Crisis in the delta

FISH LIFE IN THE SACRAMENTO-SAN JOAQUIN DELTA is declining at crisis levels, and state officials are at a loss to explain why, or what to do about it. The situation has potentially grave implications for an estimated 24 million Californians who get some or all of their water from the Rhode Island-size estuary south of Sacramento and east of San Francisco Bay.

The crisis received little public attention until Assemblywoman Lois Wolk (D-Davis) probed the situation Friday with a hearing of the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee, which she chairs. Wolk concluded that the state needs a long-range plan to ensure the health of the delta. If such a plan required greater natural flows, that could cut into supplies diverted to farmers and to Southern Californians.

The delta crisis provides a critical test of CalFed, the multibillion-dollar, multi-agency program created by the state and federal governments to end the continual water wars focusing on the delta. The health of the delta depends on leaving sufficient water to wash naturally into San Francisco Bay.

The viability of CalFed is in question because Congress has not come up with the promised federal share of its costs, future state funds are threatened by budget shortfalls and water interests -- farmers, urban water districts and environmentalists -- can’t agree on how future projects should be financed.

Meanwhile, state and federal experts are baffled by the decline in fish life. The populations of striped bass, the endangered delta smelt, the threadfin shad and a variety of plankton are at record lows, and the problem seems to be getting worse. This is all the more puzzling because, unlike previous species declines, this one doesn’t appear to be drought-related.

The experts are reluctant to propose changes in delta operations until they know for sure what’s wrong. Environmentalists and the sportfishing industry blame too much pumping. The fishermen want to cut off water exports, which is impossible. But there’s no question that the pumps have affected the delta over the last 35 years, at times reversing natural stream flows.

Steve Hall, head of the Assn. of California Water Agencies -- a coalition of urban and farming districts, including the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California -- says that exports have not been a factor even though pumping reached record levels over the last three years. Hall said the decline in fish life is caused by toxic blooms triggered by “alien” algae, possibly introduced by the purging of ship ballast. Water agencies are arguing for even more pumping.

Certainly, limiting pumping from the delta would not make the problem worse, and may even alleviate it. Chances are, multiple causes are at work, including increased runoff of pollution from business and housing developments on the fringes of the delta. Californians may have to rely more on alternatives in the future, including use of reclaimed water and more conservation.

State officials need to be sure that CalFed has the money and scientific help it needs in attacking the delta crisis. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has asked the Little Hoover Commission to look into CalFed’s structural problems. But he needs to better emphasize the gravity of the problem. The delta is vital to California’s economy and lifestyle. Its ecological collapse is unthinkable.