Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
June 4, 2007
1. Top Items
Delta fish beat out farmers for water; Two lawsuits pending to determine fate of endangered fish - Associated Press
State Shuts Off Water Project Pumps - Santa Clarita Signal
REGIONAL: WATER DISTRICTS LOOK AT OTHER SOURCES FOLLOWING PUMP SHUT-OFF - KPIX Channel 5 (Bay Area)
California shuts down delta pumps to save smelt - Capitol Press
Sacramento River Delta Facilities to Cease Pumping To Guard Smelt - KPBS (
Dispute over fish cuts off major
Why not let inconvenient Delta smelt just go extinct?; Reasons to save 2-inch fish vary from practical to philosophical - Contra Costa Times
ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT; Delta smelt: 'canary in the coal mine'? -
Delta anxieties on tap; Pump shutdown to save small fish is big concern downstream - Sacramento Bee
Ten-day window for West Side water; Tracy pump station shut down to protect imperiled delta smelt - Modesto Bee
Know where the Delta is?; If you don't, you're not alone - Stockton Record
Stopped pumps an undiscovered marvel; Harvey O. Banks Delta Pumping Plant 'the greatest feat of engineering in the state' -
Column: Short-term mentality and water - Sacramento Bee
Editorial: Delta's silent pumps signal the need for change; Much is wrong in this essential resource, and the tiny Delta smelt are not to blame - Sacramento
Delta fish beat out farmers for water; Two lawsuits pending to determine fate of endangered fish
Associated Press - 6/2/07
By Garance Burke, staff writer
The decision comes a day after state officials temporarily halted operations at their main pumping plant and has raised concern among farmers that their crops may not get sufficient water.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will continue to operate just one pump that draws from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta for at least another week, in light of a recent survey that found the smelt population at an all-time low.
Federal authorities also plan to buy extra water supplies to accommodate cities and farms and to diminish the sucking power of the powerful pumps, which have been blamed for killing the smelt and other fish when they send water from the delta into the California Aqueduct.
"We'll do everything we can to protect this fish," bureau spokesman Jeff McCracken said.
Friday's announcement was just the latest development in the fight to save the smelt, a silvery, three-inch-long species protected under the California Endangered Species Act.
It is considered a bellwether for the health of the delta, a vast ecosystem that also provides drinking water to 25 million Californians.
On Thursday, state officials shut down the massive pumps they operate near
Most farms and cities won't notice any difference in water supply, but three water districts in the
The fate of the smelt also hinges on the outcome of two lawsuits.
In April, an Alameda County Superior Court judge ordered the state to stop pumping water from the delta within 60 days. The court ruling found that the Department of Water Resources lacked the proper permits or authority to run the massive Harvey O. Banks pumping station.
The state appealed the decision, but then followed with the voluntary shutdown.
Environmentalists also have pursued a parallel legal battle at the federal level.
In February 2005, the Natural Resources Defense Council and five other environmental groups sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service after the agency ruled that increases in state and federal pumping from the delta would not harm the smelt.
A judge in
On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Oliver Wanger encouraged environmentalists to negotiate with authorities while the plan was being rewritten. Plaintiffs' attorneys said they hadn't ruled out seeking a court order to further limit federal pumping in the interim.
"The government has taken some steps in the right direction, but we'd like to see more," said Andrea Treece, a lawyer with Earthjustice. "If we can get enough juvenile fish out of the delta so they can survive to become spawning adults, then maybe we can save the species."
"It's a very sensitive time of year for the crops because this is when they're in the early stages and need the water," said Dennis Falaschi, a board member of the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority.
"If they shut off all the pumps, the domino effect of that to the economy of the state would be unimaginable."
The environmental groups, state and federal authorities will reconvene in Wanger's courtroom for a hearing on Aug. 21. #
http://origin.insidebayarea.com/dailyreview/localnews/ci_6046095
State Shuts Off Water Project Pumps
Santa Clarita Signal – 6/2/07
By Katherine Geyer, staff writer
In response to the dwindling population of an endangered species of fish, the state temporarily shut down the pumps Thursday at a key Northern California delta that delivers water to much of
The California Supreme Court recently upheld a decision that the Department of Water Resources did not have the proper permits to pump water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, where the endangered smelt fish have been declining in numbers.
The March 22 ruling mandated that the pumps be shut down within 60 days unless the department provided the necessary permits, but the department shut down the pumps voluntarily.
The department expects that the pumps will remain shut off until the smelt move out of the area. The pumps are expected to be shut down somewhere between seven and 10 days.
"As the temperature of the water in the delta warms up, the smelt, which are a threatened species right now in the vicinity of our pumps, will move to a different, more hospitable area of the delta," said Sue Sims, associate director for Public Affairs for the Department of Water Resources. "The best estimate at this point is about seven to 10 days, but if it doesn't warm up, it could be longer."
