Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
December 12, 2007
1. Top Item
Federal judge orders agencies to monitor smelt near water pumps
Associated Press – 12/12/07
By Samantha Young, staff writer
A U.S. District Court judge on Tuesday gave federal wildlife officials until September to come up with a new plan to protect the threatened delta smelt while still providing water to about 25 million Californians and thousands of acres of farmland around the state.
U.S. District Court Judge Oliver Wanger ruled that until they come up with a permanent plan, water managers must limit pumping out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta this year as early as Dec. 25, when the fish typically spawn, until June 20 when the young fish have moved pass the pumps.
Wanger ruled in August in a lawsuit filed by environmental groups that the pumping by state and federal authorities kills smelt, a fish that many experts say could be on the brink of extinction.
State officials and water users have previously estimated that pumping cutbacks could cut water supplies by at least a third, but it was unclear Tuesday exactly how much water might be lost under Wanger's proposal.
"We're still looking at very substantial reductions in our ability to export water out of the delta," Department of Water Resources deputy director Jerry Johns said after reviewing the order.
Officials with the State Water Contractors Association and the California Association of Water Agencies said Tuesday they needed more time to review the decision before they could assess its affect on the state's water supply.
Tuesday's 10-page preliminary order proposes a timetable and instructions on when and how the DWR and Bureau of Reclamation could pump water from the delta.
It will not become final until water users and environmental groups have a chance to comment on the proposed remedies, which is expected to happen at a hearing Friday.
In a year with an average amount of rain and snowfall, about 6 million acre feet of water are pumped from the delta, which supplies drinking water to
Pumps operated by the by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Central Valley Project send water to farmers in the agricultural valley south of the delta and the Department of Water Resources' State Water Project delivers water to urban and rural water users as far south as Los Angeles.
In a concession to the state, Wanger's latest ruling would restrict pumping only until June 20 an acknowledgment that
Environmental groups had asked the judge to restrict water exports until delta smelt had been clear of the pumps for at least five days, which state officials said could limit pumping until July.
"The draft order in and of itself doesn't mean anything until it's finalized," said Craig Noble, spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council, which sued the federal government over the delta pumping in 2005.
Wanger also instructed the state and federal governments to set up new programs to monitor the fish to accurately gauge their numbers in the estuary. Both agencies will have to buy new equipment such as mesh nets to capture the fish when they are small, something they do not do now.
Although measuring fish smaller than 20 millimeters poses technical difficulties, Bureau of Reclamation spokesman Jeff McCracken said the agency could do the job.
State officials and water contractors had argued that pumping reductions would do little to help the 2- to 3-inch-long, silver-colored fish, which is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act and is considered a measure of the environmental health of the delta. They said invasive species, toxic runoff, wastewater dumping and an antiquated plumbing system in the delta were harming the fish. #
http://www.pe.com/ap_news/California/CA_Troubled_Delta_319114C.shtml
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