A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
April 13, 2007
3. Watersheds
DELTA ISSUES:
Smelt not officially endangered; But Fish and Game decision may be reversed - Stockton Record
State hopes to stave off order to shut water supply - Contra Costa Times
DWR argues to keep Central Valley water flowing - Central Valley Business Times
New Delta water plan sought; Court ruling on Tracy pumps spawns legislation - Capital Press
Letters to the Editor: Dry California: closed for business - Tracy Press
ENGLEBRIGHT DAM:
Bypass saves lives - Marysville Appeal Democrat
New valve keeps river flowing; Cool water benefits salmon and steelhead -
Lake clarity is unclear - Tahoe Daily Tribune
YOSEMITE:
Nature's early centerpiece; Yosemite's waterfalls are already peaking because of this year's light winter snowpack - Fresno Bee
DELTA ISSUES:
Smelt not officially endangered; But Fish and Game decision may be reversed
By Alex Breitler, staff writer
State Department of Fish and Game commissioners denied an emergency request Thursday to upgrade the status of the Delta smelt from threatened to endangered.
But it might be just a delay in the inevitable.
Fish and Game spokesman
"This is serious," said Jeff Miller, a spokesman for the Center for Biological Diversity in
The smelt already is considered threatened under the California Endangered Species Act. Elevating the fish to endangered could increase the amount of funding and research toward its survival, Miller said.
A petition filed by conservation groups earlier this year said there might have been as many as 800,000 adult smelt in the Delta in the 1960s and '70s. The population dropped about 80 percent in the 1980s and declined again in recent years.
When the petition was filed, there might have been about 35,000 smelt, the conservationists said, claiming the fish is in "imminent" danger of extinction.
While it's not a sport fish and has no commercial value, the smelt's decline is considered a sign the entire Delta is foundering. Two-thirds of Californians get at least some of their drinking water from the estuary.
Conservationists point to large export pumps near
Conservationists also are seeking greater smelt protection from the federal government. A petition to upgrade smelt from threatened to endangered on the federal Endangered Species List is pending, Miller said. #
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/A_NEWS/704130317
State hopes to stave off order to shut water supply
Contra Costa Times – 4/13/07
By Mike Taugher, staff writer
State water officials on Wednesday asked for a new hearing in their attempt to stave off a court order that could shut down a water delivery system that serves 25 million Californians, a move that state lawyers argue would have consequences ranging from severe to catastrophic.
In court papers, state water officials argued that a shutdown would reduce available water supplies, force farm and city water agencies to overdraw groundwater basins and dramatically lower reservoirs across the state.
An Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled in late March that the State Water Project was in violation of the California Endangered Species Act.
He threatened to shut it down unless the state could obtain permits to kill protected salmon and Delta smelt.
Judge Frank Roesch gave water officials until Wednesday to object to his proposed decision, which would shut down the water project 60 days after it becomes final.
On Monday, water officials asked regulators to endorse existing federal permits. If regulators agree, that could satisfy the state law.
But environmentalists argue that the federal permits, which are being rewritten to address several flaws, are inadequate and they could sue again if the request is granted.
I think he should just issue the order and let the cards fall where they may, said Michael Lozeau, a lawyer who represented the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance in bringing the lawsuit last fall.
Lozeau said the state could obtain permits required under the law, though it might reduce water availability.
He also said the water agency should have sought permits earlier instead of letting the issue build to a crisis. #
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_5658963
DWR argues to keep
The Department of Water Resources has today filed its objections to a proposed court decision that could cut off the normal supply of fresh water to the Central Valley and 23 million Californians in the Valley and
An Alameda County Superior Court order -- which is pending final action -- would shut down the State Water Project export pumps in the Delta if appropriate permits could not be obtained in 60 days.
On March 22, Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch issued a draft ruling in a case brought by Watershed Enforcers that DWR did not have the required state permit to kill protected fish species in the Delta by sucking them into the huge turbines used at the
The court says the state has failed to get the required permits.
To address the court’s draft order, DWR says it has submitted a notice to the Department of Fish and Game requesting a “consistency determination” that the federal biological opinions for the state-listed fish are consistent with the California Endangered Species Act. If issued, a determination of consistency by DFG would satisfy the requirements of CESA, the department contends.
DWR also filed a declaration detailing potential economic, environmental, and power and water supply impacts of shutting down the Delta pumps. The pumps are necessary in order to send water to cities, farms and industry in the San Francisco Bay Area,
http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=4849
New Delta water plan sought; Court ruling on
Capital Press – 4/10/07
By Bob Krauter, Editor
State Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, has authored Senate Bill 27, which sets a deadline of Jan. 1 2008, for the state Department of Water Resources to pick the best of five options for moving water through the Delta.
