CalWaterWarRoom

Prof. Erie's San Diego Drought Paranoia Thesis Proven Wrong

Professor Steven P. Erie in his recent book Beyond Chinatown: The Metropolitan Water District, Growth, and the Environment in Southern California (2006) portrays as paranoid San Diego's fear of being the first to have wholesale water supplies cut off in the event of a regional drought.   

Erie’s book incessantly pooh-poohs the perspective of San Diego water officials that what they were fighting for was equal priority “water rights” from MWD’s system in the event of a regional drought or a political drought. As San Diego Water Authority General Manager Maureen Stapleton is aptly quoted in the book, a drought is defined as “when you find out who has the water rights and who doesn’t.” 

The moment of truth as to who has priority water rights has apparently arrived with the recent shut down on water supplies from Northern California via the California Aqueduct due to a environmental court order over vanishing smelt fish in the Bay Delta. Erie's paranoia thesis is not holding water. North San Diego County farmers are being noticed to expect water cutbacks later this year. So much for Professor Erie's prognostication powers. See excerpt of article below:

North County farmers bracing for water cutbacks (excerpt)
By: QUINN EASTMAN - Staff Writer
North County Times

NORTH COUNTY -- Farmers across North County and their water suppliers said Monday they are beginning to prepare for water cutbacks this coming winter, in what one water official said could be the beginning of a "long-term shift" in North County's water resources.

Local water officials said they were dusting off plans that could put month-by-month caps on agricultural customers' water use and penalties for exceeding the caps.

"We are doubling our prayer efforts for a wet winter," said Chuck Badger, a lemon and orange grower in the Encinitas/Rancho Santa Fe area and president of the San Diego County Farm Bureau.

Supply reductions of at least 30 percent, compared with a still-undetermined reference year, could go into effect in January, barring exceptional weather before then.

The official call for cuts from Southern California's main water supplier, the Metropolitan Water District, is not expected until August or September, local water officials said.

See full article here: p://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/06/26/news/top_stories/1_01_296_25_07.txt

Has MWD Embraced the Enviro Left?

Has MWD embraced the enviro Left?
Stephen Greenhut - OCRegister.com
As government agencies go, the Metropolitan Water District isn't too bad. After all, it does something useful, in that it brings water to our arid region. And MWD has had to fight environmentalists who try to stop their plans for water storage and other necessary infrastructure. Yet LAObserved reported today that MWD has hired Pulitzer Prize-winning Sacramento Bee editorial writer Tom Philps as its new "executive strategist." Philps, who produced the Bee's water blog, certainly knows the subject mattter. But he won his prize for advocating a plan to eliminate the O'Shaughnessy Dam in the Hetch Hetchy Valley of Yosemite, at a cost of up to $10 billion. This has long been the dream of environmentalists who aren't too concerned about human needs, and couldn't care less about a waste of public dollars. Said Philps in an interview with NPR in 2005: "This kind of money is considerable, but what is this place worth as a second Yosemite Valley? What is that worth in economic terms? It's got to be in the billions as well."

Is this the new strategy for MWD, to eschew new storage and focus its energy on environmentalism rather than the protection of water supplies? Is radical environmentalism the new thing at the water district?

Pittsburg, CA Desal Plant Can Produce Cheap H20

Desalination potential

http://www.capoliticalnews.com/s/spip.php?breve1984

Map of Pittsburg, California here:
http://maps.yahoo.com/maps.py?&addr=&csz=Pittsburg,CA

Contra Costa Times, 06/11/2007

EVERY YEAR for at least the past two decades, California has added a half million people to its population. But during that time the only significant reservoir to open was Las Vaqueros. No new major water conveyance system has been constructed and there are none planned.

Thanks to successful conservation efforts and that there have been no severe droughts in 30 years, California has been able to meet its demands for fresh water. That may not be the case in the future unless some major changes in water policy are made.

More can be done with conservation and reuse, but these efforts are not likely to be enough as California continues to grow. The state will have to increase water storage above and below ground, and it needs to find other new sources.

There is only one new source of water available to California, and it is inexhaustible: the Pacific Ocean and its bays and estuaries.

However, tapping that source is not yet financially feasible, but it may well be in the years ahead. What is required are economic desalination plants to convert salty sea water into fresh water.

