Dams
From: Curtis Knight, CalTrout
When Shasta Dam was finally
completed, it was an engineering wonder - one that provided flood control to
the Central Valley, power to its communities, and water to the Central Valley
Project's irrigators.
Unfortunately, the effects
weren't all positive.
Coalition response...While the author provides an in-depth look at efforts to assist salmon,
his comment of "flows in the Sacramento River below the dam were managed
for water deliveries, not fish." does not ring true for current
operations. Changes to the release of Shasta water have been governed by
regulations designed to help salmon. The result has been a closely monitored
release of cold water made possible by the Temperature Control Device (TCD)
that was completed in 1997.
The TCD enables colder water from
deeper levels in the reservoir to be released for salmon while maintaining
water commitments and continuing power generation. Other efforts to help salmon
have included new spawning areas along the Sacramento River.
The author is correct in pointing
out the benefits of flood control and power generation resulting from the
construction of Shasta Dam. The Central Valley farmers use the water from
Shasta to grow a food supply that is unmatched anywhere in the world. These
benefits---flood control, power and a safe and healthy supply of food---are
enjoyed by all.
Bay Delta
Conservation Plan
From: Wade Graham, Los Angeles
Magazine
People have always worried about
water in California. We've been fighting over it for so long, the conflict
itself has become part of our landscape. We've seen farmers suing miners,
fishermen suing farmers, cities suing cities, and other western states suing
California-along with one another-to control a precious resource that can seem
frustratingly fickle. Wet years marked by torrential rain, mudslides, and
floods are followed by shriveling droughts. All the while, enormous rivers flow
in one end of the state, far from the enormous thirsts elsewhere.
Coalition response...The information in this article on the amount of farmland irrigated with
gravity (flood, furrow, etc.) irrigation is puzzling. In fact, more than $2.1
billion has been invested in upgrading the irrigation systems on more than 1.8
million acres since 2003, which shifts a significant amount of farmland from what
the author considers "wasteful flood irrigation." It would be helpful
for the author to provide a source for his information, which doesn't seem to
match current data.
Water Supply
From: Antoine Abou-Diwan,
Imperial Valley Press
Imperial Irrigation District
officials fired back at two water agencies challenging how IID uses its
entitlement of Colorado River water, characterizing their statements as
"political rhetoric" and threats on the district's right to use water
within its territory.
In letters to Southern Nevada
Water Authority and Metropolitan Water District dated Sept. 12, IID General
Manager Kevin Kelley rejected both agencies' claims that the use of Colorado
River water to help maintain habitat and shoreline on the Salton Sea is not
reasonable and beneficial. Kelley also rejected MWD's assertion that IID's
water rights are "limited to potable and irrigation purposes."
From: Bob Moffitt, Capital
Public Radio
With an eye on a possible third
consecutive year of low rain totals, the California Department of Water
Resources is reducing the amount of water released from Lake Oroville into the
Feather River.
The flows were at 5500 cubic-feet-per-second
last week and will be one-third of that on Friday.
Courts
From: Dave Kranz, Ag Alert
A disputed fee charged to California
water rights holders is invalid, a judge says in a proposed decision, because
insufficient connection exists between the amount charged, the benefits
received and the burdens imposed by those who pay the bill. In his proposed
decision, Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Raymond Cadei said the State
Water Resources Control Board should not "apply or enforce" the fee,
which it has imposed since the 2003-04 fiscal year.
Delta
From: Maven, Maven's Notebook
Science in the Delta is entering
a new era. The requirements of the Delta Reform Act, the recommendations
of the National Research Council, and recent court rulings have propelled
California forward on a new path of collaborative approaches to management
actions in the Delta. Now more than ever, decision makers will need
effective, timely, and relevant science support to be able to effectively address
difficult policy and management issues.
Fisheries
From: Dennis Wyatt, Oakdale
Leader
Delta sport fishing with its
flashy bass tournaments and purses as high as $100,000 is threatening water
supplies for South San Joaquin County farms and cities as well as elsewhere in
California.
"The California Department
of Fish and Game Commission goes to great lengths to protect it," South
San Joaquin Irrigation District General Manager Jeff Shields said of the sport
fishing industry.
Groundwater
From: J.N. Sbranti, Modesto
Bee
Groundwater and geographic data
garnered from thousands of Stanislaus County wells are being used to create a
computerized 3-D mapping program that may help predict the impact of future
pumping on the region's water supply.
The $1.25million U.S. Geologic
Survey study won't be finished for another year, but it's expected to provide a
high-tech tool for simulating and analyzing groundwater flows.
Bay Delta
Conservation Plan
From: Editorial Staff, Santa
Maria Times
It's gratifying when our
editorials attract the attention of critics, and especially when they respond
to the opinions we express.
California's state government is
considering a $25-billion project called the Bay Delta Conservation Plan. The
governor and many lawmakers are solidly behind it, in part because of pressure
from the city of Sacramento and landowners and growers in the San Joaquin
Valley.
From: Alex Breitler,
eSanJoaquin
The governor's twin tunnels plan
is supposed to create 42,258 jobs in San Joaquin County alone during 10 years
of construction. That's more than Sacramento County (22,572 jobs), even though
the bulk of construction will occur there, in the north Delta.
Why is that?
According to David Sunding's
economic benefits analysis, only 3,491 of the San Joaquin jobs are direct
construction jobs. The remaining 38,767 jobs are either indirect or induced.
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