The options are featured in a report by the Public Policy Institute of California. They range from an aqueduct to transfer water through the Delta to other options, which include curtailed pumping and new dams.
The legislation comes on the heels of an Alameda County Superior Court ruling last month that the state water agency must shut down massive pumps near
This week, State Department of Water Resources Director Lester Snow has asked the Department of Fish and Game to rule on whether the operations of the Delta pumps adhere to the federal Endangered Species Act. Snow contends that existing agreements with Fish and Game conform to state law on fish protections.
Terry Erlewine, general manager of the State Water Contractors, a
"It is a big share of the supply for many of our districts. If you look at an 18-month outage, it has a huge potential impact," Erlewine said. "We are taking it very seriously and looking at what could happen."
Erlewine's first impression of SB 27 as a Delta fix is positive.
"From what I can see of the legislation, I am not sure that it may not be a positive thing. On the face of it, it is pretty appropriate and actually it looks very good," he said. "We are frustrated too that the CalFed program looked at this and had a chance to make these decisions eight years ago and if they had done the right thing back then, we wouldn't be in this situation."
CalFed, the
Simitian's bill is co-authored by State Sen. Mike Machado, D-Linden. Machado supports moving water through existing Delta channels as opposed to a peripheral canal or aqueduct that Simitian proposed in legislation last year. Erlewine is skeptical about using natural waterways to transfer water as that option could sharply reduce water to agricultural and urban users. He thinks building a peripheral canal, an idea that
"We are interested in seeing that evaluation straight up, seeing what that shows and looking at the choices there and seeing what happens," he said. "Let's just make a decision here. Let's not keep trying to paper over all of these differences of opinion. We have some serious issues here and let's try to resolve this."
Mike Wade, executive director of the California Farm Water Coalition, said it appeared the Legislature was proposing what it should have done years ago. While he hoped progress can be made on a Delta water fix, SB 27 may surface deep divisions about how to address myriad issues. Environmental groups will oppose building new dams even though they can effectively address flood control, water supply and climate change concerns, Wade said. On the other side are groups who will staunchly oppose a peripheral canal.
"How do you make any progress in the state? If you had that kind of approach in 1930,
If a resolution to the court decision on the Delta pumps doesn't come soon, Terry Erlewine said a shut down of pumps at the Harvey O. Banks plant will inflict pain on farmers and urban water users.
"There are major urban contractors in
In all, 29 urban and agricultural water agencies have claim to about 4 million acre-feet of water annually from the State Water Project through long-term contracts. About 70 percent of state water is devoted to urban uses and about 30 percent to agriculture.
http://www.capitalpress.info/main.asp?SectionID=94&SubSectionID=801&ArticleID=31606&TM=80689.03
Letters to the Editor: Dry
Tracy Press – 4/12/07
By Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, represents Tulare, Kern, Inyo and San Bernardino counties in the state Senate
The
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger toured the
However, one judge has taken steps to change all that with the stroke of a pen. In ruling on a lawsuit over “endangered” fish sometimes caught in the pumping mechanism at the Harvey O. Banks Pumping Plant near
The judge’s ruling highlights the underlying problem that the state faces in providing water to our vast population and teeming economy. We can spend billions on water infrastructure projects, but if we haven’t addressed the consequences of the California Environmental Quality Act along with the many endangered species laws and regulatory hurdles to the storage and transfer of water in our state, those efforts will be futile. The lawsuit and the judge’s decision highlight the ultimate trade-off between extreme environmental measures and everyday life in
The Banks Pumping Plant is the very heart of the State Water Project, pumping our state’s lifeblood in canals to cities in the Bay Area, farms in the Central Valley and all of
The issue that Roesch ruled on was whether the Department of Water Resources has obtained an official permit known as a “take” permit for the protected fish that are sometimes swallowed by the pumps. Take permits are usually required by private property owners, corporations or local government projects where protected species are occasionally killed in the normal course of business. The operation of the Banks Pumping Plant is already under state and federal environmental regulations. The Department of Water Resources has also entered into agreements with state and federal agencies to provide a number of fishery protections, many of those agreements voluntarily.
In short, the loss of occasional protected fish is not news, and the authorities have been working closely with the Department of Water Resources to monitor these accidental losses. In fact, the court did not find that the pumping plant was causing any harm.
