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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Environmental Defense Fund’s Spreck
Rosekrans’ Op-Ed on Delta. Spreck also is a member of current
unchartered Trinity Adaptive Management Working Group (TAMWG), the <st1:place
w:st="on">Trinity River</st1:place> Restoration Program’s stakeholders’
group.<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=4 face=Arial><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=4 face=Arial><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>The delta's wake-up call<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=byline1><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.0pt'>Spreck
Rosekrans<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=date1><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.0pt'>Monday,
November 3, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
9.5pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<!--/.articleheadings --><!-- types/article/articletools.tmpl -->
<p><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Wake up, <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>.
Do not hit the snooze button again!<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:6.0pt'><b><font
size=1 color="#222222" face=Arial><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:
Arial;color:#222222;text-transform:uppercase;font-weight:bold'>Images<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'><a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2008/11/03/EDJF13S5TP.DTL&o=0"><font
size=1 color="#015660"><span style='font-size:7.5pt;color:#015660;text-decoration:
none'><img border=0 width=220 height=148 id="_x0000_i1050"
src="cid:image001.jpg@01C93D96.1E985BE0" class=solo-thumb></span></font></a><a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2008/11/03/EDJF13S5TP.DTL&o=0"><font
size=1 color="#015660"><span style='font-size:7.5pt;color:#015660;text-decoration:
none'><img border=0 width=7 height=7 id="_x0000_i1051"
src="cid:image002.gif@01C93D96.1E985BE0" class=plus>View Larger Image</span></font></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>It's been clear for decades that the San Francisco Bay-Delta
estuary is in peril. The largest estuary on the West Coast is suffering - from
ever-increasing water diversions, pollution and invasive species - to the point
where scientists talk openly about the extinction of entire fish species. It is
clear that potential failure of the delta's fragile levee system threatens
delta communities and could disrupt the water system that supplies part of the
drinking water to 23 million Californians and much of <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>'s agricultural lands as well. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Last Friday, the governor's Delta Vision Task Force released
its strategic plan addressing the bay-delta's ecosystem and water-supply
problems. The plan represents a clear-eyed break with the past. The task force
recognizes that protecting the environment of the delta is just as important as
providing reliable water supplies to cities and farms. The task force urges <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State> to base its
water future in the reality that water is a limited resource, that enormous
water diversions have adverse consequences, and that ecosystem collapse is not
an acceptable option. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>The Delta Vision report offered by the task force emphasizes
the urgent need for expanded habitat and freshwater flows to restore salmon and
other decimated fisheries. Its recommendations for improving water-use
efficiency, eliminating disincentives for sustainable groundwater management
and encouraging sales of water between willing buyers and sellers, so long as
local communities are not harmed, are long overdue. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>The task force's recommendations for a peripheral canal raise
questions from both an environmental and a financial perspective. We understand
that a canal would enable continued delivery of water from the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> to cities and farms further
south, even in the event of a levee failure. But the canal would vastly diminish
the flow of freshwater into the delta. The task force's vision does not include
a plan for assuring that its design and operation would protect not only salmon
and other fisheries, but delta agriculture and communities as well. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>We are also concerned by the plan's recommendations to pursue
additional dams, in part because recent proposals would build them at taxpayer
expense without any clear understanding as to how the additional water supply
would be distributed. Recent history has shown that when water agencies pay for
their own supply projects, they usually find alternative investments such as
conservation, groundwater management and cleanup, and purchases from willing
sellers to be more cost-effective investments than new dams and reservoirs.<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Ultimately, success or failure will depend on whether
agencies, the <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>
Legislature and communities can work together effectively. We are intrigued by
the task force's recommendations for agency reform - including a new council to
govern the Delta Vision's coequal goals of water supply and environmental
restoration - though simply adding one more agency could be counterproductive
if not done right. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>The Delta Vision plan now moves to the governor and the
Legislature. To avoid the mistakes of the past, they must build on the
foundation of balance between the ecosystem and water supply. We urge lawmakers
to spend taxpayer dollars only to achieve tangible public benefits. Further
subsidies are likely to continue the inefficient distribution of water that has
led <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>
to its famously costly and fruitless water wars.<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>The Delta Vision report is far from perfect, but ignoring it
would put both the delta and <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>'s
water supply at risk. If we hit that snooze button, the next wake-up call might
come too late.<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=dtlcomment><b><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold;font-style:italic'>Spreck Rosekrans is
a senior analyst with the Environmental Defense Fund in San Francisco and a
member of the Delta Vision Stakeholder Coordination Group. To read the Delta
Vision report, go to links.sfgate.com/ZFGO<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><em><i><font size=3 color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker</span></font></i></em></st1:PersonName><em><i><font color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'>, JCT, Chair</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Friends of <st1:place w:st="on">Trinity
River</st1:place></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:address w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray'>PO Box</span></font></i></em></st1:Street><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'> 2327</span></font></i></em></st1:address><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray'>Mill Valley</span></font></i></em></st1:City><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'>, <st1:State w:st="on">CA</st1:State>
<st1:PostalCode w:st="on">94942-2327</st1:PostalCode></span></font></i></em></st1:place><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810 </span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 519 4810 cell</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net">bwl3@comcast.net</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org">bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="http://www.fotr.org">www.fotr.org</a> </span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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