Delta
From: Dana Nichols, Stockton
Record
The summer of 2013 was a bad one
for fish in the San Joaquin River Delta, and California Sportfishing Protection
Alliance Executive Director Bill Jennings says state water pollution cops
exacerbated the situation by quietly promising they wouldn't enforce state
water quality standards.
In particular, Jennings points to
a May 29 letter from California Water Quality Control Board Delta Watermaster
Craig Wilson to top officials for the State Water Project and the California
operations of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. In that letter, Wilson said he
would "not object or take any action" if the two agencies took
measures to hold water back in reservoirs and allow increased salinity in the
water Delta farmers use for irrigation.
Coalition response... Bill Jennings is concerned about changes in Delta salinity as a result
of State and federal water project operations, but he's missing the big
picture. Delta outflow at this time of year is mostly provided by upstream
water storage. The very projects he's criticizing are providing the fresh water
flows that maintain water quality in a dry year like this. Prior to
construction of the dams and reservoirs in the middle of the last century,
water quality in the Delta varied widely, salinity sometimes reaching as far
inland as Courtland. Salinity control, in fact, was one of the main reasons for
building the projects. This is easy to see in a comparison of historic and
current salinity levels at www.farmwater.org/deltasalinity.pdf.
Endangered Species
Act
From: Chris Hurd, Fresno Bee
Everything comes at some
cost." This statement certainly resonates with people like me who live and
work on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.
We have disproportionately borne
the costs associated with actions under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to
protect fish species that occupy the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. These
costs are astounding. And they extend well beyond the farmer's gate. These
costs extend from our local communities - impacting the tax base, unemployment
and social support programs - all the way to the consumer as higher prices for
food.
Bay Delta
Conservation Plan
From: George Basye, Sacbee.com
(The Sacramento Bee has
discontinued the option of readers commenting on stories.) Re "Delta project has many
unanswered questions" (Viewpoints, Nov. 6): The cost of taking more Delta
water through tunnels, through the San Joaquin Valley and over the Tehachapi
Mountains should be compared to the cost of a closer source -- desalinating
Southern California's adjacent seawater.
From: Marie Meade, Sacbee.com
(The Sacramento Bee has
discontinued the option of readers commenting on stories.)
Re "Delta project has many
unanswered questions" (Viewpoints, Nov. 6): The biggest unanswered
question for those of us who live and work in the area is "What about us?
From: Mike Wade, Santa Ynez
Valley News
(The Santa Ynez Valley News has
run an edited version of the Coalition letter.)
Clarifications on the
"Protesting a pipe dream for more water" commentary are needed to
concerning the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) and California water rights.
The BDCP is in response to a 2009
mandate by the Legislature to restore the ecosystem of the Sacramento/San
Joaquin Bay Delta, and to create a reliable water supply for 25 million
Californians and 3 million acres of productive farmland.
California Water
Action Plan
From: Editor, Santa Maria
Times
From: Editor, Lompoc Record
Think of California as the huge
athletic facility where the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pirates once played. It was
called Three Rivers Stadium.
It was given that name because
three rivers - the Allegheny, Ohio and Monongahela - converged at the stadium
location near downtown Pittsburgh, Pa. Professional sports teams did battle
there for three decades, and many titles were won and lost at Three Rivers,
which was imploded into rubble three years ago due to old age, and the fact
that both the Pirates and Steelers had moved into shiny new facilities of their
own.
Fisheries
From: Alastair Bland, East Bay
Express
Experts say the number of striped
bass in San Francisco Bay has plunged dramatically because of the Delta pumps,
which send freshwater to the arid San Joaquin Valley.
John Beuttler remembers when, in
the 1970s, he could stand waist deep in San Francisco Bay, cast an artificial
lure into the murky water, and begin catching large striped bass, one after
another. "It was an incredible urban fishery," recalled Beuttler, who
works in Berkeley as a consultant to fisheries conservation groups.
"Anyone could walk down to the water pretty much anywhere between Berkeley
and Richmond and expect to catch ten or fifteen stripers in a couple of hours.
And these were big fish. You could catch thirty-pounders from the beach."
Reservoirs
From: Staff, yourcentralvalley.com
Be prepared for the very real
possibility of a dry winter. That's the warning from California State
Hydrologists.
Statewide our reservoirs are at
around 77 percent of capacity. But, Pine Flat Reservoir in Fresno County is
only holding 16 percent of it's capacity.
From: CDEC, DWR
For selected reservoirs in
Northern and Southern California as of 11/06/2013.
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