Despair flows as fields go dry and unemployment rises

Article in the Los Angeles Times about tough times in the Central Valley for farmers and workers.

Here are the numbers:

"Water scarcity looms as a major challenge to California's $37-billion agricultural industry, which has long relied on imported water to bloom. The consequences of closing the spigot are already evident here in rural Fresno County, about 230 miles north of Los Angeles. Lost farm revenue will top $900 million in the San Joaquin Valley this year, said UC Davis economist Richard Howitt, who estimates that water woes will cost the recession-battered region an additional 30,000 jobs in 2009."

Interior Secretary Salazar visits Central Valley

He offers up cash and a plan to expedite water transfers.

From the AP:

"At a spirited town hall meeting in California's agricultural heartland, Salazar told a packed auditorium that Deputy Interior Secretary David J. Hayes will "bring all of the key federal agencies to the table" to coordinate efforts.

Salazar said he wanted to direct $160 million in Recovery Act funds to the federal Central Valley Project, which manages the dams and canals that move water around the state, and will expedite water transfers from other areas."

NOAA Biological Opinion Released

Here's the NOAA press release. The full report is linked to at the bottom of the release. An excerpt:

"NOAA released its final biological opinion today that finds the water pumping operations in California’s Central Valley by the federal Bureau of Reclamation jeopardize the continued existence of several threatened and endangered species under the jurisdiction of NOAA’s Fisheries Service.

The bureau has provisionally accepted NOAA’s recommended changes to its water pumping operations, and said it will begin to implement its near-term elements as it carefully evaluates the overall opinion.

Federal biologists and hydrologists concluded that current water pumping operations in the Federal Central Valley Project and the California State Water Project should be changed to ensure survival of winter and spring-run Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, the southern population of North American green sturgeon and Southern Resident killer whales, which rely on Chinook salmon runs for food."

New way to save salmon in the delta

Here's an article in the SF Chronicle about a high-tech solution to help salmon in the Delta. Interesting, but it doesn't solve the main problem: high quality water flow.

Low snow, reservoir levels force rationing

Snowpack is 66% of normal in the Sierra. Last year it was 72%. Bad news for everyone (and the fish).

Read the article in the Chronicle here.

Hundreds Protest Cuts in Water in California

Lots of coverage of the march protesting the lack of water for the Central Valley. More than ever, it seems this story is about fish vs. farmers.

I planned on covering it for the documentary but was out of town all week and was unable to get there. If you know anybody who shot video of the protest, please let me know at info (at) veriscope.com.

New York Times Story

Fresno ABC station story with video

San Jose Mercury News story

U.S. to ban commercial salmon season

No surprise, but still sad.

Delta rivers top U.S. most-troubled list

From the Sacramento Bee:

"The Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers will be named today as the nation's most endangered waterways by the environmental group American Rivers.

It will be a news flash mainly for the other 49 states.

Many Californians are already well aware of the myriad problems in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and its two main rivers. They've lived for several years with water shortages caused by the Delta's environmental problems, and with the threat of its declining fish populations, aging levees and problem plumbing."

More...

Congressmen want more water for California farmers

Citing massive unemployment and economic collapse in their districts, some California Congressmen are seeking an exception to the Endangered Species Act to allow more water to flow into the Central Valley.

From the San Jose Mercury News:

"Speaking before the House Natural Resources Committee, several of the state's lawmakers discounted the drought as the reason for the San Joaquin Valley's lack of water.

Rather, they said it was a matter of priorities, with the government valuing fish over families."

Report: Salmon booms and busts tough to change

Here's the AP article on the NOAA Fisheries Service report about the 2008 Sacramento River salmon collapse.

For a PDF copy of the report, go here.

Rep. George Miller's speech at the Restore the Delta symposium

Part One:



Part Two:

As salmon go, so go the killer whales

Fascinating article in the Sacramento Bee about how the decline of Sacramento River salmon is impacting Orcas along the Pacific coast. Fewer salmon, fewer Orcas it seems.



Also, Tom Stienstra, the San Francisco Chronicle's outdoors writer, has this tidbit in his February 22nd column:

"Now get this, from the fine print inside a report by the National Marine Fisheries Service: Of the salmon that spawn or are released from hatcheries in the Sacramento River downstream of Redding, only 20 percent make it to the Delta because of water projects. Of that 20 percent that make it to the Delta, 60 percent die because of more water projects. So for the juvenile salmon that start their journey in Northern California, only 8 percent make it to the Bay to head out to the ocean."

Delta water managers choosing salmon over smelt

It's no longer just farmers vs. fish, or Northern California vs. Southern California in the battle over water in the Delta. It is now a choice between species - a chilling thought to choose one fish for possible extinction over another - according to this piece in the Sacramento Bee.

Nature Conservancy Endorses Peripheral Canal

The endorsement shows the complexity of the arguments for and against the canal and is another indication that the upcoming political fight over water in California will include some untraditional alliances.