Getting fresh water from the ocean has long been a dream. But it could become a reality in the not too distant future.

New technology has cut the cost of desalination in half since 1990. Continued progress could reduce the cost even more as the cost of water from traditional sources increases or simply is not available.

Taking the salt out of water requires considerable energy, which is why it is so expensive. Converting sea water to fresh water now costs about $2,500 per acre-foot, enough to supply a family of five for a year.

By comparison it costs the Santa Clara Valley Water District $300 to $400 an acre-foot to buy and treat water from state and federal agencies.

There are 20 desalination projects in the planning stages along California’s coast. One of the most ambitious and promising ones is being considered for Pittsburg.

The four largest Bay Area water agencies plan to hire a firm by next month to build a $1.9 million pilot desalination project in Pittsburg. If all goes well, a large plant will be constructed by 2012 to provide 71 million gallons of fresh water a day. It would be among the largest desalination projects in the world.

Building a plant in Pittsburg has several advantages. Most important, it would extract water with salinity levels far below those in the ocean. The plant would use existing intake and outfall structures and be close to economical energy sources and electric transmission facilities.

As a result, the plant would be able to produce fresh water for $500 to $1,200 per acre-foot, depending on salinity levels.

There are other hurdles besides cost to overcome. Desalination plants need to make sure they do not harm wildlife with their intake pumps, and brine must be discharged in an environmentally sensitive manner.

Desalination alone is not going to solve California’s water problems. More conservation, reuse and storage will be required. But once the cost and environmental hurdles are cleared, desalination can become an important source of fresh water, particularly in droughts, when other sources dry up and reservoirs are low.

Hemet Pulls $1M to MWD Museum

Hemet Pulls $1 Million to MWD Pork Barrel Museum

By HERBERT ATIENZA
The Press-Enterprise

In a flash of generosity when the city coffers were still at healthy levels, the Hemet City Council pledged $1 million to support exhibits and programs at the new Western Center for Archaeology and Paleontology, a museum and education center near Diamond Valley Lake.

Now that the city has been plunged into a budget crisis, with layoffs looming to help balance a proposed general fund budget for 2007-08, city officials plan to take a second look at that financial commitment.

"It will affect it," Mayor Marc Searl said. "We'll have to take a look at it."

He said the agreement with the center allows wiggle room in distributing the funds should the city find itself in financial difficulty.

"That's something we anticipated," Searl said.

He said it is possible that the distribution of the funds, which was to begin this year and spread out over five years, could be delayed until Hemet's finances become more stable.

Western Center board President Howard Rosenthal said city officials have not approached the center about the matter.

"I'm confident that over time the city will honor its commitment to the Western Center," he said. "If the city decides they're going to give X amount now and X amount later, then we'll discuss it."

He said it is not known what impact a possible delay in receiving the funds from the city would have on the center because there are no details.

He stressed, however, that the center's overall stability was secure since "there are a number of funding programs in place."

The Western Center, east of Diamond Valley Lake, showcases Ice Age mammal exhibits and archaeological exhibits highlighting early settlers in the Inland region.

Last year, the council approved a request from center officials to give $1 million, saying the center would have a positive economic, tourism and educational impact on Hemet and the region.

The City Council is planning meetings to discuss the proposed budget, which must be adopted by June 26.

The proposed budget of $33.5 million is balanced by proposing, among other cuts, laying off 11 employees and freezing or reclassifying 24 other positions.

City officials say revenues were about $3.2 million less than expenses due to lower earnings in property, sales and other taxes, as well as a slowing economy and decline in developer fees.

The cost of operating the city is going up, including higher salary and retirement costs.

Over the past five years, about 100 full-time employees have been added to city employment rolls, or an increase of about 23 percent.

Hemet's population over that period has grown about 13 percent, city officials said.

Hemet's budget situation contrasts with neighboring San Jacinto, which plans to spend more next year, mostly for road repairs, because of increasing property and sales tax revenues.

Several new businesses have opened or are about to open in San Jacinto, including a new Wal-Mart Supercenter and a Stater Bros. grocery store.

Searl said Hemet has to look at its priorities as it makes decisions about how to spend its money.

"Crime and safety are paramount," he said.

