A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
February 19, 2009
2. Supply –
Editorial: We have prior claim on New Melones
If you want to make the biggest splash, you do a cannonball. Devin Nunes has done a figurative cannonball into New Melones Reservoir. The Tulare Republican has written to President Barack Obama and Gov. Schwarzenegger asking that water from New Melones be sent to farmers in the south
Those shortages are real.
For the first time since the federal Central Valley Project and State Water Project came online in the 1950s and '60s, there is likely to be no water for many
Nunes' letter also noted that many Bay Area cities depend on federal water and that jobs created by the president's stimulus package (which he didn't care about enough to vote for) could be jeopardized.
"Current need demands that this water be made available to farmers and cities outside the historic place of use," he wrote.
Not so fast.
That "historic place of use" is right here. Much of the water in New Melones is only passing through. It belongs to farmers in the Oakdale and
Their letter points out that sending water from New Melones to others agencies would be a legal nightmare. The Bureau of Reclamation, which operates New Melones, already supplies more than 200 agencies, cities and irrigation districts each year. Many more, such as the East Stockton Water District, get water when available.
Those supplemental users do not expect any this year, but before they would allow water to be sent south, they would insist on getting at least some.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the state Department of Water Resources and the Bureau of Reclamation appealed to be allowed to hold back more water now so it can be released later for environmental purposes.
As we said, it's very complex.
But Nunes doesn't really want a complex solution. He is after something simpler. He wants the pumps turned back on. In 2007, a federal judge shut down the enormous delta pumps to protect endangered fish. Nunes wants a way around that order. And there might be a path.
Rep. Dennis Cardoza's district stretches from the bone-dry Westlands Water District to
"One of the things we made clear to everyone," said Cardoza's policy adviser DeeDee D'Adamo, "is that we're in a drought and we need to be creative. But we have to be careful not to rob one area to provide water for another area. We're all suffering."
D'Adamo believes compromise is possible and discussions are ongoing.
But here's a consideration: If water is released now for drought relief, then it won't be available later to help fish. Would other reservoirs, such as Don Pedro on the Tuolumne and McClure on the
Such a prospect doesn't seem likely enough to worry about. But two weeks ago, neither did a plan to drain New Melones to help farmers 200 miles away.#
http://www.modbee.com/opinion/story/604512.html
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