The Santa Clarita Valley gets about half of its water from the State Water Project, and the Castaic Lake Water Agency will be using the water from the St. Louis Reservoir and
"We don't anticipate having to take water out of storage for 2007," said Dan Masnada, CLWA's general manager. "There is enough water in the system for 2007."
He said that if the pumps are shut down on a more long-term basis, the agency would have to take water out of storage.
"Next year, depending on what happens with the courts and how export pumping from the delta will be impacted, it could mean extractions out of storage and additional conservation, maybe even mandatory rationing. We're hoping to avoid that, but we just don't know at this point in time."
He said that the agency will incur increased costs if water is taken out of storage, but said that the costs will be covered with existing revenues and that fees for residents would not increase. In the meantime, he said the agency is encouraging residents to conserve water.
The State Water Project supplies water to 25 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland.
"Our actions to save the smelt will place a real hardship on some water users in the Bay Area, Central Valley and
Snow and Masnada both said that the problem is a sign of a water system in need of repair.
"The bottom line here is that it demonstrates there is a dire need to fix the delta, and the principle element of that has to do how the water is conveyed through, or perhaps more appropriately, around the delta, rather than through an unstable system that goes above and beyond just impacting the fish," Masnada said.
It is unclear if the pumps are the primary factor in the decline of smelt, as toxins, invasive species and power plant operations have been cited as possible factors as well.
"What's most important here is that we find out what the impact is of all of the stressors, including pumping, and address it appropriately," Masnada said. "If pumping can be addressed in a manner where it's not significantly impacting the smelt, then the pumping ought to be allowed to continue." #
http://www.the-signal.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=48796&format=html
REGIONAL: WATER DISTRICTS LOOK AT OTHER SOURCES FOLLOWING PUMP SHUT-OFF
KPIX Channel 5 (Bay Area) – 6/2/07
Following the shut down of a state water pump in the Sacramento San Joaquin River Delta to protect an endangered fish, water districts across the state are trying to figure out what will happen if an already dry summer gets even dryer.
The California Department of Water Resources announced Thursday that the State Water Project's Harvey O. Banks pump near
The Dublin San Ramon Services District has stated it will be meeting over the next few days with other water retailers to figure out how this shutdown will affect them. Should the shut down be prolonged, the district may ask residents to take steps to conserve water. Currently the Dublin San Ramon Services District is supplied from underground supplies and Lake Del Valle.
The Santa Clara Valley Water District isn't worried yet, but plans are in the works should the pump stay offline for too long.
"Through June, we're fine,'' Santa Clara Valley Water District spokeswoman Susan Siravo said today. August and September will be critical if the pump stays off, she said. Siravo said it's the first time that the county has had to consider water conservation in some time. Although there is no official call for conservation, Siravo said it is never a bad idea to be careful with water use.
East Bay Municipal Water District spokesman Charles Hardy said they would not be affected by the shutdown.
"Our actions to save the smelt will place a real hardship on some water users in the Bay Area, Central Valley and Southern California,'' Department of Water Resources Director Lester Snow said. "However, given the concerns about the Delta smelt, this is a prudent action at this time.''
"The system's broken right now,'' Sue Sims, spokeswoman for Water Resources, said about the state's water system that is trying to balance increased water usage, a crashing ecosystem and a changing climate. She called it a "perfect storm.''
Despite the "perfect storm'' Sims said no one will go thirsty because of the pump shut down. The San Luis Reservoir near state Highway 152 is capable of sustaining the Central Valley and
The State Water Project provides water to 25 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland from the delta to
Capitol Press – 5/31/07
By Elizabeth Larsen, staff writer
Fearing damage to the migrating delta smelt population,
"Drastic times call for drastic measures," Department of Water Resources Director Lester Snow said in a statement Thursday, May 31.
The Harvey O. Banks pumping plant facility shutdown - which Snow said is meant to be a "preventative measure" to protect the fish - is scheduled to last seven to 10 days at most, said Department of Water Resources spokesman Don Strickland.
Jeff McCracken, spokesman for the Bureau of Reclamation, said that agency is pumping less water through its Central Valley Project right now because of the smelt.
The agency cuts back pumping by about 75 percent for a short period at this time of year, which allows more fresh water into the delta.
"We knew this issue was looming," he said, so the bureau stayed at the reduced pumping levels rather than going back to normal operations.
The delta smelt, which California Fish & Game lists as a threatened species, is found only in the
The small fish, which measures 2 to 3 inches in length, has begun to decline significantly in recent years, according to the Delta Smelt Action Plan, which the state released in October 2005.
The smelt spawn north of the Delta in the
But in recent weeks, as more juvenile Delta smelt began moving into the Delta, officials discovered that smelt were being were congregating near the pumps.
Since May 24, 216 smelt died in the pumps, with another 288 found by the Bureau of Reclamation, Strickland reported.
Strickland said as the tides shift and the water warms up, they anticipate the smelt will move toward the western portion of delta and closer to the bay. Once the smelt are out of harm's way, the pumps will start up once more.
