western Farm Press - Friday, Oct. 19, 2012

Story
From NOAA - Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012

DELTA

Radio
From KQED - Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012

Blog
By Jeff Michael
From Valley Economy - Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012

Press release
From Rep. Garamendi - Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012 

Blog

CONGRESS

Story
From ACWA - Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012