tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53773504427048562592024-03-15T18:09:53.425-07:00The California SpigotNews from the water wars: A journal committed to local governance and the public interest.Patricia McBroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07595399655479910459noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377350442704856259.post-3980485127531079642016-05-16T00:00:00.000-07:002016-05-21T09:56:18.208-07:00CLASSIC FOES JOIN FORCES TO MAKE DELTA LEVEES "BETTER THAN EVER"<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>By Patricia McBroom</b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> On
a sunny morning in April, civil engineer Dominick Gulli was out
checking the levees in a critical area of the Sacramento/San Joaquin
delta where fresh water gets diverted to Southern California. The
levees had recently been strongly reinforced to guard against
seepage, overtopping, and collapse from various stresses including
earthquakes. Gulli is out there two or three times a
week to check them out, year after year.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTapPTSvwuuVWoGfdgtsjL4VyTzr1RgIa3nR1DTIy81xjWWPAutcjaJy3d_mV5Pa0iImY0s0prxkdMb_3I9KiPFHIXvMDWuNogqvwV05eOUhIMAHAKfhZHB7YUcyumC81dBQ0N1WaAsETG/s1600/IMG_5239.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTapPTSvwuuVWoGfdgtsjL4VyTzr1RgIa3nR1DTIy81xjWWPAutcjaJy3d_mV5Pa0iImY0s0prxkdMb_3I9KiPFHIXvMDWuNogqvwV05eOUhIMAHAKfhZHB7YUcyumC81dBQ0N1WaAsETG/s200/IMG_5239.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dominick Gulli, engineer for upgrade</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">of levees to protect EBMUD aqueduct.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> “Uh-oh,”
he said, slowing the pickup truck as he noticed a large puddle of
water down on the slope. “Oh, well, it's evaporating,” he added,
pointing to the drying patches around the puddle. “Must be from the
recent rains.”</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<h4>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>Keepers
of the Levees</b></span></span></h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Gulli's company, Green Mountain Engineering, is one of three or four
local firms who manage this crucial Delta infrastructure, the
viability of which is absolutely necessary for the health and welfare
of the great majority of Californians. Woodward Island, which we
toured that day, is tiny (three square miles) with nine miles of critical levees. If they were to fail, it would jeopardize fresh
water delivery to not only most points south of the delta, but to the
East Bay of San Francisco as well. That's how connected and complicated the "water pipes" are in this state. Their security depends on a handful of heroes who live and work in the Delta, carrying on the traditions of generations of levee builders who keep the islands dry. </span></span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrs4JlTVvp6buYyAfMMTdx5AplCmSYKP-3JlmVkqd4IsQ_crBt_LlVQZXUGK00UdEIIfLCfBz8f0XPzDZC7AhExW5APgJIjmcU5MNYewHOygvwl_XBroOo-DkcTkB7R7FtgslFQPjf2oPl/s1600/Sacramento-SanJoaquin-Delta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrs4JlTVvp6buYyAfMMTdx5AplCmSYKP-3JlmVkqd4IsQ_crBt_LlVQZXUGK00UdEIIfLCfBz8f0XPzDZC7AhExW5APgJIjmcU5MNYewHOygvwl_XBroOo-DkcTkB7R7FtgslFQPjf2oPl/s400/Sacramento-SanJoaquin-Delta.jpg" width="335" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Map of California's "water pipes shows EBMUD<br />aqueduct (center) crossing the Delta. State and<br />Federal pumping stations (red squares) lead to<br />California Aqueduct and Delta Mendota Canal (right)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: left;"> Further north of Woodward Island, another local architect/engineer, Gilbert Labrie, is watching a levee along the edge of the San Joaquin River. It shows signs of slumping and will need to be repaired this summer.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<h4>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>On
Watch in the Delta</b></span></span></h4>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> And
it's not only the engineers who keep their eyes peeled for levee
damage. Delta farmers, as well, watch all the time, reporting
suspicious activity to their local reclamation districts that employ
the engineers. Just seven years ago, <a href="http://californiaspigot.blogspot.com/2010_10_01_archive.html">island ranchers saved their levee </a>from a crazy impact by an ocean-going ship on the San Joaquin River that
could have shut down much of the state's water supply. </span></span>
</div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Civil
engineer Gilbert Cosio, with MBK Engineering firm in Sacramento,
manages the levees in 27 reclamation districts. He's seen enormous
improvements in levee reliability since he began this work in 1984.
“At that time, we'd have to sandbag many miles of levee at high
tide to keep water from going over the top. Some islands would
threaten to flood every three years. They didn't because farmers
down there would throw on the sandbags,” said Cosio. “Now we've
got about a foot of freeboard (above the 100-year flood) almost
everywhere.”</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Seven years ago, in 2009, a devastating State report on the condition of Delta levees predicted that, using average probability statistics, there would be about a dozen levee failures by this year. None has occurred.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<h4>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>Cooperation
and Progress</b></span></span></h4>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Unbeknownst
to most people who read about California's Delta, levees there have
been steadily improving over the past decade. With State bond money,
and now – belatedly – money from water contractors, a surge in
reconstruction is taking place. Moreover, the work is being carried
out by groups who have long been in opposing camps in the battle for
fresh water: delta residents, state officials and water contractors. It is one of the few places where cooperation is
actually resulting in tangible, physical improvements.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> “I
am confident that levees in the Delta are in better shape than
they've ever been,” said state official, Dave Mraz, who heads up
the Delta Levee program at the Department of Water Resources. “It's
taken a lot of cooperative effort. We (State officials) pay money to
pile up the earth out there and provide roads. Then, when the high
waters come, local reclamation districts are out there, doing levee
patrols, watching for seepage and actively treating them in the
middle of a storm. The system still needs that kind of attention
from local interests that have a big stake in making sure their
levees stand. We rely on that. Even with all the work the State has
done, it's a cooperative effort. We provide (some of) the money, but
they do the work.”</span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<h4>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>EBMUD's
Million-Dollar Levees </b></span></span></h4>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> A
major leap forward was taken six years ago when East Bay Municipal
Utility District (EBMUD) made an historic decision to come up with
millions of new dollars to fortify the levees on Woodward and four
other islands that affect its aqueduct. EBMUD's $6 million paid the
local share in a $41 million levee improvement program – shares
that Delta farmers cannot and should not have to pay to reinforce
levees that benefit 1.4 million EBMUD customers. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuJWCnxaaHNlXSKl1j4qUs7gdrsySE0MlfGaZFb8g_AR9DLPAQBxj2f9CA_XCrTyCGnmvR47YdbJDoqunebd-FZIVfjjRiQR7Ik114NlLY0_3xKXkR0MsRU5DE3-iTYnJNEcDwPMVXNKoX/s1600/Scan+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuJWCnxaaHNlXSKl1j4qUs7gdrsySE0MlfGaZFb8g_AR9DLPAQBxj2f9CA_XCrTyCGnmvR47YdbJDoqunebd-FZIVfjjRiQR7Ik114NlLY0_3xKXkR0MsRU5DE3-iTYnJNEcDwPMVXNKoX/s400/Scan+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Tiny Woodward Island's widened crown and broadened base protects two</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">critical aqueduct systems in California</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> The
results have been outstanding. In a very short time (compared to the
usual slow pace of levee reinforcement), the levees have been raised
in height, often doubled at the crown, and greatly broadened at the
base with tons of new dirt creating a gentle slope down, instead of a
precipitous drop to the bottom.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> The
cost of doing all this was not cheap. Forty miles of levee
improvement on five islands cost $41 million. That's a million
dollars a mile, with the State paying 85% of it, and it reveals why
levee improvement in the Delta has been so slow – farmers cannot
afford the local share, even at 15%. (These levees are on private
land and are therefore not maintained by the Federal or State
governments.)</span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> “This
is a real success story,” said Eileen White, water operations
manager for East Bay MUD. </span></span>“<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">We
did this to improve the stability of the levees out there. Knowing
their vulnerability to failure, we wanted to protect the integrity of
our pipelines,” said White. The retrofit will protect against
floods, seepage of water, damage by rodents and other ordinary
failures. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<h4>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>Earthquake
Resistance: The Stronger, the Better</b></span></span></h4>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></span><br />
<div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: -webkit-center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Whether the new work also protects against an earthquake is unknown, partly because levee failure from an earthquake has never occurred in the Delta in historic times. Widening the crest and broadening the base, however, are classic ways of protecting levees against earthquake damage and <a href="http://californiaspigot.blogspot.com/2011/08/levees-that-lie-down-solution-for.html">scenarios for seismic resistance have been tested in the Delta.</a></span></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">
</span></span>
<br />
<div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: -webkit-center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">
</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> White
couldn't say whether the new levees would withstand an earthquake.
She said that would depend on how big it was. “Will this buy
protection in an 8.0 on the Rodgers Fault (a portion of the Hayward)?
I can't tell you that. But it will make them stronger . The more
you do, the better. The wider the top, the flatter the slope, the
more stable it is. It's like retrofitting a house. You put in sheer
walls; then you bolt it down. There's no guarantee in any
earthquake, but we've made the levees stronger without a doubt.”</span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRG3OIa7k9iwTCDev9MH-Mw3HnowGzbK_RLw5iyBBEy5DycbSfV9JqPkk8i-kB1qWs6r37ZPhRj1aEANDa4NSkdXujpyEUF2LXsBtm6ohvkz0lqcV4NsG_xyHmJdTXgYti93Xzh7tvyg6Y/s1600/IMG_5255.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRG3OIa7k9iwTCDev9MH-Mw3HnowGzbK_RLw5iyBBEy5DycbSfV9JqPkk8i-kB1qWs6r37ZPhRj1aEANDa4NSkdXujpyEUF2LXsBtm6ohvkz0lqcV4NsG_xyHmJdTXgYti93Xzh7tvyg6Y/s400/IMG_5255.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">EBMUD's aqueduct takes water across the Delta to 1.4 million people.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Moreover,
the added dirt and stockpiling of rock on the islands makes it much
easier to repair a break immediately rather than waiting days for new
material to arrive, several authorities noted. “If the land
subsides in an earthquake, we can fill it back in quickly,” said
Christopher Neudeck, whose Delta company Kjeldsen, Sinnock and
Neudeck, provided inspection and management services on the EBMUD
project. With new dirt added to the levee, “We just take a tractor
and push it back up. We're doing that everywhere all over the Delta,
adding these berms,” said Neudeck.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<h4>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span>Two
for One Protection</b></span></span></h4>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSEMONvdUVCxK6cCRJdfJAK8mIjN6J3b_iauB5C22MfJSvZm9fzg6p9Ia3pUAhqL1-V28zmRcm4vOrETx-IKD1I3EL2hctjfy4ggKmUqw8knAftdjk7SMOjxxgondALOxzNMPY41ykQMi9/s1600/Scan+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSEMONvdUVCxK6cCRJdfJAK8mIjN6J3b_iauB5C22MfJSvZm9fzg6p9Ia3pUAhqL1-V28zmRcm4vOrETx-IKD1I3EL2hctjfy4ggKmUqw8knAftdjk7SMOjxxgondALOxzNMPY41ykQMi9/s400/Scan+%25281%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">So. California's freshwater corridor runs north to south past Woodward</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">island in two tributaries (Old and Middle River) to the San Joaquin River.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> A
disturbing fact about levees in this part of the south/central Delta
is that they are actually dikes that hold water back 24 hours a day
and the landward side has sunk below sea level by 10 to 20 feet.
They are a core infrastructure for water supplies to Southern
California, as well as to the S.F. East Bay. The so called “fresh
water corridor” – small rivers that carry water to the California
aqueduct – runs right past some of the islands recently reinforced.
So, in protecting their own pipes, EBMUD also fortified three of
some seven to nine islands along the corridor.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> “By
improving these levees, we not only protect our own supplies, but we
help the 20 million people in Southern California who rely on water
to be pumped from the Delta,” said White. It's a win, win. We have
protected a lot of important infrastructure in California. It would
be really good if other entities out there who benefit would also
step forward.”</span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Other
“entities” in the area include Metropolitan Water District of
Southern California, Westlands Water District in the San Joaquin
Valley, PG&E, which has transmission lines in the area, Kinder
Morgan with its pipes, a state highway and a railroad. Few of these
has contributed any money to reinforce Delta levees,<a href="http://www.ccwater.com/DocumentCenter/View/1652"> although MET and six other water contractors, plus PG&E</a>, are stepping forward with
a small amount (totaling less than $500,000 in local share
for all; the State is paying 97%) to reinforce Bacon Island, north of
Woodward on the corridor, next year. (Bacon is one of the islands
recently purchased by MET).</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<h4>
<b style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Into
the Future with Toe Berms</b></h4>
</div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHFnbR4uKtm4eaXqBiyQ297JUYU_ixjsJYYLrAJ-y7XizQydvSkugZbGnegGTA5Q2Uw5VjXGRzf2D2vF0_5tBnbq2D8MJwdsfdf1-2AnKbskulXCa57PWKaWwBl88CIi2cp6WTTg50grPc/s1600/IMG_5244.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHFnbR4uKtm4eaXqBiyQ297JUYU_ixjsJYYLrAJ-y7XizQydvSkugZbGnegGTA5Q2Uw5VjXGRzf2D2vF0_5tBnbq2D8MJwdsfdf1-2AnKbskulXCa57PWKaWwBl88CIi2cp6WTTg50grPc/s320/IMG_5244.jpg" width="311" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bigger levees with stockpiled material (back, center) </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">protect the </span><span style="font-size: small;">island and aqueduct (distance) </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">from being flooded.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Back
on Woodward Island, Gulli pointed out the “toe berms” added to
the back sides of the levees. The new sides sloped gently down, at a
one to four foot ratio. Many – but not all – of the levees
protecting water delivery routes now have these toe berms. (Engineer
Cosio estimated that the entire fresh water corridor would be up to
the desired Corps of Engineers' standard, PL 84-99, in about five
years).</span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> “We
finished this project two or three years ago,” Giulli explained
stopping the pickup again to draw a graph. “The crown here was 14
feet; now it's 22 feet wide,” broad enough for two trucks to pass
each other. As we prepared to exit the island via ferry, Gulli
pointed out the spot where a levee failed on Jones Tract on a sunny
day in 2004, possibly due to a rodent burrow. The EBMUD improvements
would protect against that sort of calamity and, indeed, no more
failures in the Delta have occurred since that date. But it takes
constant vigilance.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> In
any foreseeable plan for California's water future, these levees play
a central role. Even if the State builds two giant 40
feet-in-diameter tunnels deep under the delta to transport water, we
will still depend on these structures to protect our fresh water.
And the one thing that has not been analyzed in the 20,000 plus pages
of environmental reports on the tunnels is the true impact on Delta
agriculture and recreation of a ten-year construction project through
the middle of the place. </span></span>
</div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<h4>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>The
Importance of Skin in the Game</b></span></span></h4>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> In
October of last year, an independent science board that works with
the<a href="http://deltacouncil.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2015/10/15-1028%20Council%20Comments%20on%20BDCPs%20RDEIR-EIS.pdf"> Delta Stewardship Council wrote a detailed analysis </a>( pages 9-17) of what more
than 10 years of heavy-duty construction might do to the Delta economy
if the tunnel project is approved. Such a project would have
“significant adverse effects on the Delta's unique values,” the
report said. Effects on the agricultural economy, recreation values
and way of life in the Delta would be serious and have not been
adequately evaluated, the report said.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> It
is possible that such adverse effects could drive out the few
thousand people who maintain this crucial water infrastructure, and
then, the State would lose something it could not replace –the eyes
and energy of people who have skin in the game.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Patricia McBroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07595399655479910459noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377350442704856259.post-70172010592033506212015-09-09T00:19:00.003-07:002015-09-09T00:43:21.240-07:00DELTA TUNNELS: WATERFIX FOR A BYGONE ERA HOBBLES STATE PLANNING FOR CLIMATE CHANGE<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>By Patricia McBroom</b></span></div>
<span style="color: black; line-height: 150%;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: black; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="color: black; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 100%;">Climate
in California is changing fast, but, sadly, the State's water system
is not. If the Governor and Southern California managers do not
reconsider building the largest piece of infrastructure in state
history – two enormous tunnels under the delta – they could end
up with a very expensive stranded asset (an asset </span><span style="line-height: 16px;">that</span><span style="line-height: 100%;"> has become non-productive typically because of climate change). And the State would continue
to be hobbled in its planning for the future, as it has been since
2006 when the tunnels were first proposed.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;">
</span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The
aim of the controversial tunnel project, called WaterFix (formerly
BDCP or Bay Delta Conservation Plan), is to take water from the
northeast corner of the Delta near Sacramento and convey it
underground to pumps near Tracy so that it can be exported south.
This gives exporters high quality river water and allows them to
better manage fish regulations for saving endangered species that have
sometimes reduced their take in the south of the Delta. (More on that
later.) And there's some history. State officials have been touring the Southland this summer, promoting the tunnels as the long-awaited completion of the 1960's State Water Project which built the California Aqueduct to transport water from north to south.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9E2LSlKAP6ehLhltzTPzhZ_tYm9jkPQe796REDdb-tRHMffWh4FcPJsGvKbIGYuZ5mbWoFrnCiD2SKl9FqbQjg1QwMuqtkegcqnwVCHqpz_kzPHMTff_skKfWwSMMq6Xuaz3j9q1leA1N/s1600/phv3f-st-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9E2LSlKAP6ehLhltzTPzhZ_tYm9jkPQe796REDdb-tRHMffWh4FcPJsGvKbIGYuZ5mbWoFrnCiD2SKl9FqbQjg1QwMuqtkegcqnwVCHqpz_kzPHMTff_skKfWwSMMq6Xuaz3j9q1leA1N/s400/phv3f-st-4.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cartoon by Jack Ohman, Sacramento Bee, January 22, 2014</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> But this is a new age.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Dire predictions of <a href="http://www.californiascience.org/webcast/">climate change in California</a> are throwing
projections of water availability in the Delta into a cocked hat,
suggesting that by mid-century, exports could be constrained more by
the amount of water coming down the river – and by more urgent needs – than by the location of the
pumps. Urban water users in Southern California and farmers in the
San Joaquin Valley who are expected to pay for these $15 billion
tunnels would be wise to reassess the information created by <a href="http://baydeltaconservationplan.com/Libraries/Dynamic_Document_Library/Public_Draft_BDCP_EIR-EIS_Chapter_29_-_Climate_Change.sflb.ashx">older environmental reports done for the BDCP.</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
The Looming Future<br />
<br />
</h3>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> A
critical new evaluation of climate change comes from researchers at
the Scripps Institute of Oceanography and the U.S. Geological Survey
who<a href="http://deltacouncil.ca.gov/docs/delta-science-program-workshop/delta-challenges-workshop-climate-change-dan-cayan"> told state officials in March </a>that snowpack in the Sierras could
decline by 35% by 2060. This is higher than the 25% loss projection
built into the WaterFix analysis and it would begin to accelerate in
2030, just as the tunnels come on line, if there are no legal
challenges to their construction (which is unlikely). What this
means is more flooding over a large area and less water stored behind
dams which can be channeled down the rivers. As evident in the graph below by Noah Knowles and Dan Cayan, snowpack losses are small (5%) during
the first thirty years of this century (blue graph on left) and then quicken after 2030,
so that by 2060, (middle graph) another 30% of snowpack is lost.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFu7JWQA0Zb3622jY73KDUn00FNl8dWiw8M9Mgp64nEbbHi3RK0TRy3Ofge9ScBsbmwnWEvi3TMusrxFnLNAYgBcou9dYBqbK14J8hsxUM70-XiQi6MY0p7JngLDaCX-EmSF5jF5Fd1O_0/s1600/Item_8_Cayan_PowerPoint_Presentation_Page_09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFu7JWQA0Zb3622jY73KDUn00FNl8dWiw8M9Mgp64nEbbHi3RK0TRy3Ofge9ScBsbmwnWEvi3TMusrxFnLNAYgBcou9dYBqbK14J8hsxUM70-XiQi6MY0p7JngLDaCX-EmSF5jF5Fd1O_0/s400/Item_8_Cayan_PowerPoint_Presentation_Page_09.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pace of snowpack loss accelerates after 2030, when the<br />
tunnels might come online, if they are not challenged</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> “<span style="color: #0e0e0e;">The
losses are occurring on the fringe of the Sierras,” said Scripps
scientist Cayan. These low to moderate elevations do receive
snowpack today, but “in the future, as climate warms, that will be
vastly diminished.” It is also projected that the lower-elevation
northern mountains will lose more snow than the higher mountains of
Central California. Again, the loss is to water supplies coming from
the Sacramento watershed which the tunnels are supposed to exploit.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0e0e0e;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Doubling of Drought Risk</span></h3>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #0e0e0e;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Compounding
the snowpack problem is the greatly increased risk of droughts in
future decades. The droughts will not necessarily be caused by lack
of rainfall, but by rising temperatures. “It's hot and it's
getting hotter,” said a speaker at an August climate change
<a href="http://www.californiascience.org/webcast/">symposium</a> in Sacramento. Stanford University scientist <a href="http://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/april/calif-drought-qna-040215.html">Noah Diffenbaugh estimated </a>that the risk of drought will double in the
future, mostly due to temperature increases that dry out the soils,
hasten evaporation and harden demand. Water is <a href="http://californiaspigot.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-cautionary-tale-for-california-bdcp.html">less likely to be exported from the north Delta tunnels during droughts</a>, so the new intakes and
tunnels will be of less and less use as the years pass, bringing
higher temperatures. Depending on a drought's severity, water will
continue to be exported from the south, but a doubling of risk has
not been analyzed by WaterFix.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #0e0e0e;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> At
the same time, increased flows to the ocean will be needed to hold
back rising sea levels that carry salt into the fresh waters of the
delta. Moderate projections call for a 16 inch increase in sea level
at the Golden Gate by mid-century, but storm surges and high tides
will periodically drive levels much higher, requiring ever more flow
to push back the salinity. High sea levels combined with drought
will be killers, especially for reservoir storage.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Confusing Data for Benefits</span></h3>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> So, why
do tunnel advocates think they will get more water by building a north Delta intake? The answer is based on assumptions rife with
<a href="http://www.californiaspigot.blogspot.com/2013/09/bdcp-totters-financially-fixing-up.html">confusion and obscure data</a>. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Government
drivers of the project in the Natural Resources Agency say that a northern intake will recreate more
natural river flows through the Delta and halt the completely
aberrant backward flows that have pertained for decades, carrying
fish to death in the south pumps. Federal regulations to save the
fish have sometimes stopped water deliveries temporarily and the
exporters yell bloody murder when that happens, blaming the Feds for
a “Congress created Dust Bowl.” Therefore, a well-screened
northern intake should avoid the cutoffs and create better flows for
fish. Voila, more water for export. The graph on the right shows a
threatened future reduction in exports (to 3.5 <i>maf</i>) if the tunnels
are NOT built. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> "Awful" Place for the Pumps</span></h3>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJmQ9d_dnr8jmxN-L8PhCDnInArYWgDLwK-bLJ7KQ0ujc08dmRoSYM11XI6q3g-jiXHdQixJsW4oYp2I_mc6AitOUuUpM5VP_V48TiGf1bcfIzLJV9bn66O18881KfB6Wu6eLmVU9MU2oz/s1600/3a_Presentation_Page_17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJmQ9d_dnr8jmxN-L8PhCDnInArYWgDLwK-bLJ7KQ0ujc08dmRoSYM11XI6q3g-jiXHdQixJsW4oYp2I_mc6AitOUuUpM5VP_V48TiGf1bcfIzLJV9bn66O18881KfB6Wu6eLmVU9MU2oz/s320/3a_Presentation_Page_17.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Graph based on the BDCP analysis posits that exports will<br />
be cut to 3.5 <i>maf </i>if the tunnels are not built due to new<br />
regulations for fish <a href="http://www.californiaspigot.blogspot.com/2013/09/bdcp-totters-financially-fixing-up.html">– a controversial claim.</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Fish
biologists agree that the south Delta is a terrible place for the
pumps. In rapid-fire succession, the Natural Resources Defense
Council biologist Tina Swanson reeled off the following questions: </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> “Could
you come up with better place to divert water than what we have?
Absolutely.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Is
there a better place for water quality? Absolutely</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Could
you have less impact and entrain fewer fish? Absolutely.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> So,
yes, there are better places for the pumps, but it is worth it?”
