Updates from Friends of the San Francisco Estuary for August 2015

Updates from Friends of the San Francisco Estuary
Even kids know that cutting in line isn’t fair…

Current Water Updates for the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary

August 2015

What’s Happening Today:

CA WATER FIX PETITIONS FOR CHANGE IN WATER RIGHTS – AHEAD OF STATE BOARD’S UPDATE PROCESS

Press releases from CA Water Fix and the State Water Resources Control Board, 8/26/15

The California Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation have jointly filed a petition for a change to the water rights necessary to allow for the implementation of key components of the California WaterFix. The petition requests approval from the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) to add new points of diversion and rediversion (for construction of the twin tunnels) to the existing water right permits held by the State Water Project and Central Valley Project.

The submittal of the petition starts a public process expected to include an evidentiary hearing and opportunity for comment by interested parties. The public record for the hearing would then serve as the basis for the State Water Board’s decisions regarding the project.

“In light of the different statutory and procedural requirements applicable to the State Water Board’s water right and water quality processes, the State Water Board will concurrently review the change petition for the California WaterFix project separate from, and likely before completion of the Phase 2 update of Delta outflow and other flow objectives of the Board’s Bay-Delta planning efforts [emphasis added].

DROUGHT + WATER MANAGEMENT DECISIONS = RISK OF MAJOR EXTINCTION

LA Times, 8/24/15

fish decline graphAs reported in the L.A. Times on Monday, August 24, “Four years of drought — and the accompanying relaxation of environmental standards by state regulators — have compounded the harm of dams and diversions that long ago thwarted fish migration and destroyed habitat.”

Last year, 95% of the brood year for winter-run Chinook salmon was killed off by extremely warm temperatures in the Sacramento River. The warm water temperatures in this highly managed system weren’t only caused by the drought but also by miscalculations made by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which used faulty computer models to determine how much cold water could be released from Shasta Dam.

This year may see a devastating repeat, despite efforts to correct last year’s mistakes. “There’s a lot of uncertainty” in the plan, said Maria Rea, assistant regional administrator for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries. “I don’t have a high confidence that it will work.”

“We’re going to be losing most of our salmon and steelhead if things continue,” said UC Davis professor emeritus Peter Moyle, a leading authority on California’s native fish. Also in danger are the long-suffering delta smelt, whose numbers have plunged to what he called “the last of the last.”

“It would be a major extinction event,” Moyle warned.

FEDERAL DROUGHT RELIEF LEGISLATION INTRODUCED BY FEINSTEIN

Office of Senator Dianne Feinstein, July 29, 2015

Senator Dianne Feinstein, with the support of Senator Barbara Boxer, released the California Emergency Drought Relief Act of 2015 (S. 1894) at the end of the July legislative session. The proposed bill includes $1.3 billion to:

  • Provide assistance to drought-stricken communities;
  • Support water supply projects such as water recycling, desalination, and storage (including dam re-operation and funding for Shasta, Temperance Flat, Sites, and Los Vaqueros),
  • Conservation and groundwater recharge,
  • Research and innovation.

The political aim of the legislation is to get language folded into broader Western water legislation that Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) intends to bring forward this year. The Murkowski bill is likely to serve as a vehicle for several state-specific drought relief measures, as well as overarching federal policy changes.

CALIFORNIANS CUT WATER USE BY 31.3% IN JULY: BAY AT FOREFRONT

SF Chronicle, 8/27/15

Californians answered the call for conservation in July, slashing water use by 31.3 percent and exceeding state targets for the second straight month that communities face potential fines for falling short.

The Bay Area was at the fore of the savings effort, according to the new batch of state data released Thursday. Some spots logged reductions of a third or more compared to the same month two years ago, including Santa Rosa, which cut 43.8 percent, and the San Jose Water Company, which trimmed 38 percent, the data show.

All of the Bay Area’s major water suppliers hit their state-ordered reduction targets.

OTHER NEWS FOR THE ESTUARY & WATERSHED

Potentially Toxic Algae Bloom in Delta Worries Researchers
Sacramento Bee, 8/26/15

NASA: California Drought Causing Valley Land to Sink
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory: California Institute of Technology, 8/19/15

Drought-Plagued California Readies for El Niño Storms
CBS Los Angeles, 8/25/15

BUT…

Don’t expect El Niño to end the drought or increase rain and snow in Northern California
Capital Public Radio, 8/26/15

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