A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
July 18, 2007
1. Top Items
Schwarzenegger announces interim steps to protect Delta - Associated Press
Governor gets down to Delta's nitty-gritty - Stockton Record
In Delta stop, governor orders screens for fish - Sacramento Bee
Governor firm on canal bypass for Delta - Contra Costa Times
Governor pushes for Delta preservation - Sacramento Business Journal
Gov. Wants Immediate Delta Protection - ABC Channel 30 (Fresno
Schwarzenegger announces interim steps to protect Delta
Associated Press – 7/17/07
By Garance Burke, staff writer
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced new measures Tuesday to protect the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, but farmers and environmentalists said they didn't go far enough to ensure they would have enough water to irrigate crops and protect a threatened fish species.
The interim plans — all of which build on existing programs — include boosting efforts to keep invasive plant and animal species from expanding in the freshwater estuary and installing screens to keep the delta smelt and other fish from being pumped onto the region's farm fields.
They also call for expanding the habitat of the threatened smelt and the plankton the three-inch-long fish consume. State and federal courts ruled this spring that water pumping operations in the delta were killing the smelt, forcing brief shutdowns that cut the flow of water to cities and farms.
"The pump shut-off along with the dry winter contributed so much to the water crisis that we have right now in our state," Schwarzenegger said while standing on one of the estuary's low-lying islands. "If we want to have a permanent solution to this problem, we have to think big."
The governor issued an executive order last year launching a comprehensive review of the delta and its problems, saying the state could no longer base its water-delivery system around the estuary because its mosaic of waterways could be crippled by floods and earthquakes.
Freshwater from Northern California's rivers is sent through the delta to about 750,000 acres of farmland and 25 million people in Southern California and the
In January, Schwarzenegger proposed asking voters to approve a $5.9 billion comprehensive water plan that includes spending $4.5 billion on two reservoirs, $1 billion to restore the delta and $450 million for water conservation efforts.
Two-thirds of the cost would be paid for by taxpayers and one-third by water users, including irrigation districts, municipalities and local taxpayers, said Department of Water Resources Deputy Director Jerry Johns.
On Monday, Schwarzenegger said the measure may appear on the Feb. 5 presidential primary ballot and that some of the money originally intended for the delta projects he outlined earlier this year would be used to explore building a canal that would divert water around the estuary.
The steps he proposed Tuesday are meant to improve the estuary's health in the meantime, he said.
They include ramping up scientific research on the smelt, stockpiling rock and sheet pilings in towns ringing the delta to safeguard against a levee collapse, and growing rice on the delta's islands as an experimental method for preventing them from sinking.
The immediate actions do not require additional funding, Johns said.
"This state has wrestled with delta issues for decades, and now is the time to get on with a long-term fix," said Lester Snow, director of the state Department of Water Resources.
The delta's crucial role in the state's water delivery system means any solution would have to address multiple — and sometimes opposing — interests.
Environmental groups said the measures announced Tuesday could help expand scientific understanding of the smelt, but might not be enough to save the species, which is considered a harbinger of the delta's health.
"Much more needs to be done," said Ann Hayden, a water analyst for Environmental Defense. "The future of the delta is at a crossroads and the smelt ... are currently hanging in the balance."
Irrigation districts and urban water agencies that deliver much of the state's water said a comprehensive plan was needed — now.
"Water deliveries for some of our most productive farmlands are being drastically cut in a vain effort to protect the fisheries," said Randy Fiorini, president of Association of California Water Agencies. "(The delta) doesn't work for fish, it doesn't work for people." #
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/07/17/state/n175247D31.DTL
Governor gets down to Delta's nitty-gritty
By Hank Shaw, staff writer
TWITCHELL ISLAND - A day after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger outlined the broad sweep of his $5.9 billion water supply plan, he visited the Delta to detail the proposal's nuts and bolts - or rather its rocks and tules.
Tuesday morning's visit was meant to highlight the governor's plan to spend $120 million for a series of quick actions to help the struggling estuary, which provides more than 25 million Californians with their drinking water.