she asked.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> The Bay
Institute's fish biologist, Jon Rosenfield, agreed that the southern
location for the pumps Is “awful”, but he added that the tunnel
plan fails in three ways, on timing, cost and efficacy. “E<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">ven
its own documentation doesn't claim that it will provide much
benefit, and the impact analyses dramatically overstate the benefits
and understate the negative consequences,” he said, in an interview. </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Rosenfield
also said that export cuts to save imperiled fish have been very
infrequent during the current drought, and that the main reason for
limiting exports has been to keep the salty tides at bay, i.e. to
maintain fresh water for users (which include water districts in
Contra Costa County).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Pushing the Salt Back – An Overriding Problem</span></h3>
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> The
idea that salinity control is the overriding problem exporters face
is backed up by experience with drought last year when 71 percent of
the flow through the delta was needed to push back salty water,
<a href="http://www.ppic.org/main/blog_detail.asp?i=1744">according to a report from the Public Policy Institute of California</a>
at UC Davis. It is hard to gauge how much fresh water will be needed to push back the salt in future decades, but California's water system has been built for snowmelt, and the loss of snow, combined with increased drought and higher seas, raise alarms.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Felicia Marcus, chair of the State Water Resources Control
Board – a critical regulatory body –<a href="http://mavensnotebook.com/2014/11/05/felicia-marcus-california-water-where-we-are-and-where-we-ought-to-go/"> told a group of lawyers last November,</a> “<span style="color: #212020;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Over
the decades, we do have to think about sea level rise because we’re
going to have more salt water intrusion and there’s no way we’re
going to have enough water storage to repel it like we can today and
we’re going to have to think differently about that.”</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #212020;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Evidence
that the major exporters ARE doing some new thinking came last month
in a meeting of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern
California, when director <a href="http://mavensnotebook.com/2015/08/05/metropolitans-special-committee-on-the-bay-delta-gets-an-overview-of-the-cal-water-fix-documents-and-an-update-on-drought-operations-in-the-delta/">Roger Patterson called for another analysis</a>
of the WaterFix that would compare the tunnels with a “No Action
Alternative.” </span></span></span></span><span style="font-style: normal;">He
called the data represented in the BDCP graph “confusing.” </span><br />
<h3>
<span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></h3>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> Financial Losses and Tradeoffs </span></span></h3>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdfkWFVCxnLFV00agKgBYSLip4ts06itBjrcsUbtmAVzrBquAHvAf6yIRe1C9b6g_QoP_VOP3SkiEx7H_eijiSOlQjlOsUYCI0Gt8AAk8BLAnZgAfahIho7xbw6FP3-S2sTQRS6d2vWe8z/s1600/dreamstime_l_11070382.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdfkWFVCxnLFV00agKgBYSLip4ts06itBjrcsUbtmAVzrBquAHvAf6yIRe1C9b6g_QoP_VOP3SkiEx7H_eijiSOlQjlOsUYCI0Gt8AAk8BLAnZgAfahIho7xbw6FP3-S2sTQRS6d2vWe8z/s400/dreamstime_l_11070382.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The beautiful and endangered Sierra watershed nourishes all life.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> And
what about the financial consequences of building a colossal
underground watercourse that may not be used often enough? Economist
Jeffrey Michael of the University of the Pacific estimated that -– based on figures of water yield generated in the State's own reports – exporters might recover $5 billion in benefits for the $15 billion
spent. Moreover, he wrote in a <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/the-conversation/article28509157.html">July column in the Sacramento Bee,</a>
“t</span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">he
benefit-cost ratio is even worse when the negative impacts to the
Delta and risks to the environment and upstream interests are
considered.”</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></span></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> What We Could Do</span></h3>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> Finally,
there is the impact on credit for water districts and exporters who
invest in the tunnels – if they don't pan out. The enormous
expense could sink other efforts to pay for water infrastructure that
really does help with climate change – projects like capturing
storm waters, recovering the flood plains of old creeks and rivers,
building more recycling facilities, <a href="http://californiaspigot.blogspot.com/2012/12/climate-shift-from-snow-to-rain-demands.html">storing water underground</a>, erecting <a href="http://californiaspigot.blogspot.com/2011/08/levees-that-lie-down-solution-for.html">earthquake-resistant levees</a>, even perhaps
creating hundreds of ponds on farms for irrigation and storage.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> The
list is long for regional projects that could move California from an
old water system, built for the 20</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><sup><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">th</span></span></sup></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">
century, to a new one. All of our systems and expectations are built
on what used to be normal, says </span></span>Diffenbaugh, senior fellow at
the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. If we are going to <a href="http://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/april/calif-drought-qna-040215.html">“avoid disasters now and in the future, we have to acknowledge that California's climate has changed.”</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.16in;">
<br />
<br /></div>
Patricia McBroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07595399655479910459noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377350442704856259.post-36664568570733756592015-05-04T09:11:00.000-07:002015-05-04T09:11:28.226-07:00ANCIENT TRADITIONS REVITALIZE SIERRA WATERSHEDS; INCREASE WATER<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>By Patricia McBroom</b></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> In
the mountains above Fresno, a slim, beautiful wild plum has taken
root in a newly cleared meadow. No one planted the tree. It simply
sprouted on its own, once the overgrowth was pushed out by Native
Americans working to revitalize the forest.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> The
blooming presence of this sapling stands as testimony to what can be
done to not only restore a meadow but to thin the forest and thereby
bring more water down from the Sierra Nevada mountain range. </span><br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> More Water</span></h3>
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvSOpQqQ6Vr6t1_PQbdtWykzWdK5ISLJbpteWYPznWtVZjzz71Bfw7LxFS8-cjz69uUBi-Db1_YQy_0GowrRMQsUps8IkEfzB-oMT7cnVCZh0lVg807J-KwmtXicF63SJ57TdVN8KM1lJY/s1600/DSCF6724+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvSOpQqQ6Vr6t1_PQbdtWykzWdK5ISLJbpteWYPznWtVZjzz71Bfw7LxFS8-cjz69uUBi-Db1_YQy_0GowrRMQsUps8IkEfzB-oMT7cnVCZh0lVg807J-KwmtXicF63SJ57TdVN8KM1lJY/s1600/DSCF6724+2.JPG" width="261" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A wild Sierra Plum tree sprouted naturally in<br />
the restored Progeny meadow, east of Bass Lake.<br />
<i> credit: Ron Goode</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Experts have been talking for years about thinning California's
forests to enhance the water supply downstream. No one knows exactly
how much more water the Sierras could produce if the dense
undergrowth was removed, but it's a lot – two, three, up to <a href="http://ucanr.edu/sites/cff/files/146199.pdf">16 percent</a> (p.2) or more, of current yield. While estimates vary, most reflect
a recognition that reversing the century's old habit of suppressing
fire in the watershed is critically needed.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> “Failure
to understand the urgency of the situation in the Sierra Nevada will
have devastating impacts on California's environment and economy,”
warns the Sierra Nevada Conservancy in a new report on the need for
prescribed burns and thinning in the forests.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> The Conservancy, a
state agency, was referring mainly to the risk of huge wild fires,
like those that have been growing in size every year. But authors of
the report, <i><a href="http://www.sierranevada.ca.gov/our-work/state-of-the-sierra">The State of the Sierra Nevada's Forests</a>,</i> also
estimate that up to 60 percent of snowfall never reaches the ground
because the tree canopy is too thick. Much of that snow then
evaporates and never reaches downstream use. On the other hand, when
wildfires rip through the forest, they take out every tree and
nothing is left to shade the new snow, which again is lost to the air
and early melting. </span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">A
golden mean is needed – some trees, but not too many, and a forest
cleared of dense underbrush so that when fire does come, it stays on
the ground. A wet meadow, for its part, acts to control the wild
fire. It is the forest's sponge, holding water late in the year and
releasing it slowly into streams and groundwater. Many, if not most,
of the Sierra's meadows have been degraded, no longer functioning as
sponges or sources of species diversity.</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggWKzjW4Rr2fpUsWE7Gpi9QM9milzzfx1NIZ6DWNrhGSJ3__aBj1P4ATgYCqfyBn-vVHyDuEVLO1HOhEfa4KSFWOGwGTX29J9Z-kstTyibQzhrKJRG-LbIFkAsH2AogGhMYeBKPLF4-COB/s1600/IMG_4248.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggWKzjW4Rr2fpUsWE7Gpi9QM9milzzfx1NIZ6DWNrhGSJ3__aBj1P4ATgYCqfyBn-vVHyDuEVLO1HOhEfa4KSFWOGwGTX29J9Z-kstTyibQzhrKJRG-LbIFkAsH2AogGhMYeBKPLF4-COB/s1600/IMG_4248.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">North Fork Mono Tribe chief Ron Goode has worked for<br />
decades to revitalize his homeland with traditional knowledge of<br />
prescribed burns and forest ecology. <i>credit: Patricia McBroom</i> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></h4>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Ancient traditions</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> I
was in the Sierra National Forest, which surrounds the San Joaquin
River watershed, between Yosemite and Sequoia, to find out what the
North Fork Mono Tribe was doing to recover the health of the forest
there. It is their ancient homeland and while most of the several
thousand Indians – those who survived genocide – were driven out
of the mountains a century ago, many of them still carry traditional
knowledge of forest stewardship.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> “Prior
to the arrival of Europeans, the use of fire by North Fork Mono and
other California Indian people enhanced plant and animal resources
and sustained a higher human population density than intensive,
seed-crop agriculture could have supported,” <a href="http://comparativewests.stanford.edu/content/growing-meadows-north-fork-mono-fire-and-water-rights">writes Jared Dahl Aldern</a>, an environmental historian and co-director of the Stanford
University-based Comparative Wests Project. </span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Gardeners of the Forest</span></h3>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> “These
were the gardeners of the forest,” said Douglas McKay, head
archaeologist of the Sierra National Forest's heritage program, as we
rumbled in a Forest Service jeep through the woods from meadow to
meadow. McKay explained that the several hundred thousand Indians who
originally lived there had maintained healthy forests with regular
controlled burns that preserved the meadows, increased the diversity
of species and protected against wild fire.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> “We
need the gardeners to come back and start taking care of the land
again.” said McKay, adding that most of what scientists describe as
a “natural” forest with a clean understory was actually created
by Indians.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNs8MqHkvzbHmMSG4Av1V7zca-SNebQ7K6pnfrKo9fMSG1LVAundVPfH5qAGeYt1F6qYaIqRyunQXRiswefxoacjlcwMmrTKypfa6mN1XFDIS51oSpWdHr1HFhKizJqjPyearumg3p09dW/s1600/IMG_4275.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNs8MqHkvzbHmMSG4Av1V7zca-SNebQ7K6pnfrKo9fMSG1LVAundVPfH5qAGeYt1F6qYaIqRyunQXRiswefxoacjlcwMmrTKypfa6mN1XFDIS51oSpWdHr1HFhKizJqjPyearumg3p09dW/s1600/IMG_4275.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wood and debris waiting to be removed after meadow restoration in the<br />
Sierra National Forest. <i>credit: Patricia McBroom</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Seated
beside McKay in the jeep was one of those head gardeners, Ron Goode,
tribal chief of the North Fork Mono, a founding father of a movement
to help federal land managers understand the role of Native Americans
on the landscape. Goode has been prodding and poking for 30 odd
years to bring back traditional burning and native knowledge.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> “A
good meadow has up to 55 species, including food, medicine and
other useful products,” said Goode. “This meadow was brown when
we started,” he said, pointing to a green space in the trees filled
with flowers and new grasses. “Before, all we had was thistles and
brush. Now we have bees, flowers and plants. The water is providing
for all of that.” </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Goode
is participating in the Dinkey Creek collaborative, an effort to
restore 154,000 acres in Sierra National Forest with thinning and
meadow revitalization. It's one of the larger Forest Service projects
in California, representing about 10 percent of this national forest
(1.3 million acres). But it's a drop in the bucket, compared to what
needs to be done.</span><br />
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></h4>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> Benefits of Forest Restoration</span></h3>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"> In
a large<a href="http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/california/forest-restoration-northern-sierras.pdf"> scientific review of water supply benefits</a>, the Nature
Conservancy recently estimated that tripling the pace of current
forest restoration would result in up to a six percent increase in
the mean annual streamflow from individual watersheds. The </span><span style="line-height: 24px;">restoration</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> would pay for itself in these </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">water benefits</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">, the non-profit conservation group concluded.</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXSFCa7vJon439jQikKFPDx-s2BqTmQ58HnJ0GkpAgV-j9w2KhZrXNzN3BHcwsW9R4JSQZ84ds7j50xnZQ3hBd53sloTKKixs5-D9kYCUo-HfvdluZwF9HSZdY1x2go0o1FK46_whqkEWI/s1600/stelprdb5294935.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXSFCa7vJon439jQikKFPDx-s2BqTmQ58HnJ0GkpAgV-j9w2KhZrXNzN3BHcwsW9R4JSQZ84ds7j50xnZQ3hBd53sloTKKixs5-D9kYCUo-HfvdluZwF9HSZdY1x2go0o1FK46_whqkEWI/s1600/stelprdb5294935.bmp" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sierra National Forest has 1.3 million acres, half of which is<br />
in need of thinning; the rest is protected wilderness areas.<br />
<i>credit: US Forest Service</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Yet,
the Forest Service is crippled by loss of personnel due to
Congressional cutbacks. Controlled burning usually can't be done
because of resistance by air pollution boards, or public
misunderstanding. Moreover, the forests are now so choked with
flammable material that a prescribed burn could easily turn wild.
And it's dry and hot. And there's no money. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Most
of the money that U.S. land management agencies such as the Forest
Service or the Bureau of Land Management have early in the year for
proactive management is swallowed up later by the need to fight fire.</span><br />
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></h4>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> The Karma of Doing Nothing</span></h3>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> “Pick
your smoke.” says the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, in advocating for
controlled burns. Adds McKay, “Mother nature will do it if we
don't and you will not like the result.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> What
then can we do? If government agencies can only respond to crisis
management of wild fire, there will be little effort to fix the
State's crucial watershed – the magnificent mountain range that
stretches 400 miles from Bakersfield to the Oregon border which is
the source of 60 percent of our developed water supply. Moreover,
climate change is reducing the snow pack to a frightening degree;
there is an urgent need to make the best use of what falls from the
sky.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Against
these odds, McKay is optimistic. “We have the ability to fix this
problem, but we need some funding,” he said. McKay wants to see
tribal people employed in a modern day Conservation Corps to
initially clear the forest of its dangerous overgrowth by mechanical
means, then maintain a clean forest with low-intensity prescribed
burns every few years.</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8p3XDz2lTWCWM-S4el_kX1XVzgC9I-W-mZsc_-vtG4-9s2Ay9ce9cs120gWUHeSYHQV9M_yAM9xK_1lZOEhzUjE5_4GB4mqkfk4YL_GhWkcixGVjOkfov6kTEW6ZU92z4i4R0PIHR8N69/s1600/IMG_4288.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8p3XDz2lTWCWM-S4el_kX1XVzgC9I-W-mZsc_-vtG4-9s2Ay9ce9cs120gWUHeSYHQV9M_yAM9xK_1lZOEhzUjE5_4GB4mqkfk4YL_GhWkcixGVjOkfov6kTEW6ZU92z4i4R0PIHR8N69/s1600/IMG_4288.JPG" width="247" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Forest archaeologist Douglas McKay wants a<br />
modern-day Conservation Corps to restore the<br />
Sierras: "We can fix this problem," he says. <br />
<i>credit: Patricia McBroom</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Native
Americans lived in and maintained the Sierra Nevada mountains with
such burns for more than 9,000 years until European contact. We
could do worse than use their knowledge. The small burns not only
kept wild fire under control, but they were necessary to maintain the
ecological health of a wide variety of animal and plant species.
Giant Sequoia trees, for instance, require periodic fire to
regenerate and are at risk from fire suppression. Sierra meadows are primary resting places for millions of migratory birds on the Pacific flyway. </span><br />
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></h4>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Collaboration and Money</span></h3>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> But
are there enough Indians to do the job? “There are plenty of
Indians,” replied Goode. Some 6,000 Indians from 13 tribes still
live in or near the Sierra National Forest, with many more thousands
further north. “Anyway, all you need is one, who knows what he's
doing.” Young Americans of all backgrounds could then be employed
to serve the nation under a collaborative effort by many
organizations including tribes.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> That
is exactly what the Forest Service is trying to put together now.
The <a href="http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5351832.pdf">Dinkey Creek Landscape Restoration Project</a>, for example, involves
30 different organizations – state, federal, non-governmental,
private and Indian – which have so far thinned thousands of acres
of forest and are preparing to restore the meadows.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">“We
need to be putting together more of these collaborative groups,”
said McKay. “All we need is the money.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Patricia McBroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07595399655479910459noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377350442704856259.post-29900925348473891222014-12-15T00:07:00.000-08:002015-06-16T14:42:26.002-07:00COUNTIES STEP UP AS NEW GROUNDWATER LAWS TACKLE A CLASSIC TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><b>By Patricia McBroom</b></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">“Picture
a pasture open to all,” where each herdsman strives to keep as many
cattle as possible on the commons, an economist wrote almost 50 years
ago. The rational choice for each individual is to add more animals
to his herd without regard for the welfare of neighbors, and they all
do that as they march inexorably toward mutual destruction – the
“Tragedy of the Commons” as described by Garrett Hardin.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> “Each
man is locked into a system that compels him to increase his herd
without limit – in a world that is limited. Ruin is the destination
toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a
society that believes in the freedom of the commons. Freedom in a
commons brings ruin to all,” Hardin wrote in Science Magazine in 1968.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> </span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiovmePMrUtH74ibu-37WuL3K3bVJXNc1swiNhjmSqpcYDIS2Q07dKlMCMNrYCTy2oWUF72pICoxybxYXz8R9Grm0_BuQu18CsFeG2OGcUrb-pCdWING74x5kpIdf3h1IPtBg1M2QZHMiL6/s1600/groundwater-contamination.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiovmePMrUtH74ibu-37WuL3K3bVJXNc1swiNhjmSqpcYDIS2Q07dKlMCMNrYCTy2oWUF72pICoxybxYXz8R9Grm0_BuQu18CsFeG2OGcUrb-pCdWING74x5kpIdf3h1IPtBg1M2QZHMiL6/s1600/groundwater-contamination.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Groundwater infiltrates subterranean rock, creating ancient reservoirs<br />
<i>credit: mercola.com </i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Groundwater Commons </span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> By
far, the largest, most important commons in California is the water
beneath our feet, and it is well on its way toward ruin. Large
basins beneath the valley floors contain up to ten times the capacity
of all the state's reservoirs put together (42 million acre feet).
They are uncharted and boundless, subterranean streams of water
flowing among the rocks in mysterious, unexpected ways from one
region to another. And they are shrinking. </span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> In
these years of drought, a giant sucking sound could be heard
throughout the Central Valley as farmers pumped ever more water from
the rocks beneath the earth. The deeper the drill, the more ancient the layers. As they pumped, the land sank, along
with the water table. In some areas of the San Joaquin Valley, only
the biggest, wealthiest farmers could go deep enough to reach the
water, and they did, leaving their neighbors literally in the dust
with dry wells. Surface land in portions of the San Joaquin Valley
sank by up to ten inches in just six months of this year, from May to
October.</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBrM7RDDEPUS2j7VnfTTVBQk0kO30wDGqVkEO5vE81N1C6vliGFnS4HIWNr9cuuL-i8mmwv8eksgn3RNPpc0DKigR9wBpGnfMimlEWnL9tVSQTKzqZBO0VOgjKYGneAj10HiyH08ay0MhH/s1600/Scan+1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBrM7RDDEPUS2j7VnfTTVBQk0kO30wDGqVkEO5vE81N1C6vliGFnS4HIWNr9cuuL-i8mmwv8eksgn3RNPpc0DKigR9wBpGnfMimlEWnL9tVSQTKzqZBO0VOgjKYGneAj10HiyH08ay0MhH/s1600/Scan+1.jpeg" width="343" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">California has <a href="http://water.ca.gov/groundwater/casgem/basin_prioritization.cfm">515</a> groundwater basins (dark grey) in<br />
<a href="http://www.water.ca.gov/pubs/groundwater/bulletin_118/california's_groundwater__bulletin_118_-_update_2003_/bulletin118-chapter1.pdf"> ten</a><a href="http://www.water.ca.gov/pubs/groundwater/bulletin_118/california's_groundwater__bulletin_118_-_update_2003_/bulletin118-chapter1.pdf"> hydrologic regions (outlined)</a> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> 100 years of Exploitation</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Californians
have been exploiting this commons for 100 years with precious few
restrictions. There has been no statute governing its use. The only
law that even affects groundwater pumping has come through case law
when a property owner sued another for infringing on his rights. In
these rare instances, judges have ruled that a property owner's right
to pump water from the ground is <i>not </i><span style="font-style: normal;">unlimited.
Neighbors have rights as well – called correlative rights – and
any one property owner can only take his fair share of the safe
yield. But aside from this case law – of which the particulars are
hard to determine (what is “safe yield” from an uncharted basin?)
– the state has never imposed any limits on groundwater pumping.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> That
is now changing. </span>
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First Statute to Govern Commons</span></h3>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Next
month, in January, the first <a href="http://www.water.ca.gov/groundwater/groundwater_management/legislation.cfm">written law governing this commons</a> will
go into effect, a statute requiring local groups to create
sustainability agencies that will be charged with bringing depleted
groundwater reservoirs into balance. If locals don't do it within
the next few years, the state's water board has been empowered to
come in and correct the balance. This is the first time in
California's history that state authorities (other than courts) have given themselves the
power to stop a property owner from taking water from beneath his
land. But it will be a while before such power comes into play.</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> The
f<span style="color: black;">irst opportunity to restrict pumping will be
January of 2020, the deadline for passage of a local sustainability
plan, said David Orth, manager of the Kings River Conservation
District in the San Joaquin Valley and member of the powerful
California Water Commission which will be making decisions on surface
and groundwater storage with new state bond money approved by voters
this year. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIf-fGXmdVHz1LZ5-uermlFbWRovrlSFXwzteKVvEU4uTJ34AV9sEFMdrooWBqqvY4xzVxyvOPZbb5Zzw0m6mIAzcWr40vBDDowm5DfA5jXkRgLPcdAPDR7651nc5eKb5WRWTup9Hw0aHT/s1600/dave_orth_ponding+basin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIf-fGXmdVHz1LZ5-uermlFbWRovrlSFXwzteKVvEU4uTJ34AV9sEFMdrooWBqqvY4xzVxyvOPZbb5Zzw0m6mIAzcWr40vBDDowm5DfA5jXkRgLPcdAPDR7651nc5eKb5WRWTup9Hw0aHT/s1600/dave_orth_ponding+basin.jpg" width="247" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">King's County's Dave Orth surveying a <br />
recharge pond</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> “A
lot of things can happen in five years and that concerns me.... but
this problem doesn't lend itself to a quick fix,”said Orth. “Any
attempt tomorrow to restrict groundwater use, or even to set fees is
likely to lead to a legal challenge. We have to be patient and
recognize that it took 100 years to get here. It will take at least
20 to get out of it.”</span></span><br />
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Counties Stepping Up</span></span></h3>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Meanwhile,
county supervisors in the San Joaquin Valley are stepping into the
breach to find various ways to halt the overdraft in their local
groundwater basins. It's an urgent issue in counties like Merced,
Stanislaus, Madera and Kern where lands are sinking and wells are
running dry. Farmers are split, some opposing any restrictions;
others calling for a moratorium on extraction.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> “Before,
farmers were united against doing anything,” said Sarge Green, a
program director from the California Water Institute at Fresno State,
who is helping counties write groundwater ordinances. “Now they are
being damaged by each other, and it has created a powerful incentive
to do something. You have farmers saying, 'I don't want my neighbor
to export water to another county or build a giant well that dries up
mine'.”</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> The
issues are so contentious that a groundwater lawsuit in San Luis
Obispo County had to be moved to Santa Clara County last month
because no one was neutral in the county of origin. San Luis Obispo
supervisors had passed a moratorium last year on new well drilling
from the Paso Robles groundwater basin and the county is now being
sued by 35 plaintiffs. They argue that no official can restrict their
right to pump whatever they need. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPCzgw1vJQsB18t4fNqpXm3mAdS3IMhaggTo8c84xl6K5vfy7AiYgpFJPNLTMrk9-LwegCGqKBdD2REomf8LmKN9Bm6R7r40Ui1J8tgnPQ67FYoVrLNrEdcrFjmtV3nqGcax7cfA8yvshf/s1600/PastedGraphic-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPCzgw1vJQsB18t4fNqpXm3mAdS3IMhaggTo8c84xl6K5vfy7AiYgpFJPNLTMrk9-LwegCGqKBdD2REomf8LmKN9Bm6R7r40Ui1J8tgnPQ67FYoVrLNrEdcrFjmtV3nqGcax7cfA8yvshf/s1600/PastedGraphic-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://water.ca.gov/waterconditions/docs/DWR_PublicUpdateforDroughtResponse_GroundwaterBasins.pdf">Land subsidence from May to October, 2014</a>, from Merced to Corcoran<br />
shows deepest subsidence (red) near El Nido and Corcoran</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> </span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 28px;"> Local Variability </span></span></h3>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Elsewhere,
Madera and Kern counties both considered a moratorium on pumping and
rejected the idea. On the other side of the issue, Stanislaus County
passed an ordinance restricting people from certain unincorporated
areas from extracting water without a permit, while Merced County is
considering a similar ordinance that would also restrict export of
water from the county.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Merced
supervisor Diedre Kelsey said she became aware of the need for county
action when she discovered that two individuals from her district
were trying to pump local groundwater and sell it to buyers in
another county. “We may need an immediate moratorium,” she said.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> The
issues are complicated.</span></span><br />
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Agony and Creativity in Reaching for Sustainability</span></span></h3>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> In
Kings county, Orth and others are striving to create a sustainability
plan, bringing farmers together to expand land devoted to recharge
basins – areas where water can sit for several weeks to soak into
the aquifer below. They have even tried flooding grape fields with
18 inches of water for two months during the dormant season. In that
case, they came out ahead of the game with a bumper harvest. They're
now looking at how long they can leave water standing in an orchard,
anything to build the recharge capacity of an area where agriculture
is outrunning available water. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"> Orth
estimates that the Kings area is farming about five percent more land
than can be sustained with current water supplies. “Our strategy
is to make every bit of that up with flood water (recharge) and
voluntary water conservation to avoid land retirement,”</span><span style="color: #4700b8;">
</span><span style="color: black;">he said, adding that the state as a
whole is over-farming by a significant amount and will have to retire
some agricultural land, if it cannot replenish the underground
aquifers.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4RVPzKdn7uOrSz0-DLWnKwSfFU59IOTCbCm9lWZpjbJt1JtJC5H5KUU3SPlhsfMq92A9Hf0ilG-aOCVRpAC_K27l_2aOEFHpPU6JFaq65WHNtxZRVklyYMbGbWUcll9ZssNTu8y4FJbgA/s1600/IMG_4217.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4RVPzKdn7uOrSz0-DLWnKwSfFU59IOTCbCm9lWZpjbJt1JtJC5H5KUU3SPlhsfMq92A9Hf0ilG-aOCVRpAC_K27l_2aOEFHpPU6JFaq65WHNtxZRVklyYMbGbWUcll9ZssNTu8y4FJbgA/s1600/IMG_4217.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Merced County Supervisor Diedre Kelsey: "We may need<br />
a moratorium." <i>Credit: Patricia McBroom</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Land
retirement. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> “That's
the word that everyone is trying to avoid,” said Juliet
Christian-Smith, climate scientist with the Union of Concerned
Scientists. “Everybody is bending over backwards to not have that
conversation (about land retirement) right now,” said Christian-Smith. Instead they are talking about moratoriums and ordinances,
data and analysis:</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> “
'How much groundwater are we using? How much is being replenished
naturally? What do we need to do to reach the level of sustainable
yield? What does proportional reduction look like? Should we buy
out landowners?' They have to figure out what has gone on so far.”
