Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
June 25, 2007
1. Top Item -
Water exports to continue, judge rules in smelt suit -
BAY AREA
Smelt rule eases fear of water rationing
Judge rejects plea to cut delta pumping -
San Francisco Chronicle
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Water exports to continue, judge rules in smelt suit
By Eric Bailey, Times Staff Writer
U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger in
Concerns about the increasing number of smelt deaths prompted officials this month to temporarily either shut down or sharply reduce the output of federal and state pumps that supply two aqueducts that carry water as far south as San Diego.
The pumping resumed in earnest Sunday, building to a peak by midweek. During the first few days, more than 350 smelt were sucked into the pumps, the bulk of them in the state's facility.
With fish losses mounting, the environmental legal firms Natural Resources Defense Council and Earthjustice petitioned Wanger for a temporary order that would have curtailed water exports.
Many biologists who study smelt say the diminutive fish — protected under the federal Endangered Species Act — is in imminent danger of extinction, and the losses this year could push the population over the edge.
Aside from the loss of adult fish, they fear that large numbers of juvenile smelt also are being killed by the pumps, which are so powerful that they can reverse the tidal flow in delta channels. Smelt are poor swimmers and can fall prey to the pull of the pumps and perish.
State and federal water managers argued that temperatures near the pumps have risen so high that the smelt almost certainly had fled, as they do in late spring, to colder water near
Ted Thomas, a state Department of Water Resources spokesman, said agency officials believed the increase in smelt fatalities in recent days was due to fish that had perished because of the rising water temperature.
Thomas said water officials were "relieved" by the judge's ruling, which averted a situation that quickly could have turned into a crisis. A couple of water districts in the south San Francisco Bay Area, which depend on delta exports, were facing steep cutbacks, and San Joaquin Valley farmers could have been hard hit.
Environmentalists argued that any pumping restrictions would have been relatively brief and probably would not have posed a severe threat to water users. But with water exports continuing unabated, the pumps remained "a significant threat" to smelt survival, said Andrea Treece, an Earthjustice attorney.
Because the pumps were revved up before the smelt could flee, the fish essentially will remain trapped by the reverse flows in parts of the delta where warmer water temperatures would prove deadly to them, she said.
"The water is flowing backward at a pretty good clip," Treece said. "We remain worried. Every day is critical to the survival of this species."
If the number of smelt swallowed by the pumps fails to decline soon, environmental attorneys say they may be forced to return to Wanger's courtroom in hopes of winning an injunction that would stop the pumps long enough to allow the smelt to escape to cooler water.
Federal water managers believe the fish are long gone, partly because of their efforts. They flushed 30,000 acre-feet of water into the delta earlier this month to help negate reverse flows and give the smelt a better chance of swimming toward the
Jeffrey McCracken, a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation spokesman, said the judge's ruling reflected "an appropriate balance" between the needs of the fish and people.#
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-smelt23jun23,1,1797051.story?coll=la-headlines-california
BAY AREA
Smelt rule eases fear of water rationing
Judge rejects plea to cut delta pumping
San Francisco Chronicle – 6/23/07
By John Cote, staff writer
U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger in
The judge's decision appears to stave off fears of water rationing in the near future, but environmentalists said it could mean the extinction of a species that serves as an indicator of the ecosystem's health.
"We may have already passed the point where this species can survive for another year," said Kate Poole, an attorney for the National Resources Defense Council, which sought the injunction with other environmental groups.
"The bigger picture is this isn't about the smelt,"
State water officials said that while they share environmentalists' concern about the smelt, the need for water is acute. Officials disputed that pumping at this time of year endangers the fish. The pumps serve parts of the
"We believe at this point the delta smelt have moved away from the pumps," said Department of Water Resources spokesman Ted Thomas. "This has been a very dry year, and ... all major sources of water are now crucial."
The judge's decision is the latest development in a debate that has pitted environmentalists against agricultural groups and urban water managers over the use of huge pumps that extract delta water to irrigate about 750,000 acres of agricultural land and supply water to 25 million Californians.
The state dramatically reduced pumping for more than a week starting May 31 after biologists found a record low number of delta smelt during trawls.
Usually, the small fish swim early in the year near the pumps, which are near
The state moved to stop the pumps for the first time in several years, causing urban water managers to urge conservation efforts and warn that rationing may be needed.
After the state restarted the pumps, environmental groups sought to have that activity curtailed, saying mild temperatures and the release of colder water from upstream reservoirs had caused the smelt to linger around the pumps.
Wanger said environmental groups could compile additional evidence and try again to seek a restraining order against the pumping, but Poole said the remaining fish may have already moved to colder waters by that point.#
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/23/BAGSKQKKPM1.DTL
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