The State Water Project supplies water to 25 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland, the Department of Water Resources reported.
The Department of Water Resources pumps water from the delta to 29 contractors, which include irrigation and municipal water districts, Strickland said. All of the agency's water contractors are being asked to take up conservation measures, with many already conserving due to the state's low snowpack.
"We don't anticipate that anybody is going to run out of water from this," Strickland said.
The agency is planning on diverting more water from the San Luis Reservoir to keep water deliveries up, Strickland said. In addition, their water customers have some backup supplies in groundwater, water purchases from farmers, desalination plants and smaller reservoirs.
The smelt were at the heart of a recent lawsuit by Watershed Enforcers against the Department of Water Resources. That suit called for a shutdown on the Banks pump station pumps if the Department of Water Resources didn't come into compliance with the state's Endangered Species Act by getting a permit for the fish killed by the Banks station pumps. #
http://www.capitalpress.info/main.asp?SectionID=94&SubSectionID=801&ArticleID=32695&TM=8206.743
KPBS (
By Ed Joyce
The California Department of Water Resources says it will stop pumping at state water project facilities in the Sacramento River Delta to protect a threatened fish species. KPBS reporter Ed Joyce tells us what this means for
The state water project supplies drinking water to more than two-thirds of the state's population, including
Jeff Miller, with the Center for Biological Diversity calls the pump shutdown a good start.
Miller: Certainly a step in the right direction and it's one of the things that scientists have been saying that needs to happen immediately to protect delta smelt.
Miller says if delta smelt become extinct, it will permanently damage the delta. He faults state agencies, including the Department of Fish and Game, for not heeding warnings several years ago, that the delta ecosystem was in trouble.
Department of Water Resources spokeswoman Sue Sims says stored water in reservoirs should meet water needs in Northern and
Sims: Well in the short term for the average person it's not going to mean anything more than we would normally be asking people to do in a dry year and that's conserve.
She says the pump shutdown is on a day-to-day basis. The State Water Project supplies water to 25 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland. #
http://www.kpbs.org/news/local?id=8512
Dispute over fish cuts off major
Channel 29 (
State officials shut down a major water pump at the San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta Thursday as part of an ongoing legal battle with an environmental group.
The Harvey O. Banks pumping station supplies 25% of
The Department of Water Resources shut the pump down Thursday in response to a judge's order to examine the impact it has on the Delta Smelt, an endangered fish species that lives in the rivers near
State officials say the pump will be idle for 7-10 days. Meantime,
Jim Beck, General Manager of the Kern County Water Agency, said dipping into the banked water could put the county in a "tight situation" for next year.
An environmental group is suing the state, saying the pumps are killing large numbers of Delta Smelts. The shutdown comes two weeks after a report showed the Delta Smelt population to be at an all-time low. #
http://www.eyeoutforyou.com/news/local/7778967.html
Why not let inconvenient Delta smelt just go extinct?; Reasons to save 2-inch fish vary from practical to philosophical
Contra Costa Times – 6/4/07
By Mike Taugher, staff writer
For a pipsqueak of a fish, Delta smelt are becoming a whale of a threat to
To protect a little fish that grows about 2 inches long, lives one year and smells like cucumbers, officials this week shut down a set of massive water pumps that keeps one of the world's biggest economies humming.
There is little else of interest about the little fish except for this fact: Delta smelt, which live nowhere else, were once the most abundant fish in the estuary. Now they might be on the verge of extinction.
But why should anyone care if a nondescript little fish goes the way of the dodo?
After all, Delta smelt do not make the A-Team of endangered species, the so-called charismatic megafauna — bald eagles, grizzly bears, otters, whooping cranes and the like — that people tend to want to protect, if only because they look magnificent in magazines and nice on neckties.
In the Bay Area, water supplies are threatened, new subdivisions are scaled back and bridge construction costs go way up to protect a motley assortment of little critters that scamper, slither and swim through the region.
Call the Delta smelt, red-legged frog, vernal pool fairy shrimp, tiger salamander, salt marsh harvest mouse, valley elderberry longhorn beetle and
Because the act could be so costly to farmers, ranchers and developers, former Rep. Richard Pombo, a Tracy Republican, spent his entire congressional career trying to dramatically overhaul the Endangered Species Act, which was signed by President Nixon in 1973.
But the endangered species law, perhaps the nation's most powerful environmental law, has survived with only minor changes.
Why extinction matters
There are a number of reasons to prevent extinction, ranging from the practical to the philosophical. An obscure plant might hold the pharmaceutical key to deadly diseases, perhaps. One important cancer drug was developed from the Pacific yew, an otherwise forgettable tree that also provides habitat for spotted owls.
Many wildlife advocates argue that by protecting endangered species, habitat is being protected and preserved for future generations. A healthy Delta smelt population means a healthier Delta, just as thriving spotted owls mean more old-growth forests, more red-legged frogs mean healthier creeks and more Alameda whipsnakes mean more open space and parks.
