Laura Harnish is the California Regional Director.
Spreck Rosekrans is an Economic Analyst at EDF.

Environmental Defense Fund is delighted that the package of water policy reform bills has passed both houses of California’s legislature and will be sent to Governor Schwarzenegger for his signature. We believe this package provides a foundation that will guide environmental protection and sustainable water supply management for many years to come. And we expect that as a result, California’s farms and cities, as well as fisheries in the Bay Delta and Central Valley watershed, will be better off.

Most obviously the legislation establishes a framework for managing the Delta and the rivers that supply it with freshwater. It formally recognizes the importance of the Delta as an ecosystem while acknowledging its role in moving water from north to south. It empowers our Water Board to determine the inflows that are necessary to meet public trust requirements under California law. And the legislation establishes important oversight roles for both the legislature and a newly created Delta Stewardship Council to ensure that any changes to water infrastructure accommodate protection of the Delta and its fisheries.

It is important to realize that the legislation does not authorize a peripheral canal. It does assure, however, that a canal will only be built if important habitats are restored, water exports from the Delta are biologically sustainable, and the beneficiaries of those exports pay the full cost of construction, including environmental mitigation.

The legislation also takes important steps toward achieving our stated goal of reducing per capita water conservation in our cities 20% by 2020, thereby reducing the pressure to withdraw increasing amounts of water from the natural environment.

We are also pleased that the legislation includes provisions to identify and prevent illegal diversions of water, though we regret that the initial language was “watered down”. Similarly, we are pleased that the legislature has finally made progress in moving toward statewide management of groundwater (the source of up to 40% of our overall supply in the driest years), though there is still much work to be done in this area.

Our largest concern is that the legislature passed an 11 billion dollar bond measure along with the policy reform bills. It is important to note that the bond measure does not become effective but will be on the ballot as an initiative in 2010. At that time California’s voters will have the opportunity to decide if we can afford it given our fiscal problems and other competing needs. Moreover, California’s electorate will be asked whether it is good public policy to make these investments as a State or if at least some of the investment decisions should be made with local funds. If approved by the voters, the funds would be used to pay for a variety of environmental, water quality and water supply programs, potentially including controversial dams in the Central Valley. In its place we would have preferred a beneficiary pays fee structure to fund the Council and needed ecosystem restoration efforts in the Delta and left the big dams and water projects to be funded directly by the users.

It would be nice to celebrate – get a six-pack, stroll down the river bank and watch restoration magically take place. But of course the ultimate outcome of this far-reaching legislation will not be known for many years and will depend considerably on how well its provisions are implemented. All stakeholders, including those who opposed the legislation, will need to work together to ensure as it is adopted that our public resources will indeed be protected as intended. The environment that Californians care so deeply about and the legacy we want to leave for our children depend on it.

Ann Hayden is a Senior Water Resource Analyst at EDF.

After another week of attempts  to weaken the Endangered Species Act, EDF couldn't be happier to see Lester Snow, Director of the State's Department of Water Resources, put his support of the ESA in writing. See his letter to Senator Feinstein, Secretaries Salazar and Locke  here (PDF).  We're hoping to hear the same commitment from Secretary Salazar at the public hearing tomorrow.

Spreck Rosekrans is an Economic Analyst at EDF.

The coverage of California water by Fox News Host Sean Hannity last night was disappointing. It was simplistic, one-sided, misleading and, in some cases, flat wrong. And perhaps most egregiously, the famously “small government” host delivered his message on behalf of wealthy farmers who owe their very existence to the federal handouts and are still deep in debt to United States taxpayers.

Let’s be fair. Mr. Hannity got some things right. He is correct that unemployment is particularly high in many towns in the San Joaquin Valley. The food lines and human suffering are real. In 2009, water deliveries to farming communities on the west side of the Valley have been significantly reduced. And part of that reduction is due to the Endangered Species Act protections designed to protect Delta smelt from extinction.

But Mr. Hannity does not tell the whole story. Read more »

Spreck Rosekrans is an Economic Analyst at EDF.

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial “California’s Man-Made Drought” (Sept. 2), buys into the false choice of fish versus jobs. It is disappointing that the Journal, given its financial focus, fails to address or even acknowledge opportunities for market-based solutions to improve water use efficiency. The editorial also ignores many salient aspects of water management in California.

The WSJ seems to believe that the “pumps” are off (pumps which convey water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to cities and farms to the south). The pumps were never “off” but pumping rates were reduced during spring months to protect endangered fish. While the legal rulings are in place due to concern over Delta smelt, it is only one of several species whose populations have plummeted in recent years as diversions of freshwater have reached record levels. The pumps are now at full capacity. Lester Snow, Director of California’s Department of Resources, estimated that protecting fish in the Delta reduced overall pumping only about 5% for the year. The largest reason for reduced deliveries is that California is in its third year of drought. Read more »

Ann Hayden is a Senior Water Resource Analyst at EDF.

It seems like not a day goes by when we don’t hear about another attempt to undermine endangered species protections in the Bay-Delta. The latest attack comes from the Pacific Legal Foundation. PLF is planning to hold a press conference this week to call for convening a federal committee, known colloquially as the “God Squad”, to eliminate Endangered Species Act protections in the Delta. PLF is seeking to collect 10,000 signatures by August 19th on its petition and has also filed suit to invalidate protections for Delta smelt. The group claims its action will help San Joaquin Valley farmers.

