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OPINION: California Can’t Save Fish By Diverting More Water From Rivers

/in , /by /CALmatters (Sacramento)by John McManus

Recent decades have brought the slow collapse of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and its salmon runs. A half dozen species face extinction. Lacking natural flushing, the Delta now suffers outbreaks of toxic algae. The salmon fishing industry suffered a shutdown in 2008 and 2009 which cost thousands of jobs. Science points to a clear cause: inadequate flows caused by excessive diversions. In some years, 90 percent of the Tuolumne River is diverted, leaving only 10 percent for salmon and the Bay-Delta. Every Central Valley salmon river also suffers from over diversion in many years. Recent proposals from water users fall far short of what is needed by salmon and required by the law.

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Editorial: Brown, Feinstein Betrayal of the Delta is Unacceptable

/in , /by /San Jose Mercury Newsby Editorial Board

Shame on Gov. Jerry Brown and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Their betrayal of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ignores respected scientists’ research, circumvents the state’s management of water and could negatively impact California water politics for the next decade. Without a public hearing. Without proper vetting. And possibly without the support of any West Coast senator except Feinstein.

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SF Mayor Breed Vetoes Supervisors’ Resolution that Supported State River Plan

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

San Francisco Mayor London Breed broke her silence on California’s latest water war Friday, saying she wouldn’t support a state river restoration plan that would mean giving up some of the city’s pristine Hetch Hetchy water. In addition to her unexpected announcement, Breed vetoed a resolution passed unanimously by the Board of Supervisors earlier this week that offered the city’s blessing for the little-known, but far-reaching state initiative.

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OPINION: State Water Grab will Devastate our Community

/in , /by /The Modesto Beeby Dave Long and Jeff Marchini

Are you a mechanic? A food processor? A trucker? Do you work in a bank? Sell insurance? Much more simply, do you drink water in eastern Merced County? Assuming you answered yes to any of these questions, get ready: the State Water Resources Control Board will soon vote to take more than $230 million and about 1,000 jobs from our community. In July, the water board released its newest plan to require that twice as much water remain in the Merced River and flow north into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. After a series of hearings and delays, the board is poised to adopt this doomed-to-fail plan on Nov. 7.

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OPINION: Stop The State From Wreaking Even More Havoc On Delta’s Economy

/in , /by /Manteca / Ripon Bulletin

Over the past decade, San Joaquin County and Delta stakeholders have spent thousands of hours fighting the Governor’s Twin Tunnels project, officially called WaterFix.  This water transfer plan would have a disastrous effect on the agricultural industry in the region, and estimated costs have ballooned to $20+ billion. Unfortunately, the State is now pursuing yet another devastating water grab that is quietly making its way through the regulatory process. The State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) will soon consider Phase 1 of the Bay-Delta Water Quality Plan update (Revised Plan).

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State Water Board Won’t Vote Until Next Week on Controversial River Flow Plan

/in , /by /Modesto Beeby Ken Carlson

The State Water Board is making it clear that it won’t vote next week on a much-disputed proposal to require higher river flows for improving water quality in the Sacramento-San Joaquin river delta.

Felicia Marcus, who chairs the water board, said in a letter Wednesday to the California Natural Resources Agency that final action will be taken at a board meeting later.

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Water Authority Board Conditionally Supports WaterFix Project in Bay Delta

/in , /by

The San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors today unanimously gave conditional support to current plants for California WaterFix, the state’s $17 billion proposal to address water supply constraints in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay-Delt. The Board made its backing contigent on a project financing plan that treats San Diego County ratepayers fairly through the proper allocation of project costs by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the sole source of Bay-Delta water for the San Diego region.

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Capitol Rally To Protest Water Agency’s Bay-Delta Plan

/in , /by /Western FarmPress

Assemblyman Adam Gray, D-Merced, is holding a rally on August 20th at noon on the steps of the State Capitol to protest Phase 1 of the State Water Resources Control Board’s Bay Delta Plan The plan would require an average of 40% unimpaired flows along the Merced, Tuolumne, and Stanislaus Rivers for the protection of fish.

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OPINION: State Water Board’s Delta Plan Is No Fix For Fish And Hurts Farms

/in , /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Mike Wade

In announcing its new Bay-Delta Water Quality plan, the California State Water Resources Control Board said it wanted to “change the channel” on California’s water debate. We completely agree it’s time to move away from outdated thinking and embrace new, collaborative, science-based solutions and therefore are puzzled that the board is stubbornly clinging to the same failed approach of the past.

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OPINION: ‘So What?’ Attitude At Root Of Water Wars

/in , /by /Chico Enterprise-Record

A sequence of events over that last week may explain why California is endlessly locked in water wars. Last Friday, the State Water Resources Control Board released a final plan for the San Joaquin River and the framework for an upcoming plan on the Sacramento River, which will require less water be diverted from those waterways and their tributaries. Four days later, the Metropolitan Water District in Southern California voted to spend $11 billion — the bulk of the $17 billion cost — to put two tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

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