The only transgression is that the Department of Water Resources was not holding one kind of permit.
Both the Department of Water Resources and the Department of Fish and Game agree that 60 days is not enough time to process the permit that the judge is looking for. In the lawsuit, no one was able to demonstrate any harm to
Clearly, the governor understands the critical need to keep water flowing across the
Resolving the Banks Pumping Plant case is necessary, but it ultimately will not solve the larger problem. This case is a wake-up call for serious reform of the California Environmental Quality Act and endangered species laws with respect to the transport and storage of our state’s lifeblood. Without sufficient water, we might as well hang a “Closed for Business” sign at
http://tracypress.com/content/view/8729/2/
ENGLEBRIGHT DAM:
Bypass saves lives
Marysville Appeal Democrat – 4/12/07
When water started shooting out of the
The water blasted rocks on the opposite side of the
The demonstration of the new $12.5 million bypass highlighted improvements made below the reservoir to ensure enough cold water gets downstream for steelhead and salmon to spawn during power outages at the dam.
“I think it’ll be a tremendous aid for salmon,” said Don Schrader, a Yuba County Water Agency director.
Lightning strikes, wildfires and birds flying into power lines sometimes shut off power to the Narrows II power plant, which produces electricity from turbines turned by water flow. When power outages occurred, the plant stops and a small bypass valve opens up to let water through, but at a much reduced rate.
“It’s been very frustrating to have power outages,” said Tib Belza, a Water Agency director since 1989.
“This is something we can alleviate that problem.”
The old bypass would only let 650 cubic feet per second through, a fraction of the 3,400 cfs that moves through the powerhouse turbines.
The new bypass valve pushes through 3,000 cfs, according to Steve Onken, the Water Agency’s power systems manager. It allows enough cold water for the spawning to continue, he said.
“This is another tool to help us enhance an already good fishery,” Onken said.
The project started in 1998 when the Water Agency started looking for funds. CalFed provided about $8 million and the Water Agency added about $4 million.
The project was designed in 2004, with bids going out in 2005. In January 2006, construction began and finished earlier this year.
The project was a lot harder to finish than anticipated, Onken said. Rains occurred more frequently than they expected, and the rock they had to blast through was six times harder than concrete, Onken said.
Both problems caused delays, he said.
The rock is so hard, in fact, that Yuba County Water Agency officials aren’t worried about erosion from releases from the bypass.
They are more concerned about keeping cold water flowing downstream, which is critical to fish survival, said Ryan Broddick, director of the state Department of Fish and Game.
“It’s probably more important that flows,” said Broddick. “This will make it easier for them.”
http://www.appeal-democrat.com/onset?id=46954&template=article.html
New valve keeps river flowing; Cool water benefits salmon and steelhead
Grass Valley
By Jill Bauerle, staff writer
Officials tested a new valve at the Englebright Dam on Thursday afternoon that will keep water flowing for the
For about one minute, water roared out of a six-foot-diameter pipe and fed 300 cubic feet per second of cold water from the bottom of the reservoir into the lower
The $12.5 million bypass valve was built by the Yuba County Water Agency with a grant from the CALFED Bay-Delta Program, which seeks to improve the waterway vitality in the region.
The valve ensures that the river remains at acceptable levels for Chinook salmon and steelhead trout fisheries if the power fails at the Narrows 2 Power Plant, located at the base of the dam's towering wall.
The power station normally pumps 3,400 cubic feet per second of cool water from the depths of
Ryan Broddrick, Director of the State Department of Fish and Game, said the valve will improve the reliability of fish reproduction by keeping enough cool water flowing over the gravel where fish lay their eggs.
"When those eggs are laid in the gravel, there's two things that need to happen. The water needs to stay above them and the temperature of the water has to foster incubation," Broddrick said.
Construction on the project started in January 2006 and was completed in January this year.
"It's an exciting development," said Jason Rainey, executive director of the South Yuba River Citizens League, one of 17 conservation groups that approved higher minimum instream flows for the lower Yuba River as part of the Lower Yuba River Accord in 2006.
"This should improve strandings and should be an overall improvement for the Yuba salmon."
http://www.theunion.com/article/20070413/NEWS/104130180
Tahoe Daily Tribune – 4/13/07
By Andrew Pridgen , staff writer
The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency reports positive results with the release of its five-year Threshold Evaluation Report on the state of the
Positive results, yet with one key bit of information missing - last year's lake depth clarity.
"You look at the report and wonder, 'Where's the beef?'" said Sierra Club spokesman Michael Donahoe of last year's secchi depth, absent in the report.
