A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
October 12, 2007
3. Watersheds
DELTA ISSUES:
Canal map leads to the unknown - Stockton Record
No protection yet for vanishing Delta fish - San Jose Mercury News
Petition to protect Delta fish declined - Sacramento Bee
Scientists Plead To Save The Longfin Smelt - ABC Channel 7 (Bay Area)
DELTA ISSUES:
Canal map leads to the unknown
By Michael Fitzgerald, staff writer
The fierce debate over the peripheral canal is taking place in a strange vacuum. The governor wants billions of dollars for it, but neither he nor anybody else has released any details on it.
How big is it? How much water does it carry? What effect will it have on the environment? And - the $64 question for
Knowing the proposed route would allow a pretty fair determination of the canal's impact on
Restore the Delta obtained a map by the State Water Contractors, the powerful agency of water buyers that serve 25 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland.
The SWC map, while intriguing, is not an official state map. State officials say no such map exists.
The map was part of a 2006 analysis to see if the SWC could fund a canal itself. The agency has since been drawn into the governor's Delta Vision process. Project decisions are on hold.
But the map at least provides a starting point for discussion. If others are thinking about a canal passing
First, the alignment of the old peripheral canal, partly dug out in 1972 when Interstate 5 was built up, then crushed by voters in 1982, shows how
If the old canal were built today, it would cut through homes in Spanos Park West. That did not sit well with residents of the new neighborhood.
"Man, I just got here," wailed Pamela Mason, who lives on
Even a canal built farther west of the old canal route, but still in the Delta's secondary zone, would have major impact.
A canal dig causes water to find new routes through the soil, said Dante Nomellini, a water attorney.
"The ground gets wet, and I think the houses would get wet," he opined. "People with concrete floors would have water coming up on top of their floors."
A proposed 4-foot-thick clay liner would avert seepage, Nomellini said - if it didn't crack. But that liner adds billions to the canal's cost. Funding is uncertain.
Even a canal that gave considerable leeway to the city's western edge interferes with the city's General Plan. That plan calls for growth west to the Delta's primary zone boundary.
"If there are such plans, obviously we would have a concern," said Mike Niblock, the city's Community Development Director. "We are planning for land uses. In fact, developments like
Were the state to use its powers of eminent domain to acquire land for the canal, hundreds of acres would come off the city/county tax base.
Flood control would be affected. The canal route crosses waterways. "Inverted siphons" - underground pipes - designed for these watery intersections, if not built to handle floodwaters, could back up, causing spillover.
When Delta islands flood, flood fighters notch "relief cuts" in levees to let water return to channels. "The canal would block the flow of these waters," Nomellini said.
Even a canal running along the map's second alignment, well away from
That $201 million project to increase Stockton's water supply calls for intake pumps out Eight Mile Road drawing Delta water along pipes east to a treatment facility off Lower Sacramento Road.
A canal diverting Delta fresh water could affect the quality of water drawn out by
Plus the canal could cross the transmission pipes, presenting an engineering headache,
These considerations do not even touch the bigger question whether a canal locked to ironclad water contracts makes sense for an extremely dynamic ecosystem in a region with a wildly swinging flood/drought climate. It should be obvious by now that there are years when the Delta cannot give what
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071012/A_NEWS0803/710120317
No protection yet for vanishing Delta fish
By Mike Taugher, staff writer
State regulators declined to add another Delta fish to the list of endangered species on an emergency basis Thursday but said they would give the issue serious consideration in February.
Longfin smelt are one of four Delta fish species in severe decline. Listing them as endangered could further reduce state water supplies that are already pinched.
The request came from environmentalists who said longfin smelt populations have been in decline since the 1970s and have dropped sharply since about 2002.
Surveys for longfin smelt this summer found only four fish, a 96 percent drop from what record lows found during the previous four years, said Tina Swanson, a scientist with the Bay Institute.
"This is another species in the
Swanson was referring to its fate in the Delta and
The commission said it could not list longfin smelt on an emergency basis because such an action is allowable only if the fish could go extinct throughout its entire range.
But commissioners said they would reconsider the listing, and they directed state biologists to complete their review of the longfin smelt's status quickly.
Longfin smelt, Delta smelt, threadfin shad and young striped bass all have declined precipitously since 2002. The reasons remain uncertain, but pollution, invasive species and massive water delivery projects are all likely to blame, scientists say. #
http://www.mercurynews.com/localnewsheadlines/ci_7156656
Petition to protect Delta fish declined
Sacramento
State wildlife officials Thursday declined an emergency petition to protect another Delta fish under the California Endangered Species Act, saying the request failed to prove an urgent threat.
A trio of environmental groups including the Bay Institute submitted the petition to the California Fish and Game Commission at its meeting in
Tina Swanson of the Bay Institute said longfin numbers in the Delta fell 96 percent this summer relative to the preceding four years, based on state survey data. The decline may be related to factors affecting Delta smelt, including water diversions, poor water quality and invasive species.
"In my view, that represents a very, very serious level of concern for this fish. It represents an emergency," said Swanson.
Commissioners agreed the longfin is at risk but said the petition didn't prove extinction is likely and therefore failed to meet the legal standard for emergency protection. The commission ordered the Department of Fish and Game to review the petition by December and may consider listing the fish under a normal rule-making process after that. #
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/428434.html
Scientists Plead To Save The Longfin Smelt
ABC Channel 7 (Bay Area) – 10/11/07
By Leslie Brinkley
Bay Area activists and scientists pleaded with the Fish and Game Commission to take emergency action to save the Longfin Smelt. The 4-inch silver fish, once abundant in the bay and Delta, are nearing extinction.
"I found that Longfin Smelt numbers in 2007 were 96 percent lower than the numbers measured in the previous 4 years, given that those years were record lows for the species anyway. I was horrified by those numbers."
By declaring Longfin Smelt endangered on an emergency basis, biologists hoped to further restrict the use of
However, advocates representing agricultural water users claimed an emergency was unnecessary. They say Longfin Smelt may be disappearing in
"In
In the end, the commission voted against an emergency, but the plight of Longfin Smelt did register.
"That's my position as a commissioner at this point. I would not support the emergency ruling. The department does recognize that Longfin Smelt populations have declined substantially and substantial threats do exist to the species."
While the Longfin Smelt wasn't put on emergency status, the Fish and Game Commission insisted on speeding up the process.
They could officially make it an endangered species candidate by February 2008. #
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=local&id=5703034
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