[Water_news] 1. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS - Top Item for 11/5/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment

 

November 5, 2008

 

1.  Top Items -

 

 

Contra Costa supervisors talk strategy on canal around Delta

Contra Costa Times – 11/4/08

By Mike Taugher, staff

MARTINEZ — With 2009 shaping up as a pivotal one for the Delta, the Contra Costa County supervisors on Tuesday took steps toward developing a political strategy to influence decisions affecting the West Coast's largest estuary and a key source of water.

 

Contra Costa has a lot at stake because the way water is delivered through, or around, the Delta could affect fisheries, recreation and drinking-water quality in the county. The Delta, which forms a triangle with corners at Antioch, Tracy and Sacramento, is a source of water for two-thirds of Californians and the sole source of tap water for 550,000 county residents. Perhaps the biggest decision that might be made next year is how to continue delivering Northern California water to regions south of the Delta, including parts of the East Bay, the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California.

 

An aqueduct proposed to carry that water is under serious consideration.

 

An earlier version of such an aqueduct, known as a peripheral canal, was defeated by voters statewide in 1982 with political opposition centered in Contra Costa.

"There's an objective — a canal — that has been identified as a solution," said Supervisor Mary Nejedly Piepho, whose father, the late state Sen. John Nejedly, was a key leader in the earlier fight against the canal.

 

The plan approved by supervisors Tuesday is evolving, but so far involves lobbying, communications and analysis of studies to advance the county's interests in the Delta.

 

"This is our way of getting more organized to address the challenges that are yet to come," said Roberta Goulart, executive officer of the county's water agency.

Those "challenges" revolve mainly around two state-level planning processes.

 

A "Delta Vision" plan has been sent to a committee that is advising Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on plans for the Delta's future. That includes a canal but also calls for tough environmental restrictions that may address water quality and environmental concerns.

 

Meanwhile, big water agencies and environmental regulators are negotiating a plan to build a canal and secure environmental approval for continued water deliveries out of the Delta.#

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_10897932?nclick_check=1

 

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