Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
August 4, 2008
1. Top Items -
Bypass purchases worry Yolo
The Sacramento
Hunter: Canal lining is added threat
Imperial Valley Press- 8/1/08
Editorial
The Delta dilemma: Competing interests share in the fate of
The
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Bypass purchases worry Yolo
The Sacramento
By Matt Weiser
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and Westlands Water District are buying land and jointly planning restoration projects in the bypass to protect their access to water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, officials told The Bee.
The agencies are the two largest diverters of Delta water, contributing to the decline of threatened Delta smelt and other fish.
A related disruption of the Delta's food chain has prompted fears that an ecosystem collapse is under way, which could affect water quality for millions.
The water agencies hope to protect their diversions by creating more habitat for fish to thrive.
This new interest has local residents worried. They fear the water titans have other motives, such as draining groundwater from the area or somehow seizing
"The purchase of land by out-of-county water districts makes us nervous," said Yolo County Supervisor Mike McGowan.
"Until we see some real legitimate response from these entities being willing to work with us, we'll continue to be paranoid about it."
The lower Yolo Bypass is considered a prime area for restoration because its elevation allows natural tides to sweep up the
Breaching levees on farm parcels in the area would create more tidal wetlands, a type of habitat that could improve the fortunes of the smelt. The small fish may be near extinction after decades of water diversions and pollution in the estuary.
A panel appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last year declared that a healthy ecosystem and water supplies must become "co-equal values" in the Delta.
Roger Patterson, assistant general manager of the Metropolitan Water District, said his agency heard that message.
"As we look to improve our water supply situation, we know that is directly tied to the ecosystem," said Patterson, whose agency provides water to 18 million people in
Metropolitan, Patterson said, is looking to buy land in the bypass for restoration and also seeking opportunities to partner with other landowners for that purpose.
He and Tom Birmingham, general manager of the Westlands Water District, said they need to move fast because their Delta water supply has become tenuous.
A federal judge in
The judge ordered new permanent operating rules for the pumping systems. This may bring lasting water cutbacks for Westlands and Metropolitan, and they may be required to pay for habitat restoration to retain access to Delta water.
As a result, the agencies say they can't wait for state and federal governments to launch restoration projects. As evidence, they point to the failed plan for a North Delta Wildlife Refuge. Proposed in the lower bypass in the late 1990s, it was never funded by Congress.
Westlands is the world's largest irrigation district, serving about 600,000 acres of farmland in
"There certainly is an urgency because the Delta is broken, and we have species that are on the verge of extinction," said
In December, Westlands made the first leap into the bypass by purchasing a 3,400-acre parcel called Yolo Ranch from the McCormack family.
The property is adjacent to three parcels of government or nonprofit-owned land totalling about 8,000 acres. All are well-situated to become tidal habitat.
Westlands has since been approached by other property owners offering to sell land,
Both he and Patterson insist their only interest is restoration.
"We want you to know we're there in good faith," said Patterson. "We're not coming and just saying, 'Well, what's for sale?'"
Other potential conflicts include preserving flood-control functions in the bypass. Water quality is another: Restoring tidal action could release contaminants from the land into the river.
To mediate these concerns, the Center for Collaborative Policy at
The yearlong series of public meetings, starting later this month, involves some two-dozen landowners and government agencies. The goal is collaborative land management to improve habitat while preserving other values, including recreation, agriculture and peace between neighbors.
Westlands and Metropolitan will be full participants.#
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/1129064.html
Hunter: Canal lining is added threat
By BRIANNA LUSK, Special to this newspaper
The roar of the water rushing through the gates is only muted by the gravel crunched beneath the tires of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection vehicle navigating the banks along the rushing canal.
In the murky green waters below, abandoned rafts and tire tubes bob in the water, caught in a red buoy line strung across the
They might have found a way out of the water safely.
But if they entered the canal a few miles to the east the worst-case scenario, John Hunter said, is that they lost their lives by drowning in what he views to be a giant death trap.
“There’s no redeeming features to drowning Mexicans or law enforcement,” Hunter, of
The dangers of the
Now it poses an additional threat as newly constructed portions of the All-American have steeper sides and the concrete lining could be nearly impossible to scale. The water will gush faster through the channel, making the current even swifter.
More people will die, Hunter claims.
After years of debate, the Imperial Irrigation District board is starting to side with Hunter and is urging San Diego County Water Authority to add more safety features to the project that is meant to conserve water for transfer to the coast.
“Sitting up here, we can do something about it,” IID Director Mike Abatti said at a recent board meeting. “It should be safer. It’s going to be here another 100 years.”
LINING INCREASES DANGER
The
Halla Razak,
“We’re not going to do anything to make the situation worse. We will only do things to improve the situation,” Razak said.
Under the current construction, safety ladders are placed on opposing sides of the canal every couple hundred feet. Additional buoy systems that would be strung along the canal, like those used before the drops and hydroelectric plans that exist along the canal now, fencing and attached ridges that would allow humans and large mammals to climb out are among the safety measures proposed to be added to the canal construction.
Hunter estimated it could cost an additional $3 million and IID officials have said his estimate appears to be reasonable. The complete canal project is more than $280 million.
IID board President John Pierre Menvielle said
“People shouldn’t be getting into the canal in the first place,” Menvielle said. “I support it from a safety standpoint and the need to save human lives.”
