Water crisis grips California

Leaders make pitch for delta fix

Bob Krauter
Capital Press

September 14, 2007

SACRAMENTO - Sounding warnings of fallowed farmland, lost jobs and economic upheaval, a group of state officials, water experts and agricultural leaders made a plea last week for a permanent fix to a key section of California 's plumbing system.

Reacting to the Aug. 31 decision by federal District Judge Oliver Wanger to curb water exports in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta by one-third or more next year, Lester Snow, California's chief of water resources, said the ruling has put an exclamation point on the crisis in the delta.

"We have further evidence that the delta is in crisis if there was any doubt about it. Clearly, the judge has focused in on a specific stressor in the delta and the export facilities in the south delta, but there are so many other stressors in the delta system that we still have to address," Snow said at a state Capitol news conference . "Whether it is seismic risk, invasive species or water quality issues, urban encroachment and loss of habitat areas - all of those areas still exist no matter what the judge has said or has not said. We need to move forward on a comprehensive fix."

Snow, joined by members of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's cabinet and several water leaders, urged support for Senate Bill 59, which embodies the governor's $6 billion bond package to improve water system reliability and the delta ecosystem.

The bond deal would help protect the delta smelt, a tiny threatened species that caused a temporary shutdown of state water project pumps this summer, Snow said.

Wanger's ruling could reduce delta water exports by up to 37 percent to protect smelt from being sucked into pumps near Tracy , at the head of the California Aqueduct. Northern California water courses through the delta, the West Coast's largest estuary, and supplies the needs of 23 million Californians and 5 million acres of farmland.

The federal ruling on a lawsuit filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Earthjustice against the U.S. Department of the Interior and several water agencies will tighten the delta's tap.

"What that indicates is in an average water year, where we would normally deliver almost 6 million acre feet, we expect under this order to be as much as a third less than that - about 2 million acre feet less than that," Snow said. "How much of this depends on precisely where the fish are in any given year, so obviously this introduces a great deal of uncertainty into the water supply. It does so while addressing one stressor. It does not guarantee that we are fixing the bay-delta system."

Schwarzenegger's plan includes two new reservoirs, conservation and improved delta conveyance. Snow said options include both a dual conveyance system and an isolated facility to move water around the delta, ensuring protections for smelt and other fish species.

"We have to move forward with a comprehensive solution. This won't be that last court case. It won't be the last disaster in the delta unless we proceed in a very, very comprehensive fashion, dealing with conservation, storage, conveyance, wastewater recycling - the entire package," Snow told reporters. "There are no silver bullets for fixing this problem."

Already, drought conditions this year have cut water deliveries from both the state and federal water systems to farmers in the San Joaquin Valley . California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura said farmers have scaled back plantings of beets, melons, garlic, onions, tomatoes and other crops.

"This decision just creates more of a crisis, more of a problem for farmers," Kawamura said.

Steve Patricio, president of Westside Produce and chairman of Western Growers, said farmers are troubled by the water supply reductions ordered by Wanger.

" California farmers are already reeling from the effects of an extremely dry year and the 10-day delta pump shutdown last June," Patricio said. "Without required amounts of irrigation water, farmers will be forced to leave farmland idle and will have to choose their plans for irrigating permanent plantings of vineyards and orchards, resulting in either severe crop losses or ultimately the loss and the death of those vineyards and orchards."

Patricio said Western Growers, a major fruit and vegetable grower-shipper organization, has commissioned a study of water cutbacks that will be completed soon. Preliminary data show severe impacts to the economy.

"If 2008 is an average rainfall year, the study concludes that between 82,000 and 236,000 additional acres will be fallowed. Ag production will decrease between $68 million and $294 million, and that's if we have average rainfall," Patricio said.

Up to 4,000 jobs could be lost on farms that depend on delta water, resulting in a loss of personal income of between $57 million and $246 million, he said. Total regional economic loss could total between $110 million and $475 million.

"When farmers stop farming, when land stops being planted, and when orchards and vineyards die, farmworkers don't go to work," Patricio said. "When farmworkers don't go to work, the entire farm economy feels it. For every ag job, six other jobs are created."

Timothy Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies, said the pain from reduced water exports from the delta will be felt far and wide from the federal court decision.

"There is no way that that can't do anything but hurt and hurt a lot," Quinn said. "We are not only losing our delta supply, we are losing our water management toolbox."

Roger Patterson, representing the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, told reporters that his agency, which serves 17 million people, is preparing mandatory conservation measures in the event that restricted water use is needed.

"Until we can come to grips with a comprehensive solution that serves all of the purposes in California that rely on the delta, we're going to be living in this world of uncertainty," Patterson said. "We understand that."

State Water Resources Director Lester Snow is the key playmaker to push Schwarzenegger's plan in SB59, which stalled in committee earlier this year in Sacramento . Snow said he has been encouraged by Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata's proposal on a delta water solution.

"We're optimistic about that (Perata's plan). The governor has indicated that he is not going to stop on his quest for a water bond, whether it is the end of the session, special session or beginning of next session - it is not an issue that is going to go away just because we got rejected by one committee on the legislation on one day earlier this year," Snow said. "It's not over and these issues that we are facing now highlight how there should have been more debate on SB59 before they voted to not move it out."

Schwarzenegger's plan in SB59 authorizes the sale of nearly $4 billion in bonds, with $2 billion allocated for surface water storage projects, $500 million for groundwater and $1 billion to be spent on delta sustainability. This week, Schwarzenegger called for a special session of the state Legislature to act on his water bond package and also to deal with health care reforms. 

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