Councilman Eric McBride said no plans have been formed about the financial commitment for the Western Center and he has not formed an opinion on it.

"Everything right now is preliminary and it's up in the air until the time it comes time to vote," he said.

1 in 5 Glasses of Water

Water Authority agrees to pay $40 million to Imperial Valley

By: GIG CONAUGHTON - Staff Writer - North County Times

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego County water leaders have agreed to pay the Imperial Valley $40 million, ending a long-running dispute over whether the county's historic 2003 water transfer deal, to buy billions of gallons of water from valley farmers, had hurt Imperial Valley, officials said Tuesday.

Under the settlement agreement's general terms, the San Diego County Water Authority would pay the Imperial Irrigation District $40 million over the next 10 years.

The irrigation district agreed to chip in $10 million to cover economic harm felt by farmers and the agricultural industry, and to take future responsibility for any additional harm.

Water Authority and irrigation district officials have been arguing without resolution over the issue for two years. Irrigation district officials said the Water Authority should have to pay up to $170 million for economic harm created by farmers having to take farmland out of production. An independent 2004 economic study disputed that notion.

The two agencies began formal arbitration hearings in court last week, but chose to settle at the eleventh hour instead.

Water Authority board Vice Chairman Mark Watton said the $40 million settlement would have negligible effect on local water rates and would end a dispute that has rankled both sides of a county-valley partnership expected to run for 40 more years.

Watton and Water Authority General Manager Maureen Stapleton also said the settlement wasn't influenced by upcoming negotiations over the water transfer deal.

The Water Authority and irrigation district signed their deal in 2003, promising that Imperial Valley farmers would sell up to 65 billion gallons of water a year to San Diego County residents for roughly $50 million annually. The deal is set to run for 45 years, but could be extended to 75.

After the deal's fifth year, this year, the irrigation district has a right to renegotiate the price it charges for the water. By 2020, 1 out of every 5 glasses of water in San Diego County will be filled by the transfer deal.

Watton and Stapleton rejected the suggestion that if irrigation district officials lost in arbitration it could harden feelings and prompt the irrigation district to hold out for higher water prices.

"I think they were two separate things," Stapleton said. "We're in a long-term partnership with the irrigation district, and I think both parties wanted to figure out how to resolve this (economic harm issue) so that each and every year we wouldn't have to address it."

Irrigation district leaders could not be reached for comment.

However, irrigation district General Manager Charles Hosken said in a written statement, "There is no doubt that fallowing (taking farmland out of production) has hurt many in the agricultural services and farm labor segments of the economy. This is a compromise whose time has come."

Irrigation district officials have argued almost since the water transfer deal was struck that it would hurt the valley and its people economically -- because some farmers had to fallow land to come up with the water in the deal's first 15 years -- and that San Diego County should pay more for that.

The Water Authority, citing a 2004 independent study created by a panel of three economists chosen by both sides, disputed that, and said the transfer had created a $1.1 million windfall in the valley.

Watton said the Water Authority was confident that its position was right, but did not trust the uncertainty of the legal process. He said irrigation district officials proposed a settlement, and the two sides agreed quickly.

"We felt, obviously, that our case was well-founded," Watton said. "But when judges render decisions, you sometimes get surprised.

"When you get to the courthouse steps," he said, "if we could strike a deal that serves the purposes of all the parties, it seemed like the prudent thing to do."

Although the Water Authority agreed to pay $40 million over 10 years, it has already paid the irrigation district $10.48 million, money that was intended to be returned.

As a result, the irrigation district will keep the $10.48 million, and the Water Authority will pay an additional $29.52 million in equal yearly payments over the next 10 years.

For its part, the irrigation district agreed to pitch in $10 million of its own to help cover the economic pain felt by valley farmers and farm-related industries and workers. The irrigation district also agreed to take full responsibility for any future economic harm. Finally, the agreement ensures that the economic panel that was created to measure the water transfer's effects -- the same panel that created the disputed 2004 study -- will no longer be used.

Could Hydro Serve Lk.Mathews?

Could Hydro Project Serve Lake Mathews? 

