Both Fish and People Can Win

Water-short San Joaquin Valley farmers have reverted to the old canard that federal water project operators are putting “the needs of fish over people.” There is more emotion than truth in that statement, although under a law passed by Congress in 1992 more of the federal Central Valley Project’s water now must be devoted to protection of threatened or endangered fisheries. This is one of many actions needed to repair the environmental damage done to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta over the last 40 years by the giant export pumps of the CVP and the state Water Project.

Since the delta is a major source of Southern California’s water, conditions in the delta are critical to this area. When the delta is stressed by demand or drought, the saltiness of water shipped southward is greatly increased.

The recent dispute arose from curtailment of pumping from the delta in mid-December to protect migrating salmon. Officials say part of the problem was a breakdown in communications between the federal and state officials who run side-by-side pumping operations. Delta salt readings soared and water exports to the south plummeted.

The immediate dilemma seems to be solved, but a problem remains in that there’s not enough water to satisfy all the demands of all users all the time. The answer is a long-range program being developed through the state-federal Cal-Fed process. Negotiators are trying to create a package of actions, from new water storage to stream restoration, that will assure water users long-term, reliable, high-quality supplies. It would cost some $8 billion over 30 years.

Cal-Fed has bogged down in recent months, with farmers demanding the construction of new reservoirs and environmentalists adamantly opposed to them. Ultimately some new reservoir storage may be necessary to allow flexible operations in the delta that would benefit both fish and people. However, there shouldn’t be storage that would provide new supplies of water to farmers at public expense.

The good news is that Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt and representatives of Gov. Gray Davis are reported to be making progress in private Cal-Fed discussions directed at a comprehensive delta program.

It would be the only solution for the delta and millions of California water users. Without Cal-Fed, operation of these vital facilities is likely to be mired in controversy and protracted legal battles for years to come. Both fish and people would be losers then.