said Christian-Smith.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Can
Californians learn to cooperate in this commons and not take more
than their “fair share” of a “safe yield”? It's a good
question. Some people may cooperate voluntarily; others will no
doubt need the police powers of the state and counties before they
stop taking their lion's share of precious water.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Meanwhile,</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> the cavalry is coming over the hill.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Patricia McBroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07595399655479910459noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377350442704856259.post-27438141997482158642014-07-07T17:07:00.005-07:002015-06-16T14:44:05.180-07:00DELTA OUTFLOW HOVERS AROUND ZERO, MAKES WATER TRANSFERS RISKY; INCREASES LEVELS OF SALT IN ESTUARY<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>By Patricia McBroom</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> There
is no fresh water flowing out of the Delta on this early July day in
summer and hasn't been since May, new data is showing. The only
water surging in and out are the salty tides, which continually
threaten fish and fresh water pumps serving people throughout the
state. </span></span>
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2ZU_INMa1-byqGBd5DpmYg6SBTq-cKAdLn6iALLyK8kdOVOcDD9kJ-CJQ4rkDx00iD77Cc7-ByNcoXvOii39TIsgnZjJYPrKO7Tudc9V05opkuAHdzCVV4Ry70MNWoFQ9X4sthxXkkhkc/s1600/IMG_4190.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2ZU_INMa1-byqGBd5DpmYg6SBTq-cKAdLn6iALLyK8kdOVOcDD9kJ-CJQ4rkDx00iD77Cc7-ByNcoXvOii39TIsgnZjJYPrKO7Tudc9V05opkuAHdzCVV4Ry70MNWoFQ9X4sthxXkkhkc/s1600/IMG_4190.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">USGS acoustic Doppler devices near Rio Vista bridge<br />
keep track of fresh water outflow from Delta channels<br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> This
is the apparent condition of the Delta, according to state-of-the-art
flow monitors operated by the USGS in four locations near Rio Vista
and Brannon State Park (among others), where fresh water meets salty
and becomes brackish. </span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Official estimates of outflow, however, calculate that about 4,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) of fresh water is flowing into the Bay –
admittedly low, but not zero, which would have important implications
for managing water in this drought. State-generated outflow estimates
are not based on the above USGS monitors, though it has been obvious
for at least a year that there is a significant difference in dry
years between the two methods of calculating flow.</span></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Small Differences Matter During Drought</span></span></h3>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> In
wetter years, a small disparity such as 3,000-4,000 cfs would not
amount to much. This year is different. Drought is taking a huge
toll in both northern and southern parts of the state. In the
usually wet north, streams and rivers are near dry. The meager
snowpack in the northern Sierras hit its runoff peak in April, not
July, as usual. Ground water tables are sinking, not just in the San
Joaquin Valley, but in some northern counties as well. Farmers
throughout the state with junior rights have been ordered to stop
diverting water for their thirsty crops. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Under
these conditions, sales of water from north to south – normal at
this time of year –become problematic, even when the sellers are
willing. And the condition of the Delta, through which the transfer
waters must flow, is critical.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Suits Aims to Stop Transfers</span></span></h3>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcV5ZjQu0zwep3FLe6hPZs2AuSoyd6UM8A8sf8H3dEn-gfnH5TRJ-WnQwie1xq0TBaZC6uH9p5f6Z7s5R7spWieYKSJcitbZEBvvhPF_gIzq-GcEAX1dtyS7NL7vQ3ZaqHdGpOe9fGoPcg/s1600/IMG_4176.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcV5ZjQu0zwep3FLe6hPZs2AuSoyd6UM8A8sf8H3dEn-gfnH5TRJ-WnQwie1xq0TBaZC6uH9p5f6Z7s5R7spWieYKSJcitbZEBvvhPF_gIzq-GcEAX1dtyS7NL7vQ3ZaqHdGpOe9fGoPcg/s1600/IMG_4176.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Biostatistician Thomas Cannon challenges State outflow<br />
estimates in environmental suit. <i>Credit: Patricia McBroom</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Hoping
to stop water transfers of 175,000 acre feet, approved by the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation this spring, two<a href="http://www.aqualliance.net/ground-water-issues/lawsuit-filed-to-protect-north-state-farms-fish-and-communities/"> environmental organizations have filed suit</a> in federal court. They requested an expedited hearing to halt the transfers that are scheduled to begin this month. Plaintiffs charge that the Bureau did not do
a proper environmental analysis before approving the transfers, and
the flow monitors maintained by the USGS in the Delta are
poised to play a staring role in the case.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> “Their
totals (measuring delta outflow) have been near zero since May,”
said Thomas Cannon, a biostatistician whose work is <a href="http://calsport.org/news/wp-content/uploads/CSPA-NDO-v-NDOI-2.pdf">cited in the lawsuit</a> by the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance and
AquAlliance. I've never seen it this salty up here,” said Cannon
on a recent day in the Delta, waving his arm toward the docks at
Brannon State Park. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%;">Based
on his analysis, the suit charges that the dayflow method used by
State and Federal water officials “grossly overestimates actual
Delta outflow” during dry years.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPambI6xdqu3pjL7DzUVT8mvLKsZeKeh2ReV3fbeiQgZUuLLuDnpTp5Ms-bMpZWqEamIXIK80kpq96zqdZue7C0A9OtCK65ICVNmXOFfxNTSXToQ0nmbad83ZHpdQ3MCREU9gDTul0qQWF/s1600/IMG_4139_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPambI6xdqu3pjL7DzUVT8mvLKsZeKeh2ReV3fbeiQgZUuLLuDnpTp5Ms-bMpZWqEamIXIK80kpq96zqdZue7C0A9OtCK65ICVNmXOFfxNTSXToQ0nmbad83ZHpdQ3MCREU9gDTul0qQWF/s1600/IMG_4139_2.JPG" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> USGS technician repairs an outflow monitor<br />
at Three-Mile Slough in June.<br />
<i>Credit: Patricia McBroom</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> If
the outflow is truly as low as the USGS monitors indicate, it means
that salt water is constantly threatening to move up the estuary and
that a number of fish species, including the iconic longfin and delta
smelt, are at risk of being carried into the export pumps which carry
water to the south of the State.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">Accuracy of USGS Monitors Challenged</span></span></h3>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Difference,
however, does not establish worth. The man in charge of water
operations for the State Water Project in California's Department of
Water Resources, John Lehigh, challenges the idea that USGS monitors
are more accurate than state estimates. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%;">“I have seen no evidence that would lead me to conclude that this
estimate of outflow (using USGS monitors) is more accurate than the
one used now.” said Lehigh. He added that if someone thinks he has
a better way to measure outflow, that person should bring the issue
to the attention of the State Water Board. So far, no one has done
that, he said.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Lehigh
also questioned whether the monitors located in the lower Delta,
closer to the Bay, can truly detect outflow in the presence of tidal
flux. Outflow in drought conditions (3,000 cfs, for example) is
miniscule compared to the huge tides (150,000 cfs or more) that
daily wash in and out of the lower delta.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Science panel Validates New Outflow Estimates</span></span></h3>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Apparently,
USGS scientists have been able to account for the tides, because<a href="http://deltacouncil.ca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/files/10-Outflow-Workshop-MacWilliams-02-10-14-Final.pdf"> a report to the Delta Science Program in February</a> demonstrated that
last year's salinity levels in the Delta matched the USGS outflow
meters. Not so the estimates used by the state (called NDOI for Net
Delta Outflow Index), which judged outflow to be more than twice as
high as the USGS monitors in the fall of 2013.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> “The NDOI estimates appeared to be clearly incorrect,” said the science program's <a href="http://deltacouncil.ca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/files/Delta-Outflows-Report-Final-2014-05-05.pdf">final report </a>(page 15) released in May. The report went on to say that Delta outflow did not meet minimum standards last year and questioned why the better outflow measures are not being used now.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;"> For this blog, a member of the expert outflow science panel, retired USGS engineer Pete Smith, calculated the difference between the two measurements for May and June this year (see graph). </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOcUUkoIvANixJBIz2CJdBPBnhrohxyt5QUZOIhKvrpLE3MXdNI3K6pqvL1k7EScfbPkHhPI68ATNYuCLXqG9VYm7eaWdQvh7rDnn1bazPTuMLCfy3_hZvuZlYyDdNaQBrtvxONW3XkzLX/s1600/Compare_NDO_vs_NDOI_May-Jun_2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOcUUkoIvANixJBIz2CJdBPBnhrohxyt5QUZOIhKvrpLE3MXdNI3K6pqvL1k7EScfbPkHhPI68ATNYuCLXqG9VYm7eaWdQvh7rDnn1bazPTuMLCfy3_hZvuZlYyDdNaQBrtvxONW3XkzLX/s1600/Compare_NDO_vs_NDOI_May-Jun_2014.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By official estimates, fresh water outflow from the Delta is about 4,000 cfs; USGS monitors show that outflow to the<br />
Bay vacillated between minus 6,000 cfs and plus 6,000 but the average for May and June was close to zero.<br />
<i>Graph by Pete Smith</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 22px;">The same disparity that was evident in 2013 showed up again this year. NDOI estimates were way higher than outflow as measured by USGS monitors. Whereas California officials believe outflow in the Delta is around 4,000 cfs this summer, the actual figure measured where the Delta meets the Bay is about zero. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%;">In </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%;">light of these findings, the State Water Board will be looking at "possible changes in determining outflow," said SWRCB engineer Rick Satkowski.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Delta Smelt Not in Normal Habitat</span></span></h3>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> So
what does this complicated science all mean? </span></span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> One
possibility is that famous Delta fish species – the delta smelt and
longfin smelt– could go extinct this year. Smelt follow a salt
line called the X2 because they prefer brackish water. Normally the
smelt are in Suisun Bay by the end of June, but this year they seem
to be still swimming around in the central Delta, near Brannon. In
addition to using possibly inaccurate measures of outflow (thus not
releasing sufficient water from the reservoirs), the State has also
relaxed its salinity standards this summer, bringing the X2 boundary
further upstream. This means the precious few smelt that are left
after years of decline are now directly in line of the pumps that
take water south.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> “This
year, the only delta smelt anyone's been able to find are in the
Delta,” said Michael Jackson, an environmental lawyer who has filed
public trust suits against the State in past years, but is not
involved in this one. </span></span>
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlFFAVQLzR5PkNa5np21bCSIJDiOKpDb3R35qtEPvk-1k8n-VSOz0nbwgKvsiQqz19KT2u1aGqXubP4FgFzZMYTEM9MzxkA_4vPk2wIp9uWJUZfnqKOJlJY8ffWCp0HOujYvWShPbTCxB8/s1600/Delta_Outflow_stations_Dec13-Jun14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlFFAVQLzR5PkNa5np21bCSIJDiOKpDb3R35qtEPvk-1k8n-VSOz0nbwgKvsiQqz19KT2u1aGqXubP4FgFzZMYTEM9MzxkA_4vPk2wIp9uWJUZfnqKOJlJY8ffWCp0HOujYvWShPbTCxB8/s1600/Delta_Outflow_stations_Dec13-Jun14.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Four USGS stations monitor outflow where Delta water enters the Bay; <br />
official outflow monitors are located further upstream toward Sacramento<br />
and where rivers enter the Delta.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> “Because
there is no outflow, the only flow will be toward the pumps. Since
transport goes right through the area where the last smelt are, it
seems like we have put a tremendous amount of money and pain into
preserving the fish, only to end up exterminating the species this
year.” </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%;">Jackson said there is nothing in the Bureau of Reclamation's environmental report on water transfers that recognizes the threat to
delta smelt.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%;">Northern Communities also at Risk</span></h3>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Nor
is there anything that recognizes the danger to communities, farms or
ecology in California's north, said Barbara Vlamis of AquAlliance, one of the
plaintiffs. She said that the Bureau has simply asserted that no
environmental harm will be done to northern areas selling the water,
calling the assessment a “cheap and shoddy version of NEPA”
(National Environmental Policy Act). </span></span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> “Why
are we selling water out of the north when the area will be rationing
this summer? By percentage of normal precipitation, the north has
been hit harder this year than the south,” said Vlamis.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> (Bureau
officials have been making “temporary” one-time transfer
decisions for years, thereby obviating the need for a full-scale
environmental analysis on any one of them. The environmental suit is
challenging this practice.)</span></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Salt Levels Due to Affect Pumps</span></span></h3>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Another
thing zero flow means is that salt contamination of pumps that bring
water to people in Contra Costa County, as well as southern parts of
the State, will climb throughout the dry summer months. When salt
rises too high, however, the Contra Costa Water District can dilute
it with fresh water from Los Vaqueros Reservoir, so there is no
imminent threat to urban areas. Too much salty water in the southern Delta
could, however, stop the water transfers regardless of the outcome of
the pending legal case.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Who
gets the water – if it goes through – is unknown. Buyers and
sellers are anonymous until contracts are written. But if history
and rumor are any guides, most of the water is destined to reach
Westlands, the wealthy corporate farmers in Kern County, known far
and wide for their political muscle in bending state and Federal
policies to their private needs. And that's a shame. It is bad
enough that these toxic lands, which release selenium into the
waterways, get watered in wet years. It's a travesty when they get
to use water during a drought like this – water that is critically
needed to save the ecosystem and hold the salt at bay for the rest of
us. </span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></span></div>
Patricia McBroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07595399655479910459noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377350442704856259.post-56792798602308126392014-02-12T22:13:00.000-08:002015-06-16T14:46:42.088-07:00CALIFORNIA'S WATER STORAGE CRISIS: THE BATTLE AT TEMPERANCE FLAT<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>By Patricia McBroom</b></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Down
the spine of California's Sierra Nevada mountains south of Yosemite,
huge granite peaks stand shoulder to shoulder more than 13,000 feet
high, with no passage through them. Only hikers can cross the rugged
range for more than 200 miles.
</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSFMuUmqlhHu7tdXRvdJAYowYi-YdGbnkbbPNUqpXc2sl3N2nIPgOVw5xe6WD7TwWEesuDIvkly1oOmnVyvx_97CngDZiqLn5LgQe_IlRCEFzSNOjncTMEeVDgqy3sP7D7EX4FTn6smDSD/s1600/ansel-adams-wilderness-9.2010-137.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSFMuUmqlhHu7tdXRvdJAYowYi-YdGbnkbbPNUqpXc2sl3N2nIPgOVw5xe6WD7TwWEesuDIvkly1oOmnVyvx_97CngDZiqLn5LgQe_IlRCEFzSNOjncTMEeVDgqy3sP7D7EX4FTn6smDSD/s1600/ansel-adams-wilderness-9.2010-137.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Banner Peak and Thousand Island Lakes mark the headwaters of the San Joaquin<br />
River in the Ansel Adams Wilderness. <i>Photo by <a href="http://blogs.esanjoaquin.com/san-joaquin-river-delta/2010/10/04/drinking-from-the-san-joaquin/">Alex Breitler</a></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> These
tall mountains – the Southern Sierras – extending from the San
Joaquin River watershed east of Fresno to the southern edge of
Sequoia National Forest, epitomize California's erratic water supply.
In wet years, so much water pours down the mountains that its volume
would scare the daylights out of any creature without wings. In
drought years, meager streams cannot fill the
reservoirs.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A Year Like No Other</span></h3>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> “This
year, no one has water” said Mario Santoyo, assistant general
manager of Friant Water Authority near Fresno, a unit of the Federal
Central Valley Project that provides irrigation for 15,000 farmers in
eastern San Joaquin Valley. “The public has no idea how bad this is
going to be....there will be nothing,” said Santoyo glumly. Friant
Dam distributes water to more than a million acres of fertile fields
that lie mostly east of highway 99, from Madera to Kern County. The
area produces more crops per volume than any other in the nation.
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Behind
the dam, Millerton reservoir was dangerously low as of Feb. 7, and
Friant's managers were scouring the state to find more water. We
were on a boat on Millerton, touring the site of a proposed new dam,
Temperance Flat, that could rise at the back end of the lake,
more than doubling storage in the reservoir. (Because of its position in low
hills, Friant Dam cannot be raised).
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A Dam You Love or Hate</span></h3>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDGlhZk_H29G14dYQHr3u7F9bI5RFrNTFj_tvEfd12CNcEqzgCc6tuBLI_ekI258ctQXxhBKosdeNfphmsjLxDk0CqpN8WXmG0iN5FGCLc82zozhZXGN0Q0hb7fEsnWi42Xa5JKRO46tVL/s1600/IMG_3741.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDGlhZk_H29G14dYQHr3u7F9bI5RFrNTFj_tvEfd12CNcEqzgCc6tuBLI_ekI258ctQXxhBKosdeNfphmsjLxDk0CqpN8WXmG0iN5FGCLc82zozhZXGN0Q0hb7fEsnWi42Xa5JKRO46tVL/s1600/IMG_3741.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The proposed dam at Temperance Flat (red) would hold 1.2 million acre<br />
feet of water, extending another 16 miles up the river behind the current <br />
Friant dam (in gray and pictured at top) <i>Credit: Patricia McBroom</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Temperance
Flat is one of the most controversial storage projects in California.
Farmers want it; environmentalists oppose it; Federal officials have
left it on the shelf for years. But this year, in the wake of
California's epic drought year, the project is alive and well. Like
nothing else, these months with no precipitation have driven home the
awareness that California does not have enough water in storage to
get through really bad dry periods.
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Friant
farmers are particularly vulnerable this year, which helps explain why President
Obama is coming to Fresno on Friday, along with Senators Dianne
Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, who introduced drought-fighting
legislation in Congress this week. The Senate bill counters a bill
passed in the House by Republicans last week that would roll back the
historic San Joaquin River restoration project, among other
ill-considered features.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> A
bit of background is needed to understand the stakes involved here
and in the state at large. Nowhere do the competing forces of
agriculture and ecology seem more tightly balanced than on the San
Joaquin River at Friant.
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Bright Dream; Original Sin</span></h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Seventy
years ago, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation built this dam as the
centerpiece of a hydraulic revolution in the San Joaquin Valley. By
capturing the unpredictable waters of the San Joaquin watershed,
Friant dam and its associated canals gave rise to an agricultural
cornucopia, the pride of California and a major source of the
nation's produce. Unfortunately, it also brought about one of the
most painful chapters in California's water history, a history
already full of painful chapters. The story is told in a moving
account, <i>The San Joaquin: A River Betrayed,</i> by former
McClatchy reporter Gene Rose. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlc0qa6ZhL-dEA0vnXZ2b0LCpcPzuZmNTyket7yDq5UUFLrK48ZHl66dR3Xcak3c3SHnAsopMRCC9v259tNTsEdQwowNMdOb4PmDBH6b8im_5UYVboQvMO7ZWWVhm_zKTt4vpBLHOzfpgt/s1600/Scan+2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlc0qa6ZhL-dEA0vnXZ2b0LCpcPzuZmNTyket7yDq5UUFLrK48ZHl66dR3Xcak3c3SHnAsopMRCC9v259tNTsEdQwowNMdOb4PmDBH6b8im_5UYVboQvMO7ZWWVhm_zKTt4vpBLHOzfpgt/s1600/Scan+2.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Federal Central Valley Project in Fresno created two separate rivers.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> In
laying the concrete for this farming miracle, engineers completely
reversed the flow of the San Joaquin River. They sent its waters
moving south to Kern County instead of north to the Delta. The river
that inspired John Muir disappeared within months. Salmon runs
abruptly ended. Landowners along the course of the northern-bound
river lost their water, among other deleterious effects. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Today,
the historic San Joaquin River disappears about 40 miles down from
the dam, leaving a 60 mile stretch of nothing but dry sand. What ends
up in the Delta, although called the “San Joaquin River”, is
recreated every year out of mostly agricultural runoff that rotates
repeatedly through the state water system. Its water comes with a bad
mix of pesticides and tons of salt, including dangerous levels of
selenium. Because it salts up the land, the recreated San Joaquin
River threatens the survival of the agricultural marvel Friant Dam
helped to inspire.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">An Historic Win for the Ecology</span></h3>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJGDfVy2CjKL7WED9KFUe0ttzcz_xOq-o_6Cjxs7FmCLrbDphJ_MKYwJ_e7yJ76qWVd8r2LcOLcQyWcbs3NKAElJcmY66dcpFCJl5iObsRme1FqstDkqc0iyL2Dvh7RCyOPIgGiPl6jcKU/s1600/major_sjrr_before_rm219-8_down.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJGDfVy2CjKL7WED9KFUe0ttzcz_xOq-o_6Cjxs7FmCLrbDphJ_MKYwJ_e7yJ76qWVd8r2LcOLcQyWcbs3NKAElJcmY66dcpFCJl5iObsRme1FqstDkqc0iyL2Dvh7RCyOPIgGiPl6jcKU/s1600/major_sjrr_before_rm219-8_down.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A stretch of the once magnificent San Joaquin River, has<br />
been dry for 70 years. With restoration releases, it shows <br />
a meager stream of new water. <i><a href="http://www.usbr.gov/mp/2010_accomp_rpt/accomp/san_joaquin/">Bureau of Reclamation</a></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> In
one of the longest running legal cases of its kind, the Natural Resources Defense Council <a href="http://www.nrdc.org/legislation/leg_07010101a.asp">won a settlement </a>seven years ago that forces the Friant Authority to
release enough water into the old channel to restore the river and
restart the salmon run. Environmentalists don't want any more water –
not even flood waters – to be held behind any dam on the San
Joaquin River. Besides, they claim, farmers already take up to 95
percent of the watershed's precipitation. Do they <i>have to have
</i>the last .05 percent? Can't they let even one drop reach the
ocean?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Ronald
Stork, policy director at Friends of the River, which helped win the
restoration case in 2007 calls Temperance Flat a “dead beat dam.”
He said there isn't enough <a href="http://www.friendsoftheriver.org/site/DocServer/TFD_Fact_Sheet_Aug_2013.pdf?docID=7102">yield from a new dam</a>, over what is
already taken, to justify its cost of about $3 billion. And, he
added, that extra water will hardly make a dent in what farmers are
currently pumping, leading to depletion of the aquifer, so its value
in recharging ground water is limited.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Case for Farmers</span></h3>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Santoyo
strongly counters such arguments. Flipping charts to show that
flooding dramatically increased in the second half of the 20<sup>th</sup>
century, Santoyo illustrated how much water is lost to agriculture.
In 16 out of 35 years, from 1978 to 2013, Friant released water it
could not store because Millerton is too small. In each of eight of
those 16 years, more than 1 million acre feet were released –
enough to irrigate Friant lands for about a year. Most of the flood
releases went downstream into the old San Joaquin riverbed and
eventually reached the Delta. But sometimes the water went
everywhere.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCfaGfdSjZC3gQePkhWBrfuf1Y08g2ri6rx2xiLdn3ZYasIyFR1xRR_HHh8e_YNfPolBAU3i5i4Hp4tg-1on3IqCWosNdX3Ty8U9-_eOvIIHoTBlTiCrCViPkMlgsRKmmddRgRDXOJmvBb/s1600/IMG_3724_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCfaGfdSjZC3gQePkhWBrfuf1Y08g2ri6rx2xiLdn3ZYasIyFR1xRR_HHh8e_YNfPolBAU3i5i4Hp4tg-1on3IqCWosNdX3Ty8U9-_eOvIIHoTBlTiCrCViPkMlgsRKmmddRgRDXOJmvBb/s1600/IMG_3724_2.JPG" width="188" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Friant's Mario Santoyo: "I couldn't<br />
move the water."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> In
1997 (the year that Yosemite Valley flooded), a rain-driven cascade of
water came down the San Joaquin canyons that stunned Santoyo. It
came so fast and in such volume (120,000 cubic feet per second) that
no mere dam could hold it, certainly not Friant. It was like a
football stadium full of water plunging into the reservoir every
second, he said.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Reclamation
officials urgently called Santoyo: 'Can you move the water!?' they asked. “I couldn't,” he said. “There was no way I could
move that much water through our canals.” The water simply flowed
over the dam and down into the valley. “We needed a (bigger)
reservoir to hold it back,” said Santoyo.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A Challenged Dam in an Era of Climate Change</span></h3>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Environmentalists
argue that a flood like the one in '97 does not occur often, and
that's true. But climate change science predicts increased flooding
from rain in the Southern Sierras. And Friant is not built to handle
incredibly fast, big floods that happen over a few days, as they do
in a “pineapple express” or “atmospheric river,” as these
warm rains are called.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivc6Gdtow7ZNnW-INZpjiMMLsO2FzYZa-HZ7fg4vjOvUCRDuxYj14aU86B_MzTJCsbMDsMJ0BYhMwfNMnQw4k0bUOmyY2SUcwIsJnzekQUQhDa9HjD5PiNzc3j7oS_M66_mmYq4xGEQHaY/s1600/Scan.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivc6Gdtow7ZNnW-INZpjiMMLsO2FzYZa-HZ7fg4vjOvUCRDuxYj14aU86B_MzTJCsbMDsMJ0BYhMwfNMnQw4k0bUOmyY2SUcwIsJnzekQUQhDa9HjD5PiNzc3j7oS_M66_mmYq4xGEQHaY/s1600/Scan.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chart shows higher peak flows in the San Joaquin during 20th century,<br />
from 1905 to 2005. <i>Photo from the Friant Water Authority</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Unlike
other reservoirs in the central/southern Sierras, like the two
million acre feet Don Pedro Lake to the north, or the one million
acre feet Pine Flat reservoir to the south, Millerton holds only
500,000. It works more like a diversion basin than a reservoir, in
that it channels water immediately into the Friant-Kern and Madera
canals. By this means, it sends most of the water –1.8 million
acre feet – that comes down the mountains onto the fields.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Who Gets the High Water?</span></h3>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> But
if Friant clients use most of the San Joaquin River water now, why
put themselves into big debt building another dam? At most,
Temperance Flat would increase their yield by 150,000 to 250,000 acre
feet per year – not overly impressive. (Formal predictions on
actual yield have yet to be released in feasibility studies.) One
answer is that farmers are eager to store flood waters for use during
dry periods and Temperance Flat would give them that flexibility.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> But
the flood waters are exactly what environmentalists want to use in
<a href="http://www.riverparkway.org/">restoring the San Joaquin River</a> downstream.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> “We
want to get back to a healthy river,” said Kathryn Phillips,
director of the Sierra Club California. She said the river needs more
flow than the amounts contributed by the restoration agreement with
Friant. “If you want groundwater recharge along the river, if you
want a balanced ecosystem, then you have to let the river flow.
Temperance Flat will not help that; it will harm it.”</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Will the Salmon Run?</span></h3>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Water
policy officials like Randy Fiorini, chair of the Delta Stewardship
Council, have reached the opposite conclusion. Charged with the
responsibility of striking a balance between water deliveries to
humans and protection of the ecosystem, Fiorini said he thinks the
<a href="http://deltacouncil.ca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/files/Item_17_Attach_1_2.pdf">reservoir at Friant Dam is too small</a>.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> “I've
always been one to believe that if the upper San Joaquin is to be
successfully restored, the Fresno reservoir needs another million
acre feet of storage.” Only then, he said, can the state meet its
co-equal goals on the east side: to provide both irrigation water in
dry years and in-stream flows for fish.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Santoyo
hopes other Californians will agree with that point of view and
support a state bond in 2014 that he expects will allocate money for studies at
Temperance Flat. Aside from a drought, the one thing that scares
Friant people most is being hauled back into court, losing more water because the salmon don't run. And they won't run if the water
isn't cold enough. Millerton is a small, often warm lake, said
Santoyo.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> “We
just don't have the volume of cold water we need to restore the
salmon. It's a high priority for us. We <i>have </i>to succeed in
bringing back the salmon.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Patricia McBroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07595399655479910459noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377350442704856259.post-10176295231431335892013-09-03T01:00:00.000-07:002015-06-16T14:48:21.041-07:00BDCP TOTTERS FINANCIALLY; FIXING UP EXISTING CONVEYANCE CAN DELIVER MORE WATER<b>By Patricia McBroom</b><br />
<br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The Brown
administration's plan to dig giant water tunnels under the Delta
looks financially precarious, like a bus hanging out over a cliff.
It's <a href="http://valleyecon.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-bdcp-economic-impact-study.html">economic benefits</a> have been <a href="http://www.c-win.org/content/media-release-brown-administration-releases-deceptive-economic-impact-report-delta-export-sc">seriously challenged </a>and there is no
agreement yet whether the people who stand to profit are willing to
pay for it.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
State water
contractors in the San Joaquin Valley and southern California who
want this pricey project, called the Bay Delta Conservation Plan or
BDCP, are promising economic benefits based on a <a href="http://valleyecon.blogspot.com/2013/06/changing-baseline-biggest-problem-in.html#links">supposed threat</a>
that, without the tunnels, future water exports will plummet. </div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“It's
like shoring up the foundation of your house,” the project's chief
economist, David Sunding, of UC Berkeley,<span id="goog_1364569782"></span><a href="http://mavensnotebook.com/2013/07/29/dr-sunding-makes-his-case-for-the-bdcp-to-metropolitans-special-committee-on-the-bay-delta/"> told the Metropolitan Water District</a><span id="goog_1364569783"></span> of Southern California recently. That means you won't get a
better house, but you won't lose it either. Even so, "The deal can't get much worse for contractors and still make sense," Sunding admitted to a <span id="goog_1002187147"></span><a href="http://calchannel.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=7&clip_id=1545">California Senate hearing</a><span id="goog_1002187148"></span> in August.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
A central problem
for tunnel promoters is that if their predictions are wrong about
sinking water exports – if future water deliveries through existing
Delta channels continue as they are today, and <i>especially</i> <i>if
they improve,</i> the economic value
of the tunnels would evaporate.
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Economist
Jeffrey Michael of the University of the Pacific has called the
prediction of highly reduced exports a “<a href="http://valleyecon.blogspot.com/">ridiculous assumption</a>.”
(Indeed, the basis for the prediction is really obscure; see note).
This story will go further, however, in proposing that more water,
not less, can be pumped in the future through current infrastructure – if
the State ever decides to fix it up.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Mitigating
the “killer” function of pumps</b></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The
idea that new engineering of the existing through-Delta waterworks
can address problems that lead to cutbacks in water deliveries has
been around for years. But the approach is gaining urgency as the
tunnel project totters. </div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkxNOUVFdJGqWvJZwl4vddjvzSZVp22BaeVXVt3WapAVyVMnV2mG12KUK9DjDEV9-ffrScfEZvL_WJZ84nxgYmFT66AvMgux4SFAxf9dAtplWTM5NbyXLdai-UG5XCZqGI88iBPmg_XOHl/s1600/IMG_3131.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkxNOUVFdJGqWvJZwl4vddjvzSZVp22BaeVXVt3WapAVyVMnV2mG12KUK9DjDEV9-ffrScfEZvL_WJZ84nxgYmFT66AvMgux4SFAxf9dAtplWTM5NbyXLdai-UG5XCZqGI88iBPmg_XOHl/s320/IMG_3131.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunne McPeak, Delta Vision Foundation president: "Declare<br />
an emergency and move quickly on this." <i>Credit: P. McBroom</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="line-height: 150%;"> Several sources consulted for this report believe that water exports
could be improved in the near future, with new fish screens that are
in current testing, plus some modifications of through-Delta
channels. That, combined with new storage south of the Delta to take
excess water in wet years, could either make tunnels unnecessary or
reduce their size.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Moreover, these same experts believe that the “killer” function
of the export pumps that chew up Delta smelt and other fish, known as
“net reverse flow,” can be mitigated. A dedicated group of
engineers could figure out how to do that in a year, they say.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“With
leadership and purpose, we could get an improved
through-Delta conveyance constructed in three years. You need a
governor who will declare an emergency and move quickly to focus on
this,” said Sunne McPeak, president of the Delta Vision
Foundation which developed California's modern <a href="http://www.deltavisionfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Delta_Vision_Strategic_Plan.pdf">strategic vision for water in 2008 </a>(a vision often honored in the breach since then).If it had been done a few years ago, she said, California would now have enough water south of the Delta to cover the reductions that loom this year.
<br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
McPeak has been traveling
up and down the state with the message that state water policy must
be <a href="http://www.deltavisionfoundation.org/dvf-letter-to-resources-secretary-john-laird/">more comprehensive</a>. It must include new storage so that water can
be put back into the massive aquifer that underlies the San Joaquin
Valley. And it must act to repair and improve existing water
transfer channels.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Saving Smelt While
Improving Water Delivery</b></div>
</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq8eWejAAHXMgu5fkcG4v3lpcP_FTXLZ-ocEtyRjwTNYChATykF9bJcXJ0aCZeF_LwDuLESsVwcgNzUkHZ3DMD2f4ZaqtcO_oYqMCIUg5IDM2pJvGd45ySQ1LBbAWWezVT78OK8wv2TUmo/s1600/IMG_0727.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq8eWejAAHXMgu5fkcG4v3lpcP_FTXLZ-ocEtyRjwTNYChATykF9bJcXJ0aCZeF_LwDuLESsVwcgNzUkHZ3DMD2f4ZaqtcO_oYqMCIUg5IDM2pJvGd45ySQ1LBbAWWezVT78OK8wv2TUmo/s320/IMG_0727.jpg" width="302" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Middle River, a tributary of the San Joaquin, carries water<br />
back to the South; it needs work to improve exports.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The history of
through-delta conveyance is a sorry chronicle of one aborted attempt
after another to improve water deliveries. The estuary is complex.
Water flows are unnatural because much of the water, especially from
the San Joaquin River, is driven south instead of west toward the
Golden Gate. Politics gets in the way; wealthy San Joaquin farmers
and associated water contractors haven't wanted to do anything
significant since 2006 to improve current infrastructure for fear of
diverting attention from the tunnels. </div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Nevertheless, many experts
believe that innovative things can be done in the Delta to both save
fish and deliver more water. One such hydrological engineer, Pete
Smith, believes that new knowledge of smelt behavior can make it
easier to save them. Smith was an advisor to the Federal agency that
wrote the 2008 biological opinions regarding protection of smelt
which led to pumping restrictions.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
His favorite idea is to
place a temporary air bladder in a strategic channel (the Georgiana
Slough) to block off water transfer for a short period at critical
times, so that the smelt are kept away from the pumps. Use of the
bladder during the first week or two of wintertime high flow known as
the “first flush” would prevent large sediment loads from heading
south toward the pumps. Because Delta smelt tend to favor muddy
(turbid) water, such a gate could theoretically keep smelt out of the
water delivery channels.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Now retired from the U.S.
