Monthly Archives: July 2010

State Water Board Determines Delta Diversions Unsustainable

By | Bio | Published: July 29, 2010

Senior Attorney and California Water Legislative Director

A water weary reporter recently asked me why people should pay attention to the State Water Resources Control Board’s public trust flow recommendations, due to be finalized next week. “I mean, isn’t this just another report to sit on another shelf?” It’s a fair question, but adding more paper to more shelves was certainly not the intent of the lawmakers who fought hard to keep this key aspect of last fall’s Delta legislation intact.

Others are seeing value in the Board’s work as well. As the San Francisco Chronicle put it last week, the Delta “is not a bottomless well.” The Chronicle went on to say that the Water Board’s draft public trust flow analysis is a “bell-ringing reminder of the obvious,” that our 70-year trend of increasing diversions from the Delta is not sustainable and that “California can’t keep tapping the Delta without harming it.”

The San Jose Mercury News reached similar, if even more pointed, conclusions opining that, Read More »

Posted in Bay Delta, Fisheries, Legislation, Water Supply | 1 Response

California Water Board Helps Build a Bridge over Troubled Water

By | Bio | Published: July 21, 2010

Senior Attorney and California Water Legislative Director

The State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) took a critical step forward today by issuing draft public trust flow criteria for the Bay-Delta Estuary. Synthesizing 30-or-so years of data collection and scientific analysis, the State Board concluded that the oft-stated goal of restoring the largest and most biologically important estuary on the West Coast will require better and more regular freshwater flows.

To synthesize the 190-page document into a couple of sentences: over the last couple of decades, California has diverted about 50 percent of the flow of the Sacramento River, and about 66 percent of the flow of the San Joaquin River, and about 50 percent of the water that used to make its way to the San Francisco Bay has not for quite some time (see page 5 of the report).

The draft criteria acknowledge what the overwhelming weight of science has shown for many years: this level of diversion is not compatible with our long-stated goal of a healthy Bay-Delta Estuary, a functioning salmon fishery, and an end to conflict over listed endangered species.

It confirms that the best available science shows that substantially increased flows are critically necessary to keep the largest and most biologically significant West Coast estuary from continuing its downward spiral. Read More »

Posted in Bay Delta, Legislation | Leave a comment

Business as Unusual – Westlands Wheels Water South

By | Published: July 20, 2010

Spreck Rosekrans is an Economic Analyst at EDF

What a difference a year makes.

In 2009, some farmers within Westlands Water District, having received only 10% of their maximum contractual entitlement for water from the federal Central Valley Project, were forced to pay $450 per acre-foot for the limited supplies that were available on the open market to keep their trees alive. That’s why it seems so surprising to us that now, just a year later, in 2010, as part of an exchange agreement with Metropolitan Water District, some Westlands farmers will be sending part of their supply to urban southern California expecting to get only 2/3 of it back in 2011.

An urban water district banking water for an agricultural district? Read More »

Posted in Economics, Water Supply | Leave a comment

Esteemed Scientists to Weigh in on the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan

By | Bio | Published: July 19, 2010

Senior Water Resource Analyst

Last Tuesday marked the second formal gathering of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences Committee on Sustainable Water and Environmental Management in the California Bay-Delta. The meeting (the first of three days of meetings) focused on an overview of the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan and “other stressors” impacting the ecosystem including pesticides and nutrients. The panel, which was formed at the request of Congress and the Departments of Interior and Commerce, is in the midst of the second phase of the project after releasing their first influential report on the scientific basis of the smelt and salmon Biological Opinions in May 2010.

The second phase of the project is focusing on incorporating science and adaptive management (adjusting restoration approach based on outcomes) into management and restoration of the Bay-Delta. Read More »

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Meters and Water Use in California’s Cities

By | Published: July 13, 2010

Spreck Rosekrans is an Economic Analyst at EDF

It was nice to read yesterday that Fresno is finally installing water meters. It is about time. You do not have to be an economist to realize that when customers pay for the water they use, they somehow find ways to use less. Read More »

Posted in Conservation, Economics | Leave a comment