To some, society has a moral, even religious, imperative to prevent extinction at any level.
Sometimes, a species is an indicator of bigger trends.
Delta smelt is such a species. When the Delta smelt population began its latest plunge around 2002, it was not alone. All of the major pelagic, or open-water resident fish, were also in decline.
Longfin smelt, threadfin shad and young-of-the-year striped bass, a popular sportfish, are all on a long downward slide. Salmon and sturgeon, also popular sportfish and food, also have depressed populations.
"If the only species at risk was the Delta smelt, then the question of 'so what' would have more impact," said Michael Bean, head of wildlife programs at Environmental Defense. "But the Delta smelt is just the tip of the iceberg. The Endangered Species Act puts these obscure species in the position of seemingly forcing these wrenching decisions. The reality is these species are sentinels for the ecosystem. That is clearly the case in the Bay-Delta."
And so the smelt's plight is a sign that something is very wrong in the Delta, the bottom of a watershed that drains 40 percent of the state.
How protection began
When Nixon signed the endangered species law, it was at a time when the pesticide DDT was killing the national symbol: the bald eagle. Pollution was so bad that a river in
Congress passed, and Nixon signed, a host of laws, including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act in response to public concern about the deteriorating environment.
But perhaps the most powerful of them all was the Endangered Species Act. It commanded, in essence, "Thou shalt not cause extinction." It mandated the best science available be used to determine if that might happen.
There were early conflicts, to be sure: The snail darter nearly stopped construction of Tellico Dam in
But it was not until the late 1980s, beginning with the clash between loggers in the
While the timber wars were raging in
"We saw ecosystems going to hell in a handbasket and said there ought to be a law. And then we realized there was a law," said Kieran Suckling, who along with Peter Galvin and Todd Schulke formed a group that later became the Center for Biological Diversity.
That group, now based in
They sued to increase protections for the Mexican spotted owl, loach minnows and spikedace.
Then they sued again to get their habitat protected.
The center effectively turned the Endangered Species Act into a sledgehammer for the environment. Its approach led to consternation among other environmental groups who feared the aggressive approach would weaken support for the law and help opponents rewrite it.
But that hasn't happened.
Suckling said his group alone has successfully petitioned to list 354 species — about one-fourth of all species now on the list of threatened and endangered species. Among those were Bay Area species such as the
Suckling dismissed the suggestion that the law was never intended to protect unglamorous creatures such as frogs, snakes, vernal pool fairy shrimp or valley elderberry longhorn beetles.
In fact, the original list approved by Congress included one
"They purposely changed the law to include uncharismatic plants and invertebrates," he said.
What the law says
The Endangered Species Act prohibits people from shooting bald eagles, obviously.
But it is Section 7 of the law that probably has the greatest impact today. It says the federal government cannot do anything to jeopardize the continued existence of a species.
That means the agencies of the federal government have to get regulatory approval to do anything that might harm endangered species.
As it turns out, that situation comes up all the time. The federal government, it seems, is involved in almost everything.
It issues grants, sells timber, delivers water, leases rangeland, approves permits and renews licenses. Any of those activities can potentially trigger endangered species issues.
Say a developer wants to build a road or a new subdivision. If there's a drainage or a wetland on the property — and that could be not much more than a glorified puddle — the builder probably has to get a dredge-and-fill permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
If red-legged frogs or vernal pool fairy shrimp live in those wetlands, they can create endangered species headaches for the builder, who might be asked to avoid the wetlands or offset the impact by preserving habitat somewhere else.
Large parcels have been added to the
To conservationists, that's a fair trade. Wildlife, after all, are oblivious to property lines. In their view, a builder who destroys habitat should be required to offset that loss.
How the smelt fit in
In the case of Delta smelt and this week's shutdown of water pumps, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued an opinion in 2005 that said the plan to deliver water from northern
But included with that opinion was an unusually flexible permit. It did not set firm limits on how many fish the pumps could kill or demand agencies take any action to limit fish kills. The lack of specificity is partly why a federal judge in
The
State water managers contend they are not solely to blame for the smelt's woes, and they are right. Pesticides and other toxics, and invasive species, particularly a clam infestation triggered by the discharge of ship ballast from a port somewhere in
But it is also true that the pumps, which pull trillions of gallons a year from the Delta, are certainly part of the Delta smelt's problems. Two judges now have ruled that the pumps are running in violation of state and federal endangered species laws.
That legal quandary, combined with new data showing that alarmingly low population levels dropped even further this spring, and the fact that Delta smelt were being killed at the pumps prompted the unprecedented shutdown.
So what's the fix?
The Department of Water Resources has embarked on an ambitious plan to fix the conflict between endangered species and water deliveries by utilizing a relatively obscure provision of the state and federal endangered species laws.