Secchi depth is a way scientists measure clarity by sinking a white disk in the lake and measuring the depth at which it is last seen.
TRPA officials said they expected the 2006 lake depth to be released in early summer, but noted it will probably be lower than in years past because of the year's unseasonably wet and late winter.
"Our expectation is going to be that it's lower," said TRPA Communications Chief Julie Regan. "After big runoff events it's going to be lower, but it's just one of 36 indicators."
While agency officials note 21 of 36 indicators and standards used to measure the lake's clarity are moving in a "positive direction," environmental representatives are concerned about the lake's overall health trend.
"
"We need to make advances to accelerate to that goal."
Young's reference was to a study by Dr. Geoff Schadlow, a researcher at UC Davis, released last fall that showed what kind of pollutant reduction would be needed to get clarity back to '60s levels and current TMDL standards.
TMDL stands for Total Daily Maximum Load and it is the maximum amount of a pollutant that can be discharged into a water body and still maintain water-quality standards.
TRPA officials said current efforts are being steeped to reach the goal.
"We are setting short-term priorities, growing awareness of the BMPs and really accelerating completion of BMPs in this season and encouraging more partnerships versus one parcel at a time," Regan said of best management practices, or methods used to prevent or reduce pollution resulting from an activity like building. "Expanding a watershed approach to BMPS - getting more bang for the buck.
"The other key is moving the Environmental Improvement Program (EIP) into the next phase. We're looking at what kind of restoration work needs to happen, that's a big focus on the short-term."
Environmentalists agreed that paying close attention to small projects will help, but one noted in the time that a 20-year basinwide plan (Pathway 2007) is coming to fruition, the "bigger picture" of what it takes to embellish the lake's health needs to be seen.
"We're getting information that we need to reduce pollutants 30 to 40 percent to reach our clarity goals," Sierra Club's Donahoe said. "I don't see us taking that scientific data seriously yet. We shouldn't be approving large developments now. We know we need to reduce pollutants going into the lake, from all different sources of pollution.
"To willy-nilly approve land disturbance without an overall approach to where we're going to get the reductions we need - it cuts off our options."
Some goals currently attained:
U.S. 50 traffic volume during the winter
Number of populations of sensitive vegetation species
Lahontan Cutthraot Trout reintroduction
High Quality Recreation
Recreational capactiy available to the general public
Some goals not attained, but improving:
Amount of impervious land coverage
Acreage of naturally-functioning Stream Environment Zones
Bird of Prey, Waterfowl, and Deer Wildlife Habitat
Scenic quality
http://td.us.publicus.com/article/20070413/NEWS/104130064
YOSEMITE:
Nature's early centerpiece;
By Mark Grossi, staff writer
With his camera perched on a tripod and pointed at
"Right now," he said Thursday, glancing at the puffy, wind-blown clouds drifting elegantly in and out of
Hutchins, 52, of
Indeed, this may be the earliest peak since 1919 for 2,425-foot
Their message to
Park hydrologist Jim Roche said the winter was among the 10 driest in
"The extreme is what you see in
"This year, we have a quarter of what we had last year."
Around the state, the snowpack is about a third of its average size for this time of year.
That means less water for cities, farms and hydroelectric production in
It also means a shorter season for watching waterfalls.
Tens of thousands of people plan trips to Yosemite just to see the waterfalls each year, often bringing them to the park in late May and June.
Officials say
This year, visitors also might want to stop by the
The renovation and exhibits, underwritten by the Yosemite Fund and park entrance fees, will open at 10:30 a.m. today.
The exhibits tell the story of the Sierra Nevada and
The waterfalls were formed during glacial periods, beginning about 3 million years ago, said park geologist Greg Stock. Glaciers, which are rivers of ice, turned gentle valley slopes into more vertical walls by scraping out granite. Streams began plunging over the sides of the walls.
"We have an excellent animation of what happened during glacial times," Stock said. "What people sometimes don't know is that there have been multiple glaciers, not just one. The reason we have waterfalls is the glaciers."
Officials mentioned another fact that tourists may not know: Bridalveil Fall runs most if not all of the year, as opposed to
"There was not as much glacial scouring in the watershed above Bridalveil," said hydrologist Roche. "There is more vegetation, and the soil holds water for much longer. That's why it goes longer than
But
From meadows a half-mile away, tourists stopped to take photographs of the falls.
"I usually don't photograph the icons in Yosemite," said Hutchins, who has been taking photographs in
"But this is really nice today." #
http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/41550.html
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