Sustainable Water and Environmental Management in the California Bay-Delta (2012) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 1-14
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and the State Water Project (SWP) service area, which include southern portions of the San Francisco Bay Area, the western side of the San Joaquin Valley, 1
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Despite statewide water conservation efforts, which are particularly pronounced in the urban sector, increasing seasonal restrictions on diversions have been applied, although the total amount of water diverted for export by SWP and CVP has not decreased. The CVP withdraws water from the delta and conveys it southward into the San Joaquin Valley through a system of canals built and operated by the federal Bureau of Reclamation and various water user groups.
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From page 3... ...
Fish and Wildlife Service's Biological Opinion on Coordinated Operations of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project (December 15, 2008) and the National Marine Fisheries Service's Biological Opinion on the Long-Term Central Valley Project and State Water Project Operations Criteria and Plan (June 4, 2009)
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CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES The challenges of managing water and achieving ecological rehabilitation in the delta are numerous, including the reluctance of many participants to confront the reality that water is scarce; the distribution of water-management responsibilities among many agencies and organizations; the suite of environmental factors (stressors) that affect the structure and functioning of the delta ecosystem, including the many biological and physical changes that have occurred in the delta; and the lack of detailed understanding of future socioeconomic, climate, biological, and other changes and the consequent lack of ability to plan for them.
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Conclusions and Recommendations California's Two "Co-equal Goals" Contemporary planning for water management in the bay delta is directed at two "co-equal goals": providing a more reliable water supply for California and protecting and rehabilitating the delta ecosystem. There are benefits of having established these goals, but the planning needed to implement these goals has not yet led to clarity on how the inevitable trade-offs between the goals will be managed when water is short.
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Recent and current bay-delta planning efforts have not yet resulted in a resolution of what is best for the environment or for satisfying anticipated water needs. Conclusions and Recommendations Those engaged in policy making and management should refresh the overall approach to management of water in California that has not been addressed significantly since the late 1960s, when a partial effort was made in the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Act of 1969, which established the State Water Resources Control Board and nine Regional Water Quality Control Boards.
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From page 7... ...
For example, Chinook salmon spend several years at sea and then return to pass through the delta as adults to spawn; their eggs and young spend time in delta tributaries before passing through the delta on their way to the ocean to grow. Returning adult Chinook salmon always die after spawning, so they are not susceptible to chronic environmental stressors, because they die before they can be affected by them.
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Migrating salmon and steelhead smolts appear to incur substantial levels of mortality during delta passage. Increasing passage of smolts through Yolo Bypass to reduce delta passage may be a viable action for Sacramento runs.
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Changes in nutrient loads and concentrations in the delta and bay, especially those for nitrogen and phosphorus, are stressors of increasing concern from water quality and food web perspectives. Toxic pollutants such as selenium also appear to be significant stressors, especially for sturgeon, with San Francisco Bay and the San Joaquin River being the areas of greatest concern.
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The changes are expected to have large effects on temporal and spatial hydrologic patterns even if the average annual precipitation volume did not change. In addition to changes in hydrologic patterns, sea level also is expected to rise as a result of climate warming.
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Projected increases in the mean sea level and the extremes have the potential to increase the frequency of levee failures and inundation of islands, in part because the land inside the levees continues to subside through oxidation of peat. Sea level rise also has the potential to enhance saltwater intrusion and alter water quality.
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From page 12... ...
For instance, science can provide information on options regarding the control of ammonium to maintain an adequate food supply for fish, on the consequences of different schedules for investment in delta levees to protect agriculture, and on the degree of effectiveness of future diversion restrictions to protect salmon in the mainstream of the Sacramento River. However, science cannot decide which choice is the best policy.
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From page 13... ...
A variety of tools are available, including demand-side management (conservation, including more efficient and more productive water use) and supply-side management (water transfers conducted by the state or within a new central planning function, new sources of supply, more integrated management of groundwater and surface water, enforcement of the constitutional reasonable and beneficial use limitations, and invocation of the state public trust doctrine to reconsider past allocation decisions)
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