Comments on: CA Water Wars: Lawsuit Contests Delta Pumping Until Impaired Farmland “Retired”

By: Philip

Philip — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 16:09:02 +0000

Tom, you (and many others) are correct in saying that a Peripheral Canal, if operated in a horrible way, could render the Delta even worse off than at present. The same could be said of sewage treatment plants, oil refineries, and so forth.
However, if operated lawfully, I think it would allow less waste (by that I mean water diverted or impounded that ends up serving no useful environmental or agricultural purpose) , much greater flexibility in the timing of water deliveries, and greater safety. A great fear I have is that a catastrophic failure of the present plumbing will lead to panicked and thoughtless responses (see post 9-11 USA for an example). Even if the response is not crazy, the economic impact of 20 million people losing most of their water in a few days would not be remotely funny.
Greater flexibility will also permit periodic adjustment of the salinity levels, which may be an important component of controlling invasive species. What we have now is not working for anyone.
Thanks for keeping an open mind on this rather (ahem) contentious issue. I may have posted this already, but for anyone interested in the Delta, the Water Education Foundation (www.watereducation.org) has some good written material and a wonderful 3 day tour. They do not have any axe to grind, and are neither pro nor con on this or any other issue. They do provide some clear information for people to use in making up their own minds.

By: Tom Chandler

Tom Chandler — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 14:44:42 +0000

There’s almost never one reason for an environmental collapse, but with record amounts of water being removed from the Delta the same five years we saw precipitous declines in native species, I think it’s clear that removing less water from the estuary is a good idea, and one way to do so is to stop irrigating tainted land that should never have been developed in the first place.

Peripheral canal? Given the amounts of water removed from the Delta without it – and the inability of anyone to retain enough water to protect fish – it looks like a death sentence for the Delta as we know it. I’d love to be proven otherwise, but taking more water is always politically easier than using less water.

By: Philip

Philip — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 23:52:39 +0000

If the pumps were the sole reason the Delta is a mess, this suit would have some merit. How about shutting down the Port of Stockton, relocating most of Tracy, Stockton and Manteca, and removing most of the sub-prime mucus blob housing that was constructed over the past 20 years? *Then* shut the pumps down, and see if we’re having fun yet.
Or, build a Peripheral Canal, promote water marketing, and watch what happens.