Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
May 30, 2007
3. Watersheds
Editorial: Tiny delta smelt deserve equal attention with whales
For the past week, residents of the Bay Area have been transfixed by the plight of the two injured humpback whales that got lost in the fresh waters of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
The state has spared no effort and expense to nudge the whales back toward the ocean - from bombarding them with whale sounds to banging on pipes and shooting them full of antibiotics. All the activity seems to be working - the mother and child were slowly heading home at dusk on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, one of the waterway's primary inhabitants - the tiny delta smelt - is close to extinction, in part because of the state's non-stop pumping of water to quench the thirst of 25 million Californians, including many in
The state needs to step up its efforts to craft a new strategy for managing the delta, including taking a fresh look at the "plumbing" of the state water system.
A survey released last week shows that the population of young smelt has plunged 90 percent below the previous record low.
The giant pumps that draw drinking and irrigation water from the river make the current flow in reverse, sucking in the smelt and chewing them up. The extraction of so much fresh water also pulls salty ocean water farther up the channel, threatening the habitat for all kinds of delta life. Finally, agricultural runoff is poisoning the delta, putting more pressure on the smelt and other fish.
A state court ruled in March that the state is violating the California Endangered Species Act by repeatedly failing to protect the smelt and endangered salmon over the past two decades. The judge threatened to shut down the pumps within 60 days, but regulators appealed the decision, buying them time to figure out what to do.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger jumped into the debate, throwing out the federal permit that regulators used to allow a high level of fish kill.
To its credit, the California Department of Water Resources has dialed back its pumping in recent months to ease the impact on fish. But it's unclear how long the state can maintain the low draw, which is depriving Southern California and the
Department of Water Resources Deputy Director Jerry Johns says a much-needed fish conservation plan should be ready by early next year. But the real solution lies in a broader rethinking of the whole delta water strategy.
To force the process along, the Legislature should approve SB27, sponsored by Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto. It would begin some conservation efforts immediately and sets a 2008 goal for overhauling delta water policies.
Simitian favors the creation of an alternative waterway to carry fresh water away from the delta, reducing the impact on the fragile ecosystem. But other options include reducing how much water Californians pull from the delta rivers. A task force appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will offer its own recommendations in the fall.
The smelt's decline should be a wake-up call to policy-makers: They need to act soon to stabilize and restore the delta's health.
Rescuing wayward whales is necessary, but it's just a temporary distraction. #
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_6018428
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