Schwarzenegger's larger plan would ask voters to borrow $5.9 billion to build several large dams in the Central Valley, clean up groundwater in Southern California, build a canal to shunt water from the Sacramento River to the giant water pumps near
Much of the money in Tuesday's interim action would come from bond funds from last fall's Proposition 84 and would need the Legislature's approval before the state Department of Water Resources could spend it.
Two habitat restoration projects, a series of small fish screens on state-owned irrigation pumps, an experimental planting of tules and rice and a stockpile of rocks for fighting levee breaches are the proposal's primary actions.
Schwarzenegger visited Twitchell Island to see for himself how these small fish screens work: About as long as a door, the screens fit over irrigation pumps and are intended to prevent endangered Delta smelt from being sucked in and killed.
"So have you guys tried this equipment yet?" Schwarzenegger asked DWR chief Lester Snow and the department's Delta levees director, Dave Mraz.
They have, mostly on nearby
Snow said he hopes private irrigators will use the screens, too. The giant pumps near
They are expensive, however: The 10 proposed in the plan Schwarzenegger outlined Tuesday will cost more than $1 million. The one he saw on
Installing screens of similar quality on the
Tuesday's proposal also includes $74 million to buy or lease space to stockpile tons of rock, pilings, sand and other flood-fighting equipment. DWR officials say doing this will let them fix levee breaches far faster than before; in years past, they had to get the rock from San Ramon.
Schwarzenegger's tour took him right past the spot on
The governor also drove past a restored wetland on the island: His proposal would spend $48 million to replicate that restoration on Cache and Dutch sloughs. Dutch Slough, about 18 miles due west of Stockton, is a 1,166-acre stretch of grazing land the state wants to convert into the kind of natural wetland that can been seen along Interstate 5 in southern Sacramento County along the Cosumnes River, near Twin Cities Road.
The Cache Slough project is similar. Cache Slough is north of Rio Vista near the
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070718/A_NEWS/707180325
In Delta stop, governor orders screens for fish
By Kevin Yamamura, staff writer
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday promoted state actions to improve the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta after taking a brief tour of
The Republican governor directed the state Department of Water Resources to install fish screens at two islands to protect Delta smelt, a threatened species. He also called for the restoration of habitat at Cache Slough in the north Delta and for increased stockpiles of materials to protect against levee failure, among other actions.
The efforts will cost an estimated $28 million, Water Resources Deputy Director Jerry Johns said. The state will tap funds from Proposition 84 and the State Water Project.
Schwarzenegger also called for using more than $120 million in future bond funds to pay for additional Delta restoration and studies. But he downplayed his short-term solutions on the same day he promoted them, focusing more on a $5.9 billion bond plan to build new water storage and a possible canal around the Delta.
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla of the grass-roots group Restore the Delta said the governor's actions on smelt "are extremely weak in light of the emergency that is there." Smelt deaths forced the state to turn off its Delta water pumps last month. She said the governor should focus on fish screens at large State Water Project pumps in the south Delta rather than small screens on two islands.
But Barry Nelson, senior policy advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the governor's announcement was "encouraging." He said it represents a "broad agreement that there is a lot we can do now to address biological and flooding concerns in the Delta." #
http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/278471.html
Governor firm on canal bypass for Delta
Contra Costa Times – 7/17/07
By Mike Taugher, staff writer
RIO VISTA - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this morning reiterated his support for a system that would likely send Sacramento River water around the Delta to
Speaking to reporters on the second day of a weeklong blitz promoting his $6 billion water bond, the governor said an ongoing water crisis and a more cooperative atmosphere in the capitol makes the time ripe to try again to build an aqueduct commonly known as a peripheral canal.
But the governor acknowledged the highly charged controversy surrounding an aqueduct by deferring a question to Department of Water Resources Director Lester Snow.
"Everything has to be done the right way, and Lester is going to explain that," Schwarzenegger said.
Snow said details of how such an aqueduct would work are being worked out and suggested that traditional opponents of the canal -- the Contra Costa Water District is among them -- could use the new water supply..
