Bay Delta
Conservation Plan
From: Frank Mickadeit, Orange
County Register
Even as our reporter Pat Brennan
was writing last Sunday's huge front-page curtain-raiser on the state's $25
billion proposal to radically alter the Sacramento Delta and send more water to
Southern California, opposition was conferencing at an Irvine hotel.
I was there. And anybody who
thinks this new plan is going to have an easier time getting sign off from
Northern Californians than the failed 1982 Peripheral Canal plan did hasn't
spent any time listening to Northern Californians with a stake in the outcome.
Coalition response...Without a reliable supply of water flowing to California farms the
locally grown food supply that consumers expect in their grocery stores could
be threatened. If water supplies continue to be reduced to San Joaquin Valley
farmers as in recent years because of federal regulations to protect fish in the
Delta, less farmland will be planted and consumers may have fewer choices.
The Bay Delta Conservation Plan
and its proposed tunnels are designed to provide a reliable water supply that
is important to farmers. That is part of the reasoning that farmers and water
agencies have already paid more than $140 million to develop the Plan. They
recognize the importance of keeping water flowing that they already have a
right to receive and are paying the costs to deliver it.
The Plan will also restore the
ecosystem of the Delta and increase the habitat for fish and wildlife. This
added habitat will not only provide a food supply for fish but also protection
from predator fish.
The Plan and its proposed tunnels
are vastly different than the 1992 Peripheral Canal. The capacity of the
tunnels is only 9,000 cubic feet per second (cfs), compared to 21,800 cfs for
the Peripheral Canal. The Plan also provides flexibility to maintain in-Delta
water quality with through-Delta operations while the Peripheral Canal was fully
isolated with no through-Delta operations. Learn more at http://www.farmwater.org/p-canalcomparison.pdf.
San Joaquin
River
From: Alex Breitler,
eSanJoaquin
The State Water Resources Control
Board on Friday announced that it has approved water-rights changes allowing
extra flows to be sent down the San Joaquin River.
"The water rights changes
approved (Friday) allow for the dedication of water released from Friant Dam to
the river channel to support fish and wildlife and for that water to then be
picked up for other uses farther downstream," the board reported in a news
release.
Coalition response....Your readers should understand that the estimated cost for the San
Joaquin River Restoration Program now exceeds $1.1 billion and could climb over
$2 billion, according to the Bureau of Reclamation's 2012 framework document.
This means the final cost could more than double the reported $900 million.
Funding for the restoration efforts have been difficult to obtain from the
federal budget.
While more than $100 million has
already been spent for studies, monitoring, application expenses and overhead,
not one infrastructure project identified in the Program has been started.
These projects are considered necessary to reroute the river channel and
provide protection for salmon.
These projects would also
safeguard against negative impacts to farmland adjacent to the river. In 2010
when interim flows sent increased levels of water down the river, seepage
occurred and farmland was flooded. The federal government was required to pay
for the damages encountered by the farmers.
Wouldn't it make more sense to
complete these projects before building a hatchery and releasing salmon into
the river? Currently, there is no clear path for the fish to reach the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Without these projects it is doubtful that the
fish will survive their journey.
Bay Delta
Conservation Plan
From: Jack Robinson,
Sacramento Business Journal
The state's $25 billion plan to
fix the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is a start, experts told a group of
civic, government and business leaders Monday. But much more work is needed to
prevent water woes from devastating California's economy in the long term.
Salton Sea
From: Antoine Abou-Diwan,
Imperial Valley Press
The Imperial Irrigation District
Board of Directors is scheduled to vote Tuesday on a memorandum of
understanding between the IID, county of Imperial and the Air Pollution Control
District regarding Salton Sea stabilization and restoration.
The three agencies have been in
litigation over the Quantification Settlement Agreement for about 10 years.
Water Quality
From: Bettina Boxall, LA Times
From: Bettina Boxall, Merced Sun-Star
Nitrates from agricultural
fertilizer could continue to leach into groundwater for at least 80 years after
initial use, according to researchers who conducted a long-term study of
nitrogen uptake.
Using isotope tracers, scientists
followed the fate of nitrogen-based synthetic fertilizers applied to fields planted
in France with wheat and sugar beets.
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