News of the Arroyo
Title: | Delta Backup Plans Mulled: |
Subtitle: | If Pump Shutdown Continues, More Drastic Action to Allow Water Deliveries Will Be Needed |
Date: | 2007-06-07 |
Summary: | June 7, 2007 - As conditions for the endangered Delta smelt continue to deteriorate, water managers ponder next steps. |
Author: | Matt Weiser |
Publication: | The Sacramento Bee |
Content: | Jun. 7--The state Department of Water Resources is weighing backup plans in case water export pumps in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta remain idle more than 10 days, a prospect that looks increasingly likely. The shutdown of pumps near Tracy began May 31 to protect the threatened Delta smelt, a tiny fish that began turning up dead at the facility. That is normal during water exports, but was considered especially alarming after a spring survey indicated a record low population of the fish. Local water agencies around California have weathered the first week of the shutdown, drawing on groundwater and reservoir storage. But more-drastic measures may soon be necessary. About 25 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland get a portion of their water from the state pumps. \"It all makes me nervous,\" said Bill Harrison, general manager of Oak Flat Water District near Tracy. The district draws irrigation water directly from the California Aqueduct south of the pumps. It has drawn down its share of that water by about a foot. Total water level in the canal, which averages 30 feet deep, has dropped about 5 feet. Water users south of San Luis Reservoir continue to receive normal deliveries from that source. It is points between the reservoir and the pumps that are most at risk of shortages. That includes communities in the South Bay and East Bay. \"I don\'t think we can go past 10 (days) without causing big problems,\" said DWR Deputy Director Jerry Johns. DWR spokeswoman Sue Sims said the agency is considering interim pumping scenarios if the crisis continues. Options include restarting the pumps temporarily to refill the initial stretch of the California Aqueduct and Bethany Reservoir, which also serves the Bay Area. The latest surveys for the smelt indicate little progress in moving the fish downstream. They are still mostly gathered in the central Delta, near the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, where they remain vulnerable to the pull of the powerful pumps. Cool weather has kept water temperatures below 77 degrees, a trigger that encourages smelt to move downstream. River outflows also have not been sufficient to push smelt downstream to their summer habitat in Suisun Bay. Nearly four weeks ago, on May 14, a team of government fisheries biologists called the Delta Smelt Working Group urged water managers to change operations to ensure positive outflows in Middle and Old rivers, tributaries of the San Joaquin, until waters reach 77 degrees. Pumping can cause the channels to run backward, trapping the smelt. In response, water agencies reduced pumping two weeks ago and removed diversion barriers in the channels. But Tina Swanson, a senior scientist at the Bay Institute, said positive flows were only achieved in the two channels as of Monday. On Friday, Swanson and Peter Moyle, a UC Davis fisheries biologist, urged state and federal water officials to boost San Joaquin River outflows to 3,500 cubic feet per second and open the Delta Cross Channel Gates near Walnut Grove to help move the smelt. Neither has been done. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation spokesman Jeff McCracken said Wednesday the gates that the bureau controls were closed, and there were no plans to meet Swanson\'s and Moyle\'s request. Instead, McCracken said the bureau is buying additional water rights in order to increase San Joaquin River flows by 850 cfs. It has secured one source and is looking for more. The goal is to neutralize ongoing exports at its own Delta pumps near Tracy. The bureau has shut off all but one of its pumps, which operates at a fixed rate of 850 cfs. At 5 p.m. Wednesday, total San Joaquin outflows stood at about 2,200 cfs at the Vernalis measuring point. \"The population status of this species is so dire now,\" said Swanson. \"It is not just a question of minimizing our impact. We can\'t do anything that might kill these fish.\" Meanwhile, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Wednesday urged residents to cut water use 10 percent. Next week, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, largest urban user of Delta water, is expected to ask board members to quadruple spending on a water conservation campaign, to $6 million. \"This is going to be a long year, and it\'s going to keep twisting and turning,\" said Jeff Kightlinger, MWD\'s general manager. ----- |
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