Tag Archive for: Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta

Opinion: California Rejects Federal Water Proposal, Lays Out its Vision for Protecting Endangered Species and Meeting State Water Needs

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Wade Crowfoot and Jared Blumenfeld

California’s water policy can be complex, and—let’s be honest—often polarizing.

Water decisions frequently get distilled into unhelpful narratives of fish versus farms, north versus south, or urban versus rural. Climate change-driven droughts and flooding threats, as well as our divided political climate, compound these challenges.

We must rise above these historic conflicts by finding ways to protect our environment and build water security for communities and agriculture. We need to embrace decisions that benefit our entire state. Simply put, we have to become much more innovative, collaborative and adaptive.

 

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Trump Plan Could Bring Growers More Water. But Will It Harm California’s Rare Salmon?

/in , /by /Cal Mattersby Alastair Bland

The Trump administration this week declared that pumping more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to supply farms will not jeopardize the endangered salmon and smelt that live in the estuary. This clears the way for the federal government to deliver more water, possibly as soon as next year.

The decision is a big and controversial step toward providing more water for people and less for fish. But the battle, yet another in a decades-long struggle for California’s water, has only just begun.

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Santa Barbara Water Agencies Say No to State Water Tunnel Project

/in , /by /Noozhawkby Giana Magnoli

Local water agencies aren’t buying into the new version of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta “twin tunnels” project, and Santa Barbara County members of the State Water Project voted Thursday to opt out entirely.

The California Department of Water Resources’ Cal Waterfix project, also known as the twin tunnels, aimed to increase State Water Project reliability by building two 40-foot-diameter tunnels to move water under the Delta instead of through it.

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Editorial: California Governor Newsom Must Defend Delta

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicle by Chronicle Editorial Board

Gov. Gavin Newsom hasn’t flinched in fighting President Trump when it comes to loosening pollution rules in a smoggy state or punishing immigrants seeking protection. But he’s oddly noncommittal when it comes to a federal water grab that rewards thirsty farmers and Southern California cities.

Last week, federal rule makers followed White House dictates and issued looser restrictions on diversions from the state’s prime water faucet, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

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Climate Havoc Wipes Out Coastal Kelp As S.F. Bay’s Native Fish Species Die Off

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Peter Fimrite

A climate-related catastrophe off the California coast has resulted in the death of 90% of the kelp from San Francisco to Oregon as an explosion of ravenous urchins devours everything in sight. And it’s happening at the same time native fish in San Francisco Bay are dying out, two studies released Monday documented.

The studies, by government, university and scientific institute researchers, offer a disturbing look at an underwater ecosystem suffering more than anyone previously suspected — along the coast, in San Francisco Bay and in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

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California’s Delta Smelt Are Dying: How This Affects The State’s Water

/in , , /by /ABC 10by Tyler Horst

The Delta smelt is such a small and translucent fish that it often disappears from view when it swims in the turbid waters of its home in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

However, it’s also been disappearing from the Delta entirely.

“The Delta smelt has gone from being one of the more abundant fish in the Delta to being just on the verge of extinction today,” Peter Moyle, an Emeritus Professor of Fish Biology at UC Davis, said.

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Trump Administration Surrenders to California, Backs Off On Delta Water Fight

/in , /by /Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler and Ryan Sabalow

The Trump administration has retreated on a plan to push more water through the Delta this fall after protests from California officials on the harmful impacts on endangered Chinook salmon and other fish.

State officials had been worried that the proposed move, by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, also would have meant less water for Southern California cities that rely on supplies pouring out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

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California Delta A Flash Point For Conflict As Climate Change Unfolds

/in , /by /Water Deeplyby Matt Weiser

California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is vital to water supplies for 25 million people and 4 million acres of farmland. It is linked to the Pacific Ocean via San Francisco Bay, which makes this water supply uniquely vulnerable to sea level rise. Yet understanding sea level rise in the Delta is complicated. The largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas, it consists of some 70 islands and more than 1,000 miles of levees. It is also fed by California’s two largest rivers, which drain the Sierra Nevada range.

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