Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
June 5, 2009
1. Top Items–
Federal ruling helps fish, but water costs feared
Plan would aid salmon, reduce water for people
Federal directive to cut
Federal Ruling Could Limit Water for Californians
Feds release
Valley water on tap for more cuts
Protections expanded beyond smelt
New restrictions placed on Delta water
Contra Costa Times
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Federal ruling helps fish, but water costs feared
Sacramento
By Matt Weiser
Endangered salmon and steelhead in Central Valley rivers must have access again to historic spawning grounds above major
The National Marine Fisheries Service unveiled the complex set of rules, called a biological opinion, Thursday in response to a lawsuit by environmental groups. Affected species are winter- and spring-run salmon,
The rules require the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to restore access for fish to waters above Nimbus and Folsom dams on the
Those dams were built decades ago without fish ladders and have blocked access to hundreds of miles of historic spawning grounds.
So dire is the situation that experts have concluded the rules are also necessary to save an endangered population of killer whales that range from
"They've addressed the big issues," said Kate Poole, attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "There's no question any more about the fact that the Bay-Delta ecosystem is in dire need of significant changes and fixes. This is one big step to do that."
The environmental group American Rivers, not a party to the lawsuit, said the new rules are unprecedented.
"This is the most significant single order for fish passage that we're aware of," said Steve Rothert, the group's
Water agencies can appeal the rules. They argue that, over the long term, a state and federal habitat conservation plan they're now drafting will achieve the same goals, yet allow for more flexibility in managing water.
Under Thursday's new rules, water diversions from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta must be cut 5 percent to 7 percent under certain conditions, which may worsen water shortages in some areas.
The new federal rules mark the latest episode in the drama over a
Officials on Thursday said Californians may have simply pushed the limit of the state's available freshwater supplies.
"You're going to see less reliable water as it relates to farming in the
The rules also require changes at salmon hatcheries, including Nimbus Hatchery on the
Reclamation also must adopt a new water flow standard for the
But retrofitting the dams for fish passage is by far the most costly and significant measure. Building traditional fish ladders is likely to cost billions of dollars, though the rules don't require this. Instead, the fisheries service is ordering a multi-agency task force to recommend ways to restore fish above the dams by 2016, and then to carry out the best options by 2020.
The ruling also governs water operations of the California Department of Water Resources. DWR will share the cost of the new orders, agency spokesman Matt Notley said.
Glaser said costs will likely be passed down through water contractors to consumers throughout
"We are acutely aware of the significance of this opinion for the region's farmers and residents," said Maria Rea, manager of the fisheries service's
NRDC and other environmental and fishing groups sued the government to overturn prior federal rules protecting
Thursday's new rules went through two independent reviews, but that didn't stop politicians and interest groups from pushing back.
"This federal biological opinion puts fish above the needs of millions of Californians and the health and security of the world's eighth largest economy," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said.
Western Growers, a farm group, said the rules would cause "real and very serious harms to the human species."
Others, however, said restoring salmon could bring enormous benefits to the environment and the economy.
