Delta folks hot over water tunnel plan. Upper Roberts Island, San Joaquin County -- Strolling down a dirt levee road, farmer Mike Robinson passed his fields of alfalfa and yellow safflower.
A worker pumped river water toward a tomato crop, and two men and a boy laughed as they sped by on personal watercraft. Time to get real about California's water supply. Thirty years ago voters resoundingly rejected an enormous "peripheral canal" to ship more Northern California water south.
Today, that old idea has been repackaged as the Bay Delta Conservation Plan. This time it's even more expensive and less practical. Estimated to cost between $12 billion and $54 billion, the plan is backed by large water interests that say they will pay for a portion. But, in truth, all ratepayers and taxpayers will be the ones footing the bill. It's time for a reality-based approach, not more expensive pipe dreams. Despite its new name, this plan has less to do with providing water needed to "conserve the delta" than it does with providing a 50-year permit to divert even more freshwater from the delta through a newly constructed canal or tunnel. I believe that there is a commonsense alternative approach.
Here are some suggestions: Calif. delta tunnel plan would increase pumping. Sacramento -- The amount of water pumped out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta would significantly increase and some species would be harmed if massive tunnels are built to move water around the fragile ecosystem, according to thousands of pages of documents released by state officials Wednesday.
Additionally, more than 110,000 acres of fish and wildlife habitat would be created in the delta, representing the largest habitat restoration in state history. Officials stressed that the plan is preliminary and that they expect significant changes before it becomes final. John Laird, secretary of the California Resources Agency, said the unusual early public release of as many as 10,000 pages of documents was meant to elicit input to further refine the proposal. "This is a starting point for what we might actually do for the delta," Laird said.
Two large tunnels. Opinion Shop. Sutter Slough winds through the delta.
Just months before Californians may vote on a $11.1 billion water bond to restore the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta ecosystem and build new reservoirs, a new poll finds most Californians don’t know what the delta is. Poll findings released Jan. 27 showed: Delta Planning in 2012: No Drought of Activity. California water project won't be decided at poll. Sacramento -- Thirty years ago, Californians soundly rejected a proposal to build a canal to move water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and deliver it to Central Valley farmers, Southern California residents and some Bay Area cities.
The projected costs and threats of environmental damage resulted in an overwhelming defeat at the hands of voters statewide. Now, planning for the construction of a similar canal is under way, and a final design could be selected by the end of the year. The designs under consideration are smaller than the last proposal, but the biggest difference between now and 30 years ago is that this time around, voters will not make the final decision. Calif. delta water plan requires transparency. Water, in California, is a fighting word.
And code for changing the rules to advantage one group of warring water users over another is "reliable" as in "reliable water supply. " This week, the war drums are beating louder as regulators rush to present a flurry of water plans to the public. The cascade of decisions dictating how the state replumbs its water-distribution system, including possible construction of a canal or tunnel to move water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, moves to a new stage Wednesday.
That's when state officials will unveil thousands of pages of documents on the studied effects of such a canal on the delta ecosystem, on water quality for humans, for fish and farmers (which are all different) and, of course, on reliability. California Republicans' brazen water grab. House Republicans are poised to pass legislation that would usurp California's ability to manage its own water supply, harm the San Francisco Bay Estuary ecosystem and drive California's salmon to extinction. Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Alpaugh (Tulare County), wrote the bill to reverse the way water is allocated in California.
It essentially ensures water supplies for farmers by taking it from the state's native salmon, trout and other fisheries. Beyond that, it: -- Undermines water conservation efforts. Central Valley reps bill would upend water rights. Smelt Supreme Court ruling goes against farmers. SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S.
Supreme Court has denied an appeal by Central California farmers who claimed the federal government lacks constitutional authority to protect the imperiled delta smelt by limiting north-to-south water shipments. Three San Joaquin Valley growers challenged the government's use of the Endangered Species Act to protect a fish that exists only in California and has no commercial value. But the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled in March that the law is constitutional because preserving rare wildlife from extinction is a form of economic regulation that is part of Congress' constitutional power to regulate interstate commerce.
Courts around the nation have agreed that "the protection of threatened or endangered species implicates economic concerns," even for species found only in one state, the three-judge panel said. Water Supply in Southern California. [Apart from the sky(!)
- it can rain a lot in the rainy season here, which is why there's tons of concrete in LA for flood control as when it comes, it can come in huge quantities. Bay Delta Consortium Online. Delta.ca.