"The only thing we're rejecting is the arguments of 20 years ago," Snow said, referring to the bitter controversies that built to a head when voters statewide rejected the original peripheral canal in 1982.
Environmentalists say the governor's commitment to a canal is premature, while water agency leaders are rallying behind him.
"We have 25 years of better science," said Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies. "The Delta itself if broken. You can't fix it with more conservation."
The governor also announced several new initiatives to deal with short term problems in the Delta. Among them:
- Stockpiling rock and other material around the Delta to help speed levee repairs in a flood.
- Increased efforts to combat invasive species.
- Upgrades at a Delta smelt research laboratory near Byron.
- New screens for water intakes used by farmers on state-owned Delta islands.
- Wetlands restoration at Cache Slough in the northern Delta.
- Study of Franks Tract, a flooded Delta island that pushes imperiled fish toward water delivery pumps.
The Contra Costa Water District and others want the state to install barriers that would prevent those fish from being drawn through the island to the pumps. #
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mytown/ci_6396263?nclick_check=1
Governor pushes for Delta preservation
By Anne Gonzales, staff writer
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today called for immediate action to save the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta from deterioration.
At a press conference on Twitchell Island in the Delta this morning, he promoted a $120 million package of Delta restoration projects, part of his $5.9 billion comprehensive water plan that he wants the state Legislature to pass by the end of the year.
Schwarzenegger wants the state Department of Water Resources to take quick steps to restore natural habitat in the Delta and to protect the Delta smelt and other species. He issued directives to prevent the spread of invasive species, do more research on the smelt, install more fish screens to protect fish and restore tidal wetlands and aquatic habitats in the North Delta. The Water Resources Department also will study
The governor said the Delta, the largest estuary on the West Coast and home to hundreds of native plants and animals, is also "one of the most vulnerable areas of our state," that faces dangers of contamination from a natural disaster or rising sea levels.
He called the Delta one of the state's most important resources, as it provides clean drinking water for 25 million Californians and irrigates hundreds of thousands of acres of
The governor unveiled his comprehensive water plan in January, which would invest $4.5 million in more surface and groundwater storage and puts $1 billion toward restoration of the Delta, including development of a new water conveyance system, $250 million to support restoration projects on the Klamath, San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers and work on the Salton Sea, and $200 million for grants to California communities to conserve water for about 400,000 families. #
http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2007/07/16/daily15.html
Gov. Wants Immediate Delta Protection
ABC Channel 30 (
By Laura Anthony
It's another part of Governor Schwarzenegger's strategic growth plan -- how to manage an increasingly vulnerable California Delta. The plan will require heaps of bond money down the line, but Tuesday he announced what he intends to do in the interim.
On a brief Delta tour, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger heard first-hand there are no cheap or easy solutions here, not when it comes to balancing the needs of a fragile ecosystem with the demands of 25 million Californians who rely on the Delta for clean water.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger: "But it also one of the most vulnerable areas in
Schwarzenegger has introduced a $5.9 billion dollar water plan he hopes to pay for with a future bond measure. Before then, the governor wants to use existing resources to take immediate action to strengthen Delta infrastructure, increase water storage and protect native species.
For instance, Schwarzenegger viewed giant screens that will be installed in irrigation pipes to protect endangered smelt.
Lester Snow, Calif. Dept. of Water Resources: "These are important actions. They will improve Delta sustainability, but in the absence of a comprehensive program, it's just another band-aid."
Tony Rosenthal owns a 500-acre ranch on
Tony Rosenthal, Delta rancher: "My question would be -- is there anybody on the panel that's advising the governor who lives behind the levee that has to deal with this day to day, to understand what the struggles are in order not only to protect your land, but to protect the waterway."
Those who sell Delta water to consumers in the Bay Area and all over
Randy Fiorini, Association of California Water Agencies: "I've heard that one year a drought does not make, but let's face it, we're facing cutbacks, just as if it were to be called a drought, so I'm calling it a drought."
The governor's task force on Delta management must present its findings by the first of next year. #
http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=state&id=5482193
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