Will Templin, of the Upper American River Foundation, said there is still good habitat to welcome back migrating fish. A recent genetic study, Templin said, showed some rainbow trout on the upper
"For me, it'll feel like something long overdue," he said.#
http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/1920924.html
| Plan would aid salmon, reduce water for people
While the measures could save the chinook salmon and other species from extinction, critics argue the plans reduce the water supply to people and farms at a time when the water system is strained by earlier environmental rules, drought, population growth and crumbling infrastructure. On Thursday, an 800-page biological opinion released by the National Marine Fisheries Service found that operations of the state and federal water systems had jeopardized the state's spring-run chinook salmon, The agency recommended increasing the amount of cold water stored at Shasta Dam, routing fish around a Red Bluff dam, closing "cross-channel" gates within the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta for longer periods, and cutting delta water exports by 5 to 7 percent. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which represents both the state and federal water systems, expressed initial support of the opinion but said it would examine the document in detail before moving forward. The aim is to make waterways more hospitable and accessible to spawning salmon, while also preventing the fish from getting trapped in the giant delta pumps that funnel water to 25 million Californians and hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland. Federal architects of the plan say The salmon population has declined by about 90 percent over the past six years, according to several West Coast fishing industry groups. "What is at stake here is not just the survival of species, but the health of entire ecosystems and the economies that depend on them," said Maria Rea, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service supervisor for the State officials, however, issued a stinging rebuke of the opinion. "This federal biological opinion puts fish above the needs of millions of Californians and the health and security of the world's eighth-largest economy," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement. "The piling on of one federal court decision after another in a species-by-species approach is killing our economy and undermining the integrity of the Endangered Species Act." The governor said he would seek meetings with federal administrators to discuss the opinion. Thursday's plan is the second released by the agency. Last year, U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger in Commercial salmon fisherman, idled for the second season in a row, said the latest plan may resurrect an industry they say historically poured more than $2 billion a year into the state economy. During a normal year, dozens of fishing boats would be lined up along San Francisco's commercial piers unloading salmon payloads as high as $20,000, said Larry Collins, vice president of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations. During a news conference Thursday held by Collins and other industry advocates, the piers were empty. "We need to do what's right for these fishing communities, what's right for these fish, and we need to do it now," Collins said. "It's another water supply cut on top of numerous ones over the years that are driving The cuts also impact urban areas around the state, served mainly by the state water project. "The new opinion ... further chips away at our ability to provide a reliable water supply for Several Bay Area agencies, including Santa Clara Valley Water District, Zone 7 Water Agency in Instead, Snow and others said the state must take a more comprehensive approach to solve the water network's myriad problems. The Bay Delta Conservation Plan, a state environmental and planning process whose goals balance both delta ecosystem restoration and water supply reliability, may hold some of the answers. But environmentalists say fixing the water system is as much behavioral as it is structural. "We have high hopes that the BDCP will help move us away from short-term fixes," said Ann Hayden, senior water resource analyst at Environmental Defense Fund. "But we also need to seriously address alternatives to water supply coming out of the bay-delta - recycling, conservation and groundwater management."# http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/06/05/MNV618119E.DTL Federal directive to cut
Farmers and urban users will see about a 5% to 7% annual reduction from actions intended to help salmon and other fish. By Julie Cart Warning that salmon and other fish species are in danger of extinction, a federal agency Thursday issued directives that will guide the way dams, pumps, canals and other waterworks in California operate to help ease pressure on the Pacific coast's collapsing salmon fishery. The 800-page document is the latest in a series of actions to address the increasing obstacles to the salmon's twice-yearly runs: upstream migration for spawning, when the fish require cool, abundant water, and downstream emergence of juveniles, which must negotiate the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta's maze of gates, canals and diversions to reach the sea. Rea called the document "One of the most complex and scientifically challenging" the agency has ever undertaken, and said, "What is at stake here is not just the survival of the species but the entire ecosystem that depends on them." http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-salmon5-2009jun05,0,2494915.story Federal Ruling Could Limit Water for Californians By Michael Gardner Escalating the conflict between fish and people, a powerful federal agency yesterday ordered a new round of safeguards for endangered species that could cost millions of dollars and further drain the state's already over-tapped water supply. The decision, which will likely be challenged in court, is aimed at protecting Chinook salmon, steelhead and green sturgeon that migrate and spawn along major Northern California rivers: the The National Marine Fisheries Service also based its sweeping action on the need to protect Southern Resident killer whales, which rely on salmon for food. There will be no immediate effect on water deliveries out of the Sacramento delta because the fish have already run the river courses this summer, according to Maria Rea, a supervisor in the federal agency's Sacramento office. Also, the order was crafted to provide “leeway” to keep water flowing to farms and cities during a drought, she added. But just how much has not been determined. But when the fish are migrating in late winter and early spring, the order could require pumps to slow, squeezing water deliveries to That would be on top of the sharp water curtailments to protect the tiny delta smelt. The decision also could cost ratepayers and taxpayers millions to make river flows and water temperatures more conducive for migration and spawning. Eventually, the order could force state and federal water officials to greatly modify operations at dams that are a danger to fish. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger fired off an angry response, claiming the agency's action “puts fish above the needs of millions of Californians . . . The piling on of one federal court decision after another in a species-by-species approach is killing our economy . . . ” Several water agencies echoed his criticism. But “All these people, all these small communities on the coast of The order comes as The National Marine Fisheries Service is not taking that pain lightly, insisted Rea. “We are acutely aware of the significance of this opinion for the region's farmers and residents,” she said. “That's why we made every effort to lessen the cost.”# Feds release By Jason Dearen
