Bay Delta
Conservation Plan
From: Dennis McEwan,
Sacramento Bee
"Denny, you and your
environmentalist buddies better vote for this thing, 'cause it's the best deal
you're ever going to get."
Those words were spoken by my
father in 1982, extolling me to vote "yes" on Proposition 9, the
referendum on the peripheral canal. He was a 30-plus-year, veteran engineer
with the California Department of Water Resources, and I was a 20-something
idealistic college student majoring in conservation biology. As such, we
couldn't have been further apart on water issues in this state.
Coalition response... It's refreshing to see a balanced article about the problems in the
Delta and how solutions need to address multiple stressors, such as inadequate
fish screens, predators, water quality and the loss of habitat. Clearly there's
a problem when, "...only 18.5 percent of young Chinook salmon that were
drawn into the State Water Project fish facility survived the process. Most are
eaten by predators, and others succumb to the jostling of holding tanks and
hauling trucks."
It's time to move past the
position that the Delta is OK the way it is. It's not. And the requirement to
provide adequate and dependable water supplies that drive much of California's
economy isn't going away. As the author says, "...the status quo is death
to Delta ecology."
Water Bond
From: Damon Arthur, Redding
Record-Searchlight
North State residents will get
the chance to comment on a proposed statewide water bond when the state
Assembly holds a hearing in Redding next week.
The Assembly Committee on Water,
Parks and Wildlife is holding a hearing on a proposed $6.5 billion water bond
at the Shasta County Board of Supervisors chambers on Wednesday.
Reservoirs
From: Matt Weiser, Sacramento
Bee
A recent federal inspection has
concluded that Oroville Dam, the tallest dam in the nation, needs a
comprehensive earthquake safety assessment.
The dam on the Feather River is
the primary storage facility for the State Water Project, the state-owned
plumbing system that provides drinking water to more than 23million people
across California. Failure of the dam could inundate not only the city of
Oroville but numerous other communities downstream, including Yuba City,
Marysville and even West Sacramento.
Groundwater
From: Phil Dirkx, San Luis
Obispo Tribune
The Paso Robles groundwater basin
is in more trouble. You've probably heard that we've been pumping water from
that basin faster than nature replaces it. We've also been having a drought.
And now the basin has attracted lawyers and lawsuits.
The story was in Wednesday's
Tribune. The headline said, "Two lawsuits filed to stop emergency water
measure." The lawsuits seek to prevent our county supervisors from
regulating the pumping of water from the basin.
No comments:
Post a Comment