PLF has chosen to blame the Delta fisheries protections for reduced water deliveries that some farming communities have experienced. Instead, PLF should evaluate California’s historically-derived water rights system, which too often provides full supplies to some areas and leaves others dry. This has meant that water sells at under $8 per acre-foot on one side of the Valley and up to $600 per acre-foot on the other side. Read more »

Laura Harnish is the California Regional Director.
That was essentially the message brought by Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar to a standing room only crowd in Fresno.

He addressed a crowd of about 800 people, primarily farmworkers, farmers and residents of the Central Valley (and a smattering of fishermen and environmentalists) who have been clamoring for federal action in the face of rising unemployment and third year of drought.

Salazar carefully walked a tightrope throughout the town hall meeting. On the one side, he appealed to farmworkers, farmers, as well as local and federal politicians representing the area by enumerating a number of short-term measures expected to bring relief both in terms of disaster dollars and water supply projects. On the other side, he expressed commitment to fishermen and environmentalists by embracing the Governor’s Delta Vision which puts the ecosystem health of the Delta on equal footing with water supply reliability. He also put to rest notions that the so-called “God Squad”  could be called to nullify Biological Opinions that are constraining water supplies under Endangered Species Act provisions.

Salazar told the locals that dollars would be coming for drought supply relief and that come July 1, the pumps would be turned back on. This statement was received with yelps of joy. However, it’s important to clarify a couple of things. Read more »

Rod Fujita is Senior Scientist and Director, Ocean Innovations, for EDF.

Salmon and steelhead are in jeopardy. That is no surprise to many of us, especially fishermen and coastal communities who have suffered through the closure of the salmon fishery. But thanks to NRDC’s successful lawsuit, it's official. The lawsuit forced NMFS to take another look at the effects of the state and federal water projects on salmon, steelhead, and sturgeon, resulting in a new Biological Opinion. This new Biological Opinion (B.O.), released two weeks ago, confirms our fears that the water projects have been and are likely to continue to jeopardize the continued existence of winter run, spring run, steelhead, and green sturgeon if nothing additional is done to protect these iconic and valuable species. The recommended actions in the B.O. are also consistent with the research and conclusions of many others: these fish need more water, cooler temperatures, better passage past dams, and improved habitat.

To save these fish, the B.O. goes beyond short-term band-aids toward a holistic health model. When salmon populations are this low, it is time to pull out all possible stops to save them which means supporting the survival of ALL life stages comprehensively, which is what the B.O. attempts to do. It acknowledges that just altering project operations is not sufficient; rather, the full range of Reclamation and DWR authorities (especially those provided by CVPIA) to reduce stressors and compensate for them must be brought to bear if these species and the fisheries and ecosystem values that depend on them are to survive, never mind recover. Read more »

Ann Hayden is a Senior Water Resource Analyst at EDF.

It’s been a long time coming for the San Joaquin River, but yesterday marked the beginning of the return of both the river and the salmon runs that it once supported.

Congress overwhelmingly approved the project as part of a landmark wilderness bill (sponsored by Senators Feinstein and Boxer) that will require river flows along the San Joaquin River below Friant Dam, re-watering a 63-mile stretch of the river that has been mostly dry for decades. In addition to mandated river flows, the legislation includes provisions to restore riparian habitat as well as measures to help valley farmers. This deal is in no small part due to the tireless efforts of fishing and environmental interests, led by NRDC, who first took the matter to court in 1988, showing that sometimes persistence and hard work does indeed pay off.

Additional flows on the San Joaquin will surely help the imperiled Delta ecosystem as well and will be factored into efforts to create a Bay-Delta Conservation Plan as well as Delta-related activities within the California legislature.

Victories like this are few and far between—giant kudos to our colleagues who worked so hard for so many years.

Spreck Rosekrans is an Economic Analyst at EDF.

As discussed at Wednesday’s CALFED “Ops” group meeting, state and federal officials are planning to deliver an urgency request to the State Water Resources Control Board to reduce required Delta outflows in February and perhaps beyond. The request will be officially made by the Water Operations Management Team (WOMT), comprised of representatives of fishery and water project agencies. They are expected to cite the extremely low storage volumes in principal State Water Project and Central Valley Project reservoirs, and explain that it is essential to conserve cold water in those reservoirs to protect endangered salmon later in the year.

Salmon require cold water. Fall run chinook spawn in the fall and outmigrate to the ocean in the spring, and are not present in our river system during our warm summer months. Winter run and spring run chinook, on the other hand, are in our rivers in the summer and require cold water. Under pre-dam conditions, they would often spawn at elevations above the large reservoirs. That upstream habitat is no longer available. Since water temperature in the reservoirs increases when storage volumes are low, conserving reservoir storage until later in the year will help these endangered fish.

Increased spring outflow, the best known operational feature of the 1994 Bay-Delta Accord, is correlated with higher abundance of a plethora of Delta fish and other ecological factors. So the WOMT is making the difficult choice to protect salmon at the expense of Delta fish species.

Of course, reducing outflow requirements will allow increased exports to cities and farms that rely on the CVP and SWP for some of their supplies. Unless we get some substantial storms in February and March, water supply for our cities, farms and environment will all suffer this year.

Ann Hayden is a Senior Water Resource Analyst at EDF.
Payments by federal water and power users into the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) Restoration Fund for such projects as doubling salmon populations must continue for many years to come. This is the key conclusion of a recently released draft report (PDF)by the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Back in 2005, the Central Valley Project Water Agency requested a reduction in payments to the Restoration Fund based on their claim that all reasonable efforts had been made to achieve the environmental goals of the Act. Had their request been granted, funding for programs such as restoration of the Trinity River and recovery of Central Valley salmon would have been diminished.

Read more »