Those provisions provide a way for agencies to come up with a master plan to protect all species and still allow for orderly development.
Developers, environmentalists and government officials generally agree that is the best approach.
In theory.
In practice, these plans are enormously complex.
One such plan was recently completed to guide housing development in
Now the state water agency wants to develop for the Delta the first plan to deal with an aquatic ecosystem. They want it done in the next year or so.
The blueprint, which is already in the early stages of development, would probably require buy-in from interests throughout the Byzantine maze that is
Guiding the effort is an influential study done in February that said, in essence, California must either use much less Delta water or build something akin to a peripheral canal, a structure defeated in 1982 in one of the most divisive issues ever to hit California.
To
But with the crisis in the Delta today, a modified, perhaps more environmentally friendly canal, is likely to be seriously considered in the near future.
Delta smelt have become the symbol of a broken ecosystem and a broken water delivery system.
The pumping shutdown is an acknowledgment of that.
"It's a symbol that things are going to change in the Delta," said Suckling. #
http://origin.insidebayarea.com/localnews/ci_6056655
ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT; Delta smelt: 'canary in the coal mine'?
By Paul Rogers, staff writer
The snail darter. The spotted owl. The Delhi Sands flower-loving fly.
Add to that list the delta smelt.
In the 34 years since President Richard Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act, a parade of once-obscure creatures has skyrocketed to prominence after stopping dams, logging and construction projects around the
On Thursday, the Schwarzenegger administration ordered the pumps shut down at the massive State Water Project in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta - a drinking water source for 25 million Californians - to protect the delta smelt, a skinny, two-inch-long endangered fish.
The pumps are expected to be restarted in seven to 10 days when the smelt swim past during their annual migration, state water officials said. But the news brought into focus once again the power of endangered species laws.
And it had some Californians scratching their heads and wondering "Why are little bugs and fish so important?"
Environmentalists, private property rights lawyers and other experts Friday said the inglorious critters are important for one simple reason: the law requires it.
"When Congress passed the Endangered Species Act in 1973, everyone was focused on saving the bald eagle, the whooping crane, the wolf," said Rob Thornton, an
"That's what was sold to Congress. But the act defined species to mean all species of fish and wildlife and plants."
"I don't contest at all the purpose of the act to protect biodiversity,"
Links in food chain
Environmentalists, however, say it's important to protect even obscure species because they often play an important part in the food chain, or can reveal wider problems in nature.
"These species are the canary in the coal mine," said Noah Greenwald, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity in
"The spotted owl is dependent on large trees. But so are hundreds of other species, from salmon to woodpeckers," he said.
"Similarly, with the delta smelt, it's not just the delta smelt. The whole ecosystem is collapsing."
A number of charismatic species have rebounded well since the 1970s. Gray whales are off the endangered list now that whaling is banned. Brown pelicans, bald eagles and peregrine falcons all recovered once the pesticide DDT was banned. Wolves, even grizzly bears and alligators, all once nearly extinct, have come back sharply in number.
But obscure critters have found themselves at the center of explosive controversies, sparking calls for the federal and state endangered species acts to be rewritten.
The most infamous was the snail darter. Environmentalists filed a lawsuit to block the construction of Tellico Dam in
After several years of lawsuits, the Supreme Court agreed. In 1978, the court ruled 6-3 that the law was clear, and was intended to protect even lowly creatures, not just sea otters and bald eagles. Following ridicule and a national outcry, Congress amended the Endangered Species Act in 1978 to set up a "God Squad" of federal Cabinet secretaries that could overrule the act in extreme cases. When the "God Squad" sided with the fish, Tennessee Sen. Howard Baker passed an amendment that exempted Tellico Dam from the Endangered Species Act.
The snail darter did not go extinct. Indeed, it was later found in other
Spotted owl
A decade later in 1990, another animal, the northern spotted owl, sparked timber wars in Northern California,
"Spotted Owl: The Other White Meat," became a popular bumper sticker in rural timber towns.
Eventually, President Clinton stepped in and in 1994 brokered a compromise over 24 million acres in the three states that ended up reducing logging by roughly 80 percent on federal lands while allowing it in other places. Loggers, many of whom were losing jobs to do foreign imports and mechanization, still blame the bird. It has not fully recovered.
A few years later, a tiny bug, the Delhi Sands flower-loving fly, delayed construction of a hospital near
Attempts to make major changes to the law in Congress have mostly failed, most notably by former Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, who tried unsuccessfully to pass a law saying property owners must be paid to protect endangered species.
"I really don't think the Endangered Species Act is going to be changed significantly through legislation," said Damien Schiff, a property rights lawyer with the Pacific Legal Foundation in
Greenwald said apart from practical concerns, humans have a moral right to preserve all species.