Preface: Could the proposed Lake Elsinore Pump-Back energy project be recast to provide power to nearby Lake Mathews (10 miles) or Diamond Valley Lake (15-miles) instead of a costly and environmentally opposed 30-mile transmission line over the Cleveland National Forest?  Would the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) be interested in 500 Megawatts (Mw) of power; which might free up 500 Mw of energy for the electricity grid?  MWD is planning its Central Pool Augmentation Project to pump water over the Cleveland National Forest into Orange County.  Would 500 megawatts of power serve that project? 

See map of Lake Elsinore area here: http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?csz=92532&mag=6

See excerpt of article from North County Times below: 

Hydro plant financing plan panned

By: JOSE CARVAJAL - Staff Writer
North County Times
Excerpt:

LAKE ELSINORE -- The nonprofit corporation that runs the state power grid informed federal energy officials recently it is opposed to financing a hydroelectric power plant proposed for the hills southwest of the lake through a subsidy from California's electricity users.

The California Independent System Operator detailed its opposition to the financing plan in a report sent last week to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is considering licensing the project.

On Monday, while opponents of the plant characterized the report as a blow that would likely kill the project, proponents cast it in a different light. The project is far from dead, one proponent said, and there's even a chance construction of the project will in the end be publicly financed.

"We're still hopeful," said Chris Wysocki, a spokesman for The Nevada Hydro Company, a Vista company working with the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District to build the plant. "This is a complicated process and we're kind of working through the system, but we're still hopeful."

The project calls for water to be pumped from Lake Elsinore up the hills at night when power is less expensive and stored in a reservoir behind a dam in Decker Canyon. The water would be released toward the lake during the day to energize turbines in an underground powerhouse when electricity is in highest demand.

Linking the project to the state power grid would be a 30-mile-long, high-voltage transmission line that would run partly through the Cleveland National Forest.

While opponents see the project as a threat to the environment and to property values, proponents see it as having positive economic benefits by ensuring the lake is always full and providing up to 500 megawatts of much-needed electricity to the region.

Without public financing, the opponents said, the project would be impossible to build. A report by the commission this year estimated the project would lose about $150 million a year.

"LEAPS is dead," said project opponent Pete Weber, who also happens to be the city's elected treasurer. "No one wants to take on a $150 million loser."

Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District board member Phil Williams said that isn't the case just yet. If the project can't be publicly financed, he said, Nevada Hydro will just have to find private investors willing to take on the risk associated with this project.

If it doesn't, then the plant just won't get built, he said.

- Contact staff writer Jose Carvajal at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2624, or jcarvajal@californian.com.

Eyeing Santa Ana River Water

Inland agencies ask for water

Runoff, wastewater eyed, but environmentalists object

Joe Nelson, Staff Writer San Bernardino County Sun

Article Launched:05/07/2007 12:00:00 AM PDT

Inland water agencies asking for rights to billions of gallons of future water expected to collect in the Santa Ana River and Seven Oaks Dam near Highland have been testifying before a state board. Closing arguments are set for Tuesday in Sacramento before the state Water Resources Control Board, which will ultimately decide how the water is allocated, said Randy Van Gelder, general manager for the San Bernardino Municipal Water District. It's expected that as the Inland Empire continues to grow in population, so will the amount of storm runoff and wastewater from new home and business development. Various water agencies are hoping to access that water to diminish the amount they would need to import from the Colorado River. Some want the water for agricultural use, others to replenish groundwater and drinking water supplies. San Bernardino Municipal Water District and Western Municipal Water District of Riverside, for example, are hoping to divert water from the Seven Oaks Dam and Santa Ana River to store in groundwater basins to serve customers in San Bernardino and Riverside counties at future times, Van Gelder said. Representatives from the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District, the Western Municipal Water District of Riverside County, the Chino Basin Watermaster and the Orange County Water District were among the agencies that submitted testimony last week. Environmentalists also testified. They are concerned about the impact such water diversion would have on the various plant and wildlife species that thrive in the watershed that flows from Highland to the Orange County coastline. "One of the things we're concerned about is every endangered species along that river is in a state of collapse or is imperiled," said Adam Keats, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity in San Francisco. An increase in diversions of water from the Santa Ana River would be detrimental to at least 10 federally and state-licensed threatened and endangered species, including the Santa Ana sucker fish, the San Bernardino kangaroo rat and migratory songbirds such as the western yellow-billed cuckoo, the southwestern willow flycatcher, and the Least Bell's Vireo, according to testimony presented by Ileene Anderson, an ecologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. To address the threat to the kangaroo rat and two plant species - the Santa Ana River woollystar and the slender-horned spineflower - the Army Corps of Engineers is putting together a multiple-species habitat management plan, said Jay Field, spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers in Los Angeles. That plan, he said, is still in the early stages. Options include directing and spreading the water into overbank areas that would provide the necessary hydrology for the plants and wildlife, much like controlled flooding. In a policy statement submitted to the state board, Ontario public works director Kenneth Jeske voiced his support for the Chino Basin Watermaster's plan to divert a portion of storm water out of concrete channels and back into recharge basins, which would increase the yield of the basin and improve groundwater quality. Testimony began Wednesday before a hearing officer. The five-member state board should make a decision as to how the water is allocated by the end of the year. WANTING WATER Representatives of water agencies throughout the Inland Empire and Orange County appeared before a state board last week to request rights to future water collected in the Santa Ana River and Seven Oaks Dam. They want the water to be diverted for agricultural use and to replenish groundwater and drinking water.

