Gary Hartvickson: Salmon, salinity are just excuses for state to take our water

The state is using salinity concerns in the south Delta and salmon as an excuse to take our water. There have been dams on the Merced and Tuolumne rivers since the 1930s. Without the dams, we would have zero salmon during drought years as there would have been no cold water to draw them to the spawning grounds. The state has not published historical salinity records for the south Delta (if they even exist). By removing the water from the far larger Sacramento River and using the three small rivers feeding the Delta from the south, the state will change the historical support of the Delta. I don't know why the cities, counties and irrigation districts have not filed suit in federal court against Gov. Jerry Brown, the State Water Resources Quality Control Board and the Environmental Protection Agency to stop this theft. If they are allowed to take any, they will eventually kill our rivers, cities, farms and we will never recover.

Editor’s note: Roughly 20 to 30 percent of the unimpaired flows of the Merced, Tuolumne and Stanislaus rivers already remains instream for environmental purposes; the state is demanding an increase to 40 percent or 50 percent to improve salmon and steelhead trout viability.

This story was originally published November 3, 2016 at 2:50 PM with the headline "Gary Hartvickson: Salmon, salinity are just excuses for state to take our water."