Wolk bill to reduce reliance on Delta water goes to Governor Brown

by Dan Bacher

Legislation to ensure the state meets its goal of reducing reliance on fresh water from the imperiled Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta watershed is on its way to Governor Jerry Brown’s desk, according to a news release from Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis). The State Senate late last Friday approved Wolk’s Senate Bill 834.

“We know that the Delta is failing because too much is being asked of this estuary,” said Wolk, who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Delta Stewardship and Sustainability. “Many Californians rely on the Delta as a source of drinking water, for their food, livelihood, and so much more. This legislation promotes regional self-sufficiency and sustainable use of the Delta’s resources for the good of the Delta region and all of California.”

She said SB 834 would require that regions receiving fresh water from the Delta watershed must identify how their Integrated Regional Water Management Plans reduce reliance on the Delta. The bill uses these water management plans as a tool to implement a state policy, established in 2009, of reducing reliance on fresh water exported from the Delta.

“These plans receive the bulk of our state’s investment in regional water reliability, making them the ideal means of determining whether these investments are directed to the most efficient and strategic projects,” Wolk concluded.

The Planning and Conservation League, Sierra Club California and Solano County Water Agency supported the bill. The Desert Water Agency, East Valley Water District, El Dorado Irrigation District and Valley Ag Water Coalition originally opposed the legislation, but withdrew their opposition after amendments were made to the bill.

The bill goes to the Governor’s desk at a time when the Brown and Obama administrations are fast-tracking the construction of the peripheral canal through the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) initiated under the Arnold Schwarzenegger administration. The budget-busting canal would divert more water from the California Delta for corporate agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California water agencies.

Delta advocates oppose the canal because it would result in less fresh water for Delta fish, farms and communities. The canal’s construction would undoubtedly result in the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon, Sacramento splittail and other fish species.