Task force urges immediate action to save the Delta
Water supply for 23 million Californians at risk. Procrastination will result in irretrievable losses.
Central Valley Business Times
12/18/2007
Immediate and coordinated action is needed to preserve California’s major source of water, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, says a report from a the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force.
The report makes 12 recommendations and several proposed near-term actions to protect the Delta ecosystem and the state’s water supply. About 23 million Californians – from the Central Valley and Bay Area to Southern California -- get at least some of their water from the Delta.
(Download a copy of the report by clicking on the link at the end of this story.)
“The Delta is in crisis and each day brings us closer to a major disaster, be it from flooding, from the decline of important fish species, or from court-ordered reductions in the amount of water that can be pumped for the state’s water supply,” says Phil Isenberg, chairman of the task force, which was appointed in February by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to develop a long-term sustainable vision for the Delta by the end of the year, and an implementation plan by October 2008.
The Delta, formed by California’s two largest rivers, the Sacramento and San Joaquin, is the largest estuary on the West Coast and the hub of the state’s water systems.
The report says the recommendations are linked and meant to be implemented together. “The Delta cannot be ‘fixed’ by any single action. No matter what policy choices are made, we Californians are compelled to change the ways we behave toward the environment and water,” the task force says in a letter to the governor.
“New facilities for conveyance and storage, and better linkage between the two, are needed to better manage California’s water resources for both the estuary and exports,” the report says.
It says major investments should go to strengthen selected levees, improve floodplain management, and improve water circulation and quality.
It also says that the current boundaries and governance system of the Delta must be changed. “It is essential to have an independent body with authority to achieve the co-equal goals of ecosystem revitalization and adequate water supply for California — while also recognizing the importance of the Delta as a unique and valued area. This body must have secure funding and the ability to approve spending, planning, and water export levels,” the report says.
With some 400,000 people living on land reclaimed over the past century from what was the original Delta, the report also calls for restrictions on further development.
“Discouraging inappropriate urbanization of the Delta is critical both to preserve the Delta’s unique character and to ensure adequate public safety,” it says.
The report urges immediate action.
“This is the time to act. The difficult choices we face today will become even more difficult in the future. Procrastination will result in irretrievable losses: severe reductions in water uses and severe damage to the estuarine ecosystem,” it says.
