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January 10, 1921 - June 17, 2005

 

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Central California water crisis is familiar

Endangered smelt halt water pumping in area

 
By TY BEAVER
H&N Staff Writer
April 5, 2009

   It’s a scenario that should sound familiar to Klamath Basin residents.  

   Dan Keppen says a coming water cutoff in Central California will impact hundreds of thousands of acres of productive farmland, leave numerous farm laborers unemployed and potentially raise food prices nationwide. 

   While partially  a result of drier conditions, the water shortage is mostly the work of government regulators seeking to protect endangered fish, the Klamath Falls-based executive director of Family Farm Alliance said. 

   That’s similar to what happened in the Klamath Basin in 2001 and is now happening in California’s San Joaquin Valley. 

   Irrigators in the region are looking at how the Klamath Basin reacted to the 2001 water crisis to mobilize and draw the attention of state and federal lawmakers. At the same time, what happens in California’s Central Valley could impact the Basin directly, either by influencing action on the proposed Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement or the Basin’s water itself. 

   “There’s a huge diversion of Trinity River water that goes into the Sacramento,” said Steve Kandra, an irrigator on the Klamath Irrigation Project and board member of Klamath Water Users Association. “I hope they’re not looking at more Trinity water as a solution.” 

   ‘Dire situation’ 

   Mike Wade, executive director for California Farm Water Coalition, said the situation is dire for the 3 million acres irrigated by the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers. About 750,000 acres of state lease lands will receive only 20 percent of their water allocation for the season. The remaining lands irrigated by the project will receive no water allocation. 

   The region hasn’t had the best water year, but Wade said the drought is more a man-made event, a result of environmentalists and government officials trying to protect Delta smelt from being negatively impacted by irrigation operations. 

   Unemployment 

   The result could be up to 40 percent unemployment in some California counties. 

   Food prices will likely increase as the California agricultural economy supplies a good portion of the nation’s food supply. Metropolitan areas whose water supplies are served by the rivers also will be impacted. 

    “Not just farmers are going to face water problems,” Wade said.
 
 Side Bar
 

Congress asked to ease federal pumping restrictions

 

Scripps Howard News Service


   With California in the throes of a drought, Congress is being urged to ease federal pumping restrictions that are impacting the state’s shrinking water supply. 


   Pumps in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta — the core of the state’s water system — have been virtually halted under a federal ruling to protect threatened and endangered fish species such as the Delta smelt. The tiny silver smelt, found only in that estuary, are sucked into the powerful pumps that move water uphill into canals that carry it south. 

   Federal scientists say the smelt, believed to be an indicator of the overall health of the Delta, are close to extinction. 

   California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a statewide emergency due to drought and warned of the possibility of water rationing. Meanwhile, recent estimates show that about 250,000 acre-feet — more than 83 billion gallons — of water have been lost to the Pacific Ocean because of the smelt ruling, California GOP Rep. Ken Calvert said. 

    “Absent the federal restrictions, the quarter million acre-feet of water could have been exported to water users throughout the state,” said Calvert, who favors easing pumping restrictions.
 
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