Geological Survey, Smith has continued his studies on smelt for the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Reclamation. He
thinks it might be useful to revisit the biological opinions based on
this new information. “It shouldn't cost us that much water to
protect the smelt,” he said. </div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Smith added that, while
he cannot predict the future, “I personally don't see why
curtailment (of pumping) for the delta smelt has to become more
strict. I lean toward it getting easier and with new engineering it
could be even better.”</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Call for Quick Study </b></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfCXY-g0f82s57da5lP4ndIL5Lp8lts7cRpPcgI8HT4rAthzfoKP_OgKbSPAnG19i7tfnwB1JaUMKAGwitfF585akubl0gzHaypZLT2if9yXfQklPvSRcXGWslfjB-6hUO_jmulfP_xKc5/s1600/Harvey+O+Banks+pumping+plant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfCXY-g0f82s57da5lP4ndIL5Lp8lts7cRpPcgI8HT4rAthzfoKP_OgKbSPAnG19i7tfnwB1JaUMKAGwitfF585akubl0gzHaypZLT2if9yXfQklPvSRcXGWslfjB-6hUO_jmulfP_xKc5/s400/Harvey+O+Banks+pumping+plant.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Harvey O. Banks pumping plant near the Altamont Pass exports water to<br />
the California <span style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">aqueduct (top) and kills fish pulled into the pumps. </span><i></i><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><i style="line-height: 150%;"> photo credit: Jim Wilson, New York Times News Service</i></i></div>
<i>
</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Another way to protect
fish from the pumps could be to widen and deepen the channels so that
water velocity slows down, allowing more fish to escape entrainment.
“It's extremely complex, but it should definitely be studied,”
said Greg Gartrell, an expert on tidal flow and Delta hydrology who
recently retired from the Contra Costa Water District.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
He said that with modeling
of Delta channels, “we can improve fresh water flow to the pumps
and at the same time, reduce the potential for entrainment.” New
modeling would also improve flood management and “allow us to
change the levee system to make it more robust to withstand flood or
earthquake.” </div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The Delta Vision Foundation is pushing strongly for
such a study, which executive director Charles Gardiner estimated
would take six months to a year to complete. (This proposal has
little to do with alternative F, a through-Delta option in the BDCP economic study.) </div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
A third way to protect the
fish is to employ new fish screens. A study that evaluates the
impact of screening a portion of the water flowing into Clifton Court
(holding basin in front of the pumps) is in its final stages. While
conclusions are not yet available, Contra Costa's Leah Orloff said
she feels “positive” about the results. The four-year study by
water agencies is in its last round of corrections, said Orloff,
water resources manager at the CC Water District.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Transfixed by Tunnel
Vision </b></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Improving current infrastructure seems like an obvious call. The pathways will continue to be used whether or not the tunnels are built. Farmers south of the Delta will have to endure anxiety for at least 15, maybe even 20 years, as lawsuits, construction delays, and ever more planning delay the BDCP.
<br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Droughts, floods,
climate change, decline of the Delta's ecology, stress on
agriculture, maybe an earthquake or two – all this and more is
likely to happen in the next two decades. Some of us will be dead by
the time the tunnels open for business (if they do).
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
So why has the State been
dragging its feet on this issue? The answer is the same wherever one
turns: State agencies “are swamped by the BDCP. They don't have
the bandwidth to take on the problems that would work in the
meantime,” said Gardiner. Such comments are echoed
up and down the state.</div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“The process has been
stultifying,” said James Tischer, of Fresno State's California
Water Institute. “It's a real failure of the body politic....We
have to start with improving conveyance in the Delta.” Tischer
said that county groups, including elected representatives for 12
counties in San Joaquin Valley and the Delta, are moving to address
the problem. He added that he has seen a political shift in this
direction over the past six months, influenced by McPeak's advocacy.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“She gets it,” he
said.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Serving
Both Sides in Water Wars</b></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
McPeak
is sometimes accused of switching sides since she successfully joined
the fight against the peripheral canal as a Contra Costa County
supervisor in 1982. But, in fact, her position is more nuanced than
that. She advocates continuing to plan for the BDCP tunnels, while
fixing up the current system. Only then, will the state know whether
the tunnels are needed and how big to make them.
<br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
After her years of fighting for a water policy that serves both the Delta
and the San Joaquin Valley, McPeak says she has earned the right to
call some shots. </div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“I grew up on a farm in Livingston near Modesto. As a child, I would get
up at four in the morning to get water for the cows and watermelons.
I learned that whether you get the water and when is up to the guy
who controls the ditch.” This early experience imprinted a
passionate attitude, “Don't mess with my farm or my factory!” At
the same time, she said, “I'm not going to let the Delta get hurt.”</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzJFa44jwa-3Mw90yW00o9xZ67XTuCweRZhMUQX0O2t1K7-ZMKy9cRrqTgDHbdNMf7i-ahjSQLAmSorEfVZ2o5PbGRlPg_IYdpCP9OFn86hGEZrBnBJzr3BXiNqKX4JH37yhVyQxMXbpc7/s1600/IMG_0617.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzJFa44jwa-3Mw90yW00o9xZ67XTuCweRZhMUQX0O2t1K7-ZMKy9cRrqTgDHbdNMf7i-ahjSQLAmSorEfVZ2o5PbGRlPg_IYdpCP9OFn86hGEZrBnBJzr3BXiNqKX4JH37yhVyQxMXbpc7/s400/IMG_0617.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunset on Highway 160 in the Delta. <i>Credit: Patricia McBroom</i> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>NOTE: </b></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; line-height: 150%;">Predictions
that future water exports will plummet under the existing
through-Delta conveyance seem to be based on something called
“Scenario 6 operations.” This excerpt from the <a href="http://baydeltaconservationplan.com/Libraries/Dynamic_Document_Library/BDCP_Appendix_9_A_-_Economic_Benefits_of_the_BDCP_and_Take_Alternatives_5-29-13.sflb.ashx">introduction to appendix 9.A</a>,
describes how the analysis was done:</span></span><br />
<div style="margin-left: 0.49in;">
<i><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">For
purposes of understanding a future condition without the BDCP
infrastructure, but with the potential future operational
constraints, this analysis also uses a comparison scenario that
includes the fall and spring outflow (i.e., high outflow scenario of
the decision tree) and south Delta operating restrictions of the BDCP
(i.e., </span><span style="font-family: Cambria;"><b>current
biological opinions plus Scenario 6 operations</b></span><span style="font-family: Cambria;">)
imposed on existing water conveyance facilities. This comparison
scenario is called the Existing Conveyance High‐Outflow Scenario. A
similar scenario is also introduced that applies the BDCP outflow
criteria and south Delta operating restrictions using the low‐outflow
points on the decision tree (i.e., no Fall X2 and no additional
spring outflow). This scenario is called the Existing Conveyance
Low‐Outflow Scenario. These scenarios are used only in Chapter
9, </span><span style="font-family: Cambria;">Alternatives
to Take, </span><span style="font-family: Cambria;">and
this appendix and only to provide a reasonable comparison point for
the cost practicability analysis of the BDCP Proposed Action.</span></span></i></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">One
searches for scenario 6 in vain among the 18,000 or so pages of
documents on the BDCP website. It seems to be <a href="http://deltacouncil.ca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/files/bdcp_App_5-J_Scenario6_20120227.pdf">some variation of this 2012 paper </a>which recommends conservation measures to protect the
South Delta when North Delta intakes (tunnels) are also taking water.
It is difficult to see how these conservation measures apply to the
south Delta if there are no tunnels in the North. (Dr. Sunding did
not respond to calls for clarification.)</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></div>
</div>
Patricia McBroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07595399655479910459noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377350442704856259.post-61500257986029783382013-03-14T19:12:00.000-07:002015-06-16T14:49:05.148-07:00A CAUTIONARY TALE FOR CALIFORNIA; BDCP FAILS IN DRY AND WET YEARS<b>By Patricia McBroom</b><br />
<br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Twenty-two years
ago, Santa Barbara voters faced a decision like the one the state
faces today in the Delta. Voters had to decide whether to build a
144-mile pipeline from the state's aqueduct to the coast, thus
bringing northern water (from the Delta) to Santa Barbara consumers.
The coastal residents were plagued by drought and thought this would
solve their problems. In fact, they were promised it would. Water,
they were told, would be more “reliable” – as much as 97
percent reliable. The costs, at a promised $270 million, would be bearable. It all added up on
paper.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn-daZ2O2lBCWcyFCZcgSJ9j830_ueUUTckFF1CBMzjMAW8-GVT3_Zm0z32AJizkOK8cqeKOSiiOxGnhJnAR6RdQUl9y37MZ8zvhoKqROsve2n4-GoT1fxhiAW7KIgsCqpyEQMJv4aurPM/s1600/santa+barbara+photo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn-daZ2O2lBCWcyFCZcgSJ9j830_ueUUTckFF1CBMzjMAW8-GVT3_Zm0z32AJizkOK8cqeKOSiiOxGnhJnAR6RdQUl9y37MZ8zvhoKqROsve2n4-GoT1fxhiAW7KIgsCqpyEQMJv4aurPM/s400/santa+barbara+photo.png" width="400" /></a></div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Santa Barbara sought water from the Delta and paid bigtime for it.<br />
<i>photo from California Water Impact Network</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
On Thursday, the
Brown Administration released the <a href="http://baydeltaconservationplan.com/BDCPPlanningProcess/KeyAnnouncements.aspx">first of three parts</a> of a plan to
build two huge tunnels for carrying water from the north Delta (near
Hood) to the southern parts of the state, thus bypassing the Delta's
stressed ecology. Citizens will not vote on this plan, which is
being requested and shouldered by water contractors south of the
Delta. San Joaquin farmers and some Los Angeles water districts
believe they will have a more reliable water supply with a north
Delta diversion.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Reality versus
promises</b></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The reality in
Santa Barbara, however, was shockingly <a href="http://www.c-win.org/c-wins-santa-barbara-campaign.html">different from expectations</a>.
As the years rolled by, costs mounted, many times higher than
advertised. Water, it turned out, was not available during droughts.
Moreover, the water that was there during wet years could not be
stored, because Santa Barbara's lake-reservoir was full at those
times.
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Now, two decades
later, some of the water districts that signed on the dotted line are
in financial difficulty. They are having a hard time generating enough money from sales of
water (made too expensive because of the pipeline) to pay off the
debt.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“I tried to stop
the state project (for Santa Barbara),” said Carolee Krieger, head
of the California Water Impact Network. “I knew it was bad. I just
didn't know how bad. The boondoggle has water distributors here
borrowing revenue bonds to pay their debt. That's like using your
credit card to pay off your mortgage.”</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Driven by this and
other experiences in her years as a water warrior, Krieger is now
working to raise a water users revolt against the Bay Delta
conservation Plan, as the administration's new plan is called.
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Some Differences,
with Alarming Parallels</b></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKukIqp_kkWGP7Ryxd_0omlLNLUXb1cfPZZLga-tuxzAzoqaEUISEi9ArId5vm6qfO_DeqvYeES2eTB9S5vA3XBeYm6Dfp3lIahC1dx8hbM-voAy6oPU5jcYyLetATD4_jP7FbDvz2_KRO/s1600/Exports+Chart+-+Five+year+Averages+and+BOs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKukIqp_kkWGP7Ryxd_0omlLNLUXb1cfPZZLga-tuxzAzoqaEUISEi9ArId5vm6qfO_DeqvYeES2eTB9S5vA3XBeYm6Dfp3lIahC1dx8hbM-voAy6oPU5jcYyLetATD4_jP7FbDvz2_KRO/s400/Exports+Chart+-+Five+year+Averages+and+BOs.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">BDCP average yearly exports would match those in the 1998-2002 period.<br />
Higher exports in 2003-2007<span style="line-height: 150%;">are judged to have crashed fish populations in </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 150%;">the Delta. </span><span style="line-height: 150%;">Recent lower exports were aimed at saving the fish.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Unlike in Santa
Barbara, the BDCP does not claim to produce any new water for
contractors. It calls for an historic average of water exports to
the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California of 5.3 million acre
feet (maf). (One maf is enough to satisfy the needs of 6.7 million
residents). But it claims to make the supply more “reliable.”
There's that word again. By “reliable,” they mean pumps won't
stop to protect thumb-sized smelt from getting chewed up in export
operations in Tracy. On the other hand, the northern pumps might take
out too many salmon. So who knows?</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Comparisons between
Santa Barbara in 1991 and California in 2013 could be off base; even
what happened in that coastal county is controversial. But some of
the bold outlines raise alarms. Let's look first at the dry years.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Dry Years and the
Price tag</b></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The BDCP tunnels
can't be used much, if at all, during droughts, which will become
more common in the future with climate change. In fact, dry years
predominate in coming decades.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF7Xi1d6geXwd4tkEm2cof347T88IRBOevUxEZVlUPLSEkPkDliBPYkf91e0OS1IEyiR-AOrD_dB8TXGYQRi90ekIf8XVdGulmQHtJdW0g5VLSitR5SVcLQuSKy_939Hpa_xJETN-llfNU/s1600/proposed+tunnel+route.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF7Xi1d6geXwd4tkEm2cof347T88IRBOevUxEZVlUPLSEkPkDliBPYkf91e0OS1IEyiR-AOrD_dB8TXGYQRi90ekIf8XVdGulmQHtJdW0g5VLSitR5SVcLQuSKy_939Hpa_xJETN-llfNU/s640/proposed+tunnel+route.jpeg" width="464" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New pathway (isolated facility) on right would have two 40-foot diameter tunnels<br />
carry export water 150 feet below the surface, from near Sacramento to Tracy's pumps.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
“The BDCP does
not solve the dry year problem.” Greg Gartrell, assistant general manager with
the Contra Costa Water District, <a href="http://dsc.videossc.com/archives/022113/">told state water officials</a> <i>(agenda item 11, index 4)</i>
last month. “It doesn't matter how big the pipe is, if you
haven't got water to put in it, you just don't get the water.”
Gartrell said that during the increasingly likely three to six-year
droughts due this century, only a fraction of the 9,000 cubic
feet per second (csf) capacity would be used. “The tunnels will be
sitting there idle, but you've still got a mortgage to pay.”</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And the mortgage is
likely to be a doozy. Most experts foresee some multiple of the $14
billion dollar price tag to be the real price. Such a big mortgage,
of course, leaves precious little credit for new storage. So, let's
look at the very wet years.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Wet Years and
Computer Water</b></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The models predict
incredibly high exports during wet years – so much, in fact, that
the flow would exceed the capacity of south-of-delta reservoirs to
store it. If, for example, 2025 is a very wet year, the BDCP
estimates that it could export as much as 8.2 million acre feet. But
there is no evidence there is a place to put that much water south of the Delta. Even
if 2025 is an average wet year with projected exports of 6.8 million
acre feet, that would surpass the highest export ever from the delta,
which occurred two years ago in 2011.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
In March and April
of 2011, exporters called a halt to the pumping because they had
nowhere to store the deluge. Their reservoirs were full. They
stopped pumping at 6.6 maf</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“Unless they
(water contractors backing the BDCP) have storage, they are in big
trouble.” said Gartrell, who has examined the numbers from the BDCP studies. “If you don't
do something about having a place to put the water in wet years,
you're fooling yourself with these studies.”</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
In an interview and in his testimony,
Gartrell referred to these high export figures in wet years as
“computer water.” It looks good on paper, but “when it comes to
real life, you can't get it.”</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>The Role of
Storage in “Reliability”</b></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
To be more
accurate, you can get it, but you can't keep it.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Terry Erlewine,
general manager of the State Water Contractors – the group that is
pushing for big twin tunnels – agreed that the maximum water in wet
years could not be used. He said that “at some point, in the
really wet years, you might have to have additional storage to take
advantage of it.” He added, SWC is only providing the
“capability,” for delivering the water. “It's up to the water
users to figure out how to use it.”
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
A spokesperson for
the Department of Water Resources, home of the BDCP, said only,
“There's no simple answer to that question,” when asked whether
south-of-delta contractors could export and store water that exceeded
6.6 maf. She said it depended on how full the reservoirs were
already.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKnhT1OIY-RKoVh3fsZGtAH9iI3DUNGKRzAdvwZioP7w2C_vMv2tbKkzCJzIvg4AX5V_eb8RmeqNhvie82coeRpH6DUYaeenHt5I4H0ihymI12eHkXNTrf8Q3JTvA_epqD1XAEx1jFvyBX/s1600/getResGraph.action.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKnhT1OIY-RKoVh3fsZGtAH9iI3DUNGKRzAdvwZioP7w2C_vMv2tbKkzCJzIvg4AX5V_eb8RmeqNhvie82coeRpH6DUYaeenHt5I4H0ihymI12eHkXNTrf8Q3JTvA_epqD1XAEx1jFvyBX/s320/getResGraph.action.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Water levels (red line) hit the ceiling in the winter/spring <br />
of 2011 in San Joaquin Valley's main reservoir,<br />
causing export pumping to stop prematurely. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
But if history is
any guide, export contractors have been unable to take the “big
gulp” in very wet years on three or four different occasions since 1995, according to Gartrell. <span style="line-height: 150%;">That's a lot of
water lost to reservoirs that could cushion devastating drought.
This year, for instance, after the driest January and February on
record, and with pumping restrictions already in place, the state is
lucky to <a href="http://www.usbr.gov/newsroom/newsrelease/detail.cfm?RecordID=42288">have begun the year with high water levels </a>still in reservoirs from recent wet
years.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>A Call for
Broader Plans</b></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The dry/wet year
quandary – you can't get it in dry years and can't store it in wet
– has raised a concerted call for more and broader alternatives
from environmental groups and water agencies north and south.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Gartrell's water
district has joined with half a dozen other districts, including East
Bay Mud and San Diego, plus a coalition of environmental and business groups, legislators and members of Congress, to
propose an alternative to the BDCP – one that would cut the size of
the tunnels to one third (3,000 cfs), while advocating for new
storage and improvements to levees. This <a href="http://deltacouncil.ca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/files/Item_11_Attach_1_4.pdf">“portfolio” approach</a>
seems to make much more sense than relying only on a pipeline to
deliver water that is – whatever the size of the tunnel –
unreliable by nature.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Erlewine's organization <a href="http://www.swc.org/in-the-news/press-releases/148-single-tunnel-proposal-for-sacramento-san-joaquin-delta-flawed">disparaged the small tunnel</a>. He said it would only fill the main south-of-delta
reservoir (San Luis Reservoir) ten percent of the time, so more
storage would not even be needed.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
But Gartrell urged
water contractors to take another look at the figures, emphasizing
that a smaller, cheaper tunnel gives 90-97 percent as much water as the
bigger one, when all the constraints of operating it are factored in.
Most of the time, he said, you can't export more than 3,000 cfs from
the north Delta <span style="line-height: 150%;">because the rules require leaving necessary bypass flows in the river.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<span style="color: black;">Most
years the big tunnels won't make a dime's worth of difference. Just
adding capacity ignores the fact that most of the water still goes
through the south (the pumps at Tracy), especially in dry years” </span>
<br />
<span style="color: black;">because of needed protections for fisheries.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;">
</span><span style="color: black;"><b>Back
to Governor Brown</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"> If a tunnel one third the size of that being
proposed by the Brown Administration delivers 90 to 97 percent of the
goods, why isn't it under consideration? One answer is that the
small conduit relies on new storage capability to meet export goals,
and contractors have their eyes fixed on a big, big pipe stuffed
partially with paper water. Erlewine and others who support the BDCP
said they certainly are not opposed to increased storage –
everybody wants it. Contractors in the SWC “may be thinking about
it,” said Erlewine, “but I'm not aware of any such plans.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"> So, who has the capacity to broaden the goals
for the good of the state? Not the citizens. Not any state water
agency this reporter has consulted. The state legislature seems
disinclined. It's up to the State and Federal Administrations, said Gartrell.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"> “I'm not pessimistic, but we need leadership
from the Administrations. I don't mean they can impose it, but they
can bring people along to get the best project, and I think that's possible.”</span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"> </span></div>
Patricia McBroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07595399655479910459noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377350442704856259.post-69613573113717513572012-12-13T14:35:00.000-08:002015-06-16T14:52:37.446-07:00CLIMATE SHIFT FROM SNOW TO RAIN DEMANDS REVOLUTION IN CALIFORNIA'S WATER SYSTEM<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>By Patricia McBroom</b><br />
<br />
<span style="line-height: 150%;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 150%;"> California
is due to lose a quarter of its Sierra snowpack by midcentury because
of climate change. <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0024465">And that's the low end of the estimate</a>. The loss
could be bigger. Sierra snow is the largest reservoir in the state,
accounting for about a third of the annual water supply. Its
inexorable change into rain is a slow-moving train wreck.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> Water
experts will quickly add that we're not losing the water, just the
form and timing of its release. The lost snowpack will come to us as
rain, so not to worry – too much.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> But
from what this reporter has been able to glean from weeks of
interviewing knowledgable sources about water storage in California,
the time to start worrying was yesterday.
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h4>
THE PAST NO GUIDE FOR THE FUTURE</h4>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR_LrrGyPRC0Y9X0j1jx9mLUKrzltpUnApp0F2o0B3AQTc9Lj0FK_L9wE6I1bdQkds-ToJsCrrQwWFLFjlyGZ_3jkTqpM-QNnx-PkgLRgG0qv487bs-gxdGJkd4ln-_rCrTiqtXmGQHH6e/s1600/IMG_0137.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR_LrrGyPRC0Y9X0j1jx9mLUKrzltpUnApp0F2o0B3AQTc9Lj0FK_L9wE6I1bdQkds-ToJsCrrQwWFLFjlyGZ_3jkTqpM-QNnx-PkgLRgG0qv487bs-gxdGJkd4ln-_rCrTiqtXmGQHH6e/s320/IMG_0137.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Increasing rainfall and floods come with rising <br />
temperatures, as climate warms in California<br />
<i>Credit: Patricia McBroom</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> We
will not only experience a shift from snow to rain, but it will come
in the winter rather than the spring when we need it for crops.
Moreover it will likely come as floods that cannot now be captured
and stored, and some of these floods will increase in areas like the
western side of the <a href="http://scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/Releases/?releaseID=1305">southern Sierras</a>. Implicit in these predictions
is the need for a revolutionary reorganization of water management in
the state. The past cannot guide the future.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> California
is not planning to build any large new surface reservoirs to contain
this rain, which may come as a shock to the uninitiated. Most of the
good sites have already been taken and what remains is too costly or
too inefficient. Instead, the emphasis is shifting from centralized
management of water to local and regional action. If your region
wants a new surface reservoir, you're free to build and pay for it.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h4>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> A RETURN TO LOCAL MANAGEMENT</span></h4>
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJuEc78bnmu_ENrWMVgdTWELVs9tnGO7ds9xWM1v1nyUIvTn0SHe0jAjGe1HRWN9fWz3DOjOELIvV66YS3p309MsaP9LITLMKBcumHKfduuVlhsQx9WyVNHhd3AfHpkhqu1HG3o6s0QTsB/s1600/IMG_0460.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJuEc78bnmu_ENrWMVgdTWELVs9tnGO7ds9xWM1v1nyUIvTn0SHe0jAjGe1HRWN9fWz3DOjOELIvV66YS3p309MsaP9LITLMKBcumHKfduuVlhsQx9WyVNHhd3AfHpkhqu1HG3o6s0QTsB/s320/IMG_0460.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Berryessa Reservoir in Napa County; <br />
regions may build their own; the state<br />
is bowing out. <i>Credit: P. McBroom</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #2323dc;"> “</span><span style="color: black;">The
great dreams of the past, of vast new storage systems everywhere
around the state and pipes that take water currently not being used
by anyone for anything hundreds of miles with no damage and at no
cost – that dream is over,” said Phil Isenberg, chair of the
Delta Stewardship Council, which is pushing <a href="http://deltacouncil.ca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/files/CH_03_Nov2012.pdf">water management at the regional level.</a></span><span style="color: #2323dc;"> </span>
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #2323dc;"></span><span style="color: black;"> New
storage is “essential,” said Isenberg, “but you have to find
somebody who is willing to pay for it.....History indicates that we
are going into old style things which are regional or local.”</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;"> A recent report by the California Roundtable, drawing upon a wide range of experts, <a href="http://aginnovations.org/images/uploads/CRWFS_Storage_to_Retention.pdf">agrees with this assessment.</a></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h4>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">"STAGGERING" CAPACITY LIES UNDERGROUND</span></h4>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> Underground
storage, on the other hand, is a <a href="http://www.water.ca.gov/groundwater/bulletin118/bulletin118update2003.cfm">vast</a> and largely unexplored
territory. California's potential for holding water in aquifers
staggers the imagination. Something on the order of 150 to 450
million acre feet (10 to 30 times the entire Sierra snowpack in an
average year) can be stored in underground basins that are
economically accessible, according to John Andrew, assistant deputy
director of the Department of Water Resources, who is the agency's
lead authority on climate change.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> The
greatest basin in the state underlies the Central Valley, containing
one-fifth of all groundwater pumped in the nation. Because farmers
have been pumping the hell out of it for 100 years, this basin now
contains enough empty space to be identified as showing “the most
promise for large-scale groundwater recharge” in California,
according to a report by <a href="http://www.pacinst.org/reports/success_stories/groundwater_banking.pdf">Juliet Christian-Smith</a> of the Pacific
Institute, in a positive take on the half-empty glass story.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinIr2P5cB6zBf0vGj24HQ4ALwAVEHXvGGgDuaWFXUUGiLapWQJmQGSwzgI6-O2SKav4zxbOv0o9vUtJkuEsmodBpfgtHdO-bJm6xdFLXhAww3tg6JqJ3dgpLWVRSRxhZ6OWFkcqtjbdT0j/s1600/IMG_0180.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinIr2P5cB6zBf0vGj24HQ4ALwAVEHXvGGgDuaWFXUUGiLapWQJmQGSwzgI6-O2SKav4zxbOv0o9vUtJkuEsmodBpfgtHdO-bJm6xdFLXhAww3tg6JqJ3dgpLWVRSRxhZ6OWFkcqtjbdT0j/s320/IMG_0180.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Snowpack will decline over the century<br />
<i>Credit: Patricia McBroom</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> But
accomplishing the recharge of this – or any other – basin in the
state confronts water managers and policy makers with multiple
headaches. Our system is historically set up to discourage such use
of water. It isn't even considered a beneficial use, so few managers
have done it. There are currently promising moves toward recharging
critical basins, such as in the San Joaquin Valley around King's
River and in the <a href="http://www.pvwma.dst.ca.us/">Pajaro Valley</a> near Santa Cruz, but much more is
needed.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h4>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">ANTIQUATED LAWS; HALF-FORMED IDEAS</span></h4>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> “Climate
change studies indicate that more extreme weather is coming and we
don't have a system in place to capture that water,” said Timothy
Parker, a consulting hydrologist and chair of the legislative
committee of California's Groundwater Resources Asso. “We should
be filling our basins back up. We need more storage and groundwater
is a good way to do that.” But once past such firm statements of
need, Parker and other experts who spoke on this issue fall into a
quicksand of shifting, half-formed ideas about next steps.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> Who
owns the water that is put underground? Water is now tied to the
land. If you can pump it, you own it.
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> How
do you get it into the ground? That takes percolation ponds on farms
– a use of land that is not now readily accepted by farmers needing
to make a profit.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> Where
does the surface water come from to recharge the aquifers? New
diversion plans cost money and require ingenuity on the part of
regional water managers, not to mention planning and risk taking.
You can't always get the water out that you put in.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> How
about privatization issues? If the recharged basin water belongs to
landowners, then the massive Kern County Water Bank (taken over by
private interests in a <a href="http://www.californiaspigot.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html">secret deal by the state in the late 1990s</a> and
supplied by the State Water Project that pumps from the delta) would
further enrich a small group of wealthy farmers, as they sell water
for new developments in the southland.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h4>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">NEW FRAMEWORK FOR GROUNDWATER STORAGE</span></h4>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> These
and other urgent questions call for a vigorous state-wide debate on
groundwater policy, leading to a new framework for managing this kind
of storage, especially its sustainable use. Legal and technical
confusion is everywhere; water
managers are just beginning to think about underground storage. In a
<a href="http://www.watereducation.org/doc.asp?id=2687">recent surve</a>y, most didn't know whether it would be less expensive or
more costly than surface storage. The great majority needed more
information.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> “it's
really challenging!” said Brian Lockwood, staff hydrologist with
the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency. “The laws (on
groundwater) are so antiquated. Reforms are badly needed. Most
people don't even have meters on their wells” to measure the amount
of groundwater removed. “If we could think of the Central Valley
as a whole, of the state as a whole,” we might have a chance, said
Lockwood, whose small water district is off the state and Federal
water grid.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> Their coastal region depends for its water almost
exclusively on a groundwater basin. The state of the critically
depleted basin is fueling a creative venture to get water back into
the ground to achieve a sustainable supply, thus serving as a model
for regional responsibility.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h4>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">ADULT SUPERVISION NEEDED<i> </i></span></h4>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> Isenberg
would no doubt applaud such local resourcefulness.
