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State shuts off delta water to protect smelt

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Times Staff Writer

To protect a tiny imperiled fish, state water officials Thursday turned off the huge pumps that send water to Southern California from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Water Resources Director Lester Snow said he hoped that the shutdown would last no more than seven to 10 days, adding that it should not hurt deliveries to most State Water Project customers.

“People will have water. Nobody is going without water,” Snow said. “We would not expect to see rationing.”

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The state acted after more than 200 young delta smelt were killed at the south delta pumps over Memorial Day weekend. The population of the native fish had fallen precipitously in recent years and surveys last month found record low numbers of larval smelt.

“Drastic times call for drastic measures,” Snow said. “While there are clearly many factors at play in the current decline of smelt in the delta, we must act on the one that is within our control.”

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which runs a smaller set of delta pumps at which nearly 300 smelt have been killed recently, also announced that it was substantially cutting pumping rates for now.

Fish and game officials hope that when the delta water temperature warms up over the next week, the smelt will move toward San Francisco Bay, out of range of the pumps, which would allow the state to resume water exports.

Meanwhile, the federal and state water projects will draw from San Luis Reservoir, south of the delta, to maintain deliveries to Central Valley farms and Southern California cities.

The pumping shutdown is the latest development in an escalating crisis over the delta, a long-troubled ecosystem that is the major water crossroads for California. The last time state pumping was temporarily halted to protect smelt was in 1999; a reclamation bureau spokesman said this was the first time his agency had so severely cut federal pumping for fish protection.

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The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the State Water Project’s biggest customer, supported the pumping halt but said state officials needed to do more immediately to help the smelt.

“We don’t see any action being taken there [now],” Metropolitan General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger said, referring to pesticide contamination, invasive species and other delta problems thought to be contributing to the smelt decline.

Deputy Water Resources Director Jerry Johns said the regional water quality board needed “to be all over” the pesticide contamination.

“The key would be, let’s not let it happen again -- figure out where it’s coming from,” Johns said.

He also said the state was moving to restore fish habitat and hoped to take steps this winter that would increase the smelt’s food supply in the north delta.

Water officials all view the pumping shutdown as another sign that the state needs to change the way it moves water from Northern to Southern California.

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“We have a system that is not sustainable for our water supplies or the ecosystem,” Snow said. “If we don’t fix the delta, this is going to start happening every year.”

This spring, both a federal and a state judge ruled that the water operations were illegally endangering the smelt and salmon, opinions that if upheld could force a long-term reduction in delta water exports.

The pumping problems are occurring as Southern California is headed for its driest year on record and another major source of water for the region, the Colorado River, remains in a long-term drought.

“This feels like a lot of things piling up, making it extremely difficult to move water in the state,” Kightlinger said.

The agency is launching an advertising campaign to encourage voluntary water conservation in Southern California.

Kightlinger said that if the dry conditions persist into next year, water rationing may become necessary.

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“I think everything is on the table if we have another dry year,” he said.

bettina.boxall@latimes.com

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