Tuesday, November 18, 2008

last updated: January 06, 2008 02:18:10 AM

The battles over the delta are heating up, and it has nothing to do with climate change. The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is the heart of California's water world. Through it, flows water to 23 million residents and thousands of acres of ag land in the Southern San Joaquin Valley.

Unfortunately, our watery heart is quite sick. The delta smelt are said to be near extinction. The salmon that once migrated through the delta into the Tuolumne, Merced and Stanislaus rivers are disappearing. Urban encroachment as near as Manteca and Lathrop is adding to the historic loss of wetlands. Exotic species are driving out native ones. Polluted urban runoff is poisoning fragile ecosystems. Many scientists agree, the delta is on the verge of collapse.

There are conflicting explanations for every crisis, but there are few solutions. While everyone wants to fix the delta, no one wants to admit they are part of the problem. Judges have stepped in, ordering reductions in pumping from the delta this year.

Last year, Gov. Schwarzenegger appointed a Blue Ribbon Task Force to investigate what bedevils the delta and to suggest how to remedy its ills. Headed by former legislator Phil Isenberg, the panel included former Livingston resident Sunne Wright McPeak.

The task force released its report in early December, outlining 12 recommendations or goals. The most important was making the restoration of the delta's ecology "co-equal" in importance to providing reliable water supplies.

That would reverse decades of treating the delta like a plumbing fixture or a real estate venture.

The task force notes that revitalizing the delta "will require reduced diversions, or changes in patterns and timing of those diversions ... at critical times." The task force also said that two things were essential tools for fixing the delta: more water storage and a more reliable "conveyance facility" for moving water out of the delta.

Now you can see why the water is getting warmer. Farmers can't tolerate talk of reduced pumping while environmentalists deplore the idea of new dams. And those who live around the delta abhor even the hint of a canal.

The problem is that these solutions must work together, or they won't work at all.

Too many rely on delta water to just stop pumping. Yet, most agree that too much pumping is killing the delta and its fish. To reduce pumping, another way of moving the water to those who depend on it is needed. A "conveyance facility" (i.e., peripheral canal) would carry part of the Sacramento River's flow around the delta and directly to the pumps. But that would diminish the flow of water through the delta, which could be just as harmful.

That's where additional storage comes in. During critical times, releases from dams would keep water flowing through the delta. Dams also could generate electricity and provide water for other uses.

The task force won't offer specific solutions until June, but already opposition is mounting. Water agencies don't like the thought of any reduction in flow. And environmentalists who decry the effects of climate change elsewhere appear content to ignore them closer to home. Unfortunately, many environmentalists prefer to believe that dams are built only to enrich a few farmers, so they are lobbying against bonds to build surface storage.

This fails to recognize that as California warms, its Sierra snowfields will diminish and their water will be released into the rivers more quickly. Unless more of that water can be captured and held for later use, there won't be enough to save the delta.

While some environmentalists hate dams, they can tolerate a canal. Those who live in the delta region are blasé about dams, but abhor the thought of a canal. Early this week, The Record in Stockton reported that Dean Cortopassi, owner of Modesto's Stanislaus Foods, gave $250,000 to Californians for Clean, Safe Drinking Water. The political action committee includes state Sen. Mike Machado of Linden and is controlled by Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata.

The task force is in the middle of all this, yet it has provided an excellent starting point for discussion when it proposes solutions in June. It emphasized the equal goals of protecting the delta while assuring sufficient water for the state.

Schwarzenegger must make certain that the recommendations of his task force -- all of them -- are given a fair hearing. If the Delta Vision report ends up collecting dust, or getting picked apart, it will mean business as usual in the water world. And the delta will remain in peril.

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