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOgLPrGcOrurLj6z0I4bXvd760dGn6HzaUXIeyFhydHQBydE0zbzQ-nKGqIqKNUHrh09FS3vnhTO6fAOP2O7pEEZrXhDEDzdhe6Qx9D6zmccCYdY78Za5UXCqjsJSnWEfNFrBPo7O8mrx3/s1600/P7220010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOgLPrGcOrurLj6z0I4bXvd760dGn6HzaUXIeyFhydHQBydE0zbzQ-nKGqIqKNUHrh09FS3vnhTO6fAOP2O7pEEZrXhDEDzdhe6Qx9D6zmccCYdY78Za5UXCqjsJSnWEfNFrBPo7O8mrx3/s320/P7220010.JPG" width="245" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Calm down:" Phil Isenberg, chair of the<br />
Delta Stewardship Council. <i>Credit:</i><br />
<i>Patricia McBroom</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> At
the end of a long interview, after two years of listening to
Californians fight over water coming out of the critical
Sacramento/San Joaquin watershed, he said “<span style="color: black;">The
most important thing for survival of California as a society is for
everyone everywhere in the state to be prudent in their use of water,
to calm down and act like grownups, to </span><span style="color: #2323dc;">r</span><span style="color: black;">educe
the irrational and overblown demands for water that seem to be the
stock in trade of the water debate. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"> “We're
not running out of water” said Isenberg, “but it's a scarce
resource and we have to make some hard management decisions.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: black;">That
would require courage and focus on the part of state planners who are
unfortunately preoccupied with building huge tunnels under the delta
to divert an ever-decreasing supply of Sierra snowmelt. The tunnels
offer a centralized water system out of the 20<sup>th</sup> century,
while nature is cooking up floods in your backyard. </span> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
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Patricia McBroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07595399655479910459noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377350442704856259.post-14313100986505828362012-09-05T00:17:00.000-07:002015-06-16T16:50:21.957-07:00LACK OF EQUALITY IN DELTA WATER PLAN EVOKES FEMINIST PRINCIPLE: THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY<b>By Patricia McBroom</b><br />
<br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Seated at the head
of a square of tables last week, California water officials – led
by Jerry Meral of the state resources agency and surrounded by
consultants – tried to answer questions concerning the hugely
controversial Bay Delta Conservation Plan.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGwbniFkZ9YlPSIuu_GW6RM6H3wSOqplv-dIFY_VGuRA_MCEajgXN-2DTXHYZCUPgHwXJDLtdJ9eTQA9m3jDY-H25QWqpCX-phaJDo2aE9DyX1GwN3aAjXsUH1EuuTP71aATKc6viw0isn/s1600/meral+at+BDCP_2_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGwbniFkZ9YlPSIuu_GW6RM6H3wSOqplv-dIFY_VGuRA_MCEajgXN-2DTXHYZCUPgHwXJDLtdJ9eTQA9m3jDY-H25QWqpCX-phaJDo2aE9DyX1GwN3aAjXsUH1EuuTP71aATKc6viw0isn/s400/meral+at+BDCP_2_2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deputy Resources Secretary, Jerry Meral (L), and ICF International <br />
consultants, Jennifer Pierre and David Zippin, at the BDCP meeting. <br />
Photo by <a href="http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/09/02/18720823.php">Dan Bacher</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Around the square
were people who would be powerfully affected by the plan – a
project to construct two massive tunnels beneath the Sacramento/San
Joaquin Delta for diverting water from north to south. There was Ann
Spaulding from Antioch, where water could turn saltier as a result of
the diversion. There was Richard Pool, from sportsfishing
organizations that care deeply about saving salmon runs from the
threat of too-little water. There was Osha Meserve, a lawyer working
to save the North Delta, where the diversions would begin, from
irreparable losses. There was Jason Peltier from the Westlands Water
District, an agricultural powerhouse that is legendary for its
ability to turn state and Federal policy to its own benefit.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
One thing not
present at the meeting was equality. Peltier's district (along with a few other big
contractors) had everything to do with writing the plan; the rest of
the stakeholders, little or nothing. How did it happen and what do
we do about the prospect of a multibillion dollar project being built
– the largest water infrastructure project in California since
1960 – without a vote of the people or the legislature? Moreover,
the five Delta counties – Contra Costa, Sacramento, San Joaquin,
Solano and Yolo – whose water supply and agricultural land will be
affected, oppose the plan. They have not had a role in its creation.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvimaanSmmcK40gj92qmBrR5DWyPN_Fy0hgTIhmDlE-iTMpGudicdLB-eFCiuRbzAxuaD5ZXGn5lX2qry2beimtln6EUbS9ytfQUlypzNfldWxhfZoGTBkPFSnHxzFXEtMNXpaV2VeQ3RI/s1600/osha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvimaanSmmcK40gj92qmBrR5DWyPN_Fy0hgTIhmDlE-iTMpGudicdLB-eFCiuRbzAxuaD5ZXGn5lX2qry2beimtln6EUbS9ytfQUlypzNfldWxhfZoGTBkPFSnHxzFXEtMNXpaV2VeQ3RI/s320/osha.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Attorney Osha Meserve at the Sacramento River</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Some people in the
water world accept this inequality as a matter of course. One top
state official said flatly (in a recent interview) “Money drives
policy, not the other way around.” There was no regret in his
voice, just a sense that the world works this way. Others, like
Meserve, continue to fight the odds, despite slim returns, while many
just plan their next legal challenge, hoping to tie up the project in
court.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
If that happens –
and there's every reason to think it will – California's hopes for
solving the Delta's problems will probably squeal to a stop again, as
in the past, raising serious questions about whether there was a
better way – or, indeed, any way – to make progress on such
a “wicked” problem.
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_problem"> As defined by Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber in 1973</a>, a wicked problem is so
multifaceted it has no clear definition, no good scientific answer,
no unambiguous interpretation of the public good. Its “solution”
depends on how the problem is framed. Moreover, those invested in
the problem (stakeholders) hold radically different world views and
espouse competing frameworks. There are few ways to solve a wicked
problem. One way is to resort to authority, restricting the number
of people whose inputs count. Governments often do this in making
policy decisions on wicked problems, and that is what has happened in
the Delta with this project. The other way is to collaborate.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"> Could the state have
made “ </span><i><span style="line-height: 150%;">those people who are being affected into </span><span style="line-height: 24px;">participants</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> of the planning process</span></i><span black="" color:="" style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-size: normal;">,”
as Rittel recommended? Could it have included people </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><i>who
are not merely asked, but actively involved in the planning
process....</i></span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;">?</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal;"> If
the struggles of indigenous peoples around the world to have a say in
the development of their lands and resources are any indication, the
answer is, yes.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: normal;"> Five
years ago, 144 countries signed the<a href="http://www.ienearth.org/docs/united-nations-declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples.html"> United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,</a> calling upon States to</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: normal;">
“consult and cooperate in good faith” with indigenous people. In
particular, States should obtain “free, prior and informed consent”
to any decisions regarding the lands and resources traditionally used
by native peoples. Prior consent is crucial. In other words, if you
want resources, you have to negotiate with the locals from the
beginning.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> That
is happening in many parts of the world today – in Ecuador,
Bolivia, and Brazil, for example. The Declaration and its principle
of free, prior, informed consent have newly empowered indigenous
peoples, <a href="http://untreaty.un.org/cod/avl/ha/ga_61-295/ga_61-295.html">writes international legal scholar </a></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://untreaty.un.org/cod/avl/ha/ga_61-295/ga_61-295.html">Siegfried Wiessner</a>, of St Thomas University School of law in Miami. As women did 40 years ago in their quest for equality, it's time to "think globally and act locally."</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-weight: normal;"> <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/16/AR2010121603136.html">Obama's White House adopted</a> the UN manifesto in 2010, reversing a Bush
Administration's decision in 2007 to reject it. </span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> The
principle has been particularly salient among peoples of the forest:
“</span></span></span></span><span style="color: #262626;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">By
insisting on their right to free, prior and informed consent, forest
peoples have been able to block plantations and dams planned for
their lands and have been able to negotiate fairer deals with palm
oil developers, loggers and local government land use planners,”
according to the global <a href="http://www.forestpeoples.org/guiding-principles/free-prior-and-informed-consent-fpic">Forest People's Programme.</a></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFNIN8PaMuq_PcGZbg1DiYC12DEMFmaQdZOXljvZUYue_f7z_zpaTfaSJrx5soIdk7lJhlu9YYSJC1kXb3qIoIlZNdSHLxCIKHeVFWxrqnDemWK7fpeMGYLgj-yMGGPM_wzv0U91RzUCxt/s1600/P5180227.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFNIN8PaMuq_PcGZbg1DiYC12DEMFmaQdZOXljvZUYue_f7z_zpaTfaSJrx5soIdk7lJhlu9YYSJC1kXb3qIoIlZNdSHLxCIKHeVFWxrqnDemWK7fpeMGYLgj-yMGGPM_wzv0U91RzUCxt/s320/P5180227.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Delta's unique cultural traditions at risk in water plan.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #262626;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> The
idea is not to halt progress, but to channel it through negotiations
with rural and established communities – as in the Delta – <a href="http://www.californiaspigot.blogspot.com/2012/01/california-delta-as-national-heritage.html">whose customs and survival matter</a>. </span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;">It
may be that California needs a tunnel for delivering water under the
Delta. The current pumps in Tracy <a href="http://www.bay.org/publications/collateral-damage">chew up fish big time</a>. And big
releases of water from upstream reservoirs at unnatural times distort
the Delta's ecology.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal;"> But
the size and location of those tunnels has never been open to
discussion with the millions of us affected. And there's the rub.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal;"> Back
at the meeting, there were few answers for the urgent questions.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal;"> How
much water will be left in the Sacramento River during drought and
dry times of the year? Meserve wanted to know. Delta residents are
acutely aware that the tunnels could take ALL the water in the river
during dry periods. So far, they have seen no base limits on
diversion.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal;"> Pool
was concerned about the flow available to salmon. He said he
could no find answers in the 5,000 pages of the plan's first
environmental draft report. Meral
promised that the next environmental report, due in October – maybe
– will clear things up. And, he assured them, there would be
mitigation for any damage done.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"></span></span></span></span> To
be fair, <span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: , serif;">state agencies and consultants were doing their best.
They just don't have the answers. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: serif;"> F</span>ish agencies and contractors are
locked in debate over the amount of water that can be safely exported
– safely, as in not destroying any species, ruining Delta
agriculture, or turning the water in Contra Costa County into an
undrinkable salt solution.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Water contractors
want to export an average of 6 million acre feet per year from the
Delta. California fish and game scientists say they won't get that
much – an amount most environmentalists believe is responsible for
the recent collapse of the fish populations.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The diversion “is
more likely to be what they have now,” said Carl Wilcox, a
biologist at the table representing California's Department of Fish
and Game. That would be 4.8 million acre feet, since contractors now
must operate under court restriction to preserve fish species.
“Maybe, the number will go into the low fives” (million acre
feet), but not six, said Wilcox.
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVFaejboPOVbT_FMAz86oetA3hFznhSUrJsdXlBc5f_mpwF7qYj723es_AKQleE1oUPbMhdhoSSCiaDi8ajS4_NUjbgmWE5macLYeEsEI5S58LEmtgmpA4SnIRHDojPofYWiNy3X378Zme/s1600/R+Jacobsma+Bio+Picture+2+10-08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVFaejboPOVbT_FMAz86oetA3hFznhSUrJsdXlBc5f_mpwF7qYj723es_AKQleE1oUPbMhdhoSSCiaDi8ajS4_NUjbgmWE5macLYeEsEI5S58LEmtgmpA4SnIRHDojPofYWiNy3X378Zme/s320/R+Jacobsma+Bio+Picture+2+10-08.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Manager Ronald Jacobsma of Friant Water Authority </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Once the level of
exports is agreed upon (if that happens), the next mountain to climb
is identifying the payers for this massive construction. Also at the
meeting was general manager Ronald Jacobsma of the Friant Water
authority, a combine of two dozen water districts in the Fresno area,
none of which receive ANY water from the Delta, nor would they if the
tunnels were built. Nevertheless, these water agencies have been
advised they must ante up 15% of the $20 billion cost of
construction.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Who told them they
would have to pay? The State Water Contractors who receive Delta
water and want the tunnels built – and they have the power of
government behind them. Despite Jacobsma's vigorous campaign to get
Friant's name removed from the list of payers, it's still there two
years later, apparently because Friant gets water through a Federal
project on the San Joaquin River, upstream from the Delta.
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“We want a
beneficiary analysis done,” Jacobsma said. Peltier responded with
the comment that all Federal water contractors would have to pay
capital costs on the Delta tunnel no matter where they were located.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Jacobsma made a
broad comic gesture, grabbing for his wallet in his back pocket and the
room erupted in laughter. Jacobsma, a friendly sort, laughed too, but the crazy prospect of water users paying billions of dollars for nary a drop was ultimately no joke.</div>
</div>
</div>
Patricia McBroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07595399655479910459noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377350442704856259.post-30585268067759523282012-06-14T22:07:00.000-07:002015-06-16T16:53:37.638-07:00SMOKE OBSCURES PLAN FOR PERIPHERAL CANAL WHILE LEVEES GET FRESH LOOK<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>By Patricia McBroom</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 27px;"> Anxiety
is flooding the water world this month, as people await a Brown
Administration plan for a “peripheral canal”, due in July (according to last report).</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The
agitation is mixed with incredulity since the project has been so
roundly criticized as a <a href="http://bay.org/newsroom/press-releases/22912-bdcp%E2%80%99s-own-study-shows-plan-could-lead-to-species-declines-and-extinct">fish killer</a>, and the tradeoffs that seem to
be under consideration appear to be unworkable.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Those who want the canal (mainly rich farmers on the west side of
the San Joaquin Valley and the Metropolitan Water District of
Southern California) have been told by state and federal fish
agencies that they cannot have as much water as they want, nor even
as much as they have now. Yet these are the water contractors who
are supposed to pay for the “canal” – actually two huge tunnels
capable of diverting most of the Sacramento River, costing upwards of
$14 billion, plus interest, to build. Who wants to pay for a tunnel
that delivers less water than is available through the current setup?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> That
question<a href="http://valleyecon.blogspot.com/2012/06/is-metropolitan-water-district-going-to.html"> echoes through the airwaves</a>, along with rumors that the
Brown Administration <a href="http://greenroots.pcl.org/">plans to weaken laws protecting fish</a> to get its
version of the peripheral tunnels built.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvbEHeRon4x_ovO2xoI2eMTWz77FXJi1l8KM328gdhXbSuDRb92BGqU3os8c6oLcTSAc9h1khH0EVaLmb_8lVZ4M8jWmRXENydOjhlslopmzrewxjNFnkY5wFNgbHoXVFWgTUdExaxFo7h/s1600/save-the-delta-stop-the-canal2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="116" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvbEHeRon4x_ovO2xoI2eMTWz77FXJi1l8KM328gdhXbSuDRb92BGqU3os8c6oLcTSAc9h1khH0EVaLmb_8lVZ4M8jWmRXENydOjhlslopmzrewxjNFnkY5wFNgbHoXVFWgTUdExaxFo7h/s320/save-the-delta-stop-the-canal2.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From front page of <a href="http://www.restorethedelta.org/">Restore the Delta website</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> On
Wednesday, a powerhouse coalition of 38 environmental, fishing and
San Francisco-Bay Delta organizations <a href="http://www.restorethedelta.org/">wrote to U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar </a>warning him that “It would be
folly for the Department of Interior to follow the State of
California down this risky path” and urging him to dissuade the
state from this “poorly conceived and destructive plan.”
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> But
which plan?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> A
state panel of scientists appointed to analyze the project – the
Independent Science Board (ISB) – couldn't figure out last week how
to proceed in evaluating an environmental impact report. “Is this
the project we will be looking at?” panel members wanted to know,
pointing to a 5,000-page draft EIR released in February. The
question went unanswered, but one member gave voice to the word that
can't be mentioned – “collapse” – as in “assuming the
project doesn't collapse.” He clearly thought it should.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdxF4TSRgo8SNkMQKRlmjv5JPBvkv3_hvYbp3CogARhcyhRReadgFsHbcJ_wPjHqbUKb0L9-woGFLuMsRstaEtgJ_yyBUxaAWwBMk2XLKfVMIkL2mrFovDTqswlRUVGkTxPNw0rkmSMoEs/s1600/images.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdxF4TSRgo8SNkMQKRlmjv5JPBvkv3_hvYbp3CogARhcyhRReadgFsHbcJ_wPjHqbUKb0L9-woGFLuMsRstaEtgJ_yyBUxaAWwBMk2XLKfVMIkL2mrFovDTqswlRUVGkTxPNw0rkmSMoEs/s400/images.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thirty years later, same canal; underground this time</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> To
make the anxiety especially acute, state officials have said that
they won't decide at this point how much water to pump nor whose
finger is on the switch. That will become clear, officials have told
stakeholders, as the project is being built and the ecology improves
– or not. It's hard to see how anyone on any side of this issue
could be comfortable with indeterminate operating rules.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> “It
won't fly,” said Sunne McPeak, president of the Delta Vision
Foundation, in an interview. She
said that current plans for the conveyance suffer from the same
deficiency as in 1982 when the last peripheral canal was defeated by
voters. It fails to couple new storage with conveyance so that water
can be taken in a huge gulp during wet years and little or not at all
in dry years. Lack of storage is an open admission that “you
intend to use the facility (in a way that would) starve the fish and
the delta of fresh water,” she said.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> But
with few details on what the Administration plans to propose, all
eyes are fixed on the image of an enormous pumping operation up to five
miles long in the most scenic part of the Sacramento River, sucking
out most of the fresh water and sending it through tunnels right past
the delta.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQUGhFAxnslU1hHcAYUhWMyGCqzSbRI_usljSeq4waHNRd1l17CjYeQb3CcZOEPYhY2RSii1OofV0v38DxyNoDgx0JkxVy2d87DbcNUq3SpdvX_Rq741sHCqxNva5J0o3T8Eq-soENaryM/s1600/emerald-dorothy-and-toto.pl_+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQUGhFAxnslU1hHcAYUhWMyGCqzSbRI_usljSeq4waHNRd1l17CjYeQb3CcZOEPYhY2RSii1OofV0v38DxyNoDgx0JkxVy2d87DbcNUq3SpdvX_Rq741sHCqxNva5J0o3T8Eq-soENaryM/s320/emerald-dorothy-and-toto.pl_+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">California needs that dog.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> One
is reminded of the climactic scene in the Wizard of Oz when a fearsome
image of the wizard is projected onto a wall, with booming voice and
belching smoke – until Dorothy's little dog, Toto, trots over to a
booth and tugs back a curtain, behind which a white-haired gent is shown pulling levers. Dorothy was being frightened by a magic show.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Where
is Toto when we need him?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> But
if smoke and mirrors are clouding California's future water plans,
people on the ground – including opponents from north and south –
are working together better than ever. Without any state managers
in charge, the people who supply water and protect resources are
doing what lies in the best interests of everyone: meeting together
in democratic groups, under the name <a href="http://aquafornia.com/index.php?s=delta+projects+coalition">“Delta Projects Coalition</a>,” to
figure out how best to repair and pay for improved levees. It's
about time.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> A
project that has the support of major opponents in the water wars –
in both southern and northern California – would <a href="http://deltacouncil.ca.gov/docs/2012-01-04/letter-urban-levees-coalition-john-laird-sec-ca-natural-resources-restrategy-improvi">armor part of the freshwater corridor through the Delta that delivers </a>water to some
23 million people and millions of acres of farmland. Proposed by the
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the project would
raise and widen the tops of levees, adding berms to their slopes, in
a stretch of the Middle San Joaquin River, at a cost of less than
$200 million.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The
aim is to strengthen the levees enough so that a large earthquake in
the Bay Area, while it might cause the levee to slump, wouldn't break
it, leaving time for workers to get out there with reinforcements,
said Roger Patterson, general manager of MWD in an interview.
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> “If
we can hold the Middle River pathway together (after a big
earthquake), we might still have limitations on water diversion, but
at least we wouldn't be out for an extended period of time.”
Patterson said they could probably put things together and be back on
line in six months, rather than the years estimated by state water
officials.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> “We
will be diverting water from the south Delta forever,” said
Patterson, referring to the pumps near Tracy that get water via the
Middle River. “So having integrity in the levee system for the
long term is in our interest as well.” Almost half of Met's
diversion will continue to come from the south Delta, even with a new
conveyance – “if that ever happens,” he added.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRo02tu9Ox1B7K8FVVf38hs2bQZCxdK77e77JO7u09uMfQFkVWRlxNTX4JA2lVMaV_PCUn_L6DRAISfS8jQo_28gngx-tU7wz3vK5c56X_D42GHHrVfB1bqolzfyrpY1fqdBRwFQKHlYiL/s1600/Scan.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRo02tu9Ox1B7K8FVVf38hs2bQZCxdK77e77JO7u09uMfQFkVWRlxNTX4JA2lVMaV_PCUn_L6DRAISfS8jQo_28gngx-tU7wz3vK5c56X_D42GHHrVfB1bqolzfyrpY1fqdBRwFQKHlYiL/s400/Scan.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Delta engineers build seismic-resistant levees along freshwater corridor</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> This
particular stretch of the river, however, is not the only piece that
needs to be done; Patterson said his agency intends to follow up with
more projects. Nor is MWD the only urban agency out there working on
the levees. EBMUD has nearly completed work on the levees that
protect its own aqueduct. All have the support of local
reclamation districts and water agencies in the Delta.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> “We're
willing to work with Met, just like we've worked with EBMUD,” said
Dante Nomellini, manager of the Central Delta Water Agency and
counsel for most of the local districts along the freshwater
corridor. Local expertise with levees is critical to the success of
any project there. Patterson said MWD plans to rely on that
expertise.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Six
long years ago, California citizens passed Prop 1E, a $4 billion bond
measure, to reinforce the levees. About $1 billion of it is left –
money that McPeak of the Delta Vision Foundation believes should be
spent totally on Delta levees, including this freshwater corridor.
The Delta Coalition so far is considering 41 separate levee and
habitat projects that will be voted upon later in the summer.
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> It
is a good example of <a href="http://www.californiaspigot.blogspot.com/2010/08/vital-work-stalled-on-levees-in.html">democratic governance of a “common pool resource”</a> as described by 2009 <a href="http://elinorostrom.indiana.edu/">Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom</a> who
died June 12 at the age of 78, after becoming the first woman to
win the prize in economics. Her work demonstrated that the people who
used the common resource created better water systems than
governments did because they bargained with each other, forming
cooperative relationships, even when they were prone to fight. This
advantage of “commons” governance held even when the government
could build bigger water works – a word to the wise for
California.</span></div>
Patricia McBroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07595399655479910459noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377350442704856259.post-24550075609037165012012-04-03T19:16:00.000-07:002015-06-16T16:56:21.977-07:00WATER FLOWS IN DELTA PERPLEX SCIENTISTS; CREATE MOMENT OF ZEN<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 27px;"><b>By Patricia McBroom</b> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 27px;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 27px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 27px;">It
was 2005. A group of environmentalists had just seen a
report that made their hair stand on end. Fish in the Sacramento/San
Joaquin Delta had dropped off the edge of the table; their
populations were crashing. Gathering up charts that showed fish
populations plummeting as pumping increased during the decade, the
environmentalists presented this evidence of collapse to a room full
of water exporters and officials meeting at the Sheraton Hotel in
Sacramento.</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC4MvmfL8pzwubSPuwL7gcXp1Rfg7JTF_8e8f9ZnxnUYr1lmSfYSj2EtBgLVdKXAZe4R6a_wjsorBNYNIfE1PM46MRjvpYyEznRZG2T-k3D2dFtsqjjJNJjJcQAbS4bcbVd6X5d8HZw2p6/s1600/delta-smelt-at-rearing-facility_w725_h544.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC4MvmfL8pzwubSPuwL7gcXp1Rfg7JTF_8e8f9ZnxnUYr1lmSfYSj2EtBgLVdKXAZe4R6a_wjsorBNYNIfE1PM46MRjvpYyEznRZG2T-k3D2dFtsqjjJNJjJcQAbS4bcbVd6X5d8HZw2p6/s320/delta-smelt-at-rearing-facility_w725_h544.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Loss of the tiny Delta smelt stopped some pumping</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 27px;"> “There
were audible gasps,” recalled one member of the group. ”They were
pumping water (out of the Delta) like hell. They told us not to come
back with this kind of '<i>pseudo science</i>'. They knew that once
knowledge (of the fish collapse) became public, they would be held
accountable. And by golly they have been.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 27px;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 27px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 27px;">Since
then, water contractors importing water from the Delta to the south have been forced to reduce diversions under
provisions of the Federal Endangered Species Act, an event that led
west San Joaquin farmers to post signs along Interstate 5, shouting:
“Congress Created Dust Bowl.” </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 27px;">Contractors also set to work on the
modern version of a peripheral canal, with the purpose of taking just
as much water as in 2005, but without killing the fish.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVNhAporpXpPX3mGO7m-iYaMWaEMMKQiU0_xXoIMrDlX7x8NGhrDP8wOvi4oec4hCkYuAUuQKu9mM10O_XPXzD0uZ6e-FhfNCf_jmNkCBA0RXeRgHYm9LXkPHqxrXr2xBzWlUDPvG-O5zR/s1600/Congress+Created+Dust+Bowl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVNhAporpXpPX3mGO7m-iYaMWaEMMKQiU0_xXoIMrDlX7x8NGhrDP8wOvi4oec4hCkYuAUuQKu9mM10O_XPXzD0uZ6e-FhfNCf_jmNkCBA0RXeRgHYm9LXkPHqxrXr2xBzWlUDPvG-O5zR/s320/Congress+Created+Dust+Bowl.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Signs along Interstate 5 blame Endangered Species Act</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> It
doesn't seem to be working.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Try
as they may, water contractors can't prove that moving the point of
diversion –taking water upstream on the Sacramento River and
funneling it under the Delta through enormous tunnels – would help
the fish. On the contrary, their own analysis, released at <a href="http://baydeltaconservationplan.com/Library/DocumentsLandingPage.aspx">10,000 pages on Feb. 29</a>, shows that the amount of water they want to take
would probably doom the species they intend to save, particularly
Delta smelt.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> “It's
a challenge,” said Jerry Meral, California's deputy secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, in charge of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan
(BDCP, aka peripheral canal) “We
must improve the proposal to meet the adverse effects on key species,
but we don't know yet what alternative will work.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> That's
putting it mildly.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Last
week, a panel of the nation's top scientists weighed in on the causes
of the ecosystem/fish collapse and the scope of California's water
challenges. After two years of study, the panel from the National
Academy of Sciences (NAS) said they could not identify the main
drivers of the collapse. In other words they could not rank the most
harmful stressors in the Delta, whether pollution, dams, invasive
species, food availability, habitat loss, fish entrainment in the
pumps or amount of water pumped out. All were having an effect in a
complicated and still mysterious ecosystem.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> But
in several places in the 280-page report, the scientists identified
fresh water flow as a critical variable.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"> “Statistical evidence and models suggest that both flows (amount of
fresh water) and flow paths (route through the Delta) are critical to
population abundance of many species in the Bay-Delta.” the panel
wrote on <a href="http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=13394&page=94">page 105</a>. If California wants to maintain an ecosystem like
the one that seemed to be functional until the drought from 1986 to
'93, the report said, “then exports of all types will necessarily
need to be limited in dry years.” </span>
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidawot_g3HSZlZeYjGMav6Vy7-xRebl2N0hHxkOTJmRQV9bBkiDLQxhqo1xpMRlQpPVHLfLPHbDgFT7NOgx5tTdIKQEqW_3HPht4FS_4kxDUJwkjSMzQenkWA2-5liWmbYoFWsnDMxfM-I/s1600/dreamstime_l_11070382.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidawot_g3HSZlZeYjGMav6Vy7-xRebl2N0hHxkOTJmRQV9bBkiDLQxhqo1xpMRlQpPVHLfLPHbDgFT7NOgx5tTdIKQEqW_3HPht4FS_4kxDUJwkjSMzQenkWA2-5liWmbYoFWsnDMxfM-I/s400/dreamstime_l_11070382.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vast Sierra watershed nourishes all living beings in California</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"> Few
issues in the current water wars are more contentious than the amount
of fresh water that is allowed to flow from the Delta watershed in
the high Sierras to the Pacific Ocean. Those who want higher flows
(environmentalists and Delta advocates) like to taunt water importers by saying they are “trying to save the fish by removing them </span>from
the water.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Water
contractors respond that fresh water flowing into the ocean is
“wasted.” Environmentalists, they say, are ignoring all the
other causes of estuary degradation; flow is no more important than
other stressors. The NAS scientists were unable to resolve the
controversy, saying only that “it's up to the State to insure that
necessary in stream flow levels are maintained” <a href="http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=13394&page=167">(p. 178)</a></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> This
was not the result water importers hoped for when they encouraged the
U.S. Congress to enlist the help of Academy scientists in finding
some alternative to water cutbacks. Throughout the years since 2005, importers south of the Delta have done everything they could to shift
attention away from the water they were pumping to other kinds of
stressors on the system. It's the invasive fish species. No, it's
the ammonia from Sacramento sewage plants. No, really, it's the
location of the State water pumps on the San Joaquin River near
Tracy, where the power of the engines makes the river flow backwards
and chews up all the juvenile fish which otherwise would reach
maturity in the relative security of the Sacramento River.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Unfortunately,
it's all of them and more. And above all else looms the special
impact of drought.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJY8-OUCjQKdksszzWelYjHxikk0BTqKop_1kQVDylpa_XkyDR4yvhySnUkaUehhVz-mHRbnugWg9v-llOvw7z9KA0CRcPuFDho8RbEm3bwTM2JAfhJ3V7Ctk7UsY98ss3YUEBkKakydB2/s1600/IMG_0114.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJY8-OUCjQKdksszzWelYjHxikk0BTqKop_1kQVDylpa_XkyDR4yvhySnUkaUehhVz-mHRbnugWg9v-llOvw7z9KA0CRcPuFDho8RbEm3bwTM2JAfhJ3V7Ctk7UsY98ss3YUEBkKakydB2/s400/IMG_0114.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New Carquinez Bridge over a narrow strait, through<br />
which Delta water exits to the San Francisco Bay.<br />
<i>Credit: Patricia McBroom</i><br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"> In
its natural condition, unimpeded by human water diversions to the
north and south of California's Delta, this great watershed would
send down some 40 million acre feet (MAF) from the Sierras to the
ocean in an average year (acre foot = one acre covered to a depth
of one foot). The water would oftentimes bury the Central Valley in
floods and crash through a narrow channel, called the Carquinez
Strait, in the Coastal Range. All but separated from the San
Francisco Bay and bounded by highlands, the water does not fan out in
a wide ocean-side Delta, as do other freshwater estuaries. Rather,
it is one of only two “inverted” deltas in the world (the other
is in Portugal), where the unique geography leads to a buildup of
sediments – in this case peat soils – on the inland side and
gives rise to rare opportunities for water engineering
infrastructure. California's Delta is one of the most modified in
the world. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"> In
average years, diverters north and south remove about 50 percent of
the flow </span>to
serve 25 million people and millions of acres of agricultural land.