Here's the key quote from the Nature Conservancy: “If we don’t take steps to repair some of the Delta’s natural ecological functions, we have no hope of saving the species that depend on this delicate ecosystem,” said Mike Sweeney, executive director for The Nature Conservancy's California Program. “The Nature Conservancy’s analysis led us to the conclusion that, short of ending water exports from the Delta, a peripheral canal is an essential component to restoring the conditions that Delta species need to survive.”


Also, here's the argument against shutting down the pumps to protect the endangered Delta Smelt.

New rules will cut delta water pumping by up to 33 percent

This article describes the release of the long-awaited biological opinion by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concerning the future of the Delta Smelt.

Additional water cuts to the Central Valley and water rationing in parts of California now seem likely unless Northern California receives record snow and rainfall this winter.

Environmentalists called Monday's news overdue.

"The delta smelt is a bellwether for the health of the delta," said Doug Obegi, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council in San Francisco. "What has happened to the smelt is indicative of what has happened to salmon and other species. We have increased pumping from the delta over the past decade and seen dramatic reductions in their numbers."

Others called the order a travesty.

"California's primary water supply has just taken another big hit," said Laura King Moon, assistant general manager of the State Water Contractors, an association of 27 farm and city water districts.

SF Chronicle coverage here

Baby Fish in Polluted San Francisco Estuary Waters Are Stunted and Deformed

This study by UC Davis researchers is not only more bad news about the future of fish in the Delta, but includes larger ramifications:

"This is one of the first studies examining the effects of real-world contaminant mixtures on growth and development in wildlife," said study lead author David Ostrach, a research scientist at the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences. He said the findings have implications far beyond fish, because the estuary is the water source for two-thirds of the people and most of the farms in California.

"If the fish living in this water are not healthy and are passing on contaminants to their young, what is happening to the people who use the water, are exposed to the same chemicals or eat the fish?" Ostrach said.

Most state native game fish face extinction

A new report by noted fish biologist Peter Moyle (a character in the documentary) is a frightening look at the future of California's trout, steelhead and salmon populations. Twenty one of thirty species may face extinction by the end of the century. The main reasons: dams, global warming and the lack of cool, clear water that the fish require to thrive.

Here's an excellent article in the SF Chronicle by Jane Kay.

Here's the link to the California Trout page on the report. Scroll down to the bottom to see the exec summary and the full report.

Head of Delta Vision Task Force lays out some facts about CA water

Phil Isenberg writes about the Delta Vision Task Force recommendations in the Sacramento Bee. I suppose the headline is the backing of "dual conveyance" - meaning a peripheral canal.

Mike Taugher covers the draft plan here for the Mercury News.

Here's the Delta Vision website.

Delta Blues is in Post-Production and Seeking Funds for Completion

We're editing the film and conducting final interviews. To make a tax deductible contribution or to learn more about the project contact us at info (at) veriscope.com

More with Less: California Agriculture Can Thrive While Conserving Water

Here's the report from the Pacific Institute calling for more conservation from California farmers. It's a strong argument, but having spent some time with Central Valley farmers over the last month filming for the documentary - they're not going to go for it. The Ag folks I've talked to say they've already spent lots of time and money making their irrigation systems as efficient as possible and they can't do much more.

As with all the arguments related to the Delta there is truth on all sides

New Study by NRDC and Fishing Groups on Salmon and the Delta

From the press release:

The report, “Fish Out of Water: How Water Management in the Bay-Delta Threatens the Future of California’s Salmon Fishery,” describes how the State Water Project and Central Valley Project contribute to declining salmon populations, by reducing the availability of water necessary for migration and spawning, killing tens of thousands of juvenile salmon by sucking them into giant pumps used to export water, and blocking salmon’s migration route with their dams. The report comes on the heels of a federal court ruling that water project operations in the Central Valley jeopardize the survival of several salmon runs, and a few months after state and federal agencies closed California’s commercial salmon fishery for the first time ever due to record low numbers of fish returning to spawn.

Get the full report here.

Peripheral Canal Is Best Strategy To Save Delta Ecosystem, Ensure Reliable Water Supply - PPIC

The Public Policy Institute of California releases a new report suggesting a peripheral anal is the best solution to help save the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta. The PPIC is perceived as one of the few actors in the Delta battle that is truly independent and their voice carries considerable weight.

Needless to say, this issue will loom large in the upcoming documentary.

Here's the press release. The report can also be downloaded there.

The San Francisco Chronicle coverage is here.

Here's Dan Walters take on the report.

Mixed Ruling for Central Valley Salmon

From the LA Times: "A federal judge struck a largely symbolic blow for imperiled salmon and steelhead Friday, declaring that the state's vast water-export system is putting the fish at risk but rejecting environmentalists' key demands for change."

More

Huge bond plan to revamp state water system

This piece in the SF Chronicle rolls out the effort by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sen. Dianne Feinstein for a bipartisan plan to solve the state's water woes. It seems to have a taste for everyone on all sides of the storage, irrigation and environmental issues, but at $9 billion is it realistic?

Farmers vs. Fish Amid the California Drought

Here's an article in Time Magazine about Farmers vs. Fish in the Delta and in California's central valley. There's good reporting in it, and it highlights the difficulties the agricultural interests are having this year, with the double whammy of reduced water allocations and the drought in California.

More on this in the documentary.