U.S. Water News Online
SACRAMENTO -- In a decision that could cripple water deliveries to California farms and cities, a judge has ordered the state to halt pumping water out of the delta within 60 days unless it complies with environmental laws that protect endangered fish.
State water officials said they can't meet the short deadline and hope to persuade the court to reconsider cutting off water to the San Francisco Bay area, Central Valley and Southern California.
"We're perplexed by the court's ruling," state Department of Water Resources Director Lester Snow said in a conference call with reporters. "The way that would harm the economy is not in the best interests of anyone."
The ruling by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch found that the Department of Water Resources lacks the proper authority to run a key station that pumps water from the delta into the California Aqueduct.
Specifically, Roesch said the water agency should apply for permits that would allow it to kill spring and winter runs of salmon and Delta smelt, which are protected under the California Endangered Species Act.
The ruling pleased sport fishing groups that have long criticized the state's operation of the enormous pumps, which suck in and kill salmon and other fish.
"It's certainly an earthshaking decision," said Bill Jennings, executive director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, which had sued the state.
At issue is the Harvey O. Banks Pumping Plant west of Stockton, which funnels 10,688 cubic feet per second of delta water through 11 pumps into the 444-mile long aqueduct. The heart of the State Water Project, the pumping station sucks in and kills significant quantities of fish.
Water for more than 23 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland passes through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
The decision also has implications for federal water deliveries in the Central Valley. About 5 percent of water that is part of the federal Central Valley Project flows through the Banks pumping station.
"There is a coordinated operation between the two projects. We'll have to analyze the indirect effects," said Thomas Birmingham, general manager of the Westlands Water District, which supplies water to about 600,000 acres of farmland in western Fresno and Kings counties.
The order to shut down the pumps could have severe economic consequences. Snow said water deliveries have a $300 billion effect on the state's economy.
"That's a lot of farm jobs, industrial jobs and homes in the Bay area, Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley," Snow said.
Fiona Hutton, a spokeswoman for the State Water Contractors Association, said the case illustrates the vulnerability of the delta, a fragile ecosystem that is the heart of the state's water delivery system.
The Department of Water Resources had argued in court that its pumping operations were authorized by a series of agreements struck over the past 20 years and by a 1997 state law. Snow reiterated that position.
In his 34-page ruling, Roesch said those agreements "do not qualify as the carte-blanche authorization of incidental take" at the plant for all species of endangered fish.
Under the judge's ruling, the California Department of Fish and Game would have to approve environmental permits for the state to operate the pumps.
Those permits would require the state to minimize fish kills and could lead to a change in how much water is sent through the pumps and when much of the pumping would occur. But state wildlife officials said 60 days is not enough time to sort through the complicated issues involving endangered species.
Instead, the state plans to ask the judge for more time so officials can continue working on a multi-species habitat conservation plan for the entire delta. That plan is expected to be finished by year's end, said state Fish and Game Director Ryan Broddrick.
"We need to have a response that deals with the long-term health of the delta," he said.
The state has 15 days to file its request for the judge to reconsider his ruling. Pumping will continue while the legal debate unfolds.
Environmentalists have argued that the Department of Water Resources pumps too heavily during the winter months. They say that has led to declining populations of the Delta smelt because female fish that are sucked into the pumps die before their eggs are fertilized.
The smelt, which average 3 inches long, are considered a key indicator of the health of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Just 400 smelt were killed in the pumps last year, less than 1 percent of the population, said Jerry Johns, deputy director of the state water department. He said salmon runs in the delta are about equal to their levels in the 1950s.
Return to the U.S. Water News' Archives page Or Return to the U.S. Water News Homepage
Editor@uswaternews.com
*Your Name:
*Your Email:
*Friend's Email:
Use a comma to separate e-mail addresses:
*Your Comments:
Hi, I thought you might like to read this article.
*Required Fields