Razak said SDCWA is concentrating on keeping people out of the canal with an education campaign on both sides of the border in addition to bilingual signs near the canal. Buoy systems would give people a false sense of security, she said, creating a potential for additional deaths.
“None of these things would really work,” Razak said. “The only real answer is for people not to get into the canal. It’s like a freeway; you’re not supposed to be there.”
BOARD SPEAKS UP
Hunter, who founded an organization that places water stations in the desert, has been making presentations to the board for years on the safety of the
He is working with John Carlos Frey, a documentary filmmaker, on the dangers of the
Footage of an interview with the survivors of a 10-year-old girl who drowned in the canal was shown at last week’s board meeting. The room was quiet as the emotional testimony of the girl’s mother talking about losing her daughter in 2004 was played. The screen then scrolled through the list of names compiled by Hunter through the Imperial County Sheriff’s Office of those who have died or been recovered in the All-American.
Most of them are John Does, unidentified men, presumably illegal aliens who were unable to traverse the wide canal.
Frey, whose 2002 independent film “The Gatekeeper” received multiple awards for tackling the issue of illegal immigration, said the film would have national distribution.
“I’m here to help those who continue to drown in the
After the presentation, several board members expressed support for greater safety in the canal.
Director Stella Mendoza said she would be willing to support Hunter’s recommendations if it did not compromise the liability of the district.
“I feel for the people that have drowned in the All-American,”
Director Anthony Sanchez also supported the letter.
On Tuesday’s board agenda a draft letter addressed to SDCWA is proposed for approval. It is expected to pass unanimously.
The letter notes that although safety measures have already been implemented in the construction of the newly lined canal, more is needed.
“... It is the clear sentiment of this board that more can and should be done to safeguard human life ...” the letter reads.
District officials also note the
“Everything that can be reasonably done to minimize the safety hazards created by the project must be taken into account, funded and implemented on purely humanitarian grounds,” the letter continues.
CANAL AS A BARRIER
John Hunter’s brother, Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, has written a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, speaking out against the safety of the canal and its use as a barrier for illegal immigrants.
The
Also, the federal government is considering not constructing a border fence in the area where the canal parallels the line between the
“I cannot more stringently object to this approach,” Duncan Hunter said and goes on to note that it would be irresponsible of the government to use it as a border enforcement area.
SDCWA agrees that the border fence should continue, despite the canal’s presence.
“The canal cannot be used as a barrier,” Razak said.
John Hunter said he believes the deaths will dramatically decrease to near non-existence if his plan is followed. He said he will not give up in his quest as long as he lives.
“How do you think
Though not a resident of this county, he equated the
“No one’s doing anything about this,” John Hunter said. “My motive is not to open the border. I just don’t believe it should be lethal to cross the border. I think it’s finally going to get the attention it deserves. No doubt it will save lives.”#
http://www.ivpressonline.com/articles/2008/08/02/local_news/news01.txt
Editorial
The Delta dilemma: Competing interests share in the fate of
The
By Daniel Weintraub
I can't prove it, but I'd be willing to bet that the Delta formed by the confluence of the
But that might soon be changing.
The Delta is in crisis, and that crisis could undermine the water supply for Southern California and the Silicon Valley, and curtail agriculture in the southern
The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is part of the largest estuary on the West Coast. More than 50 species of fish and 300 species of birds, mammals and wildlife have tried to make it their home.
The Delta also serves as a transfer point for the state's water supply. Snowmelt from the Cascades and the Sierra drains into the
Until modern Californians began to control its terrain, the Delta was a place of constant change. Tides, floods, droughts and changes in sea level meant that the salinity of the water and the boundaries of the estuary were forever in flux. But now the Delta is defined by more than 1,000 miles of manmade levees protecting dozens of islands, many of which are used for farming. The levees also keep saltwater out of the Delta, making it easier to send fresh water south for drinking and irrigation.
But this manmade landscape is not sustainable. The islands are sinking, falling victim to decades of farming and the oxidation of the soil. As the elevation of the islands goes down, the pressure on the levees protecting them increases, making them more prone to failure and more expensive to maintain. The sea level, meanwhile, has been rising, presenting another threat to the levees and the freshwater transfer point that the Delta has become.
The population of Delta smelt -- one of those creatures that elicit eye rolls from conservatives, but one that turns out to be a pretty crucial link in the food chain -- is dwindling fast, with many baby fish destroyed by the pumps that move water south. The more widely admired Chinook salmon is also in danger, its numbers in such a slump this year that commercial salmon fishing has been banned along most of the West Coast.
The cost of treating the water for human consumption keeps rising, too, and could climb past $1 billion annually if current trends continue.
The ever-present risk of a catastrophic flood or a major earthquake means that, at some point, all of the efforts to hold back the tides, literally, could be moot. A major levee failure could send seawater rushing in and transform the Delta's ecology overnight, making its water useless to farms and residents to the south and west.
A new study by the Public Policy Institute of California and researchers from the
One would be to turn off the tap, to stop exporting water through the Delta. The other would be to build a canal around the Delta so that water could still be shipped south without further endangering the region's environment.
Ending water exports from north to south, the researchers say, would be best for the fish. But that would leave much of
Building a canal to shuttle water from the lower
But the researchers' support for reviving the idea will give a boost to a plan that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been trying to move to the top of Sacramento's policy agenda. As a result, Californians from north to south can expect to start hearing a lot more about the Delta, its future and a possible canal in the months ahead.
http://www.fresnobee.com/286/story/771041.html
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