Farm Water News: News articles and links from February 19, 2013

BAY DELTA CONSERVATION PLAN

Shore up the state's imperiled water supply

Editorial

From Riverside Press-Enterprise - Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013

Coalition response...This editorial correctly explains the importance of moving forward with a two-tunnel conveyance project in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. This project would separate a water supply that goes to 25 million Californians and several million acres of farmland from ecological concerns in the Delta, including the Delta smelt.

Farmers, families and businesses are still losing water because of the conflict in protecting the smelt. The loss of more than 775,000 acre-feet of water as of Feb. 13, which is more than 250 billion gallons, could have grown nearly a billion dollars in fresh fruits and vegetables or served the household needs of 4.5 million people for a full year. Instead, it went unused to the ocean with no proof of any benefit to the ecosystem. More information of the economic impacts of this lost water can be found at farmwater.org/watersupplycutshurtusall.pdf.

Critics of the two-tunnel conveyance project argue that a single tunnel would do the job for California at a much lower price. A single tunnel would cut San Joaquin Valley farmers' water supplies by a third, leaving roughly 750,000 acres of farmland with no water supply in a normal year. Locally-grown food production would decline, leaving consumers to rely on more imported products to feed their families. Is that the California we want?

WATER SUPPLY

Higher Shasta Dam would harm wild river

Story

From Sacramento Bee - Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013

Coalition response...A higher Shasta Dam was part of the original design when construction began in 1937 but war-related decisions capped the height at 602 feet. Studies have been ongoing for years regarding the potential raising of the dam and the current proposal of increasing water storage by adding 18 ½ feet to the dam is now being discussed.

Part of this discussion includes the benefit to Chinook salmon in dry or critical years because increased storage increases the cold water supply for fish that depend on it. More gravel augmentation for salmon in the upper Sacramento River is also included in the proposal and their survival rate would increase as a result of improved water management flexibility.

WATER SUPPLY

IID conservation measures may improve worker safety, modernize the job

Story

From Imperial Valley Press - Saturday, Feb. 16, 2013

Another water deal is not as simple as it looks

Column

By Lois Henry

From Bakersfield Californian - Saturday, Feb. 16, 2013

BAY DELTA CONSERVATION PLAN

BDCP: Based on science, environmental research, and economic realities

Blog

By Jerry Meral