Vail (or Fail) Lake Reservoir?

Vail Lake Reservoir (or is that Fail Lake Reservoir?)

Bill focuses on Vail Lake as resource
Tinm O'Leary - Press Enterprise

Federal legislation aimed at helping Temecula and Murrieta meet their future water needs by boosting the use of Vail Lake was announced Thursday by Rep. Mary Bono.

The bill would provide up to $20 million toward improvements at the heart of a $300,000 study that was adopted by Rancho California Water District directors more than a year ago.

That supply plan was crafted because water consumption throughout the area -- demand that tripled over the past 25 years -- is expected to double again before growth spurts ebb by about 2050, local officials predict.

"Water is a precious commodity to the Riverside County region, and the protection of this resource is of paramount importance for our community and local business," Bono, R-Palm Springs, said in a news release. She said the funding, if approved, would also help area agriculture.

The bill was accompanied by letters of support from the Metropolitan, Western and Eastern water districts along with The Nature Conservancy and associations representing avocado and citrus growers.

Key aspects of the Rancho water district strategy include boosting the levels of runoff-fed Vail Lake by installing a $5.5 million pipeline aimed at allowing the district to store more water there.

Another $20 million would be spent installing another set of pipes to move lake water to the area's Wine Country, which now relies on costly treated water to irrigate crops, process wine and meet other needs.

The increased water stored in Vail Lake, which is about 15 miles east of Temecula, would also be used to recharge groundwater basins. Eighteen wells would be drilled at a cost of about $22.5 million to pull stored supplies from those underground basins.

Note: The Metro Water District of Southern California considered this site for a regional water storage reservoir in 1990 but abandoned it after it was found that the site had a slide prone area and that the likely mitigations that would be demanded by environmentalists would be staggering.  Would the geological conditions at Vail Lake make it "Fail Lake?" 

MWD Undoes Casino Deal

Bill promises end to Soboba water dispute

By HERBERT ATIENZA
The Press-Enterprise

The Press-Enterprise

A decades-old dispute between the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians and several Southern California water agencies that the tribe accused of improperly draining water from beneath its reservation is on the verge of settlement.

Rep. Mary Bono said the legislation she introduced would ratify an earlier settlement that would provide millions of dollars for economic development and billions of gallons of water that would help revitalize and expand the tribe's agricultural and commercial endeavors.

Surrounding communities in the San Jacinto Valley would benefit from assured water supplies as well as money and land to recharge the local aquifer and to protect endangered-species habitat.

The bill, called The Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians Settlement Act, is co-sponsored by Reps. Joe Baca, D-Rialto, and Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, and seeks congressional blessing of an agreement signed in June between the tribe, whose reservation is east of San Jacinto, and the Metropolitan, Eastern Municipal and Lake Hemet water districts.

"I'm very proud that we've reached this," Bono, R-Palm Springs, said of the bill, which she said enjoys bipartisan support. "I know I'll do my very best to have it passed this year.

"This legislation takes the critical step to put into place a long-term plan that ensures the future water supply of the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians and all of the San Jacinto Valley," she added.

