State Board Posts Public Comments on Delta Ecosystem Change and the Low Salinity Zone

The State Water Resources Control Board has posted public comments that it received from interested persons for Workshop 1 (Ecosystem Change and the Low Salinity Zone) related to the Comprehensive Review of the Bay-Delta Plan.

The comments are posted on the Board's website and can be accessed by clicking here. 

For additional information regarding the Comprehensive Review of the Bay-Delta Plan, please contact Hanspeter Walter, Cliff Schulz, or the KMTG attorney with whom you normally consult.
  

Governor Announces Preferred Water Conveyance Alternative For Bay Delta Conservation Plan

On July 25, 2012, California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Assistant Administrator for Fisheries Eric Schwaab announced a preferred alternative in the ongoing Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP).

An overview of the preferred alternative is described in the San Jose Mercury News. Under the preferred alternative, two large, side-by-side underground tunnels, each 33 feet in diameter, would transport fresh water 37 miles from the Sacramento River, under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta (Delta), to federal and state pumps at Tracy. Then, the water would flow into canals operated by the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project from the Bay Area to San Diego, to irrigate three million acres of farmland. The tunnels would cost an estimated $14 billion to build, and would be financed by farmers and other water users that stand to benefit from the project. The preferred alternative also focuses on restoring the Delta.

The preferred alternative’s conveyance facilities would rely on gravity flow to increase energy efficiency and decrease environmental impacts. The proposed total capacity of the water intake facilities was reduced from an earlier proposal of 15,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) to 9,000 cfs. Officials explained that the preferred alternative will be designed to help restore endemic species, protect water quality, and enhance the reliability of water supplied from the State Water Project and Central Valley Project.

All officials stressed the Delta’s ongoing problems, such as habitat loss, threats to levee stability, and reduced water supply. They indicated that resolving these issues required a balancing of economic concerns and environmental interests. Underscoring the need for reevaluating California’s current water system, Secretary Salazar stated, “Through our joint federal-state partnership, and with science as our guide, we are taking a comprehensive approach to tackling California’s water problems when it comes to increasing efficiency and improving conservation.” The comprehensive approach unveiled today includes consideration of science, conservation, governance, financing, adaptive management, sustaining Delta communities, protecting upstream water users, and improving water management State-wide.

The details announced today are not final and other alternatives will still be evaluated in the BDCP process. The agencies intend to issue a draft Bay Delta Conservation Plan and Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement this fall. Once the proposed project is fully defined, it will be submitted for public comment, and review under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), California’s Natural Community Conservation Planning Act (NCCPA), and NEPA/CEQA.

Additional information regarding the proposed revisions to the BDCP is available here.  For further information regarding the BDCP, please contact Hanspeter Walter, Rebecca Akroyd, or Elizabeth Leeper, or the KMTG attorney with whom you normally consult.

(This blog post was drafted by KMTG Summer Associate Jessica Almendarez, with assistance from the blog editors.)

Public Policy Institute of California Releases Report—“Water and the California Economy”

A report released yesterday by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), entitled “Water and the California Economy,” examines the key economic issues related to water management in California and identifies seven priorities that policymakers and water managers must address to support the state's economic vitality. The report, authored by a wide-ranging group of experts, recommends the following actions:

1. Modernize water measurement and pricing with better estimates of water use and prices that reflect water’s economic value.

2. Reduce vulnerability to water supply interruptions, particularly for the large parts of the state that rely on water exported through the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, where supplies are susceptible to levee failures and measures to protect endangered species.

3. Strengthen water markets by clarifying and streamlining the approval process for the sale and lease of water rights and addressing infrastructure gaps.

4. Improve local groundwater management to facilitate groundwater banking and reduce overdraft.

5. Reduce exposure to catastrophic flood risk by targeting flood protection dollars and making better land use decisions.

6. Improve environmental management through more integrated, coordinated, and accountable approaches.

7. Develop more reliable funding, especially for environmental management, flood pro­tection, and statewide data collection and analysis.

The Report states that “[c]ontrary to conventional wisdom, the primary [economic] concern at the statewide level is not periodic drought or even longer-term declines in water availability from climate change.” Instead, catastrophic supply interruptions that could result from earthquakes and levee failures, along with long-term unreliability in water supplies, particularly in water coming from the Delta, pose the greatest economic risks for the state. In addition, the Report concludes that declining groundwater basins and an increasing risk of catastrophic floods create economic vulnerability.

In general, the Report recommends that California make its water supply more efficient, diverse and flexible and that California take action to protect its water supply from catastrophic disruptions. It also identifies the need for more reliable funding for both flood management and environmental management, and the need for an ecosystem approach to environmental management. In addition, the Report recommends reducing permitting delays for water transfers by preparing programmatic environmental impact reviews (EIRs) for the river and stream systems most likely to sell water.

For more information regarding the PPIC report, please contact Elizabeth Leeper or the KMTG attorney with whom you normally consult.

