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[Water_news] 3. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATERSHEDS - 4/29/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

April 29, 2008

 

3. Watersheds -

 

Hearing to decide Valley water cuts

Judge orders report on three imperiled species of fish.

Fresno Bee – 4/28/08

By Mark Gross, staff writer

 

A federal judge in Fresno set a June 6 hearing to discuss the possibility of more water cutbacks for farms and cities this summer to protect three imperiled species of fish.

 

U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger also ordered federal agencies to file a report by mid-May on the status of winter-run chinook salmon, spring-run chinook salmon and the Central Valley steelhead.

 

The judge on Friday said he needs more information to determine whether the fish need immediate protection from water pumping. Wanger last week invalidated a key part of a major federal water plan, saying it does not adequately protect the fish under the Endangered Species Act.

 

One of the many questions surrounding the case: Are the fish suffering from a problem occurring in the ocean or in the delta? Environmentalists and federal officials are expected to address such issues at the June hearing.

 

Last year, Wanger ordered a cutback in farm and city water deliveries from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to protect the delta smelt, another dwindling fish species.

 

Further cuts would affect more than 20 million residents in the Bay Area and Southern California as well as west San Joaquin Valley farmers, all of whom depend on water brought south through delta pumps.

 

In the ruling last week, Wanger said a 2004 study from the federal National Marine Fisheries Service incorrectly concluded that federal and state water projects would not harm the fish. His decision came at a time when salmon populations are clearly in decline.

 

State wildlife officials last week banned recreational salmon fishing off the coast this year, following a federal ban on both commercial and sport salmon fishing. #

http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/554931.html

 

 

 

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