`These animals do have an intrinsic value all to themselves," he said. "It is sad to think of us, as one part of the web of life, causing other parts of the web of life to disappear." #
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_6045270
Delta anxieties on tap; Pump shutdown to save small fish is big concern downstream
Sacramento
By Matt Weiser and Jim Downing, staff writers
The fate of a water supply serving two in three Californians has come down to tides, temperature and the mysterious movements of a tiny fish.
When the state Department of Water Resources on Thursday agreed to shut down its water export pumps in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to protect the Delta smelt, it said the pause would last only seven to 10 days. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has not shut down its pumps, but drastically cut pumping at its own export facility.
The goal is to avoid killing more of the rare smelt in the pumps. The threatened fish, all juveniles this time of year, are scarcely bigger than a thumbnail and can't yet swim strongly enough to resist the force of the pumps, which are powerful enough to reverse natural flows in the Delta and draw water in from the sea.
The duration of the shutdown depends on the fish, which in turn awaits its cue in an intricate dance of natural forces before it moves to safer waters.
But because numerous threats remain for smelt and other fish, water and wildlife officials said the shutdown may foretell more water disruptions to come as the crisis in the Delta deepens.
"I think everyone just hoped that our actions weren't really damaging the Delta, that we could have our cake and eat it too," said Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute, an independent water policy research group in
The state Department of Fish and Game plans to monitor the smelt and water temperatures to see when they've reached safety.
No one can say with certainty how long that will take.
Water agencies downstream are nervous.
"If they shut off all the pumps, the domino effect of that to the economy of the state would be unimaginable," said Dennis Falaschi of the San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Authority.
The smelt is one of six fish species declining in the Delta, and no magic prescription has been found. A state-appointed panel of experts is charged with designing a sustainable future for the Delta. Its report is at least a year away.
"Doing these emergency actions is a crummy way to manage any situation," said Peter Moyle, a UC Davis biologist and coauthor of a Public Policy Institute of California report on the Delta.
"If the Delta smelt goes," he added, "there are other fish in line to have the same thing happen to them. What you have is large parts of the Delta becoming a freshwater lake and lacking all the distinctive character that has made it a special place in the past."
Smelt normally spawn in eastern portions of the Delta in winter, in main channels of the
But the environment is now confining the smelt to the central and south Delta near the powerful pumps. A series of unusually high spring tides, with last month's "blue moon" partly to blame, has flooded the Delta preventing smelt from moving downstream, away from the pumps.
The fish also depend on strong spring outflows to move downstream. Those have been hindered in recent decades by the state's many dams, and most recently by the dry winter. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation plans to help by maintaining stronger releases into the
The fish also wait on a temperature signal. Waters 77 degrees and warmer are considered deadly to smelt, so as the Delta warms in late spring they naturally seek colder water in the salt- and freshwater mixing zone of Suisun Bay. But the Delta has remained around 71 degrees.
"What the tidal cycles do is cause draining and chilling of the Delta that's completely independent of how much flow is coming in (from upstream)," said Ted Sommer, a senior environmental scientist at DWR who is part of a team of experts monitoring the fish. "So our concern is that during a filling cycle, you've got more of a push that may move the smelt more into the Central Delta." #
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/204079.html
Ten-day window for West Side water; Tracy pump station shut down to protect imperiled delta smelt
By Michael Mooney, staff writer
"I'm a little nervous about the situation," said Bill Harrison, who manages the Oak Flat Water and Del Puerto water districts in western
On Thursday morning, the California Department of Water Resources turned off its massive pumps near
DWR director Lester Snow said the pumps will remain off for seven to 10 days. He said that no farmer, business or resident would be forced to go without water during that time.
When the pumps are on again, Snow said, it is hoped the delta water will have warmed enough to allow the smelt to move away from the pumping plant.
Earlier this week, nearly 300 smelt were killed when they were sucked into the pumps.
"Drastic times call for drastic measures," Snow said in a statement issued after a news media briefing. "While there are clearly many factors at play in the current decline of smelt in the delta, we must act on the one that is within our control.
"That is why DWR will stop pumping in the delta as a preventative measure to protect threatened fish that are currently lo-cated near our facilities."
In addition to problems at the pump, the smelt population, which plays a critical role in the delta's food chain, is coming under attack from invasive species.
'No connection' to lawsuit
It's just one of a number of problems in an ecosystem stressed by an influx of salt water and contamination from farm pesticides.
Snow said problems are further complicated by the dry winter, which has lowered the delta's water table.
DWR spokesman Ted Thomas said the decision to halt the pumps was not related to a recent
In late March, Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch gave the DWR 60 days to comply with the California Endangered Species Act or shut down the pumping plant that diverts millions of acre-feet of water to thirsty
For decades, environmental and sport fishing groups have argued that the pumps, a vital cog in the State Water Project that brings drinking water to 25 million Californians and irrigates 750,000 acres of productive farmland, are a primary reason behind precipitous declines in the populations of endangered delta smelt and chinook salmon.
"There is no connection (to the lawsuit)," Thomas said. "That decision has been appealed and the judge's decision has been stayed until the appellate court rules. What we did (Thursday) was done as a preventive measure."
