A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
September 21, 2007
1. Top Item
Creating a vision for the Delta; Task force's report could ultimately help shape policy
By Alex Breitler, staff writer
In the Delta of the future, water supply and the environment must be "co-equals," and the estuary should no longer serve as such a critical hub of
That's according to a preliminary report presented Thursday - a document that by the end of November will evolve into a formal vision of the Delta's purpose in years to come.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last September established Delta Vision to find solutions to the Delta's problems, including declines in native fish, shaky levees and an uncertain future for water supplies that are exported to two-thirds of Californians.
Four groups of experts and Delta interests have met for months, including Schwarzenegger's "blue ribbon" task force, whose ideas were shaped into this latest report, discussed at a meeting Thursday.
Though the report says that the state must reduce its reliance on the Delta, it also suggests creating multiple ways to move water so that supplies for cities and farms won't be jeopardized.
This could mean construction of the contentious peripheral canal. Many Delta advocates oppose a canal, fearing that, once water is shipped safely around the Delta and its marginal levees, the estuary will be abandoned. As it is now, the state and federal governments pump water directly out of the Delta and thus have reason to sustain it.
"I remain very pessimistic,"
The task force on Thursday discussed the new report and heard suggestions for a range of short-term strategies as well.
One of the issues: How much more debate is needed before action can be taken?
"It (the Delta) has been studied to death, but it hasn't yet been studied adequately," said Raymond Seed, a
He said scientists need to look at the system holistically, rather than piece by piece.
Said Gary Bobker, program director for the conservation group The Bay Institute: "We know a lot about the Delta. The problem is, the Delta's changing as we speak about it."
The task force report says future policies should "respect and work with nature rather than seeking to bend nature to our engineering designs."
Parts of the state will be more resilient in any future water crisis if they find ways to reduce the amount of Delta water on which they rely.
This could be accomplished through water conservation, beefing up groundwater supplies and desalinization, among other means.
The report also calls for improvements in the "fragmented, weak governance" by the 220 government agencies that have some authority over parts of the Delta. #
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070921/A_NEWS/709210321
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