Sen. Lois Wolk: Time to fix the 'Delta fix'
Lois Wolk
Daily Democrat
01/10/2010
In this season of New Year's resolutions, it is natural to reflect on the past and set goals for the year ahead.
Just two months ago, the Governor and legislative leadership hailed the recently enacted water deal as a monumental step forward to save Delta.
Ironically, that enthusiasm is not shared by many of those that live, work and play in the Delta region. Those that know the Delta best are all too aware that the celebrated water package leaves much more to be done in order to save the largest estuary on the west coast.
Every generation has attempted to fix the Delta. Past efforts have been based on 19th century outmoded ideas, bad process, billions in public subsidies, and, in the end, the chronic failure of state agencies to follow good science or enforce existing laws designed to protect the Delta and Northern California. In many ways, the most recent water package sets a course to repeat this tragic history.
This newest "fix" relies upon voters approving an $11.14 billion pork laden bond measure on November's ballot. That bond will help finance the costs of a new peripheral canal -- a ditch the equivalent of a 100-lane freeway, 48 miles long, through prime farmland, diverting water from the Sacramento River around the Delta directly to pumps and aqueducts southward.
Supporters of the canal, the water exporters, hope that separating the fish from the water further upstream will protect them from court rulings requiring the water to flow naturally through the Delta. Others, including Delta residents, farmers and fishermen, disagree.
Yet the biggest problem isn't necessarily what is in this package, it is what was left out:
n Respected legal experts representing Northern California water agencies warned that the package lacked water rights protections and would uproot the decades old priority system of water rights, risking the municipal and agricultural water supplies of Northern California for the benefit of water exporters to the South. These legal experts were discounted and the protections were omitted.
n The five Delta counties were excluded from the process and the solution.
n Environmentalists asked for legally enforceable standards that would guarantee the Delta enough freshwater flow for fish and other wildlife to survive. Instead, they got unenforceable "flow criteria" to determine what the Delta needs, but not what it will actually get. "Trust us," they were told. "It's the best we can do."
n Financial experts, including the State Treasurer and the non-partisan Legislative Analyst Office, warned that unprecedented and growing bond debt would further exacerbate California's budget crisis and require deeper cuts to health care, education and social programs across the state. They stressed the need to require that those who benefit from these expenditures pay for them, not all taxpayers. The financial experts were ignored.
Now we are left with a new water policy full of loopholes, irresponsibly financed, and replete with vague promises unlikely to produce a positive outcome.
Now it's the Delta fix that needs fixing. We must close the gap between the headlines and the policy, the hype and the reality.
Water flows necessary to sustain the Delta's ecosystem and communities must be protected. Historic safeguards, including the priority water rights system, must be upheld to protect Northern California communities, save California's largest salmon runs, and restore the health of the fragile Delta estuary.
