Tuesday, June 18, 2013

News articles and links from June 18, 2013


Press Release

From: Chris Knopp, Delta Stewardship Council

Chris Knopp, Executive Officer of the Delta Stewardship Council (DSC), released the following statement regarding the recent lawsuits filed against the DSC seeking a redo of the Council's recently adopted (May 16) comprehensive management plan for the Delta.

Blogs

From: Alex Breitler, eSanJoaquin.com

By my count, seven lawsuits have been filed targeting the recently approved Delta Plan.

Here are all seven complaints. Happy reading.

From: Jay Lund, Californiawaterblog.com

Much of the western and central Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has sunk deeply below sea level, and it continues to subside as its marsh soils erode from being drained and farmed. At the same time, sea level is rising. The two trends increase these islands' likelihood of flooding from major storms, earthquakes, burrowing rodents and even ship collisions (Lund 2011).

Litigation

From: KTVU.com

Several opposing groups have filed lawsuits against a broad, long-range plan to manage the ailing Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta that was adopted in May.

The four suits, filed over the course of the past month by environmental groups and water users, argue the Delta Plan does not fulfill its two co-equal goals of providing a more reliable water supply for millions of Californians and protecting and restoring the delta ecosystem.

From: The Record Searchlight

Several opposing groups have filed lawsuits against a broad, long-range plan to manage the ailing Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta that was adopted in May.

The four suits, filed over the course of the past month by environmental groups and water users, argue the Delta Plan does not fulfill its two co-equal goals of providing a more reliable water supply for millions of Californians and protecting and restoring the delta ecosystem.

(Coalition Note: Record Searchlight authors include comments from CWIN representative and exclude DSC public statement found in KTVU Story.)

From: KCRA.com, AP
From: News10.net, AP

Environmental and fishing groups have filed a lawsuit against a broad, long-range plan to manage the ailing Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

The lawsuit - announced on Monday - is the fourth lawsuit filed against the Delta Plan over the past month.

From: Matt Weiser, Sacramento Bee
From: Matt Weiser, Modesto Bee

A planning document intended to resolve decades of water conflict in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta was instead greeted by a flood of lawsuits on Monday.

At least seven lawsuits were filed in three counties against what is known as the Delta Plan. The plan, which lays out a long-term strategy for developing and managing the sensitive estuary, is required by 2009 state legislation. That law also created the Delta Stewardship Council, a seven-member appointed commission charged with crafting the vision.

From: Matt Weiser, Sacramento Bee

A plan intended, at least in part, to resolve decades of water conflict in the Delta has instead spawned a flood of lawsuits, with at least five separate suits filed against the plan in recent days.

The Delta Plan, as it is known, was required by 2009 state legislation, which also created the Delta Stewardship Council, the organization that adopted the plan on May 16.

Groundwater

From: Jim Johnson, Santa Cruz Sentinel

State water board members received an earful Tuesday of the fierce debate over California American Water's potential right to pump from the overdrafted Salinas Valley groundwater basin for the Monterey Peninsula water project.

During a special meeting at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, the State Water Resources Control Board heard from Salinas Valley growers, their allies and Peninsula interests as part of a public workshop on the water board staff's draft review of the sticky water rights issue.

From: David Sneed, The Tribune

On the surface, the rural parts of San Luis Obispo County north of the Cuesta Grade are a picture of pastoral idyll.

Rolling hills are dotted with country homes - some modest, some palatial - many with horses and other livestock grazing peacefully nearby. Much of the area is also covered with thousands of acres of vineyards.

From: Julie Lynem, The Tribune

With its miles of vineyard-covered hills, Paso Robles is a wine enthusiast's dream and a boon to the local economy. Wine and its related businesses generate thousands of jobs, from the workers who tend the vines to those who design the wine labels, and it has helped spawn a booming tourism industry.

Although the wine industry's growth over the past 30 years has been one of the key economic drivers for San Luis Obispo County, it has come at a high price. The Paso Robles groundwater basin has suffered declining water levels, and that has fueled grave concern about whether there will be enough water to sustain North County residents and businesses - as well as the wine industry.

From: David Sneed, The Tribune

California is one of only two states in the nation that have not comprehensively regulated their groundwater. The other is Texas.

The California Constitution states and courts have upheld the doctrine that landowners whose property overlies an underground aquifer have the right to pump reasonable amounts of water from that aquifer as long as it is put to a beneficial use, such as irrigating crops or supplying drinking water.

Water Bond

From: Richard Lambros, Sacramento Bee

Re "California needs more water storage to end conflicts, bolster its economy" (Viewpoints, June 14): Sen. Dianne Feinstein's call for capturing more water that flows needlessly into the ocean in wet years in preparation for dry years is right on.

Her push for more water storage in advance of parching conditions reinforces what another statesman, Winston Churchill, once said: "Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning."

Delta 

From: Jeremy Freitas, Sacramento Bee

It's hypocritical for Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta interests to accuse west side farmers of irrigating lands that should of never been irrigated when the majority of the farmland in the delta exists because of levees that were created by farmers.

The west side has some of the most fertile land in the world, and produces some of the highest yielding crops per acre of any land in California. More storage, more conveyance, an end to discharging partially treated sewage into the delta, and reevaluation of the Endangered Species Act would ensure the recovery of this great state.

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