Bay Delta
Conservation Plan
From: Nick Di Croce, Stockton
Record
We agree with San Joaquin
Supervisor Ken Vogel (Nov. 16 op-ed piece) that the Bay Delta Conservation Plan
is the wrong solution for the Delta and California.
Our organization, the
Environmental Water Caucus, has presented a plan to both the Delta Stewardship
Council and BDCP that would:
•
Reduce exports and
increase Delta outflows in order to improve Delta habitats and fisheries;
Coalition response... Nick DiCroce and the Environmental Water Caucus have a plan for the
Delta. Unfortunately it isn't designed to address the actual problems facing
the Delta ecosystem: unnatural flows, poor habitat quality and invasive
species. Upgrading fish screens doesn't fix the dead-end for fish at the south
end of the Delta where predators await their next meal. Increasing Delta
outflow doesn't do anything except waste water because of the loss of habitat
over the years. And simply strengthening levees doesn't improve the kind of
shallow habitat needed for juvenile fish. Increasing groundwater storage isn't
effective without more surface storage to regulate large flows before they make
it to groundwater basins. And retiring what DiCroce deems "impaired
farmland" will create more unemployment for the 30,000 people who live in
the rural communities of San Joaquin, Mendota, Firebaugh and Huron that depend
on farm jobs to put food on the table. Tragically, many of them now rely on
community food banks to meet that need and the Environmental Water Caucus plan
will only make it worse.
Water Supply
From: Todd Fitchette, Western
Farm Press
USDA Secretary says California
has "social responsibility" to help feed growing world population.
How does that happen without water?
Just as the State of California
was readying growers for what they pretty much expected - announcement of a 5
percent water allocation for State Water Project users - the heavenly faucets
began to open and it started to rain and snow on the Golden State.
Water Bond
From: Lois Wolk, U-T San Diego
The Legislature will return to
Sacramento in January and will immediately face a trio of questions about
water.
Can California break the gridlock
and move forward on investing in a sustainable water supply for our future?
Can legislators from every region
of the state come together on an affordable plan that benefits everyone?
Groundwater
From: Staff, Modesto Bee
Tell your neighbor you're
drilling a new well and you might start a fight.
Tell a farmer that he or she
can't drill that well, and that fight is guaranteed.
Hundreds of high-capacity wells
have been drilled (or are being planned) as many farmers rush to plant money
trees (aka almonds and walnuts). With the prices of nuts continuously rising,
it makes sense to many farmers to convert pasture and row crops into trees.
Farming, after all, is a business - and the nut business is good.
From: Michael Fitzgerald,
Stockton Record
The Valley's ground level sank
almost 1 foot a year over the past few dry years, geologists announced last
week, more than 1,200 square miles south of Merced.
The sinking - or subsidence - is
minimal around Stockton. It is worst around a hamlet called El Nido (pop. 330,
elevation 141 ft.). The poor guys who live there have to change their elevation
sign every year.
Bay Delta
Conservation Plan
From: Staff, San Jose Mercury News
From: Staff, Contra Costa Times
California is having the wrong
debate about the future of one of its most valuable assets, the Sacramento-San
Joaquin River Delta, which produces water for much of the state and about half
of Silicon Valley.
The battle for the better part of
the last two years has been about how big a new conveyance system -- probably
tunnels -- should be, how much it should cost, and who should foot the bill.
The result has been a political fight of the worst kind, pitting Northern
Californians against Southern Californians and agriculture interests against
environmentalists in a battle royal. At its worst, this could be one of the
biggest water grabs in state history. And for California, that's saying something.
From: Joel Brinkley, SFChronicle.com
While fights over water simmer
around the world, the United States has its own share of arguments and debates
- one of them right here in California. The state is depleting groundwater
aquifers at a rapid rate. That's one reason for the controversial proposal to
build a pair of tunnels on the east side of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River
Delta to bring water south.
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