Thursday, February 21, 2013

News articles and links from February 21, 2013


WATER SUPPLY

Commentary
By Tim Palmer
From SF Chronicle - Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013

Coalition response...The viewpoints of this author are well documented with his past writings. Reasonable individuals approach the issue of raising the New Exchequer Dam spillway at Lake McClure from a factual viewpoint and not one that is influenced by personal opinion or emotion.

Chronicle readers should realize that construction of New Exchequer Dam was completed in 1967. Twenty years later in 1987 the Wild and Scenic River Act encroached on the hydroelectric project boundary on the Merced River. The proposal to raise the spillway, not the dam, by 10 feet would inundate the last 1,800 feet of the 122-mile stretch of the Merced River, far from Yosemite, for two to eight weeks every few years. That's 1/350 of the protected stretch of the river.

In wet years, about every three years, Merced Irrigation District would store an additional 70,000 acre-feet of water that could be carried forward into a dry year. This additional water would be stored and later used to produce food on farms in the region. Even John Muir advocated the use of Sierra waters to irrigate the rich farmland in the Valley.

The pending congressional legislation does not negate the Wild and Scenic River Act. Instead, it provides increased water supplies that will result in multiple benefits.

BAY DELTA CONSERVATION PLAN

Blog
By Tina Swanson
From NRDC - Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013

Coalition response...The author's reference that Delta smelt are "being sucked out of their habitat" by export pumps with no other mention of factors identified by scientists for the cause of the smelt's population decline is disingenuous. The prestigious National Academy of Science, a collection of scientists from around the United States, spent months looking at the cause of species decline in the Delta. Their conclusion was many causes exist that influence the decline and taking action directed at only one factor is doomed to failure. The scientists clearly stated that it would take a multiple-prong approach to resolving population issues of species in the Delta. Those other factors, as they relate to smelt, include predation, water quality, loss of habitat, and more. The Bay Delta Conservation Plan's current proposal to construct twin tunnels through the Delta will relocate the intakes to an area where Delta smelt do not exist.  

WATER SUPPLY

Story
From Modesto Bee - Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013

BAY DELTA CONSERVATION PLAN

Story
From Patterson Irrigator - Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013

Story
From ACWA - Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013

WATER QUALITY

Story
From Chico Enterprise-Record - Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013
From Fresno Bee - Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013
From CBS/47 - Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013
From KGET/17 - Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013        

Story
From Monterey County Herald - Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013

Story
From ACWA - Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013

GROUNDWATER

Story
From Chico Enterprise-Record - Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013

FISHERIES

Story
From Western Farm Press - Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013

MEETINGS

Friday, Feb. 22, 2013, 8 a.m. at the Feather River Tribal Health Auditorium, 2145 Fifth Ave., Oroville.


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