Related Stories:
Central Valley Flood Protection Board Receives Public Draft 2012 Central Valley Flood Protection Plan

DWR and EPA Release "Climate Change Handbook for Regional Water Planning"

Center for Irrigation Technology Releases Report on California Agricultural Water Use

Delta Stewardship Council To Discuss Final Staff Draft Of Delta Plan

At today’s meeting, the Delta Stewardship Council (Council) will discuss the final staff draft of the Delta Plan, which was released on May 14, 2012. The Delta Plan is a comprehensive, long-term management plan for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta (Delta), consisting of a mix of legally-enforceable “policies” and guiding “recommendations.” A comparison of the policies and recommendations contained in the final staff draft of the Delta Plan and the prior version is available here. State and local agencies undertaking actions covered by the Delta Plan will be required to file a certification of consistency with the Council, to ensure that the “covered action” is consistent with the applicable Delta Plan policies.

For more information concerning the Delta Plan, please contact Elizabeth Leeper or the KMTG attorney with whom you normally consult.

Related Stories:
Delta Stewardship Council to Conduct Field Hearings on Draft Environmental Impact Report for Delta Plan
Delta Stewardship Council Releases Draft Environmental Impact Report for Delta Plan
Delta Stewardship Council to Release Draft Environmental Impact Report for the Delta Plan on November 4
Delta Stewardship Council to Discuss Delta Plan on August 26
Delta Stewardship Council Releases Draft Version of Delta Plan

Fish & Wildlife Service Finds Bay-Delta Longfin Smelt Warrant Protection Under The Endangered Species Act

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) recently announced a 12-month finding on a petition to list the San Francisco Bay-Delta population of longfin smelt as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), finding that the Delta population of longfin smelt warranted ESA protection. The Service’s April 2, 2012, Federal Register notice of its 12-month finding is available here.

The Bay-Delta longfin smelt is a small fish, averaging approximately four inches in length, which is found in the San Francisco Bay-Delta, including Suisun Marsh and San Pablo Bay. The population of Bay-Delta longfin smelt has declined significantly in recent years. The Service’s 12-month finding identified a variety of threats to the Bay-Delta longfin smelt population, including habitat modification and the introduction of non-native species.

The Service found that listing of the Bay-Delta longfin smelt under the ESA is warranted but listing is currently precluded by higher priority actions. The Service added the Bay-Delta longfin smelt to its candidate species list, under which its status will be reviewed annually. Candidate species do not receive protection under the ESA, so the 12-month finding will not impose any new requirements or restrictions to protect the longfin smelt. However, the longfin smelt species is listed as a threatened species under the California Endangered Species Act, and is thus protected under state law. The Service stated that is will develop a proposed rule to list the the Bay-Delta longfin smelt under the ESA as its priorites allow. Any future proposal to add longfin smelt to the federal list of threatened or endangered species would be subject to public review and comment.

For more information regarding this matter, please contact Elizabeth Leeper or the KMTG attorney with whom you normally consult.


Related Stories:

Congressional ESA Oversight Hearing Materials Available Online
Congressional Committee Will Hold Oversight Hearing On Endangered Species Act Litigation

Federal and State Agencies Announce Schedule for Bay Delta Conservation Plan Environmental Review and Effects Analysis

On August 11, 2011, the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the California Natural Resources Agency announced an agreed-upon schedule for completing an effects analysis and a combined environmental impact statement/environmental impact report as part of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan.  That review is to be completed by June 2012.  The agencies also agreed upon a suite of alternatives for evaluation in identifying a proposed project.

“This is an aggressive schedule that will allow us to move clearly forward with BDCP and take the guess work out of next steps,” said California Secretary for Natural Resources John Laird.  “Meeting the dual goals of ecosystem restoration and water supply reliability demand a deep commitment from all parties involved.”

The schedule outlined at the August 11 public meeting targets May 2012 for release of the draft BDCP for public review and a June 2012 release of a draft EIR/EIS for public review.  The final BDCP is scheduled to be released in December 2012, followed by a February 2013 record of decision/notice of determination for the EIR/EIS.  The suite of alternatives to be evaluated vary in terms of the amount of acreage designated for habitat restoration and protection and the means of water conveyance.

The BDCP is a conservation plan for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, and is being developed pursuant to the federal Endangered Species Act and California Natural Communities Conservation Planning Act.  The BDCP is intended to help meet California’s co-equal goals for Delta management: water supply reliability and ecosystem restoration.  The public draft BDCP will include a set of actions to redesign and re-operate state and federal water projects in the Delta; restore native fish, wildlife, and plant habitat; and address other ecological stressors in the Delta such as invasive plant species, barriers to fish migration, and predation of native fish.  As a conservation plan, the BDCP is subject to environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act and National Environmental Policy Act.

For more information concerning this topic, please contact K. Eric Adair from our office, or the KMTG attorney with whom you normally consult.

Related links:

Press release

Public meeting presentation 

BDCP milestones schedule handout

EIR/EIS fact sheet handout

August 9, 2011 California Natural Resources Agency correspondence

August 10, 2011 Department of the Interior correspondence