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