(The watershed itself produces about half the fresh water in the
State.) No one knows for sure if this rate of removal is too high
for the ecosystem; there seems to be no evident threshold below which
there are irreversible declines. But the NAS scientists were
unequivocal about drought. “It is clear that very dry periods can
alter species composition in more permanent ways.” they wrote.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> To
build a peripheral canal, supporters of the BDCP will need guidelines
on how much water they can divert from the Sacramento River. The
agency burdened with providing those guidelines by balancing human
and ecological needs in the Delta is the State Water Resources
Control Board (SWRCB) or simply the “water board”. Those
decisions, however, are two years away, leaving all combatants in the
water wars wondering how the water board will come to terms with the
clashing needs of ecology and human use. How will they balance
economic needs, political pressure, urban use and the public trust,
especially in light of the lack of scientific certainty?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"> T</span><span style="color: black;">he
board has already decided, in a <a href="http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/bay_delta/deltaflow/docs/final_rpt080310.pdf">public trust document</a></span><span style="color: black;">
published in 2010, </span><span style="color: black;">that the
ecosystem and fish, if considered alone, need 75 percent of unimpeded
flow from the Sacramento River (compared to the current 50%). Such
numbers make water diverters everywhere blanch. “It scares us to
death!” said Tib Belza of the Yuba County Water Agency at a recent
north state water forum.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"> But the final number reached by the board is sure to be less than
75%; how much less, nobody knows until the board completes its
balancing act.</span><span style="color: black;">
</span><span style="color: black;">There is, in short, no easy way
forward, considering the single-minded focus of major water diverters
– the Metropolitan Water District in Los Angeles and Westlands
Water District in the San Joaquin Valley – on a mammoth peripheral
canal. </span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCFlPTGz6lYOWBOSgKnzij8Vf3BK3FTttVImtd8GOeGkQTue6etU1KTZ2Or2k_hIa_majRKguZ_-YpOMN58dGRuVHAOCTpeTTE0KkVRsiODVghIML8KOmoKvREk4Zyqk4ZZPxpFEdusldS/s1600/Image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCFlPTGz6lYOWBOSgKnzij8Vf3BK3FTttVImtd8GOeGkQTue6etU1KTZ2Or2k_hIa_majRKguZ_-YpOMN58dGRuVHAOCTpeTTE0KkVRsiODVghIML8KOmoKvREk4Zyqk4ZZPxpFEdusldS/s320/Image.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">PLC's Jonas Minton</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Which
brings us to California's moment of Zen: focus on what is squarely in
front of the eyes and take the next step. That's what combatants in the water wars have decided to do in forming
a new coalition to move forward on important, near-term projects for
the Delta that everyone can agree upon.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"> Responding to a call from </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jonas Minton of the Planning and Conservation League,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> water warriors have signed their names to the cooperative venture which meets for the first time April 4 in Sacramento to talk about what
they might do now – together – while they battle over future
distributions of water. The group includes representatives from
Metropolitan and Westlands, along with environmentalists and Delta
supporters, who have been at odds for years.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"> “This
is not a substitute for any long term, future plans,” Minton
emphasized. “In no <span style="color: black;">way
is this to interfere with the outcome or preclude any outcomes from
the BDCP or the Delta Stewardship Council or the Delta Plan or
anything else.” </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Minton
said the coalition might decide upon strengthening the levees, or
creating more habitat in the Yolo Bypass, or getting rid of invasive
weeds in the Delta channels.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Imagine. Action rather than words. And maybe the first step toward
rebuilding trust.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
Patricia McBroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07595399655479910459noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377350442704856259.post-80877660372561967102012-01-31T21:26:00.000-08:002015-06-16T16:58:39.029-07:00CALIFORNIA DELTA AS NATIONAL HERITAGE COULD HELP SAVE ITS PEOPLE<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<b>By Patricia McBroom</b><br />
<br />
Many people have their eyes fixed on the Delta’s natural resources: its water, its imperiled fish and the 750 or so species that live there or use it seasonally, like sandhill cranes. But there is another species that has lived in the Delta for 10,000 years. That would be human beings, and they also are imperiled.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some 2,500 souls live in the Delta today, mostly farming families. Many have been there for generations, living in a time and place that seems from another era. Freeways stop at the borders of the Delta. So do gas stations. Main thoroughfares from the Bay Area to Stockton and Sacramento route drivers around the territory, not through it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMU01Ahh3ci_SWbTOgFbIs4jUy3kF3gHohwVuf0Ov7_AeezovsIAl1uKUsQPIfn20UpxjXalDyNbqXrhAPZ6RYomYkPAi-O2Uz5MD3tN1TAvTELd6FUgfdQPKHKYzVqTB0JIjLCX7MtOMz/s1600/P5180241.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMU01Ahh3ci_SWbTOgFbIs4jUy3kF3gHohwVuf0Ov7_AeezovsIAl1uKUsQPIfn20UpxjXalDyNbqXrhAPZ6RYomYkPAi-O2Uz5MD3tN1TAvTELd6FUgfdQPKHKYzVqTB0JIjLCX7MtOMz/s400/P5180241.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yellow drawbridges, like this one on Sutter Island, charm Delta visitors<br />
<i>Credit: Patricia McBroom</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The area opens a window on California history, which is immediately apparent to anyone who drives over the Antioch Bridge onto highway 160 toward Sacramento. Soaring off the urban rim and onto the first island, the driver is hit first by a sweeping view of the Delta and then by a sense of being suddenly transported into the past. Yellow drawbridges, occasional tiny towns, narrow levee roads and green acres recall the 1950s, but in fact, the history is much older. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Along the winding waterways are the remnants of a river culture that barged food, coal and other products from Sacramento to San Francisco for more than 50 years from 1850 to the 1930s. Before them came Native Americans, a large population who thrived for thousands of years in California’s rich Central Valley, including the Delta. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It is a history, however, that is still mostly unknown, scattered in archives throughout the state. Efforts are now being made to bring it together and none too soon. The Delta is under increasing stress, not only from near collapse of the ecosystem, but from growing demands to turn large tracts of land back into the original marsh. If that were done – if the few thousand people who currently live on and manage delta resources were to leave – much will be lost, not just the history, but a critical human population that maintains the water infrastructure.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjplw90br0v29CmhqnPpg6fRg61ekupqapdUXvsR99DvwviUbaMCbKEsArw-23Y9H8Uh1z4ns6L9ve-hkKD8mL72PGRLh0ynVgTorWcsjYGS88ZtSMI2iRAmUJpvxuuCb6bz3Ni6wlEI-LP/s1600/RS6606_DSC_9252-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjplw90br0v29CmhqnPpg6fRg61ekupqapdUXvsR99DvwviUbaMCbKEsArw-23Y9H8Uh1z4ns6L9ve-hkKD8mL72PGRLh0ynVgTorWcsjYGS88ZtSMI2iRAmUJpvxuuCb6bz3Ni6wlEI-LP/s320/RS6606_DSC_9252-1.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">University of the Pacific's Robert Benedetti</td></tr>
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“We need these folks,” said Robert Benedetti, professor of political science at the University of the Pacific in Stockton. “If you want managed water, you’ve got to have people on the ground with the motivation to manage it. Otherwise, it’s like saying, ‘Well, we won’t have any more small business in cities. Let’s make it all residential.’ We’ve tried that. What you get is a huge crime rate because there is nobody to watch the street. In this case, if you eliminate the livelihood of the people who live in the marinas, towns and farms, no one will watch the Delta. Somebody who flies over every six months doesn’t have much motive to catch stuff.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLipiAxcRy8Twft8SrF1f5a31rpTgMv8NeK9NS5iCtqMDe9A5nY3JDBxhZ2VTTNvnfWwc2RO4NVsIRJvWkznqUKmgDFo1k5S0BeYOxv0RgfbVs1VP1KS1xjb6DVPQS74s4PDgQZIYcbxpL/s1600/IMG_0074.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLipiAxcRy8Twft8SrF1f5a31rpTgMv8NeK9NS5iCtqMDe9A5nY3JDBxhZ2VTTNvnfWwc2RO4NVsIRJvWkznqUKmgDFo1k5S0BeYOxv0RgfbVs1VP1KS1xjb6DVPQS74s4PDgQZIYcbxpL/s320/IMG_0074.jpg" width="214" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> The Dai-Loy Museum in Locke is<br />
much like it was 70 years ago.</td></tr>
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Benedetti is heading up a multi-institutional effort to reconstruct stories of the Delta and its successive cultures. The 19<sup>th</sup> century river culture, for instance, that tied the coast and the valley together through water transport, was a transient one where strangers bumped up against each other and took their leisure in gambling and drinking, said Benedetti. With the people now gone, remnants of the old towns, many dilapidated and withered, can be found along 80 miles of the Sacramento River from Clarksburg to Crockett, a picturesque town under the Carquinez Bridge. Another theme from the Delta describes the epic struggles of humans to live in the midst of an unpredictable, often rampaging natural environment, stories that include a long Native American prehistory of 10,000 years. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Benedetti hopes his effort with a handful of other scholars, dubbed “Delta Narratives,” will be supported by a grant in April from the National Endowment for the Arts.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“I think we’ve got a shot. The area deserves the best we can do,” said Benedetti. “This is our Jamestown. From prehistory to industrialization, the Delta is the place that held California in its infancy.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjklSEc3SrZUek7Whf7R4rHD7sl8mdugakgBlWm0Y_TT1T_2edpFdVm6N0B-Ra7y5TxaPQNt5RtHthvN_SKK8gm0MDF7XKgv5hyphenhyphenbYVq1u12nKt3wLRnm5Zi_yrQlWy4j6UTpPedltzUyK1d/s1600/Scan+2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjklSEc3SrZUek7Whf7R4rHD7sl8mdugakgBlWm0Y_TT1T_2edpFdVm6N0B-Ra7y5TxaPQNt5RtHthvN_SKK8gm0MDF7XKgv5hyphenhyphenbYVq1u12nKt3wLRnm5Zi_yrQlWy4j6UTpPedltzUyK1d/s400/Scan+2.jpeg" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Proposed Delta NHA would reach from Sacramento<br />
to Vallejo, through the narrow Carquinez strait.</td></tr>
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In another move to resurrect the history, local Delta leaders in January asked the National Park Service to review <a href="http://www.delta.ca.gov/NPSNHAreview.htm">an application</a> naming the place a National Heritage Area (NHA), a site designated by Congress for its cultural and historic importance to the nation. If approved, this would be the first such heritage area in California.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Delta people hope an NHA will give them much-needed leverage in the war over water. If they can “brand” the Delta, raise public awareness, attract and educate visitors, perhaps they can hold off the forces that want to turn much of their agricultural land on which their economy depends back into a marsh or – worse – a bracken back-water. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Meanwhile, both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives already have legislation waiting in the wings to create a similar NHA that would extend from Sacramento, down the river, and through the Carquinez Strait to Vallejo. The bills are being offered by Sen. Diane Feinstein and Rep. John Garamendi, who was born and raised in the Delta. <o:p></o:p></div>
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An NHA could bring up to $2 million per year into the area to rehabilitate the historic and cultural artifacts; it is distinct from a national park, in that private property and the local economy are maintained.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcVHmSfMw_8meYZXeJXyzLWdH2AYa9jXE87glHgQqwIy82yZpGVgcFzYu_xfQy0_JruvzI2Mldre0i9bxtzrg7Cl2-wKh-imSVdyZxxCVfxn5Oz2phxNr8FwysAuMzhY6eIEOMAwnJ8D0Z/s1600/IMG_0079.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcVHmSfMw_8meYZXeJXyzLWdH2AYa9jXE87glHgQqwIy82yZpGVgcFzYu_xfQy0_JruvzI2Mldre0i9bxtzrg7Cl2-wKh-imSVdyZxxCVfxn5Oz2phxNr8FwysAuMzhY6eIEOMAwnJ8D0Z/s400/IMG_0079.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Chinese town of Locke is a Delta<br />
treasure much in need of rehabilitation.<br />
<i>Credit: Patricia McBroom</i></td></tr>
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But, while public awareness of its history and new recreational opportunities are certainly needed in the Delta, these things alone can not counter the threats to agricultural viability there. Agriculture is by far the most important economic engine in the Delta, and it is being challenged from several directions. Chief among the threats are plans for an “isolated conveyance,” (aka, peripheral canal), which would take a huge gulp from the Sacramento River upstream of the Delta and channel it underground to the south, possibly causing salt water to flood inland, ruining the rich, productive land (among the most productive in the State). Concurrent with such a tunnel are plans to turn large parts of the Delta back into a marshland. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Governor Jerry Brown referred to these ideas in his recent State of the State address, mentioning 100,000 acres of new fish habitat. That equals a sixth of the Delta’s total farmed acres. Other dark clouds on the horizon for the Delta are evolving regulations contained in the current draft of the <a href="http://www.deltacouncil.ca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/files/Fifth_Staff_Draft_Delta_Plan_080211.pdf">Delta Plan</a>, which, when finalized, will go into effect this summer. <o:p></o:p></div>
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According to<a href="http://www.deltacouncil.ca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/files/dsc_legislative_booklet_0.pdf"> state water law enacted in 2009</a>, the plan is obligated to achieve two co-equal goals: (1) making water deliveries more reliable and (2) restoring the Delta ecosystem. The law goes on to say that these goals <i>shall be achieved in a manner that protects and enhances the unique cultural, recreational, natural resource and agricultural values of the Delta as an evolving place.”</i><span style="font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Trouble is that no policies have been written yet that protect or enhance agricultural activities in the Delta, though many support the coequal goals and habitat protection. That worries the Delta people whose livelihoods are all but completely dependent on their fields. If anything is done to hobble agriculture, they will be forced to leave.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“The plan is very heavy on the coequal goals and non-existent in regard to the second statutory requirement: protecting the Delta as a place. It has words to that effect, but nothing solid,” said Russell van Loben Sels, head of a five-county farm bureau called the Delta Caucus. The Caucus is one of several Delta groups calling for changes in the Delta Plan that would protect $1.5 billion in agricultural production there.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Other complaints are coming from the reclamation districts that maintain the levees in the Delta. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Policies in the Delta Plan seem “clearly directed toward changing the nature of the Delta into a recreational area, with some limited agriculture in the context of large habitat,” said Erik Ringelberg of BSK Associates, who provides ecological services for about a dozen reclamation districts.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“It’s not that Delta people want any specific new development out there, but they do want to continue the livelihood they’ve spent the last 200 years on,” said Ringelberg, adding that “none of the requirements and very few of the goals (in the Delta Plan) are associated with even maintaining agriculture in the Delta.”</div>
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The plan is not finished yet, however, and changes are sure to come with integration of the new analysis, “<a href="http://www.delta.ca.gov/res/docs/ESP_1_12.pdf">Economic Sustainability Plan for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta,</a>" in February. Whether those changes will be big enough to save AG in the face of the multiple forces pushing for water and habitat remains to be seen.<o:p></o:p></div>
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If not, California will be very much the worse for losing a small, hardy band of people who’ve kept watch on Delta waterways all these years.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Patricia McBroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07595399655479910459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377350442704856259.post-56881571769782695092011-11-15T19:17:00.000-08:002015-06-16T17:00:16.725-07:00SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA STRIVES TO CUT RELIANCE ON NORTHERN WATER<!--StartFragment--> <br />
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<b>By Patricia McBroom</b><br />
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“Water in California isn’t a problem; it’s a code word for 100 problems.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Nowhere is this observation, attributed to Journalist Carey McWilliams, more apparent than in the massive 2200-page environmental report from the Delta Stewardship Council (DSC). Everything you ever wanted to know about water in California is in this encyclopedic report.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Except solutions, which have yet to be determined.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In the meantime, the <a href="http://www.deltacouncil.ca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/files/Fifth_Staff_Draft_Delta_Plan_080211.pdf">Council’s Delta Plan</a> (the subject of the environmental analysis) is clearly aimed at reducing reliance on northern water by building up self-sufficiency throughout the southland. <o:p></o:p></div>
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According to Martha Davis, senior policy advisor to the DSC, “We want to reduce reliance on the delta through an expansion of local and regional resources.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Davis is the primary author of chapter 4 (“A More Reliable Water Supply for California”) of the Fifth Draft Delta Plan and a former leader of the Mono Lake Committee.<o:p></o:p></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlMKDNYh8aOVl3w0m1eOVNxlpjKnv1F_SxmdGcJkQFn6jrOhTBxXOQnUF5WMW4sJ_KlO25N7drpKe83GrYs1i3pc91KjR4nDjAEVqA9vnY0zAO5KhtM2fboGO4oKHG4qW3vFQdYCxh4gu0/s1600/PB090103.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlMKDNYh8aOVl3w0m1eOVNxlpjKnv1F_SxmdGcJkQFn6jrOhTBxXOQnUF5WMW4sJ_KlO25N7drpKe83GrYs1i3pc91KjR4nDjAEVqA9vnY0zAO5KhtM2fboGO4oKHG4qW3vFQdYCxh4gu0/s320/PB090103.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Delta slough near the Mokelumne River <br />
in fall, when the water runs low. <i>Credit: P. McBroom</i></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>She said that, among other requirements, the Delta Plan calls for Southern California and Central Valley water districts – all those who import water from the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta –to describe how they would deal with a catastrophic three-year interruption in water supplies from the north.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What will you do?” she asked, if an earthquake puts the pumps off-line for up to 36 months.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Southern water officials may not be able to answer that question yet, but by all accounts, agencies there are racing to develop their own local water resources. They have already cut dependency on imported water to an unexpected degree in the past few years.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">–<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>San Diego’s Water Authority has cut dependency on imported water by 48% since 1991 and is on course to reduce another 10% by 2020.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">–<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>The City of Los Angeles expects to reduce its purchase of imported water by <a href="http://www.ladwp.com/ladwp/cms/ladwp013957.pdf">48% between 2010 and 2035.</a> <i>(slide 16)</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">–<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>The City of Santa Monica has cut its imported water from <a href="http://www.smmirror.com/#mode=single&view=31826">85% to one third</a> and aims to be 100% self-sufficient by 2020.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other districts in the south are expected to achieve by 2020 a nearly 30 percent reduction in purchases from the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) – the wholesaler that supplies 26 southern water agencies with water from the Delta and the Colorado River.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“MWD agencies are improving local water supplies as we speak.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All have been dramatically reduced over the few years and more is the works,” said Dennis Cushman, assistant general Manager of the San Diego County Water Authority.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXgsZ5LbMhh5sJuHFjKmqr3rNo_FchY9O2R-zJxy8A5N35ocLBtRR0n6nFmhKKNG3D7jNECPUAOvFZM6m5QWeSYg-MS2inF_0usX_bX8emafh4-zzyVrNPkNCgdmI_iBW8tV9l_FONIB0Z/s1600/Scan+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXgsZ5LbMhh5sJuHFjKmqr3rNo_FchY9O2R-zJxy8A5N35ocLBtRR0n6nFmhKKNG3D7jNECPUAOvFZM6m5QWeSYg-MS2inF_0usX_bX8emafh4-zzyVrNPkNCgdmI_iBW8tV9l_FONIB0Z/s400/Scan+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">San Diego County Water Authority map of future MWD sales,<br />
showing decline from projections in 2000 (orange) and 2005 (green) </td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Cushman testified recently at an assembly hearing in Sacramento, presenting the chart at right showing a 28 percent reduction in purchases by 2020.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said that between 2010 when the chart was made and today, another 300,000 acre feet of local capacity has been created in the south.<br />
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“We are driving that blue line ever lower,” he said. “The handwriting is on the wall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Clearly, the future is going to be one in which (Southern California’s) agencies will be providing more and more of their water though local development and conservation.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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But there are limits to how much self reliance southern California can achieve.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The absence of local water resources is, indeed, the basic weakness of the region – its eternal problem,” McWilliams wrote in his landmark book, <i>“Southern California: An Island on the Land</i><span style="font-style: normal;">.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Half the population of the state lives in Southern California and 50% of them rely on imported water to some significant degree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How low the new water initiatives can drive that figure is still unknown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the Council’s emerging Delta Plan, slated for implementation next April, all agencies that rely on water from the delta will be required to submit management plans demonstrating their moves toward regional self-reliance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At that point, it should become more clear what the real demand is now and in future years in southern California, as opposed to current pumping or business as usual.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf8f0AO8GrPiw6y2rPhq6AvqJLoxdaGoTH7Vgp6aTOKFke8MRDHDTJCjpPQytaXU-WgKuyuIYxwUw9DOwWtmkxO26mxqSOy-F4Z49oHuzhyClPqxjTrDcYfmv3rJlGrCMZPi6amvWAOmlg/s1600/PB090114.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf8f0AO8GrPiw6y2rPhq6AvqJLoxdaGoTH7Vgp6aTOKFke8MRDHDTJCjpPQytaXU-WgKuyuIYxwUw9DOwWtmkxO26mxqSOy-F4Z49oHuzhyClPqxjTrDcYfmv3rJlGrCMZPi6amvWAOmlg/s320/PB090114.JPG" width="284" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Central Delta lawyer, Thomas Zuckerman, an<br />
influential voice for regional self-reliance.<a href="http://www.deltacouncil.ca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/files/Fifth_Staff_Draft_Delta_Plan_080211.pdf">Council's Delta Plan</a><br />
<i>Credit: Patricia McBroom</i></td></tr>
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Nevertheless, dependency on northern water cannot be broken without more storage in the south, said northern California water lawyer, Thomas Zuckerman, an advocate of regional water development.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Zuckerman, who lives in the delta and works for the Central Delta Water Agency, is one of the more influential voices in shaping state water policy. “He is one of the most eloquent spokesmen for the people of California,” said Davis of Zuckerman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Very thoughtful; very common sense.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Zuckerman’s ideas about where to store water for southern California, however, has not won any prizes from the Delta Stewardship Council. He wants the State to recover a huge natural lake in the Tulare region that once drained the Southern Sierras.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It may come as a shock to most Californians, but the Tulare basin, now a dry desert farmed with irrigation and imported water, was once the largest lake in the western U.S., flanked by wetlands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rivers were tamed in the 1920s in a legendary tale of manipulation and power on the part of a wealthy grower, as told in the recent book, “<i>The King of California: J..G. Boswell and the Making of a Secret American Empire</i><span style="font-style: normal;">,” by Mark Arax and Rick Wartzman.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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If the lake were recovered – representing about 200,000 acres of farmland – it could hold the liquid equivalent of about three new reservoirs, and could charge the depleted underlying aquifer as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a grand idea, supported not only by Zuckerman, but by the 200 organizations that make up the Environmental Water Caucus.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #228822; font-family: arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Tulare Lake once drained the southern Sierras via four rivers.<br />
The lake basin is visible in this map. </span>sierraspureminerals.com<br />
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“To reduce reliance on the Delta and increase regional self-sufficiency in areas that use water exported from the Delta, the Tulare Lake could be reestablished with natural inflows from the Kern, Kings, Kaweah, and Tule rivers to store about 2.5 million acre-feet of water with minimal modifications of existing berms, as proposed by the San Joaquin Valley Leadership Forum,” wrote the environmental coalition in its <a href="http://www.deltacouncil.ca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/files/Draft_EIR_appendix_C.pdf">alternative to the Delta Plan.</a> <i>(page C-76) </i><span style="font-style: normal;">“The Tulare Lake Basin Surface Storage Facility also could store water from the San Joaquin River, Friant Kern Canal, or California Aqueduct following construction of conveyance from Tulare Lake to these locations.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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The DSC environmental report dings this idea because of the loss of agricultural land.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One wonders what role is played by a handful of wealthy landowners in the San Joaquin Valley who have the State hogtied in its search for solutions to California’s water problems.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Another idea yet to be accepted by the DSC is for the state to take back ownership of the huge underground Kern Water Bank that was inexplicably turned over to private hands in the Monterey Agreement (<i>See Spigot's March, 2011, blog)</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bank, controlled by Stewart Resnick’s Paramount Farms, is a critical storage area for imported State (delta) water. It sells water to the southland during droughts, as well as to other buyers willing to pay the price.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By this means, water is sold to the highest bidder, regardless of public value – not a good thing for the public interest. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Thus, the Environmental Water Caucus wants the Delta Plan to <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“d</span><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">irect the Department of Water Resources to regain public control of the Kern Water Bank and dedicate the water supply for the <a href="http://www.ewccalifornia.org/reports/deltaplancommentsfinal.pdf">benefit all Californians</a>.” (</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">page 18)</span></i></span><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That one move alone could go far toward providing the storage that 22 million urban users south of the delta need.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Neither Tulare Lake nor the Kern Water Bank involve vast new sums of money for reservoir construction. But they do require that State planners confront wealthy, politically powerful San Joaquin growers, making the changes </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that would put California on the path to a sane and equitable water policy.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Southern California is already doing its part, said Zuckerman. “it’s the agricultural interests in the San Joaquin Valley that are the problem.”</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--EndFragment-->Patricia McBroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07595399655479910459noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377350442704856259.post-81358902737229323182011-08-10T09:28:00.000-07:002015-06-16T17:02:59.147-07:00LEVEES THAT LIE DOWN: A SOLUTION FOR EARTHQUAKES IN THE DELTA?<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<b>By Patricia McBroom</b><br />
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Levees in California’s Delta have a bad image problem. For several years now, they’ve been called “fragile,” “decrepit,” “crumbling,” and “doomed.” One news story after another warns of a catastrophic collapse from a future earthquake, alongside scenarios showing half the delta under water – quite possibly undrinkable salt water.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When levees fail, an inland sea prevails.<br />
<i>Credit: Patricia McBroom</i></td></tr>
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The cost of retrofitting these critical structures, meanwhile, is expressed in extravagant terms. “Astronomical,” said Phil Isenberg, chair of the Delta Stewardship Council, about the cost of making the levees earthquake safe. Isenberg made the comment most recently during a televised <a href="http://vids.kvie.org/video/2017614881">debate on delta dilemmas</a>, but he’s said it before, as have others. The accepted wisdom among water wonks in California is that the levees cannot all be repaired sufficiently to save the state from disaster in the event of a “big one.” <a href="http://watershed.ucdavis.edu/pdf/Suddeth-Mount-et-al-2010-SFEWS.pdf">Some</a> openly recommend that the state allow major portions of the delta to go underwater, to the consternation of delta residents who live and farm there.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Why would anyone want to save them,” a state water official was heard to say the other day about the delta levees. “Everyone knows they’re doomed.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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But what if this public narrative is wrong – or substantially wrong? What if the levees are in better shape than described and – most importantly – can be retrofitted to withstand a big shake?</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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If this is the case – if most or all of the levees can be built up to withstand an earthquake, magnitude 7 on the Hayward Fault, for a reasonable amount of money – it would change fundamentally the calculus now driving decisions about major new water infrastructure in California.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr. Robert Pyke: Levees can resist earthquakes and<br />
accommodate to sea level rise.<br />
<i>Credit: Patricia McBroom</i></td></tr>
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The time for that kind of reassessment has arrived with publication of the <a href="http://www.delta.ca.gov/res/docs/ESP%20Full%20Version%207%2011.pdf">second draft</a> of an economic sustainability plan for the delta, prepared by a team headed by Dr. Jeffrey Michael at the University of the Pacific. Little attention has so far been paid to the draft plan’s new information on levees.<o:p></o:p></div>
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That is a mistake.<o:p></o:p></div>
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On page 64, in a chapter devoted to delta levees, the report states unequivocally, “<b>This study concludes that the core Delta levees can be made robust under seismic loadings for a total of $1–2 billion.”</b> </div>
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Written primarily by a civil engineer, Dr. Robert Pyke, who is an expert on earthquake preparedness for dams and levees, working under contract here with Sapper West Inc. in Sacramento, the levee analysis focuses in on 460 miles of agricultural levees that need upgrades, out of a total of some 1,000 delta levee miles.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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The cost of making them seismically resistant is cheap, compared to that of building a tunnel around the Delta ($12–20 billion), or elevating the highways and railways ($10 billion) or even retrofitting San Francisco’s water delivery system from the Hetch Hetchy reservoir ($4.6 billion), the report explains.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Not only is retrofitting the levees less expensive than other alternatives, but a good bit of the money has already been allocated in bond issues passed by voters in prior years. California’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) has been dragging its heels in releasing the bond money,<a href="http://californiaspigot.blogspot.com/2010_08_01_archive.html"> slowing</a> the repair process in an unconscionable way, considering the risks. Officials should have even less of an excuse now, in the light of this new information.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The key to this claim is an enlarged levee that has such a thick landside shoulder that it looks almost flat from the field. It’s crest is very wide – 50 feet compared to 16 feet now on some levees – and it has three feet of freeboard on the waterside at the high water mark of a 100-year flood. It's wide crest means that it can easily be built higher to accommodate sea level rise. On most days, the proposed levee would stand 10-15 feet above the water. It’s landside berm would extend for some 140 feet from the crest.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Design of proposed earthquake resistant levee for Webb Tract, by Hultgren-Tillis Engineers, similar to that<br />
proposed by Robert Pyke, in the Economic Sustainability Plan for the Delta</td></tr>
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“<span style="color: black;">Making a levee robust enough to withstand earthquake shaking is a lot </span>simpler than retrofitting or even seismically designing a new building or bridge,” said Pyke. “Basically it just takes a wider cross-section and more dirt.”</div>
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<span style="color: black;"> He explained that in an earthquake, the big fat levee would deform a bit, but “it’s unlikely that even with high water that you would have a breach.” </span>Asked in an interview how he can be sure without data that this kind of construction would resist a breach, Pyke replied, “The earthquake behavior of dams and levees is central to my education and experience. I’ve been an expert witness in about 20 cases in California and as far as I know, I’ve never been on the losing side, because I don’t make things up. I don’t overstate things.”</div>
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<span style="color: black;"> In any case, he added with a smile, “It’s hard to see how the levee can fall over when it’s already lying down.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"> Pyke’s claim to expertise is backed up by other civil engineers he’s worked with on multiple projects in the state. “He’s very, very good – one of the best,” said Ed Idriss, retired UC Davis civil engineering professor who worked with Pyke on a four-man team to evaluate potential ground motion from an earthquake for the new East Bay Bridge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"> “In terms of knowledge, I’d put Bob Pyke way up there. He’s one of the most qualified to look at the effects of earthquakes on levees." Idriss served on the Seismic Safety Peer Review Panel for the new bridge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"> If the new report is true, however, it raises a sticky question: How did so many other experts on the delta get it wrong for so long? The answer appears to lie in a controversial, but nonetheless influential, report put out in 2005 by the DWR. Titled <a href="http://www.water.ca.gov/floodmgmt/dsmo/sab/drmsp/docs/drms_execsum_ph1_final_low.pdf">“Delta Risk Management Strategy,”</a> , phase 1, the DRMS report made highly sophisticated calculations of levee failure in the event of an earthquake, estimating that up to 50 breaches could occur, flooding 20 islands and disrupting the state’s water supply to 23 million people. Such estimates were not based on new data on actual levees, and little has been collected since. In fact, there are gaping holes in bare facts, such as how much loose sand lies under existing structures. No one knows.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"> According to Pyke, lack of basic facts leads to inaccurate predictions. </span>“The data was just not there to do such advanced calculations,” he said. “If you lack adequate data in a study like that, it leads to greater uncertainty. Greater uncertainty pushes up the mean results. It’s inescapable and very common. I caution people not to rush into risk and probability analysis unless you have enough data to do it accurately.”</div>
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<span style="color: black;"> Nevertheless, the DRMS study became the basis of more calculations and more analysis by <a href="http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/rb/RB_708EHRB.pdf">scientists at UC Davis </a>and UC Berkeley who expanded the earthquake predictions into a full-fledged story of levee collapse – still with no new information on how the levees are actually constructed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"> To make matters more complicated, there’s every reason to be concerned. The hundreds of miles of levees that surround about 70 islands are highly variable, ranging from good to very poor. They’ve been unevenly maintained; they are made from different materials; some would probably breach in an earthquake if not improved as soon as possible. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Low freeboard; easily overtopped Delta levee</td></tr>
