[Water_news] 1. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS - Top Item for 9/14/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment

 

September 14, 2007

 

1.  Top Item -

 

 

Groups prod Congress to help bring San Joaquin River back to life

San Francisco Chronicle – 9/14/07

By Peter Fimrite, staff writer

 

Sixteen national conservation groups sent a letter Thursday urging Congress to fund a landmark agreement to bring life back to the dried-up San Joaquin River and restore its historic salmon run.

 

The once-mighty river, which literally foamed with spawning salmon back in the day, was dammed in 1943. Now, during summer months, two long sections of the river often dry up for more than 60 miles.

 

Environmentalists have characterized the draining of the San Joaquin as one of the most egregious examples anywhere of habitat destruction to quench man's thirst for water.

 

The agreement, reached a year ago this week, was supposed to end a 19-year battle among ecologists, federal water regulators and agricultural interests over what to do about California's second-longest river. The plan was to restore year-round flows to the San Joaquin and reintroduce salmon, wildlife, riverside forests and habitat.

 

But the legislation necessary to pay for the restoration, known as the San Joaquin River Restoration Settlement Act, has stalled in House and Senate committees while supporters search for money in the budget to offset costs.

 

"We are very concerned that lack of congressional action on the measure could delay implementation of the settlement and the restoration of flows and fish in the river," said the letter, signed by wide variety of groups, including the Sierra Club and Trout Unlimited.

 

Failure to pass the legislation, which is sponsored by U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Rep. George Radanovich, R-Fresno, could also jeopardize more than $100 million pledged from the state of California, the letter stated.

 

Hal Candee, the lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council, the lead plaintiff in a coalition of parties that sued the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation almost two decades ago, also urged Congress to act. "The federal and state governments need congressional authorization if the goal of restoring California's second-longest river and bringing back its salmon fishery is to become a reality," he said in a statement.

 

The plan to resuscitate the San Joaquin River is considered one of the most ambitious environmental restoration projects in California history.

The waterway once supported both a fall run and a spring run of chinook salmon. Then, in 1942, the giant 319-foot Friant Dam was completed a few miles north of Fresno, plugging the river gorge and holding back nearly the entire river's flow.

 

Starting in the 1950s, the river water was diverted to more than 1 million acres of desert farmland from Chowchilla to the Tehachapi Mountains. The river flow was reduced to a seasonal trickle. In the summer, 63 miles of the once-teeming river became a dry, sandy gravel bed with only lizards and jackrabbits skittering about.

The salmon, which old-timers say used to splash around on top of one another and were so plentiful they were scooped up and used as hog feed, were wiped out. The river is no longer a constant source of freshwater to San Francisco Bay.

 

The lawsuit was filed by environmentalists in 1988. It was a contentious fight, as the government and farmers attempted to protect their rights to the water. In 2004, U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's operation of Friant Dam violated state fish and game codes by eliminating the salmon.

 

The settlement agreement anticipated spending up to $800 million to restore a 150-mile stretch of river. Farmers would pay about $330 million toward the restoration plan. The rest of the money would come from California bonds and the federal government. Environmentalists anticipate using Sacramento River salmon to replace the extinct San Joaquin chinook by 2012.

 

The agreement is supported by almost every member of the California congressional delegation, regardless of party affiliation. The delay in Congress, according to supporters of the bill, is being caused by new Pay as You Go requirements, meaning the money needed for the restoration has to be offset somewhere else in the budget. The budget committee has pegged the federal cost of the project at $240 million over 10 years, said Dan Dooley, the attorney for the Friant Water Users Authority - the agency that represents the farmers.

 

Dooley said he is hopeful that there will be some sort of resolution in the next few weeks.

 

"I've worked in and around Congress for a couple of decades now, and I'm never surprised when it takes longer than some people think it will take for a bill to get through," he said. "It's very important to get this done and move forward. It has been two decades worth of fighting and its time to put it to bed and move on."#

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/14/BAPBS5K4J.DTL