Farm Water News: News articles and links from February 21, 2013

WATER SUPPLY

Merced River protection should be kept

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

Trouble brewing in the marriage of science and policy in the Bay-Delta

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

MID plans early start to irrigation season

Story

From Modesto Bee - Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013

BAY DELTA CONSERVATION PLAN

Farmers fret as water pumping is restricted to protect endangered fish

Story

From Patterson Irrigator - Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013

Coalition members brief Water Commission on portfolio-based alternative to BDCP

Story

From ACWA - Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013

WATER QUALITY