Without the pumps pushing the water,
Oak Flat and Diablo Grande are south of the pumping plant and north of San Luis Reservoir, which will be used to provide water to
The Bee was unable to reach a Diablo Grande spokesman for comment Thursday.
But if the pumping shutdown goes beyond 10 days,
Water would have to be backed up through the aqueduct from O'Neill Forebay, he said, and then pumped uphill.
Conservation needed
Snow, the DWR director, said the shutdown won't go beyond 10 days.
The Oak Flat Water District provides irrigation water to about 2,200 acres for everything from row crops such as peppers, asparagus and specialty lettuce, and almond, walnut and cherry orchards, to vineyards.
Snow conceded that certain areas will need to redouble conservation measures. He singled out two
"Our actions to save the smelt will place a real hardship on some water users in the Bay Area, Central Valley and
http://www.modbee.com/local/story/13643115p-14237682c.html
Know where the Delta is?; If you don't, you're not alone
By Alex Breitler, staff writer
That is according to a survey commissioned by the city, which plans to draw drinking water from the Delta for the first time in the coming years.
"One of the most marvelous natural ecosystems in the entire world, and half of us don't know where it is. God help us,"
The news does not surprise everyone. Officials long have known that the Delta has a public-relations problem.
Its islands are mostly private. Its 1,000 miles of waterways are hidden by levees. You need a boat to explore its inner arteries.
And yet, the Delta touches the lives of most people in the state. Twenty-five million Californians drink its water. Thousands come to the estuary each summer for recreation. Farmers earn a living tilling the islands to raise asparagus and other crops.
The Delta is in trouble. Fish are dying, and the state export pumps that fuel a $300billion economy have been shut down - temporarily, at least.
Never has awareness of the Delta been more important, advocates say.
"Because the Delta isn't a big body of water, because it meanders throughout the region, it's not identifiable," said Linda Fiack, head of the state Delta Protection Commission. "That makes it unique, but it's not an area that people connect with."
Many of those who answered the phone for the city's survey last December and were stumped by the location of the Delta might live within it. Its legal boundaries slice through the middle of
The sprinkler water that runs off your lawn and into the storm drain flows to Delta waterways. So too does the city's treated wastewater.
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, leader of Stockton-based Restore the Delta, said she does not think the lack of public knowledge is as drastic as the survey suggests. But her new grass-roots campaign struggles to reach Delta dwellers who live in bedroom neighborhoods tucked behind immense earthen levees.
"I think the best way to reach (them) is really to work for the schools," said Barrigan-Parrilla, whose organization is trying to create Delta field trip programs for schoolchildren. Restore the Delta has grown from 60 to 500 supporters since it formed about six months ago, she said.
At another level, the Discover the Delta campaign, which includes businesses and environmentalists, is erecting 16 signs along highways reminding the public about the estuary. It also is planning a visitor center that will offer exhibits and tours.
Campaign director Tom Martens guessed that Bay Area residents have an even worse sense of the location of the Delta. This could be a problem someday if Californians are asked to front the money to pay for massive improvements in levees or infrastructure.
"You just won't have the support," Martens said.
"Personally, I was surprised" about the lack of knowledge, said Bob Granberg,
"I'm so immersed in the Delta that I know a lot about it. It's surprising that some people don't." #
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070604/A_NEWS/706040321
Stopped pumps an undiscovered marvel; Harvey O. Banks Delta Pumping Plant 'the greatest feat of engineering in the state'
By Chris Nichols, staff writer
Few Californians have heard of the Harvey O. Banks Delta Pumping Plant.
But 25 million of them sure would be thirsty if the plant wasn't there.
Tucked in the foothills of the
An average of 3 million acre-feet of water move through the plant's 11 stainless steal pumps each year, the bulk of it to
That's enough to pile 3 million feet of water on top of a football field. Basically, it's a lot of water, said Michael Miller, a spokesman for the Department of Water Resources, who leads tours at the plant.
"This is the greatest undiscovered feat of engineering in the state," Miller said Friday, his back to the 3.4 mile long channel that feeds water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta into the plant.
"It sits right out in plain view," he added. "(The public) has no idea what it is, what it does."
Right now, the plant's not doing much.
DWR shut it down Thursday due to concerns its pumps were sucking the endangered delta smelt to their deaths.
The stoppage is expected to be temporary, and not force anyone to go thirsty right away, Miller said.
Between water already on the California Aqueduct and within local reservoirs, there is plenty of reserve.
When the Banks plant is churning, its 15-foot-wide turbines force water up from the channel and into a shaft.
>From there, the water is pushed 244-feet uphill and finally out into the aqueduct.
At that point, it's 444-mile journey has just begun.