Federal regulators on Thursday released a court-ordered plan to help struggling chinook salmon that includes opening The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has "provisionally accepted" the findings of the National Marine Fisheries Service and will "implement actions required to meet the needs of the listed species," said Don Glaser, regional director for the bureau, which manages some of the dams involved. Glaser said the bureau will not formally accept the findings until staff reads the entire 800 pages of the opinion. The fisheries service had to redo its salmon management plan for the upper Sacramento River and Shasta Reservoir after a federal judge in The fisheries service estimates that state and federal water regulators will lose 5 to 7 percent of the already limited water they have to manage under the new plan. Pumping restrictions this year due to another protected species, the delta smelt, already have meant a 17 to 20 percent reduction in water supply, said Ted Thomas, a spokesman for the state Department of Water Resources. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, California water regulators and Central Valley lawmakers immediately criticized the new plan, saying it would limit the amount of water pumped to farmers and Southern California residents and place an undue share of the burden on the valley's economy. The plan "puts fish above the needs of millions of Californians and the health and security of the world's eighth-largest economy," Schwarzenegger said in a statement. "The piling on of one federal court decision after another in a species-by-species approach is killing our economy and undermining the integrity of the Endangered Species Act." The Westlands Water District, which supplies irrigation to the giants of agriculture in the fertile "If it were allowed to stand, this ... would be a death sentence for large parts of State officials argued that a multi-species approach—one that combines the court-mandated water pumping restrictions for the delta smelt with salmon and other species protections—would be the best way to achieve habitat and conservation while maintaining a reliable water source. Fall-run chinook salmon populations returning to the Central Valley to spawn have declined steeply over the past seven years, down to about 66,000 salmon adults returning to the The decline of fall, spring and winter-run salmon—which return from the sea to lay eggs in their native freshwater habitat—is blamed on a lack of water and increased water temperature caused by the vast series of pumps and canals used to move the precious resource around. The fisheries service determined that the current water pumping operations by the federal Central Valley Project and the State Water Project need to be changed to protect a number of endangered or threatened species including winter and spring-run chinook salmon, The opinion said the dams and pumps trap out-migrating juvenile salmon in the delta, where they can die before they reach the sea. Fishermen groups and environmentalists have argued for years that salmon need more water for an uninterrupted transit through the delta. Representatives for commercial fishermen, who have not been able to fish for two seasons because salmon have been so scarce, applauded the plan. "All these people, all these small communities on the coast of "Everybody needs these fish. We've got to put water back in the river," he said.# http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12521665?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com Valley water on tap for more cuts Plan to save fish would drop delta water delivery Federal regulators proposed sweeping rules Thursday that could cut water deliveries from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta by 10% to protect endangered Chinook salmon and Combined with protections released last December to protect the endangered delta smelt, the cumulative effect of the latest rules could be a 30% or more reduction of water deliveries to millions of urban and agricultural users, state officials said. Environmentalists praised the new rules, issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service. But Valley water groups said the rules will impose even more hardships on farmers, and they vowed to challenge the rules in federal court. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement that the set of rules "puts fish above the needs of millions of Californians and the health and security of the world's eighth-largest economy." Westlands Water District spokeswoman Sarah Woolf said the new rules will ensure that the hardships on the Valley's west side -- a product of persistent drought and earlier water-delivery cutbacks -- will be permanent. "This is our new normal," Woolf said. Westlands, the largest agricultural consumer of delta water, is receiving 10% of its federal water allotment this year. That amount would likely be cut in half if the new salmon and steelhead rules were in place now, Woolf said. San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority officials said the farms it serves already have lost 55% of their water supply due to prior federal regulations intended to protect fish and wildlife. These new rules will result in an additional 20% reduction, the authority said. For their part, federal officials estimated a reduction of 5% to 7% of the total available water delivered annually by state and federal delta pumps. That translates to about 330,000 acre-feet per year. The new rules also cover upstream management on the Federal officials had to rewrite the salmon and steelhead management plan after U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger in Woolf said Westlands "will promptly be suing" to stop the new regulations -- known as a "biological opinion" -- because the National Marine Fisheries Service enacted them without public hearings, independent review or an environmental impact statement, as required by federal law. Another legal avenue some are advocating is seeking to employ a panel of seven Cabinet officials who could find that the economic hardship from reduced water flows is more important than protecting a threatened species. The panel -- informally known as the "God Squad" -- was added to the Endangered Species Act in 1978. It has been invoked only a handful of times. Environmentalists, however, hailed the new rules. Kate Poole, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, called them "a step in the right direction." She added, however, that the actual reduction announced Thursday represents just 3% of agricultural water deliveries this year, and it can be made up with water recycling and other water-saving measures. "It's another hit, but its not that much in the overall context of the system," Because demand for water is growing along with the state's population, the delta is stressed and water reductions would be needed even without the salmon or smelt facing extinction,
Westlands Water District says proposed rules that could cut water deliveries from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta by 10% will ensure that some hardships on the Valley's west side will be permanent.
