Judge rejects delay in delta pumping restrictions
John Ellis
Fresno Bee
02/10/2010
A federal judge today rejected an emergency request by west Valley agricultural and urban water users to delay a new set of water-pumping restrictions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger's ruling means one of five delta pumps operated by the federal government will be shut down at 7 a.m. Thursday. The action is being taken to protect the delta smelt, a fish listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
Tom Birmingham, general manager of Westlands Water District which gets its water from the delta said the water agencies will seek another emergency order next week from Wanger, though he declined to be specific.
As General MacArthur said, 'we'll be back,' said Birmingham, who personally argued the matter today before Wanger.
The delta pumps which send water to west-side agriculture, including Westlands, as well as to millions of urban users from the East Bay to Southern California have been running at full capacity since Saturday.