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<span style="color: black;"> “These levees are the poor stepchild – the one critical feature in California that is still being neglected (for seismic upgrades)” said Pyke, noting that Cal Trans and public utilities in the East Bay and San Francisco have spent billions to upgrade their infrastructure. But levee repair is lagging, even though voters have twice voted for money to fix them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"> Many would argue that the delay can be traced to the <a href="http://www.water.ca.gov/floodmgmt/dsmo/sab/drmsp/docs/DRMS_Phase2_Foreword_Executive_Summary.pdf">state’s preoccupation</a> with building a multi-billion dollar “isolated conveyance” (aka, peripheral canal). If the levees can be retrofitted for earthquakes, one good reason for building the canal would be lost, and wealthy interests in the state want the conveyance – actually a tunnel under the delta.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"> Conspiracy or not, it’s clear there is a powerful constituency, highly influenced by work done by UC Davis scientists at the Public Policy Institute of California, to write the levees off – or many of them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"> Based on this new report, ordered by the Delta Protection Commission, there should be a powerful constituency now to build them up. At the very least, state planners need to reverse gears and not let them waste away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Patricia McBroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07595399655479910459noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377350442704856259.post-78909896599750233012011-03-23T14:31:00.000-07:002015-06-16T17:05:27.678-07:00PUBLIC TRUST SUIT WOULD CHANGE THE GAME IN DELTA; STOP PUMPS <b>By Patricia McBroom</b> <br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 27px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Water in California belongs to the people as a whole, under the protection of the state. It’s not supposed to be sold for profit. But that principle has been violated for years with little recourse for those in the water world who have watched it happen. Water has been sold to the highest bidder across the state often enough that many have come to view fresh water as a commodity – something they own and should make a profit on.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The drive to privatization received a big boost in 1995 when state water officials got behind closed doors and signed a pact with local water agencies called the Monterey Amendment. Within days, a large underground aquifer in Kern County fell under the control of an equally large private argibusiness headed by billionaire Stewart Resnick of Los Angeles. Since that time, water pumped from the delta rose by more than 50 percent, leading – most observers agree – to collapse of its fish populations. Not all of the water went to the now privately-run Kern County Water Bank, but a lot of it did.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Now a group of environmentalists has launched a three-pronged legal assault on the Monterey Amendment and violation of the public trust. <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/monterey_plus_amendments/lawsuits.html"> Two lawsuits</a> are moving slowly through the courts, while the third – potentially the most revolutionary – will be heard for the first time this Friday in Superior Court. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_63597501"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">(</span></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><a href="https://services.saccourt.com/publicdms/Search.aspx"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">CaseNo. 34-201080000653)</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="http://www.c-win.org/press-room-delta-public-trust-lawsuit.html">This case</a>, based on ancient laws called the Public Trust Doctrine, could completely change the game in the delta, shutting down the pumps, if all else fails. It also could affect everyone who takes water from the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta, which is to say most of us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> “This is potentially a very constructive lawsuit, exactly the kind that needs to be brought,” said law professor Brian Gray, an expert on the public trust at UC Hastings. At the same time, said Gray, it’s naïve to think that anybody who uses, diverts or discharges into delta waters could emerge unchanged from such a basic challenge to business as usual.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> One major effect of a public trust case would be to establish minimum standards for protection of the estuary – standards that do not yet exist. “The fragmented approach, said Gray, “is rife with conflict and it clearly hasn’t worked.” If this case works as its proponents describe, “it will be a law that establishes an environmental baseline” for recovering the health of the delta.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Slough on the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Sweeping, and fundamentally simple in outline, the new case reflects the intense frustration experienced by environmentalists who have been fighting for years to control over-pumping of water from this most valuable estuary, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacramento_%E2%80%93_San_Joaquin_River_Delta">one of only a few of its kind in the world</a>, and by far the largest source of water in California.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> “Some of us are getting older. We don’t have a lot of time left,” said Michael Jackson, lead attorney for the plaintiffs. Jackson lives in the rural northern California town of Quincy and is an officer of the first plaintiff, the California Water Impact Network (C-WIN). He’s been at this kind of work since he was in his thirties. He is now 65. He said a major aim of the action is to broaden the legal base on which to fix the delta, from protection of a single species, like smelt, to the entire estuary. As for shutting down the pumps if violations do not stop, it may not be the best outcome, but “we have to ask for it,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Along with Jackson is the founder of C-WIN, Carolee Krieger, a grandmother of mixed Polynesian background whose adult life has been spent fighting big water interests. Like Jackson, Krieger has been at it from the 1980s, launching one legal challenge after another from her three-acre estate in Santa Barbara. She is in back of all three lawsuits. But the public trust case touches her most deeply.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> “Water is the lifeblood of the planet. If our generation doesn’t do this, we won’t have a California we want to live in, for our kids and grandkids,” she said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> A descendant of the Hawaiian monarch, Kamehameha I, through her mother’s line, Krieger grew up with the notion of Aina, a Hawaiian term which means “power of the land.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> “I have felt strongly about this since I was a child,” she said. “Hawaiian culture has always seen itself as a steward of the land. You can’t own the land; you can only take care of it.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Krieger's "cathedral for chickens" in Montecito</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> And take care of it, she does, in a tropical rainforest she has created in Montecito near Santa Barbara. Under a canopy of oak and sycamore trees that provide shade while retaining moisture, Krieger has built an Hawaiian paradise of trees, plants, flowers and birds, interspersed with her own ceramic sculptures. She maintains a chicken coop, which her husband calls a “cathedral for chickens.” The sides of the coop rise into the trees high above while peacocks preen under its arches. “You can have wonderful gardens without a lot of water,” said Krieger, who composts everything and feeds it back into the earth. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Krieger got her first big taste of power politics around water in 1991 when Santa Barbara County signed on to help pay for an extension from the new California Aqueduct next to Highway 5. The 144-mile extension was supposed to supply water from the State Water Project to the central coast during dry periods. The hitch was that water isn’t available from the delta during droughts and when its wet, Santa Barbara doesn’t need it and can’t store it. Now the county water agencies are selling bonds to pay off the debt because they can’t raise enough money from water use. “That’s like using your credit card to pay your mortgage,” said Krieger.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> She said Santa Barbara was suckered into voting for the project by lies about its cost and its reliable yield in terms of water. “That was my first taste of the corruption that is possible around water,” she said. “I knew (this deal) was bad. I just didn’t know how bad.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">C-WIN president Carolee Krieger</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Four years later, Krieger found herself sitting alone as a volunteer in a small out-of the way meeting while water agency officials first reported results of the Monterey Agreement, one of the biggest water deals in the state. The deal was “publicly reported” in the tiny coastal town of Buellton, but “I was the only member of the public there,” said Krieger. She got the word out as quickly as she could and called a meeting in her carport. “It only takes a few of us to make a difference. I think of that all the time. I know I am doing the right thing with my life.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> A fierce fighter in the water world, Krieger helped launch the first legal challenge to the Monterey Amendment in 1995; then, when the courts ruled for the plaintiffs in 2000, she walked out on what she considered an ineffective settlement and formed C-WIN to lodge two more suits. But even that was not enough. As pumping continued and accelerated through the decade, it looked as though the alliance between state water officials and big time water contractors in Kern County and Los Angeles could not be stopped.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (A recent example of profit-making schemes would have water from the Kern River, a notoriously unreliable source, l<a href="http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-11-21/news/24843769_1_water-supply-water-transfer-three-water-agencies">aundered through the Kern County Water Bank</a>, thereby becoming a reliable source – based on state-supplied delta water.(<a href="http://www.redwoodcity.org/phed/planning/saltworks/pdf/tier_one/rc_tier_one_water_demand_supply_summary.pdf">See page 39 of "Saltworks Water Demand Supply Summary report) </a>While such transfers are badly needed for helping southern California during a drought, in this case, the transfer would allow a developer to build 12,000 new homes on a salt flat in San Francisco Bay, a plan so <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/06/EDN31GLIB1.DTL">unsustainable that they would have to build a sea wall</a> to keep out rising ocean levels.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> In 2005, water environmentalists in California watched in dismay as populations of one species of fish after another crashed. Jackson and Krieger knew they had to find a better way to make a difference and began to construct a public trust case for the delta, something Jackson had been thinking about for thirty years. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Basing a lawsuit on the ancient doctrine is rare. Only a few have been won, but when they are successful, a public trust case transforms the relationship between private and public interests in regard to natural resources. Such a ground-breaking decision was made by the California Supreme Court in 1983 to preserve Mono Lake near Yosemite. The Court ruled that the Los Angeles Water District had to stop taking water from the streams that fed Mono because the lake was being irreparably damaged by the diversions. The current delta lawsuit is based on that decision.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> As it has evolved since Roman times, the doctrine preserves certain waterways for use by the public, setting up a fundamental right that cannot easily be restricted by private ownership. Such rights include use of lakes, streams, tidal lands and other natural resources linked to water.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> In the current lawsuit, plaintiffs are suing California’s water agencies: the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) and the Department of Water Resources (DWR). In their complaint, they charge that water officials have violated the public trust by allowing so much water to be pumped out of the Delta that fish and wildlife, aesthetics, recreation and water quality are being damaged or destroyed. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> They also say that state water agencies have ignored their own regulations in allowing temperature and salinity levels to rise in the Delta and have violated California’s Constitution requiring reasonable and beneficial use of water.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> If these failures are not corrected, the pumps must stop, according to the complaint by C-WIN, the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) and AquaAlliance.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The case will open Friday with a request from the state that the case be dismissed because it doesn’t include the Federal Government as a defendant. (The Feds run the Central Valley Project that also pumps water from the delta). Asked what he will do if the case is dismissed by Superior Court Judge Michael Kenney, Jackson said, “We will just have to refile it.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> That wouldn’t be the first time and maybe not the last. Failing is not an option for these water warriors.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Patricia McBroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07595399655479910459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377350442704856259.post-39467397866967238152011-02-01T00:07:00.000-08:002015-06-16T17:07:05.799-07:00WATER DEMANDS TRACED TO AGRICULTURE, NOT POPULATION GROWTH<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -.05in; margin-right: -9.0pt; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<b>By Patricia McBroom</b> <br />
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A small miracle has occurred in the water world, and none too soon. California environmental groups – at bitter odds for more than a year – have come together in a coalition document to influence the state’s soon-to-be-released Delta water plan.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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A first draft of that plan is due for release in mid February – two short weeks away. The coalition of 30 environmental organizations filed its <a href="http://www.ewccalifornia.org/home/index.php">recommendations</a> only last week. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Delta Stewardship Council</td></tr>
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“Breathless” hardly describes this kind of pace. A core group of water policy wonks are slogging daily through piles of data and mountains of opinions to create a rational water plan for the 21<sup>st</sup> century. Not least of these sloggers are the seven members of the Delta Stewardship Council (DSC) who’ve been in office less than a year and are now on the verge of making their first decisions about water. Their plan will be complete, they say, by October of this year.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Thanks to new cooperation by the environmental community, the Council now has strong support for several very important goals. Among the most important of these is a call to restore adequate flow to the Delta estuary and reduce the State’s reliance on Delta water for human uses. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In the past decade, high levels of upstream and downstream use of this water have crashed the ecosystem, caused the near extinction of several species of fish, reduced salmon runs to near zero, sent pollution levels soaring and caused all manner of scary ecological changes. But the extent to which restricted flows in the Delta caused the collapse or can lead to its recovery is a source of intense disagreement. Water contractors and growers have pushed to retain the same high levels of use they had before the drought of the past three years, while Delta ecologists and supporters argue that use should be cut dramatically – up to 50 percent in some scenarios, from 6 million acre feet (MFA) per year of exported water to roughly 3 million.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.ewccalifornia.org/reports/DeltaPlanScopingDocs.pdf">30 Environmental Groups joined Coalition</a></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">The coalition did not put a figure on recommended cuts.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">But in asking that flow standards be guided by the best science for restoring the ecology, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">their recommendations add up to the same thing – big reductions in water use from the Delta, enough to choke a passel of water contractors.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">“We can’t continue the status quo,” said William Jennings of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">“We can’t take (so much) Delta water and turn the rest into a sewer and expect anything but disaster.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">Jennings, who presented the Coalition’s recommendations to the Council at a public meeting in Stockton last week, added, “We want reduced reliance on the Delta.”</span></div>
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That is also what California law requires, said the Bay Institute’s Gary Bobker, in another Council meeting last week. Legislative mandate calls for reduced reliance on the Delta, program director Bobker said. “We are talking about how much reduction, not whether.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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So, can California exporters get along with half as much as much water from the Delta as they took, say, in 2005? Can exports to the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California, for example, be cut to 3 million acre feet per year?<o:p></o:p></div>
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The answer seems to be a surprising “yes” – in spite of an expected population growth in California of another 20 million people by 2050.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It may come as a shock to people in the north, but the residents of southern California do not need any more water from the Delta than they have now. Roger Patterson of the Metropolitan Water District told a national science meeting in December that the district plans to supply its future water needs through regional self-sufficiency. Even now, the whole of southern California takes only 20 percent of the exported water; the rest is used by San Joaquin agriculture, followed by Bay Area cities. Kern county alone uses as much water as the urban South.</div>
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Moreover, the amount of water that can be saved through conservation and recycling is immense. A new <a href="http://www.gwrsystem.com/about-gwrs.html">space age recycling plant</a> in Orange County turns out 70 million clean gallons from waste water per day, pumping it into the ground for future use. The plant cost $480 million and will supply 600,000 residents.</div>
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“Coastal people use 4 million acre feet every year and throw it away. That’s enough for 20 million people,” said Jonas Minton of the Planning and Conservation League. “I think we can recapture half of it by 2030,” he said.</div>
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“There is a significant body of evidence showing us that with conservation, recycling, groundwater recharge and rain capture, we can more than meet the needs of urban users in southern California and the Bay Area who receive water from the Delta,” said Minton.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Backing up such claims is the experience of the Contra Costa Water District where water use has declined by 30 percent since the late 1980s, even while population increased by 60 percent. Other urban water districts, including Southern California’s Metropolitan, are widely acknowledged for doing a good job of conservation. The point seems to be that – although urban users can do more – population growth in California is not driving a crisis over water.</div>
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That leaves agriculture, where demand comes to rest in an unappetizing mix of inefficient irrigation practices, government concessions to wealthy growers and profiteering on the part of some water rights holders.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The story is complex. But if current state planners can uphold the public trust on agricultural inefficiency and profiteering, the payoffs in saved water are enormous – calculated in the millions of acre feet. (One million acre feet is a huge amount of water, enough to satisfy 6.7 million households.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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The environmental coalition has called for the DSC to establish a statewide target for agriculture that would save 1 MFA by 2020 and 2.5 MFA by 2030 using more efficient practices, like drip irrigation instead of flooding the fields. The State Legislature didn’t have the guts to impose conservation targets on agriculture when it passed major new laws at the end of 2009. Perhaps the Delta planners will. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Newly-appointed Delta Watermaster, Craig Wilson, has made a good start by placing agricultural inefficiency in the context of the constitutional “reasonable use” doctrine. That means that wasting water in the fields equals a violation of the public trust, because California’s Constitution mandates that water resources be used reasonably and beneficially. <o:p></o:p></div>
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There were howls of protest from farmers when Wilson made his report to the State Water Resources Control Board in January, prompting DSC chair Phil Isenberg to remark, “They (protesters) don’t seem to recognize that the doctrine of reasonable use is constitutional. That astounds me. The Constitution is unmistakable on this.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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Even more politically unpalatable (and probably less likely to occur) is another environmental recommendation – that the state remove 380,000 acres of drainage- impaired lands from agriculture and turn the property into solar farms. It’s a grand idea. But it would take the lion’s share of Westlands Water District out of agriculture, and there’s no indication that these politically connected, wealthy growers are ready to trade almonds for electrons.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Westlands also uses roughly a million acre feet per year, but in these west San Joaquin lands alongside Interstate 5, the water mobilizes natural deposits of selenium in the soil which lies over an impermeable layer of clay, causing toxic buildup in the soil with runoff into the San Joaquin River. Most environmentalists believe the land should never have been irrigated (State and Federal officials once agreed on that point) and continue to push for having it removed.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">L-R, Council members Hank Nordhoff, Randy Fiorini,<br />
and chairman Phil Isenberg</td></tr>
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One can dream: clean energy instead of dirty water. Sounds like a winner for the public interest.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Finally the environmental coalition called for a broadened evaluation of a peripheral canal around the delta, to include many different sizes, including the alternative of having no peripheral canal at all. No recommendations on size, though. That is currently one of the most contentious issues in California’s water wars. <o:p></o:p></div>
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How to balance the different elements of the public interest is the urgent task facing the Delta Stewardship Council this spring. The 2009 legislation requires that ecological needs and delivery of water for human needs be co-equal – one no more important than the other. Whoever decides how to balance competing interests will need the help of the water gods, not to mention a coat of political armor. The environmentalists declined to make such a balance last week, passing the decision to the DSC. But then, Isenberg passed it back, asking the Bay Institute to do a public trust balancing paper – quickly. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Bobker agreed – reluctantly. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Patricia McBroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07595399655479910459noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377350442704856259.post-35537914018076418352010-11-24T00:14:00.000-08:002015-06-16T17:07:51.642-07:00NEW HOPE FOR A THOUGHTFUL DELTA PLAN IN THE WATER WARS<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>By Patricia McBroom</b><br />
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In California’s water wars, as in the ancient proverb, “It’s always darkest before the dawn.”<br />
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The work of state water officials and contractors was thrown into a blender Monday when the powerful Westlands Water District withdrew from their joint plans to build a giant tunnel/pipeline for diverting water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Loss of Westlands money and participation may mean a slower, more thoughtful process for building a new water diversion system – which is a good thing. Good for the fish, good for the ecosystem, good for Delta agriculture and good for the 23 million of us who drink from this heart of water.</div>
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In truth, this plan was always outrageous in scope and process, driven in no small part by the belligerent demands of Westlands. The west San Joaquin district wanted more water than <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/2010/11/19/3198373/more-work-needed-for-bay-delta.html?storylink=lingospot">biologists</a> thought the Delta ecosystem could tolerate and were told that in meetings with the U.S. Department of Interior earlier this month. They walked out then and have done so now in a particularly <a href="http://aquafornia.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Sagouspe-to-Hayes-Transmittal-FINAL-22-November-2010.pdf">hostile way</a>.<br />
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Yet, something is needed to back up California’s vulnerable water delivery system in case of a catastrophic failure of Delta levees. It may be that California will now have a chance to create that alternative. The second time around, the process needs to include the people whose lives are directly impacted by a peripheral canal, the farmers of the Delta, and the county officials whose agricultural revenues would be dramatically reduced. </div>
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Much has been written about the effects of this project on fish; little attention has so far been given to its effects on agriculture in California’s aboriginal Garden of Eden – in this case the northern Delta region where the new facility would be built, some 15 miles west of Sacramento.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The north Delta: growing grapes, making wines</td></tr>
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The area targeted as home for fish habitat and massive pumping operation is arguably California’s richest and oldest agricultural land. High in organic content, with easy access to water, the north Delta has been farmed for 150 years, producing grapes, rice, fruits, vegetables and other crops. It is now home to a growing wine industry. Six new wineries have been established there in the past five years. Unlike other parts of the Delta to the south and west, these parts of the north Delta have not subsided below sea level and its agricultural production is sustainable into the indefinite future. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mark Wilson, Clarksburg wine maker</td></tr>
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Mark Wilson, a third generation farmer in the north Delta, lives and breathes water issues, while he and his large family, including father, siblings and children, cultivate grapes and produce award-winning wines in the Clarksburg area, where the diversions would occur. An ebullient, outspoken advocate for the Delta, Wilson has served on a long list of state commissions, including the current Delta Conservancy, to make sure the Delta’s position is heard.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“We don’t want our farming brothers in the San Joaquin Valley to starve to death and dry up and blow away,” said Wilson, “but you have to take us into consideration too. We’re not your doormat. We’re not going away. We’re not going to be quiet.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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Wilson’s home could double for a map room in the public library. He’s collected every kind of map he can lay his hands on, from a map of fault lines in the Delta to a map of the massive facilities planned for the new water delivery system in his area. Rattling through a number of them, he put his hands on a map of the proposed water intake facilities on the Sacramento River and spread it out on his dining room table.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">East Bay's Freeport plant pumps<br />
1/10th as much water as each of<br />
5 proposed new intakes</td></tr>
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“These are giant facilities,” said Wilson, pointing out five intakes in an eight mile stretch of the river from Freeport to Courtland. Each intake would be ten times the size of the one already located at Freeport which pumps 300 cfs. The existing Freeport plant covers 600 feet of waterfront; the new pump buildings would be more than a quarter of a mile long, at 1,500 waterfront feet. Each would pump 3,000 cfs. (The size and location of the intake facilities are still being analyzed according to the BDCP draft plan posted on Tuesday; they may be located on shore rather than in the river, for example, and a range of sizes is under consideration.) <o:p></o:p><br />
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The intakes would change forever the meandering quaintness of Highway 160 and surrounding farmland. They could also threaten fresh water supplies in the Delta because at peak operating capacity, the combined pumps could take the entire river flow – which BDCP proponents say would not happen.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">BDCP draft of intakes (squares) on <a href="http://bdcpweb.com/EnvironmentalReviewProcess/Maps/DownloadableMaps.aspx">website</a>. Blue,<br />
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Delta residents and county officials are not so sure: better to limit the pump size than to rely on changeable rules in these water wars. Wilson said he can understand California’s need for an alternate water delivery system, given the vulnerability of the current system to catastrophic failure, but<span style="color: red;"> </span>it should be “restricted in size so they can’t just take everything. A small conveyance would give (California water users) redundancy and flexibility. I’m open to discussing that. But it has to be on terms where we are treated as equals in the process and that hasn’t happened yet.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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In addition to the intakes, the north Delta will also be ground zero for the creation of new habitat for fish, required by law to compensate for taking the water. State water planners originally targeted the entire Clarksburg area for a fish farm, but have since drawn back to the Yolo Bypass, a flood control area visible from Hwy 80 near Sacramento. Most people, including Wilson, agree that parts of the Yolo Bypass are suitable for habitat, but such conversions would still strongly impact agricultural production in Yolo County. Farmers use the bypass to grow rice and alfalfa when it isn’t covered with flood waters, and water fowl feed on the rice seed, a cycle that would be broken by fish habitat.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fall sunset on the River Road (Hwy 160) <br />
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To assure that their interests are taken into account, Yolo County supervisors placed a two-year moratorium recently on any projects to create new habitat – not to stop it altogether but to give the county time to develop its own rules for converting the land. Westlands purchased land in Yolo County to chalk up as habitat against the water they wanted to take. This would stop the conversion temporarily.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“We’re not saying ‘no habitat ever,’” said Yolo County supervisor Mike McGowan. “But we want to have our differences worked out. How much land? How long flooded? We just weren’t getting their (BCDP planners) attention.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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McGowan also agrees that some parts of the Yolo Bypass are suitable for habitat, but how much is the question. “These folks are looking very grand. They can’t do all their mitigation in the bypass because it is essential for flood control and needs to be kept clean. So plans are flowing outside to other parts of the county.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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McGowan explained that Yolo county has historically pursued what he calls a “vow of poverty,” a decision to forego revenues by barring the development of housing developments and strip malls in the unincorporated areas. Along with many desirable consequences – such as preserving farmland and creating a sharp break between town and country – there are important negative effects:<o:p></o:p></div>
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“They see us as easy pickins’” said McGowan. “A big unintended consequence of not paving over paradise has been that folks who want to do all this mitigation see us as a prime unpainted canvas. They say, ‘What do you mean we shouldn’t cover Clarksburg with a swamp for fish farms? There’s nothing there!’ But their ‘nothing’ is our everything.”</div>
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So what is in store now that Westlands has withdrawn from the project? That depends on how politicians and federal and state water officials respond to their challenge. In withdrawing, Westlands president, <span style="color: black;">Jean P. Sagouspe</span>, wrote an astoundingly nasty letter to U.S. Under Secretary of the Interior, David Hayes, saying in part, “<span style="color: black;">it is our view that your myopic and unscientific obstructionism will bring this entire effort at water reform and ecosystem restoration to a halt.”</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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At the same time, Westlands spokesperson, Sarah Wolff, held out the promise that if their district could be assured of getting the amount of water they want (70 percent of full contract) they would be back on board. That’s the kind of allocation that helped crash the Delta ecosystem in the first place. Biologists and environmentalists are united in their opinion that there isn’t enough water to feed these high demands of water contractors and also save the fish.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Patricia McBroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07595399655479910459noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377350442704856259.post-82986166841948658872010-10-12T07:06:00.000-07:002015-06-16T17:10:07.105-07:00IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST: LET DELTA VOICES BE HEARD<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 27px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;"> </span></span> </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 27px;"><b>By Patricia McBroom</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 27px;"> In the gathering dusk of a hot evening in August, 2009, a 570-foot New Zealand freighter carrying rice and lumber from Stockton’s Port tried to make a close turn to starboard past Bradford Island in the Delta.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 27px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 27px;">It didn’t work.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 27px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 27px;">The San Joaquin River channel is only 600 feet wide at that point; there’s no room for mistakes. The ship temporarily “lost steering” and plowed bow first into the levee.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 27px;"> Not to worry. With the assistance of a nearby tugboat, the freighter backed out and proceeded on to the Bay and ocean – once it had been inspected by the Coast Guard and found to be undamaged.</span><br />
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No one looked back at the levee or even reported the impact. Coast Guard entries from that day say that the ship “ran aground.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The morning after. (<i>Photo by Mike Warren)</i></td></tr>
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The next morning, residents on Bradford woke up to find their island in immediate danger of flooding. The levee was literally falling into the river with cracks opening up before their eyes. A section 150 feet long had been washed out.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I was on Bradford Island last week to talk to the people who rose to the emergency and saved the island that day. They are the unsung heroes of the local reclamation district who maintain levees critical to California’s water supply, not to mention those lining an international shipping channel. It may come as a surprise – certainly it did to me – that levees on a deep water shipping channel are maintained by residents. And it’s a shock to realize concern is so limited that the Coast Guard didn’t even bother to check out or report the damage. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Bradford is a private island reached by ferry at the end of a levee road only five miles from the urban rim in Contra Costa County. About 2200 acres in size, it stands close to the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. Fresh water bubbles up through the ground producing lush pasture land that once grew corn. Now, Karen and Smith Cunningham maintain a cattle ranch there, sharing the island with about 50 other, mostly seasonal, residents.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Karen met me at the ferry and took me on a tour across the ranch, through Johnson grass so high and dense it slapped the pickup like rubber flippers in a car wash. Our windows were down and in a flash, the cabin of the truck was filled with hundreds of lady bugs. Noticing a cattle fence standing open, Karen went in search of animals that might have wandered off and fallen into one of the many bogs on the island. We didn’t find any, but we did find her husband Smith Cunningham and fellow resident, Mike Warren.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As Smith Cunningham talked..</td></tr>