Bono said the legislation still needs to go through the Congress and to the president, but she expects it to be approved by the end of this year.

Ratification of the pact would bring to a close nearly 150 years of conflict over the limited resources of the San Jacinto River groundwater basin. That conflict at various times has pitted the Soboba Band against the federal government, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the Eastern Municipal Water District.

Last year's settlement stems from a federal lawsuit filed in 2000 against the water agencies, alleging that an underground tunnel built in the 1930s to bring water through the San Jacinto Mountains has drained much of the water supply to the Soboba Reservation. The agreement terminated that lawsuit.

The settlement also calls for the tribe to not move its gambling operations from its reservation to a highly visible site near Diamond Valley Lake.

Robert Salgado, chairman of the Soboba Band, said tribal members and San Jacinto Valley residents would see improved water supplies with passage of the legislation.

"It's not just the tribe, but the whole valley that would benefit from this," said Salgado. He said the tribe is pleased to put the dispute behind it.

"It's been, what, 70 years that we've been trying to put this to rest," he said.

The settlement also has pleased officials of the water agencies.

"The settlement provides both for a guaranteed water right to the tribe and a way to effectively manage the San Jacinto River groundwater basin," said Jeff Kightlinger, general manager of MWD.

Bono said the legislation culminates years of negotiations and would help assure a better future for the region.

"The significance of this legislation is impossible to measure because it secures the future of our growing population and agriculture industry," she said.

Reach Herbert Atienza at 951-763-3464 or hatienza@PE.com

Soboba Act

If approved by Congress and signed by the president, The Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians Settlement Act will provide the tribe with:

Rights to construct an aqueduct and an annual water supply of 9,000 acre-feet

128 acres of land near Diamond Valley Lake for commercial development

$18 million from local water districts for economic development

$11 million from the federal government for water development

The legislation would mandate an annual delivery of 7,500 acre-feet of water to Eastern and Lake Hemet water districts as part of an effort to recharge the San Jacinto groundwater basin. It also would provide cities with $10 million in federal funds to help recharge the aquifer with the imported water.

Something smelts about water shut down

Water Agency Put On Notice: Judge Says He'll Cut Off Delta Diversions in 60-Days Unless State Complies With Endangered Species Act

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/880399/water_agency_put_on_notice_judge_says_he'll_cut_off/index.html?

By Mike Taugher, Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif.

Excerpt: Mar. 24--The state's largest water delivery system, serving millions of people from the Tri-Valley to Southern California, must shut down in 60 days unless its officials comply with the state's endangered species law, a judge ruled.

The decision, which sent shock waves through water agencies up and down California on Friday, says state water officials failed to obtain a state permit to kill threatened or endangered salmon and Delta smelt.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch ruled that the Department of Water Resources was violating the California Endangered Species Act but said he would delay turning off the pumps for 60 days to allow state agencies to comply. The ruling also said the 60-day clock will not start ticking until it becomes final after a 15-day comment period. 

The general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the state water pumps' biggest customer, said he was disappointed in the ruling but added that emergency water reserves can meet the summer needs of its 18 million customers.

Added Note from Tom Philps Waterlog Blog at Sacramento Bee:

This is true (after all, this is Waterlog). When Fish and Game chief Ryan Broddrick testified the other day before the State Senate about that recent court ruling about how the state water project isn't complying with the California Endangered Species Act, how many dead smelt did he say have been found this year at the pumps? What has been the official take of said species?

Would you believe this answer - zero? That's what I heard. And just to make sure I heard it, a SWP association manager woke me up from my hearing slumber (hey, I was listening, even conscious) to make sure I captured the moment. And just to make triple sure, I asked Broddrick again in the hall. Zero? Yup.

Pause. Your blood pressure may be rising or decreasing based on this little factoid. Waterlog isn't sure what reaction is appropriate.

Waterlog's bottom line: Today's problem in the Delta is very different from the one in the 90s (pumps grinding up lots of smelt).

So are the pumps absolved this time around? No, but the evidence is more circumstantial than solid (a count of smelt corpses). While we look for adult and juvenile fishies at the pumps, we don't sample for larvae. And a lack of direct take of adults/juveniles doesn't touch on indirect effects of pumping. And of course, there are the issues of non-native species, changes in food web, yada yada.