The rules for both the smelt and the salmon and steelhead govern water-pumping operations by the state Department of Water Resources and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The two agencies operate massive water pumps that send delta water to Bay Area urban users, Fall-run Chinook salmon populations returning to the Central Valley to spawn have declined steeply over the past seven years, down to about 66,000 salmon adults returning to the The fisheries service determined that the current water pumping operations by the federal Central Valley Project and the State Water Project need to be changed to protect a number of endangered or threatened species including winter and spring-run Chinook salmon, Representatives for commercial fishermen, who have not been able to fish for two seasons because salmon have been so scarce, applauded the plan. "All these people, all these small communities on the coast of "Everybody needs these fish. We've got to put water back in the river," he said.# http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/1451724.html Protections expanded beyond smelt Plan to help salmon includes opening dams, restricting pumping By Alex Breitler It's no longer just about the Delta smelt. Federal scientists officially determined Thursday that That means an additional 5 percent to 7 percent cut in the amount of water that can be exported from the Delta to cities and farms as far south as San Diego, they said. The National Marine Fisheries Service set in place a series of strategies to stabilize the crashing species, including water supply reductions and passage for migratory fish over Shasta and Folsom dams to historic spawning grounds. Also, the feds want more water flowing down the "Preliminary indications are it could be just devastating," said Kevin Kauffman, general manager of the Stockton East Water District. The service also warned state officials that any consideration of a peripheral canal to solve the Delta's problems requires "careful planning" and several years of environmental review to avoid harming fish. State officials have proposed breaking ground on some kind of canal in 2011. Don Glaser, regional director for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in "I believe that over time you're going to see less reliable water," Glaser said. "It is becoming increasingly difficult to operate our projects." "It's the bare minimum to prevent the species from tumbling into the abyss of extinction," he said. "They've cut it awfully close. ... It certainly will not restore these fisheries." Among the local impacts: » An additional 200,000 acre-feet of water could be released down the Stanislaus River, officials said, leaving less in New Melones Lake for Stockton East and other federal contractors. Stockton East, which supplies "It puts a dagger in the groundwater basin," Kauffman said. » » The Delta Cross Channel gates would be closed more often to keep juvenile fish from wandering into the interior of the estuary. This affects the mobility of boaters. Previous Fisheries Service reports said that increasing water exports would not hurt salmon and steelhead. But those reports were thrown out last year by a federal judge who called the service's conclusions "inexplicably inconsistent." Under the new rules, the Fisheries Service estimated annual water supply reductions of about 330,000 acre-feet, enough to serve the same number of families for about one year. For perspective, more than 6 million acre-feet of water has been exported from the Delta in recent years. Many of the protections for smelt and salmon may overlap, officials said. Nevertheless, state officials projected their water deliveries, primarily to cities, would be slashed 10 percent under the salmon rules, on top of a worst-case 15 percent to 20 percent cut this year to protect smelt. Thursday's 844-page report was blasted by Valley politicians. Sen. Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto, said it was "disappointing that our courts and federal government continue to act in the best interest of fish, at the expense of human livelihood." Others, such as U.S. Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, praised the news; Miller said it was "refreshing to see water management decisions that are based on science" and not politics. Fisheries officials said they were mindful of the consequences of restricting Delta water. They had no estimate for what their rules would cost, although just one project - replacing a diversion dam near Red Bluff - was estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars. The plan is designed to save species, but not recover them. And indeed, Delta fisherman Dave Scatena said he doesn't think recovery is likely. "At this point it appears we're on the brink of a major disaster," he said. "If we could just save some of them ..."# http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090605/A_NEWS/906050311 | ||||||||
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New restrictions placed on Delta water
Contra Costa Times-6/05/09
By Mike Taugher
Federal regulators levied sweeping new rules on Delta water deliveries Thursday to prevent the thirst of California’s farms and cities from rendering extinct several salmon runs, steelhead, green sturgeon and a Pacific Northwest population of killer whales.