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Cunningham led the fight last year to save the levee.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“There’s no doubt about it. This man saved us,” said Warren, gesturing to Smith. “He called people and they came out here immediately. If we had sat around waiting for the engineers, the water resource people, whatever…..the levee was just going further and further into the water, with new cracks coming fast and furious. It had gone on all night this way and we didn’t even know it was happening because nobody had the courtesy to tell us.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">....Another freighter passed on its way to Stockton Port</td></tr>
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Project director for local Reclamation District 2059, Cunningham reported the damage to the Coast Guard (which still called the incident a “soft landing”). Then he got to work on emergency repairs. <o:p></o:p></div>
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“I didn’t wait to go through all the procedures,” said Cunningham. “I was doing the mumbo-jumbo with politics (procedures) at the same time, but my purpose was to save the levee and you have to have some common sense about that.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Within hours, contractors with dozens of trucks and bull dozers were working around the clock to stabilize the levee. It took them three days at a total cost of $800,000, which the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) paid.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“The DWR told me, ‘Well, you did the right thing. Thank you. You saved us $50 million.’”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Actually, the loss of the island could have cost the public a great deal more. A flood on Bradford could lead to a shutdown of the State water supply because of the island’s strategic position vis-a-vis water pumps in Tracy. (Bradford is one of eight western Delta islands that, if flooded, could draw salt water toward the pumps.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mt. Diablo behind Bradford Island</td></tr>
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This story about Bradford is sadly illustrative of a larger phenomena that affects everyone in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. California relies on local people to maintain levees that are critical to our water supply, yet those same people are all but invisible to State officials planning a huge – and expensive – project to divert water from upriver near Sacramento. We will get our first view of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) next month in a preliminary draft release, but several things have been clear about this plan for at least a year.<o:p></o:p></div>
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One, it has little or no input from Delta people or their elected representatives in the five county region – Sacramento, Stockton, Contra Costa County, Yolo and Sonoma. Thirteen members of Congress and the State Legislature from those counties sent a protest letter last month which said in part “The Delta community has long been told….they will be involved in decision–making about the future of their own communities, even though they have been mostly excluded to date.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://dist05.casen.govoffice.com/index.asp?Type=B_PR&SEC={E9650A38-1258-46F3-AE35-DF862FD66D02}&DE={D76640D9-28BD-4874-99B3-183CB410A198}">“This most recent exclusion </a>(referring to reports of closed-door meetings of BDCP principals) only serves to frustrate and anger those in the Delta community who are genuinely interested in working constructively with the state and federal agencies…” the letter said.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Another thing that’s clear about this plan is that it aims to divert as much water as possible from upriver of the Delta, through tunnels so big they could suck out 80 percent of the Sacramento River at peak operation, which BDCP defenders say would ONLY be used during periods of high water.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Trust us,” is a commonly heard refrain.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Not on your life,” reply 186 Delta owners, including the Cunninghams, who have joined legal action to keep State officials off their property, officials who want to conduct tests for environmental reports.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Meanwhile, a casualty of the focus on a future peripheral canal is levee maintenance.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Local engineers who have maintained the levees for decades say they can bring them up to snuff for a yearly State investment of about $100 million for eight years. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Outside authorities estimate a 2 to 4 billion dollar price tag, with some recommending that a large swath of the south and central Delta be abandoned to the floods without levee upgrades. (These people, of course, want the peripheral canal).<o:p></o:p></div>
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As for the people of California, if they knew what was going on in the water wars, they would be saying loud and clear, “Give the locals a voice. Right or wrong, they should at least be heard. Their input might save the State some money, not to mention a shipping channel or two.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Patricia McBroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07595399655479910459noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377350442704856259.post-69044130920764092442010-09-16T14:59:00.000-07:002015-06-16T17:08:40.450-07:00EARTHQUAKE RISK IN DELTA WORSE THAN EXPECTED, USGS FINDS……BUT, WATER SUPPLY SURVIVES<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<b>By Patricia McBroom</b><br />
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When California water officials predicted four years ago that many delta levees would breach in a bad earthquake, flooding the region and threatening the State’s main water supply, they didn’t have any specific site information to prove their point (see Delta Seismic Risk Report, 2005). Now they do. And the situation looks worse than ever.<br />
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Soft delta soils amplify seismic waves by up to a factor of 15, compared to recordings in rock at Black Diamond Mines in Pittsburgh, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in Menlo Park has found. They monitored the action of ten small earthquakes (up to 4.2 magnitude) that have occurred in the East Bay since 2007 and were picked up by monitors at eight places in the delta, including four sites on levees. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Levees on Sherman Island, across the bridge from <br />
Antioch, are among the most vulnerable.</td></tr>
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There had been some hope that the peat soils characteristic of the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta would dampen seismic waves. But the USGS recordings found no evidence of such an effect. On the contrary, the wave configuration had an unusual shape with a strong, consistent peak at a single frequency, as well as a strong amplitude. As a result, vibrations were stronger at the top of the levee than at the bottom.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“This means these levees are going to shake a lot harder than we thought and will probably lead to multiple failures, said Jon Fletcher, chief of the Earthquake Effects Project at USGS Menlo Park. Prior reports from the Department of Water Resources had projected that as many as 50 levee breaks could occur at once from Bay Area earthquakes, such as one on the Hayward Fault that runs from Oakland to Berkeley.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Fletcher said soil conditions in the delta resemble those in the San Francisco Marina District where buildings collapsed in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake; in both cases, the soils are very soft and seismic waves move through with large amplitudes.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The USGS findings, due for release later this year, were not included in California’s controversial “Delta Risk Management Study” (DRMS) which predicted that as many as 20 islands in the delta could flood simultaneously in a major earthquake, potentially causing salt water from the bay to contaminate the source of California’s largest water supply for urban and agricultural users.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“I think the risk is worse than what DRMS has reported,” said Fletcher.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But, fortunately for California water users, the consequences of such a catastrophe might not be as bad as the scenario offered up to the public for the past three years, according to new studies of an earthquake aftermath prepared for the Bay Delta Conservation Plan.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“It’s not true that a major earthquake would mean the end of the delta and we’d never be able to use it again,” said Greg Gartrell, a hydrologist with the Contra Costa County Water District, who is familiar with the new modeling.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Yes, you get a lot of salt water coming in, but as soon as it rains, that water can get washed out.” Pumps that supply California’s urban and agricultural water would have to stop for about three to four months, under the conditions studied, said Gartrell, and then could become operational again. Most urban water districts have local water supplies to cover such a period. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Agricultural communities would suffer the most (depending on the season) because they don’t all have backup, but for urban users, the challenge would be “difficult but not severe.” The Contra Costa district, which is normally supplied by delta pumps, has up to a year’s supply in accessible reservoirs.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Loss of fresh water to the delta’s pumps in an earthquake has been a major justification water contractors have used for planning to build an “isolated conveyance” (aka, peripheral canal/tunnel) from further north on the Sacramento River. If urban water users can withstand such a catastrophe, there is less reason to build a huge tunnel that delta residents strongly oppose.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The new modeling shows that after the salt water is pushed out by winter rains, the delta actually freshens, rather than staying salty – contrary to many scary scenarios. Flooded islands then act as a buffer to reduce salt water flowing in, said Gartrell, adding that there is time then to go in and fix some of the levees. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The new study is based on a major 7.0 earthquake on the Hayward Fault, using severe conditions for salt water intrusion, including a multi-year drought and simultaneous levee failures. It found that salts can flush out fairly quickly, depending on how soon rains or releases from the reservoirs can get water flows going again – a period of 3 to 4 months, in this case.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“A lot of hysteria is leading people to believe it (massive levee failure due to earthquake) will shut down the delta for a long period of time and maybe forever. That’s not correct, so long as we plan properly,” said Gartrell.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“The world doesn’t come to an end,” even with massive levee failures in the delta, but the State “needs to do emergency planning now. We need a sense of urgency about this.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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State agencies have lagged behind on creating an emergency response plan and are now stockpiling rock on some delta islands – a bare beginning. Local districts, however, have been working on emergency plans for years, as many engineers and local officials told the Delta Stewardship Council this summer. <o:p></o:p></div>
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But they have no money to implement their plans or bring them together into a regional emergency response.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“The agencies that have the money (Department of Water Resources, for one) don’t respond. And the locals, who want to respond, don’t have the money,” said Ronald E. Baldwin, director of emergency operations for San Joaquin County.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Empower people at the local level,” Baldwin urged council staff at the meeting last July. “If we can do that, and let the lowest (governance) level deal with the problem, we can take the burden off the State and Federal agencies,” he said.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This problem of depriving local authorities of power and money is not new for California or the delta. It has consistently tied the hands of local engineers and experts who know what to do from close observation and are ready to move ahead with levee repair and flood control plans. Two weeks ago, the State finally released the money for $120 million in levee repairs we wrote about in the August 10 post.<o:p></o:p></div>
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MBK engineer Gilbert Cosio welcomed the move but was cautious about the money flow. “We’ll see how it goes,” he said.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Patricia McBroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07595399655479910459noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377350442704856259.post-4179518873062083042010-08-10T08:50:00.000-07:002015-06-16T17:10:59.583-07:00VITAL WORK STALLED ON LEVEES IN CALIFORNIA DELTA<b>By Patricia McBroom</b> <br />
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Vitally needed strengthening of levees in the California delta has been stalled for over a year – in spite of the fact that bonds have been sold and projects approved. The California Department of Finance has yet to release $120 million for upgrades on about 20 islands of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.<br />
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These projects were approved in 2008 and 2009, and money should have been available by now, according to water officials as well as local engineers working on the levees.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“The bonds were sold by October of 09. This is a long time for them to hold back the funding,” said Mike Miramazaheri, manager of the delta levees program at the State Department of Water Resources (DWR). He said cash flow on delta levee projects has fallen behind by about two years since 2007.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As a consequence, many levees in the delta that have been widely described as “vulnerable” remain that way despite the clear intention of California voters to shore them up.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Meanwhile, delta farmers and local reclamation districts that maintain the levees are standing by with their portion of matching funds.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MBK engineer, Gilbert Cosio: "We're ready to go!"</td></tr>
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“We’re ready to go. Just give us the money!” said Gilbert Cosio Jr., of MBK Engineers, which maintains roughly 35 percent of the levees in the delta. Cosio said reclamation districts used to do the work on a promise, trusting that the State's portion would come through, but they’ve been burned by delays in recent years and now “nothing is going on.”</div>
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Les Harder, senior advisor with the architecture-engineering company, HDR, said the money "is vitally needed. The people of California voted for this and the delta needs it. It’s very unfortunate the funds have not been made available,” said Harder, a former deputy director for public safety at DWR. </div>
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As a 27-year veteran of MBK, Cosio is intimately familiar with the levees and knows their potential for breaching in critical areas. One such area is Bouldin Island, right smack in the middle of the delta (see map; island with "head" crossed by 12). A constant stream of traffic crosses Bouldin on Highway 12 which connects Interstate 80 with 5, and the Bay Area with the San Joaquin Valley.</div>
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One of the largest islands in the delta – 6,000 acres – and one of the lowest – 20 feet below sea level – Bouldin is a flood waiting to happen. Each year, it has a one to five percent chance of flooding. If its levees broke, Highway 12 would disappear under 20 feet of water. The huge bowl of land would fill up like a bathtub and salty water would be pulled inland from the bay, creating a substantial risk that salt could contaminate the Contra Costa County water system, as well as the State Water Project in Tracy.<o:p></o:p></div>
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About $8 million of the $120 million that has been delayed would go toward reinforcing Bouldin’s levees.<o:p></o:p></div>
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On a recent day in August, Cosio drove around the island, pointing out how the levees need to be reinforced. To begin, they are too low; high winds and high tides can send water crashing on the top, as it did in 2006.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bouldin's levees are too low</td></tr>
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Cosio wants to raise the top by one to two feet, and structurally reinforce the base by adding a wide shoulder called a toe berm on the landward side. This wide shelf means that instead of a steep slope rising from the fields, the levee slope would descend more gradually to a berm wide enough for a roadway, with fields 150 feet away.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Such improvements greatly reduce the risk that high water on the other side of the levee can push it over, said Cosio. He added that the materials they are using, plus the greater width and strength, improve chances that in an earthquake, the levee would deform but not break.<o:p></o:p></div>
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These improvements are not aimed at making a levee earthquake resistant and there is no guarantee they will, said Cosio. But he said their aim has been to “figure out what it will take to allow the levee to deform but not breach, and still have enough structural integrity so that engineers can come back and fix it.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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How much would it take to bring all the islands up to adequate flood protection standards? <o:p></o:p></div>
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Cosio estimated $800 million – roughly $100 million per year, close to the amount voters have already approved in two propositions, 1E and 84. That total is about half of what State engineers would estimate; MBK work costs an average of $1 million per mile, compared to the State’s $2 to 4 million per mile, he said.</div>
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“Local engineers can do it cheaper and more efficiently. We know where the problem areas are. We just go do work. Outside agencies (like the U.S. Corps of Engineers) have to study the problem, do an economic analysis, then put out the contract to people who usually pad the bid,” he said.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ostensibly due to California's disastrous financial condition, the delay is souring a public dialogue already rife with rumors and whispers about ultimate intentions: beliefs that state agencies are neglecting the delta to increase pressure for a peripheral canal, as water users toward the south would like.<br />
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Whatever the truth of such rumors, one thing is clear: If the money isn’t released soon, it may disappear, either because the life of the bonds has run out or because State officials develop new plans for the future of the delta. This year, with new laws in effect, California has moved substantially away from local governance toward centralized control over water decisions. How much of the delta levee system will be maintained and to what degree depends on decisions that will be made in the next 18 months. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Such centralized control has obvious benefits in making quick decisions, in a field with multiple players. But it also has serious drawbacks – drawbacks that were identified last year by the winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economics, Elinor Ostrom of Indiana University.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN-5HbU9_kNnfhBBFfpjK_szkck73AGmnrGB9DkDTk2jh3P4fIRhsJlKiiyhXywlhTKuD3kpQd7suyA9ZAFGpLRC0czhiK7Fg1Qr-s25NKTYJ9_-W-V5fuGh2GcQLExczAFgJ1t1hCIxxX/s1600/images.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN-5HbU9_kNnfhBBFfpjK_szkck73AGmnrGB9DkDTk2jh3P4fIRhsJlKiiyhXywlhTKuD3kpQd7suyA9ZAFGpLRC0czhiK7Fg1Qr-s25NKTYJ9_-W-V5fuGh2GcQLExczAFgJ1t1hCIxxX/s320/images.jpeg" width="320" /></a>Ostrom won the prize for her research on how humans evolve governance of the commons, including water and other common pool resources. <o:p></o:p></div>
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She discovered that user-managed systems worked better in most cases than state-managed, centralized systems because the users bargained with each other and formed cooperative relationships, even when they were prone to fight over water.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In Nepal, for instance, irrigation systems managed by farmers produced more crops and irrigated more land than systems maintained by the state. When farmers at the head of the river needed users at the end to maintain the system, they engaged in some hard bargaining over payments and allocations that resulted in solid relationships. By contrast, the state-run systems removed any need for the upstream and downstream users to recognize their mutual dependencies and they reverted to “a state of nature,” with increased conflict and lower productivity, Ostrom found.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This advantage of the commons or “users” governance remained even when the state was able to build bigger, better waterworks.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Interventions designed by outsiders that ignore….reciprocal relationships among farmers may cause more harm than good,” she wrote about her work in Nepal, which has 1.6 million irrigated acres, compared to California’s 9 million.<o:p></o:p></div>
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California’s water problems are surely more complicated than Nepal’s, but it’s not too hard to see the relevance of Ostrom’s work: Cooperative governance by users takes time, but so do the interminable lawsuits being filed on all sides by stakeholders in California’s water wars.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Patricia McBroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07595399655479910459noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377350442704856259.post-50633453399782188652010-07-28T11:00:00.000-07:002015-06-16T17:11:42.086-07:00GOLD RUSH DESCENDANTS PLEAD FOR THEIR FUTURE<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>By Patricia McBroom</b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"> The farmers whose ancestors settled the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta came to plead for their future last week before a council appointed by the State to make historic decisions about water.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"> They brought stories of farming the delta for up to eight generations. Some talked of hand-written land grant contracts from the 1850s, given by the Federal Government to reclaim the swampland. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;">They asked the Delta Stewardship Council (DSC), appointed earlier this year, to “get it right” and “put your boots on the ground.” .</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"> “We made this land the most beautiful and productive in the world. Our ancestors didn’t find any gold in the mountains, but they found it here,” said Robert Kirtlan, Jr., </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;">a resident of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. “Please do not destroy our heritage.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"> The delta community is one of the oldest established communities in California. In the mid-nineteeth century, residents would alternate between seeking gold and planting crops, depending on the season. They transported their produce up and down the Sacramento River on barges, linking the growing urban areas, eventually constructing a landscape of dozens of islands protected by levees. Those who stayed to farm built long-lasting delta families that intermarried over the generations.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"> Today, the region of 1,000 square miles has the spirit and pace of life reminiscent of the 1930s or 40s. Yellow drawbridges crisscross the meandering river. Towns boast 700 residents, more or less. People, even younger ones, like the slower pace of life. They all know each other. They went to school together. They are just beginning to wake up to the fact that their way of life is endangered. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"> Last week's DSC meeting was held in the Old Sugar Mill in Clarksburg, a former sugar beet factory, now an upscale wine tasting venue for area vineyards. (Clarksburg, a town of 110 households, is across the river from Freeport; see map.)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"> It was the council's first meeting in the delta and members listened quietly to the residents who lined up to tell their stories.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"> “We have taken care of this land the way God would want it,” said Gary Merwin, whose great, great grandfather bought the property which is today the town of Freeport.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"> “Stewardship” means to be responsible, said Merwin. “We take pride in being responsible for this district and our little part of heaven on earth.” Merwin and his fellow farmers maintain the levees in the delta through reclamation districts established on the different islands. They provide the first line of defense against levee failure on most of the privately-owned islands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brett Baker</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"> Brett Baker, a seventh generation pear farmer on Sutter Island (named after John Sutter who first discovered gold in California), asked for assurances that riparian water rights in the delta would be respected. “It’s absurd to say that folks here can’t divert water” that flows past their property, said Baker, adding that knowing they can continue to use the water would be “one less thing to worry about.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"> The list of things to worry about is long.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"> Kirtlan worries about his property being wiped out by a proposed peripheral canal. Merwin is concerned about the huge costs local landowners must pony up to bring levees to acceptable standards in a cost-sharing program with the State. Others were anxious that plans for new habitat would turn their property back into the ancient swamp that was reclaimed as farmland 150 years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"> In spite of the stakes involved, the meeting was amicable. Delta people welcomed the council warmly and they had plenty of time to talk.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Delta residents Nicky Suard (L)<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"> Council chair Phil Isenberg urged delta officials to bring forth their economic plans for the region, to be included in deliberations over the forth-coming “Delta Plan.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"> Henry Nordhoff from San Diego said he was struck by the beauty of the place, adding “The people are fantastic.” He acknowledged that delta farmers were nervous and understandably so. “We’re a little bit like the absentee landlords,” said Nordhoff, one of the seven council members appointed by the Governor and State legislators.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Council members Randy Fiorini (L);<br />
Phil Isenberg (chair)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"> Enormous powers rest on the shoulders of these seven people. In new State laws passed last winter, they were given the power to make basic decisions about the delta’s ecosystem and water distribution, thus consolidating authority, previously widely dispersed, into one body. In 18 months – a mere second in the long history of California’s water conflicts – the council must produce a delta plan that will be enforceable by law. No doubt it will be hotly contested by the multiple stakeholders vying for water in California. Council decisions will influence, if not control, determined efforts by water exporters to take water from the northern delta near Clarksburg, efforts that put delta residents at risk in multiple ways.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"> Residents are hoping that the council will reconcile these competing demands in a way that will not ruin their agricultural economy or put a monstrous water intake (half a mile long and eight stories high) on their property.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> To some extent, decisions rest on the integrity of the levees which dramatically need repair. Local engineers and members of reclamation districts know what needs to be done, as they testified last week, but do not yet agree on costs and priorities. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> Council members made it plain that they need to get their stuff together and soon. Otherwise, the State will do it for them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><b><i>Coming: Urgent repair of delta levees wrapped in red tape</i></b></span></div>
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Patricia McBroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07595399655479910459noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377350442704856259.post-15355398676919748432010-07-21T18:13:00.000-07:002015-06-16T17:12:22.170-07:00CALIFORNIA RACES TO MAKE WATER DECISIONS FOR THE CENTURY<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b>By Patricia McBroom</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It’s July and 100 degrees under the sun on a boat without a canopy and no </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">breeze. This boat, the </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Endeavor</span></i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, is carrying some 20 scientists from the National Academy of Sciences into the delta. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The scientists do not complain about the heat as they focus in on a difficult task – </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">figuring out how fish are affected by the complicated hydrodynamics of the delta and why their populations have plummeted in recent years to near zero. They also get a primer on the sparse habitat that remains for nurturing fish in a water landscape aimed primarily at moving water around.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“We can’t just look at a water conveyance alone, said Jon Burau, hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. “We need new micro habitats” where the fish can hang out. “Most of the delta levees don’t make good habitat,” he said, waving at the rock-lined, sparsely vegetated levees that have created ditches of swiftly moving water. A hapless fish can be carried up the waterway as fast as the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Endeavor</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> is motoring and he can’t cling to the rocks.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Although understanding the causes of fish decline was their first order of business, the national committee of scientists, tasked with reviewing the impact of water exports from the delta, gained another, broader task on this, their second visit to Northern California.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The U.S. Department of Interior is poised to ask the NAS committee to do an overall critique of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), which is due for presentation to the public next spring. The critique will have to be quick.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“February – if we get the material,” said Stephen Parker, director of the water science board of the National Research Council. Parker added that the NAS is often asked for critiques on projects but does not receive the necessary documents, so he wasn’t making any promises.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In this case, however, a draft is likely to be ready by late September for such outside review, according to Karla Nemeth, spokesperson for the California National Resources Agency that manages the BDCP. She said the agency has not yet received a request for review by the NAS committee, but is expecting one.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This blueprint for new infrastructure and habitat restoration in the delta has been on a very fast track since last winter. Money for the speedy planning and review process is coming from water exporters who would like to break ground, at the earliest, on a tunnel in 2012, assuming they get through the environmental review and permitting process between now and then.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">That, of course, is a big assumption. Opposition to “The Plan” i</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">s fierce in the delta.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Every landowner between Courtland and Freeport in the northern delta has seen themselves as dots on a map (potential locations for BDCP operations), said Cathy Hemly, who owns a pear farm with her husband, Doug, on Randall Island. They are the fifth generation in the family to farm this property along the Sacramento River.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In one BDCP scenario, Hemly saw the dots for huge water intakes situated on either side of her property like bookends. A big “X” was scrawled over her 1850s</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> stately, white house along the river. The ”X” was marked “Headquarters.”</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“I feel like a Yosemite Indian, said Hemly, her eyes scrunched up in pain. “They say, ‘We’ve got </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">such</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> a good deal for you!’ It’s so galling, so presumptuous!”</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Delta residents are not the only people who think they should have a voice in the deliberations. Nearly everyone agrees, at least on paper, that habitat recovery should involve local participation – even if you could build a tunnel without them.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And habitat recovery takes time, said Jonas Minton, water policy advisor to the Planning and Conservation League. No one knows how many acres of delta land or where will go under water for habitat, an extremely sensitive issue.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“We hesitate to put out a number,” said Minton. “That is as </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">much Soviet style as what the State Government is doing. We think </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">it makes more sense to talk with the people in the delta, with the </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">scientists, to add the dimension of time.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“This isn’t going to happen tomorrow and it isn’t going to </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">happen all at once. We need some experimentation, the kinds of </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">things that come with the dimension of time.”</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Next week: The Delta Stewardship Council meets the delta</span></i></b></span></div>
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Patricia McBroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07595399655479910459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377350442704856259.post-88555767715129306752010-07-20T20:23:00.000-07:002015-06-16T17:12:59.076-07:00DELTA BECOMES GROUND ZERO FOR GROWING CONFLICT<div class="MsoNormal">
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<b>By Patricia McBroom</b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Tule Queen II, released from dock, headed out into 700 miles of sloughs and rivers that make up California’s Delta. It was a breezy spring day in May and the tule wilderness was all but abandoned. A water skier struggled unsuccessfully to stand upright; a fisherman angled for one of the few specimens left in the Delta. But otherwise, the water shimmered under the sun, undisturbed, curving lazily between green banks of oaks and cottonwoods.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Off in the distance towered the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains whose granite peaks send millions of acre feet cascading into this heart of water each spring, into a triangular piece of land between Sacramento, Stockton and the Bay area, little more than 1,000 square miles in size.</span></span><br />
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</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“The Delta is the last lost place in California!” shouted one of the guests on the 30-person catamaran. “Yeh, but Southern California wants the water,” replied another, raising the issue of the day – or one of them.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">For the moment, Captain “Tule”, otherwise known as Harvard-trained botanist Dr. Jeff Hart, was preoccupied with another threat facing the Delta.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> “If you came in and cut all these trees, what do you think would happen?” Hart answered his own question: “Erosion!” He barked. (The U.S. Corps of Engineers – despite a temporary concession in Sacramento – is maintaining a strict policy to cut down trees on levees, on the theory this would </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">save</span></i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> the critical levees from erosion.)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Hart turned the boat into a new slough just as the brown fur of a creature flashed through the vegetation. “Mink,” he cried. He slowed the boat as he pointed to another important item: “brush boxes” containing tule grass planted by Hart, under state and federal contract, to strengthen the levees. “The green solution for the delta is to armor it with vegetation,” he said. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Settled during the Gold Rush, with names like Sutter and Steamboat Slough, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is truly a lost place in California, out of sight and out of mind by most of the millions of urbanites who live on its edges in Sacramento and greater San Francisco.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">No more. In the past year, the delta has become ground zero in a state-wide struggle to make new water policy for the twenty-first century. Driven in part by a story that the delta faces catastrophic flood risk and that levees are likely to fail in an earthquake (which may or may not rock the delta in the next 100 years), water contractors in California have set out to build a peripheral canal and also – as directed by State law – return the delta ecosystem to health. No one in California will be left unaffected by this policy, not least the people who live on the islands that make up the modern delta.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">They have, for the most part, been shut out of deliberations over the new water plans, which prominently feature an enormous tunnel that would divert Sacramento water around the delta to the California Aqueduct and points south. (The size of the tunnel(s) varies from month to month; more on that later.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Delta residents and farmers oppose such a tunnel. Thus, their loss of voice in a process that will fundamentally change their lives.</span></span></div>
Patricia McBroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07595399655479910459noreply@blogger.com2