U.S. Water News Online
SACRAMENTO -- With various Delta fish species on the road to recovery, a coalition of water stakeholders has outlined a cost-effective program that will continue progress toward the species' recovery while limiting repeated and unpredictable economic impacts to the state due to water shortages and reduced water quality.
The new approach focuses on accelerating investments in habitat restoration, s trategic restrictions on Delta pumping, and creation of a high-level public policy group to review the biological science that guides Delta decision-making.
"With California's growing population, water supplies are tight," said Steve Hall, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies. "We support sufficient flows for fish, but water must be used in a fully accountable and beneficial manner, whether in cities, on the farm, or for the environment."
With that goal in mind, water users released Science and the Bay-Delta: A Common-Sense, Science-Based Approach to Balanced Resource Management. The 32-page briefing book analyzes biological trends in the Bay-Delta and recent decision-making processes that have put water supplies at risk for uncertain environmental benefits.
After five wet years and more than 450 different habitat improvement projects throughout the Bay/Delta watershed, populations of fish species of concern -- winter-run and spring-run Chinook salmon, Sacramento splittail and Delta smelt -- have stabilized or rebounded. In addition, fish are protected by a "safety net" of an additional 1.4 million acre-feet of water when dry weather returns.
"More than $2 billion is committed to ecosystem restoration in the Bay/Delta and we are already seeing the benefits of those investments," noted Tim Quinn, deputy general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. "It's time to recognize that we don't have to operate in a crisis mode for the fish, and that we need to balance environmental concerns with the water supply and water quality needs of Californians."
Too often, the report notes, drastic regulatory actions are taken that provide only token benefits to fish but create major impacts on water supply and water quality. Last December, for example, a key water quality control structure in the Delta was closed to protect spring-run salmon. Relatively few fish were actually at risk, but the action created the worst Delta water quality since 1977 and reduced water supplies by 300,000 acre-feet.
In some instances, it can cost more than a half-million acre feet of water valued at $50 million to achieve just a one percent increase in salmon populations.
The report does not dismiss the need to restrict Delta pumping operations to protect fish. In fact, Delta smelt seem to be the most vulnerable to pumping and restrictions are necessary when large numbers of them are within the range of the south Delta pumping plants.
However, salmon are at relatively little risk from pumping and benefit most from the extensive investments in habitat restoration that have occurred over the past several years.
"No one can pretend to have a full understanding of the biological factors that contribute to the success of Delta species," Hall noted. "But, with the fisheries recovering, we have an opportunity to look at the entire ecosystem and pursue the scientifically based ecosystem measures that will benefit fish while protecting the economy.
"Cutting back the pumps, which supply drinking water to two-thirds of the state and fuels our economy, should not be an automatic reflex," Hall added.
In contrast to a variety of actions taken without sufficient scientific justification, the report also highlights a number of scientifically justified actions that could provide substantial environmental benefit, but have languished due to other constraints. These include:
"Balancing environmental actions in the Delta with their economic impacts makes for sound public policy," Hall said. "By broadening the mix of ecosystem recovery investments and agreeing on principles to minimize the water supply impacts, policymakers can move the state in that direction."
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