COVER STORY
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VOL . 37 • ISS . 05
Hey Dan ! — Letters To The Editor
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Save The American River Association Opposes Reclamation Plan to Maximize Water Deliveries
Hey Dan !
This is my letter regarding the Trump administration plan to maximize water deliveries to Central Valley Project water contractors to Katrina Harrison , Project Manager , Bureau of Reclamation , Bay Delta Office , Sacramento .
Stephen Green , President , Save the American River Association ( SARA )
Katrina Harrison
This responds to a public notice in the Federal Register Vol . 83 , No . 249 , of the intent by the Bureau of Reclamation to prepare an environmental impact statement , “ Revisions to the Coordinated Long-term Operation of the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project , and Related Facilities .”
Save the American River Association ( SARA ) was organized in 1961 and initiated the founding of the American River Parkway . SARA has been an advocate for the river and the Parkway ever since . What happens in The Delta , directly impacts the American River and its ecosystem .
The Bureau ’ s project intends to “ Maximize water supply deliveries and to optimize marketable power generation ,” consistent with applicable law , contracts , and agreements , considering new and / or modified storage and export facilities .”
The long-standing policy in place was repeated by Secretary of the Interior Julius Krug , Oct 12 , 1948 : “ Let me state , clearly and finally , the Interior Department is fully and completely committed to the policy that no water which is needed in the Sacramento Valley will be sent out of it .” He then added , “ There is no intent on the part of the Bureau of Reclamation to ever divert from the Sacramento Valley a single acre-foot of water that might be used in the Valley now or later .” There is a long history of other Department of the Interior and Bureau of Reclamation officials making this and other similar statements .
The State of California entered the Union on September 9 , 1850 , on an equal footing with the laws of the original 13 states . One of those laws , the Public Trust Doctrine , is a background principle of property law that predates today ’ s environmental laws and applies to every water right that impacts trust resources and may , in fact , define or limit the very nature of the right to put water to beneficial use . In California , the Public Trust Doctrine can limit private water rights to protect inherent public trust values .
The California court has stated : “ It is laid down by our law writers that the right of property in water is usufructuary and consists not so much of the fluid itself as the advantage of its use .” Put in the context of a water right – a user of water must respect the rights and interests of others , including the peoples ’ fish property , and is not to alter the integrity of that water as a water supply or an ecosystem .
There is a perched water table involving about 379,000 acres on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley ( USFWS-2017 ).
Salt has impacted 780,000 acres on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley ( California Agriculture Oct-Dec 2017 .
California ’ s rivers and streams are grossly over appropriated and the Bureau of Reclamation holds the largest share of those water rights .
The Public Policy Institute of California ( October – 2016 ) reports that for the period 2000 to 2015 , about 33 percent of the annual runoff to the Delta is consumed upstream of the Delta , 17 percent was exported and 5 percent was consumed within the Delta .
The operations of the CVP and SWP must be evaluated for the various stresses such operations place on the Chinook salmon and steelhead of the Central Valley .
The Delta smelt are nearing extinction . The winter and spring runs of Chinook salmon and Central Valley steelhead trout , green sturgeon , and the Longfin smelt are listed under Federal or State lists of Endangered or Threatened Species . All are struggling to survive in the face of habitat uncertainty and heavy exports .
Extinction is forever . The extinction of any of our State ’ s native fish species is not a management option .
The Central Valley Project Improvement Act ( CVPIA ) of 1992 amended previous CVP authorizations to include fish and wildlife protection , restoration , and mitigation as project purposes having equal priority with irrigation and domestic water supply , and fish and wildlife enhancement having an equal priority with power generation . Mitigation for fish and wildlife losses incurred by construction , operation and maintenance shall be based on the replacement of ecologically equivalent habitat . According to Grantham and Viers ( Environ . Res . Let . 9 -2014 ) the American River is over appropriated with 18,985,524 acre-feet allocated for all uses . About 3,358,904 acre feet is allocated for non-hydropower water rights ( M and I , Ag ). The average annual runoff of the American River is estimated at 2,620,000 acre-feet . The effects of the hydropower generation projects upstream of Folsom Reservoir must be taken into account in your determination of the amount of water available for use in the basin and for export .
Save the American River Association is still waiting for the Bureau of Reclamation to institute a flow management standard ( flow , timing of those flows and temperature ) that is protective of the life history stages of Chinook salmon and steelhead trout that utilize the American River .
Given that much has to be accomplished to fulfill the purposes of the CVPIA of 1992 . Department of the Interior and Bureau of Reclamation representatives have stated that it is their intent to live by the limitation of California Water Code Sections 11460 -11463 . In this effort , the Bureau has attempted to estimate the present and future water needs for each watershed and have said they intend to divert no water from any watershed which will or may be needed for beneficial uses in the future within that watershed .
Save the American River Association requests that the Bureau of Reclamation , as a part of the preparation of an environmental impact statement regarding the “ Revisions to the Coordinated Longterm Operation of the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project , and Related Facilities ,” undertake the following actions relative to this environmental impact statement project .
Action : The Bureau of Reclamation should identify the water needs in the broadest context for each of the watersheds or sub-basins of the Sacramento Valley and Delta Region . That includes not only the municipal and industrial water needs , but the instream flows ( including water quality ) needed to protect anadromous fishes , other public trust resources , uses and values of each watershed or sub-basin .
Action : The Bureau of Reclamation should identify the rivers and streams and associated watersheds it believes have “ excess ” or “ surplus ” water above their identified needs .
Action : What is the Bureau of Reclamation definition of “ excess ” or “ surplus water ” in light of the broadened definition of Public Trust purposes , uses and interests protected in light of the Marks court definition and potential irrigation , municipal water demands in the Sacramento Valley and Delta watersheds ?
Action : The Bureau of Reclamation should lay out a detailed plan with disposal mechanisms , locations and cost estimates of how it and its contractors are going to handle the drainage from the lands irrigated that is surely contain selenium , boron and other salts that will flow / drain from these lands .
Action : The operations of the CVP and SWP must be evaluated as a major source of stressors on the life history stages of the Chinook salmon and steelhead of the Central Valley . Such stressors must be evaluated and measures identified and recommended to eliminate such stressors .
Action : The Bureau of Reclamation should lay out a detailed plan of how it proposes to protect the fish and wildlife resources and their habitats affected by the operation of reservoirs it operates or controls to maximize the sale or use of such “ excess ” or “ surplus ” water .
Save the American River Association appreciates the opportunity to present these comments . ~ Stephen Green , President , Save the American River Association ( SARA )
COVER STORY
The NorCal Trout Anglers Challenge ( NTAC ) event at San Pablo Reservoir drew 242 participants to fish in warm , sunny weather on February 3 . Anglers found outstanding fishing while fishing from both shore and boat . Ram Bipat of Fairfield had a great day fishing with PowerBait when he landed this 5.61 lb . rainbow , capturing first place in the adult division . Photo by DAN BACHER , Fish Sniffer Staff .
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