Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
April 15, 2009
1. Top Items–
Opinion:
State must rescue delta from crisis
San Francisco Chronicle
Interior boss promises stimulus money for area water projects
Interior Secretary Announces $260 Million in Drought Aid to
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Opinion:
State must rescue delta from crisis
San Francisco Chronicle – 4/12/09
By George Miller, Lois Wolk
Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, is a member of the House leadership and the former chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. State Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis, is chair of Senate Select Committee on Delta Stewardship and Sustainability, and a member of Delta Protection Commission.
This crisis didn't happen overnight. It came after years of mismanagement by the federal and state water and wildlife agencies that ignored what the science was telling them and resisted new realities about climate change.
Fortunately, change in
We need this vital region - its ecosystem and its economy - to thrive. Working together, we can use new tools to meet our clean water needs, overhaul the responsible agencies, and implement a new management plan that is grounded in science - and gets results.
But first we must realize that there are no silver bullets that will solve all of
Our years in
Yet the state Department of Water Resources is now spending more than $1.1 billion on canal and water project planning - off budget, with no legislative oversight or public accountability - while Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Cabinet has asserted that the state could break ground on a canal before the governor's term expires.
There are better answers, both short and long term, that have a greater chance to bring back our fisheries, deliver reliable clean water, and bolster, not threaten, the delta region, including its $35 billion economy with more than 200,000 jobs. These solutions include the region's communities as partners, not adversaries.
Immediately, we should expand proven and cost-effective water supply strategies such as conservation, recycling, groundwater cleanup, desalination, enhanced coordination between reservoirs, and regional water supply projects in
In the longer term, we believe that the delta needs a steward, an entity whose sole responsibility is the recovery and health of the delta. We propose a Delta Stewardship Council, which will include representation from different perspectives, all bound by a legal obligation to restore and protect the delta ecosystem. This would help resolve the confusion of 200 federal, state, and local agencies bumping into one another, often at cross purposes, while decision-makers' primary obligations are to outside interests with no responsibility for this critical estuary's survival.
The delta and its watershed also need funding, a conservancy like those
Much like the Florida Everglades, the delta is a vital economic and environmental resource - not just a plumbing fixture that two-thirds of the state relies upon for its water supply.
Several months ago, the Delta Vision Task Force took an important first step by identifying two co-equal goals for delta policy: water supply reliability and restoring the ecosystem. We believe in elevating a third goal, the delta itself as a place, including the communities, economy, culture, historic, recreational and environmental values that make it valuable to all Californians.
We recognize
Interior boss promises stimulus money for area water projects
By Matt Weiser, staff writer
U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar today said
"It is time for the federal government to re-engage in full partnership," Salazar said at Mather Field in
In recent years the federal government had been criticized for not adequately supporting vital
Lester Snow, director of the California Department of Water Resources, called today's announcement "a sea change in the way we're going to deal with Delta issues. We have a secretary of interior who's personally interested in these very difficult resource issues that we have in
The federal grants include: $109 million to build fish screens at the Red Bluff Diversion Dam, the largest remaining unscreened water diversion on the Sacramento River; $26 million for a project to restore salmon and steelhead habitat on Battle Creek, a tributary of the Sacramento River; $31 million for safety upgrades at Folsom Dam; and $4 million for a planning effort to restore the Delta, the Bay-Delta conservation plan.
All money will be channeled through the US Bureau of Reclamation, an agency within the Interior Department. #
http://www.sacbee.com/latest/story/1783140.html
Interior Secretary Announces $260 Million in Drought Aid to
By Jim Tankersley
The Interior Secretary is in
Secretary Ken Salazar announced this afternoon that President Obama's signature economic stimulus bill will bring $40 million to the state for "immediate emergency
The money is part of a $260-million water package for
“In the midst of one of the deepest economic crises in our history, Californians have been saddled with a
Read on for the full list of
-- $40 million for immediate emergency
-- $109.8 million to build a screened pumping plant at the Red Bluff Diversion Dam to protect fish populations while delivering water to agricultural users irrigating approximately 150,000 acres;
-- $22.3 million to address dam safety concerns at the Folsom Dam near Sacramento, which is currently among the highest risk dams in the country for public safety;
-- $8.5 million to repair water-related infrastructure at Folsom Dam;
-- $20 million for the Contra Costa Canal to protect water supplies for 500,000 Californians and to build fish screens to restore winter-run Chinook salmon and the endangered Delta smelt;
-- $4.5 million to restore the
-- $26 million for Battle Creek Salmon/Steelhead Restoration project, which will help restore fisheries that support thousands of jobs in northern
-- $4 million to the Bay Delta Conservation Plan for conveyance systems to move Central Valley Project and State Water Project water, habitat restoration and adaptive management;
-- $4 million to broaden scientific knowledge of
-- $20.7 million in smaller water infrastructure and related projects across
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