Central Valley Congressman ask for more Delta water
Kevin Freking of the Associated Press reports several Central Valley lawmakers pleaded in front of their colleagues yesterday to try and get an emergency exception made to the Federal Endangered Species Act. Regulations in the ESA are creating reductions in Delta water deliveries made to towns and farm districts across the state. Dennis Cardoza D-Atwater and Devin Nunez R-Visalia said the planned water shortage was creating an economic crisis in their districts, resulting in a 20% unemployment rate and a startling departure of workers that they equated to a reverse Dust Bowl migration.
Freking went on to report “experts say the water shortage in California’s Central Valley, the most productive agricultural region in the country, results from myriad factors: the order reducing delta pumping, several years of below-average precipitation and California’s inability to upgrade its water system to meet the demands of a population nearing 38 million people. The state has said it will deliver only 20 percent of the water typically allocated for cities and farms this year. The federal Bureau of Reclamation, which operates a separate system to deliver water to farmers, has said it will not deliver any water this spring to farms south of the delta. Farmers north of the delta can expect to get just 5 percent of their contracted amount.”
The ESA has been used to enact special regulations to protect dwindling salmon numbers, but it’s primary focus in California’s Delta is to protect the devastated Delta Smelt. In our third year of below average rain and snow fall, the debate is quickly heating up. Environmentalist are claiming it is finally time to update California’s water supply delivery system, while farmers and water interests are warning these tough economic times are no time to fool around.