The suite of regulations would ensure more cold water is available for spawning fish, and that water operators make it easier for fish to swim from upstream spawning grounds through
The National Marine Fisheries Service estimated the new regulations would cut water supplies from the Delta beginning next year by about 5 percent to 7 percent, or roughly 330,000 acre-feet a year, enough water for a city of about 2 million people. Most of the water loss is due to measures to help steelhead migrate down the
The hit to Delta water supplies comes on top of rules put in place in December to prevent Delta pumps from driving another fish, Delta smelt, to extinction.
One major farming district, the Westlands Water District, immediately announced it would sue and called the new rules, "a death sentence for large parts of
"I think you're going to see less reliable water, particularly as it relates to farming in the
The 844-page analysis and permit, known as a biological opinion, is required under the
Endangered Species Act and spells out rules by which water managers operate two sprawling water delivery systems that run from Shasta and Oroville reservoirs in Northern California all the way to the
It is the second of two major permits issued in the past six months that are meant to reverse a dizzying decline in the Delta, part of the West Coast's largest estuary and the bottom of a watershed that drains 40 percent of
Those projects had been governed by two permits issued in 2004 that allowed record levels of water to be extracted from the Delta but proved ineffective in preventing or slowing the steep decline of smelt, salmon, steelhead and sturgeon.
The permit that was supposed to protect salmon and steelhead was altered by a Bush administration official who reversed the conclusions of agency scientists who found water operations could drive those fish extinct. The result was declining fish populations and tough criticism from a federal inspector general, two science review panels and a federal court that in April 2008 ordered the permit be rewritten.
The other permit, which was written to protect Delta smelt, was also invalidated by a federal judge.
During the time those permits were in effect, several fish species nose-dived toward extinction and even previously abundant fish, most notably the commercially valuable
The new rules require more cold water be held in reserve and regulate how flows are managed. They also require water managers by the end of 2016 to study fish ladders or other mechanisms to allow fish to pass dams that block of most of their historic spawning grounds.
"This is the beginning of the process of rebuilding what was lost during the Bush Administration," said Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez.
Of the fish to be protected under the permit issued Thursday, the most imperiled is the
"What is at stake here is not just the survival of species but the health of entire ecosystems and the economies that depend on them," said Rod Mcinnis, southwest regional director for The National Marine Fisheries Service.
Environmentalists and salmon anglers were generally pleased.
"The big issue now is getting it enforced and sitting down and working with the water guys to find something that's sustainable," said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations.
Grader's organization represents commercial salmon fishermen who are enduring their second consecutive year of oceans closed to salmon fishing because of the collapse of fall-run salmon, which had been abundant until recent years.
Water agencies continually argue that other factors besides pumping are to blame for the decline in fish, and scientists and environmentalists agree.
But regulators have concluded that water operations in the Delta have exacerbated the other problems, including pollution and invasive species.
The permit issued Thursday concluded the winter-run salmon, Central Valley spring-run, Central Valley steelhead, California's green sturgeon population and a population of several dozen orcas that reside in Puget Sound — and depend on California salmon part of the year — all could go extinct without changes to water operations.
The fisheries service then imposed a series of requirements to prevent that from happening.#
http://www.contracostatimes.com/localnews/ci_12520360
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DWR’s California Water News is distributed to California Department of Water Resources management and staff, for information purposes, by the DWR Public Affairs Office. For reader’s services, including new subscriptions, temporary cancellations and address changes, please use the online page: http://listhost2.water.ca.gov/mailman/listinfo/water_news . DWR operates and maintains the State Water Project, provides dam safety and flood control and inspection services, assists local water districts in water management and water conservation planning, and plans for future statewide water needs. Inclusion of materials is not to be construed as an endorsement of any programs, projects, or viewpoints by the Department or the State of
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