Go With The Flow Zeke GraderPacif Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association, Executive DirectorSF Gate, Read Online A few years ago, a fresh effort to deal with the state’s perennial water problem was announced. Candidly, it hardly infused salmon fishermen and seafood consumers with starry-eyed optimism. The Bay Delta Conservation Plan was hailed by the Schwarzenegger...Read More

California’s wealthiest growers, poorest workers, and the water between them… By John GiblerEarth Island JournalRead Online A newcomer arriving into California’s San Joaquin Valley – the most lucrative and industrialized agricultural region in the United States – might think that the entire place is burning. On the horizon in all directions the brown hue of...Read More

After 4 years and $140 million, the Bay Delta Conservation Plan is going to release some kind of document this week, but it won’t answer the central question of the exercise: how do exporters plan to get the amount of water they want while giving fish and habitat the water they need? On Tuesday, the...Read More

Moon and Snow both noted that operating criteria determine how much water you get, regardless of what is built. But Assembly member Yamada and Huffman both made the point that with a large facility come large expectations. And the size of the facility is still unknown. Huffman asked Snow about the meeting that took place...Read More

More Dudley Ridge landowners are selling water rights Last week in the N.Y Times, Felicity Barringer reported on a proposal for two farmers in Dudley Ridge Water District in the southern San Joaquin Valley to sell their water rights  for development at Tejon Ranch.  Selling 2,000 acre-feet annually for $5,850 an acre-foot will net the...Read More

Last week 43 cities, counties, water districts, and associations from all parts of Northern California sent a letter to Karen Scarborough, Undersecretary of the Natural Resources Agency, expressing concerns about the lack of Due Process in consideration of the BDCP plan document scheduled for release November 18. They expressed “foundational concerns” about water rights and...Read More

Petitions have been filed asking the State Water Resources Control board to reconsider its October resolution approving a Basin Plan for the Sacramento and San Joaquin river basins that did not adequately address selenium control in the San Joaquin river basin. Petitions have been filed by the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, the California Water Impact...Read More

The Sacramento Bee’s Matt Weiser announced that State officials have reached an agreement that will provide an estimated $188 million over 10 years to restore habitat for imperiled fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Click here for article. DWR and DFG will undertake certain restoration activities to satisfy state and federal environmental laws. State water...Read More

The Delta Stewardship Council met October 28-29 with a full agenda and a weighty packet of supporting documents.  Following are some highlights. According to an Agreement Listing provided in the meeting packet, Ongoing grants for the Delta Science Program (with start dates ranging from 2005 to 2010 and end dates ranging from 2010 to 2012)...Read More

The DSC worked through lunch to hear from Richard Roos-Collins about an item that wasn’t even on the original agenda: the proposed plan for implementing the BDCP.  This involves a BDCP Implementation Office (IO).  Thus yet another layer of Delta governance was slipped in while most of the audience was out to lunch. The BDCP...Read More