"(The plant) is the start of the State Water Project," said Miller, referring to the system of 32 reservoirs and 17 pumping plants and hundreds of miles of pipeline that delivers water throughout
Water from the Banks plant — named after DWR's first director — eventually flows as far south as
The plant and the entire water project were built in the early 1960s, as the state's population was booming.
Voters funded the project with a $1.75 billion bond. The total cost, including construction, maintenance, salaries and interest on the bonds has now reached $9 billion, Miller said.
The state has larger and stronger water pumps — like the Edmonston pump that brings water over the Tehachapi Mountains down to
Banks' pumps don't reach that. They're just 34,500 horsepower each — about the power of 100 high-duty pick up trucks per pump.
That doesn't make Banks a small marvel.
After all, it's the "gateway" to the largest water project in the
"It if wasn't for this, nothing else would work," Miller said. #
http://www.lodinews.com/articles/2007/06/02/news/1_pumps_070602.txt
Column: Short-term mentality and water
By Dan Walters, Bee columnist
There's no inherent -- i.e., rational -- reason why
There are, however, a lot of irrational -- i.e., political -- reasons why we have allowed water supply and flood control to languish in the netherworld of unresolved, yet important, public policy issues.
Fundamentally, water policy in all its forms is a very long-range matter, but politics is a very short-range process. The decisions, or non-decisions, on water tend to be driven by immediate, often petty, political factors with consequences that reverberate for decades.
An excellent case in point occurred a few days ago when state and federal water agencies temporarily turned off the pumps that extract water from the southern end of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to prevent more of the rare Delta smelt from being ground up.
The tiny fish are considered harbingers of the Delta's ecological health and have been vanishing at an alarming rate. It is further proof that we've been messing up the huge estuary, sucking so much water that its natural flows are disrupted and thus lowering the quality of water. But despite the druidic assertions of many self-proclaimed environmentalists that water transfers are the villains, they should look in the mirror.
The problem is not that the State Water Plan -- a complex of dams, reservoirs and canals -- was built, but that it was not completed, thanks to environmental groups and
The farmers wanted the canal with fewer environmental safeguards while the enviros were worried that with the plumbing in place, the state would have dammed
The state's population has grown since 1982 by at least 12 million people, most of whom are dependent on water from the California Aqueduct. Turning off the pumps to save a few smelt does not alter the fact that something like the
Last winter was a mild one, following a fairly heavy one, which not only demonstrates the need for more water storage, but underscores the ever-present danger of killer flooding along the
Better land-use policies and more complete -- i.e., more expensive -- flood protection projects are needed to protect communities along Northern California rivers from Katrina-like flooding, but they've been stalled by opposition from development interests, shortsightedness among local government officials and the general reluctance of everyone to pay for more protection through fees, assessments or taxes.
Last week, however, a Sacramento Bee editorial revealed a Department of Water Resources white paper recommending a tough approach to both land use and flood protection costs that, if adopted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature, would go a long way toward easing the state's flood peril.
It's a big "if" because short-range politics tend to block long-range flood protection policies and Schwarzenegger has been unwilling, at least so far, to provide genuine leadership, bowing to anti-tax and pro-development interests.
Publication of the document, which had been stamped "confidential and privileged," puts the onus on Schwarzenegger to either step up or continue to stall. #
http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/203828.html
Editorial: Delta's silent pumps signal the need for change; Much is wrong in this essential resource, and the tiny Delta smelt are not to blame
Sacramento
Now
Never before have Delta pumps gone silent because of an endangered fish. And like the electricity crisis, the Delta debacle hints that it will get worse (maybe a lot) before it gets better.
This isn't an exact replica of the electricity problem. In electricity, government made some epically bad decisions when it tried to set up a market system to generate power. That market failed spectacularly. In water, the core problem is indecision by government, an inability to make huge, difficult decisions about managing a Delta estuary facing multiple threats.
The Delta ecosystem is an increasingly complex stew of invasive species, toxic pesticides, unstable levees and rising sea levels.
Meanwhile at the pumps, run by the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project, operators have tried to adjust the pumping, sometimes pumping less, sometimes diverting record supplies. The adjustments amount to tinkering with a plumbing regime that isn't sustainable.
The Delta smelt are an anchor of the food chain and an indicator of the overall health of the ecosystem. Trawling with nets throughout the Delta this spring, biologists found fewer than 30. That set off the alarm bells and slowed the pumping. But when a population of smelt drifted toward the pumps about a week ago and the pumps began to kill the fish, the system went into blackout mode. So long as the smelt are in the southern Delta (the species migrates into the bay in the summer), the pumps are silent. How long? No one knows.
Close observers of
Solutions? Water and environmental interests both have incentives to ensure that toxic drainage from agriculture stays out of the Delta. A similar urgency is necessary to address invasive species and suburban sprawl that are harming the smelt.
The pumping debate, as always, overshadows everything. This kind of debate only gets resolved by a thorough study process and a political willingness to make a tough decision. This process is under way, as wildlife agencies, the
http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/202784.html
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