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<H1 style="MARGIN: 0pt"><B><FONT face=Tahoma color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">Water crisis has
parallels with financial meltdown<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></H1>
<H1 style="MARGIN: 0pt"><B><FONT face=Tahoma color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">Contra Costa Times
1/11/09<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></H1>
<H1 style="MARGIN: 0pt"><B><FONT face=Tahoma color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">By <?xml:namespace
prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:PersonName
w:st="on">Mike Taugher</st1:PersonName><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></H1>
<H1 style="MARGIN: 0pt"><B><FONT face=Tahoma color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></H1>
<P class=bodytext style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black
size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><!--subtitle--><!--byline-->To understand
how <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>
reached its current water crisis, one could look for an analogy in the financial
meltdown.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=bodytext style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black
size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">In both cases, credit or water once flowed
easily: Four of the five years of highest water deliveries from the Delta's two
massive pumping plants were 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">In both cases, lax regulatory oversight
was a factor in the collapse that followed: The state Department of Water
Resources never obtained an endangered-species permit required under state law,
and the two federal permits it and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation operated under
were invalidated by a judge who found them ineffective and
weak.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">And in both cases, a bubble formed and
burst: By 2007, record pumping levels had contributed to an ecological collapse
that in turn led to a court order to slow the
pumps.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Although the causes for the collapse of
Delta smelt, salmon and other fish species are complex and hotly debated, the
fact is that state water managers, given a loose rein by regulators, cranked up
pumps in recent years and the fish species that were supposed to be protected
especially Delta smelt collapsed. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">By the time courts stepped in, drastic
measures were in order. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Water agencies, under a microscope and
facing the threat of further cutbacks and shortages, point to other causes for
the Delta's demise. They argue that the collapse is not their fault, or at least
not entirely their fault.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">They may be partly right. Scientists are investigating
the possibility that ammonia discharged from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:City></st1:place>'s sewer treatment plant might be
contributing to the problems, for example, and no one disputes the role invasive
clams, plants and fish are having on the delicate ecological balance in the
Delta, the West Coast's largest natural estuary. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">But the biological analysis that
accompanied federal regulators' latest permit, issued last month under court
order, concluded that pumping operations lie close to the root of the Delta's
problems and the near extinction of Delta smelt.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">It emphasized that the pumps not only kill
fish directly, they also have a dramatic effect on the Delta's flow of water
the hydrodynamics. And that influences everything.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">So, while pollution, introduced species,
habitat quality, food availability and other "stressors" are contributing to the
Delta's environmental meltdown, "the extent to which these factors adversely
affect Delta smelt is related to hydrodynamic conditions in the Delta, which in
turn are controlled to a large extent by (state and federal water project)
operations," the analysis concluded.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">In other words, the other factors that
water agencies point to as overlooked contributors to the Delta's demise are, in
fact, made worse by agency operations.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">The permit has alarmed water agencies
because it will cut water deliveries to farms and cities throughout the state
below the record levels of recent years. And it comes after two dry years,
depleted reservoirs and concern that 2009 could be a third consecutive year
without much rain or snow.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Water agencies are also concerned that
further restrictions in the coming months might further crimp the water supply.
A second permit, to protect salmon and steelhead, is due in March and another
Delta fish, longfin smelt, is being considered for listing under state and
federal endangered species laws.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">As with the financial meltdown, the
bursting of a bubble whether in house prices or water deliveries is causing
pain.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Southern California cities have become
more dependent on the Delta as the region's <st1:place w:st="on">Colorado
River</st1:place> supplies were cut due to drought and a 2003 agreement to
adhere to the limits set in a 1922 compact with other
states.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Meanwhile, major new reservoirs such as
the Kern Water Bank near <st1:City w:st="on">Bakersfield</st1:City> and
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Diamond</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType> lake in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Riverside</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, which were largely filled with
Delta water in the recent boom years, are being drawn down rapidly.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">A recent study by a <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Berkeley</st1:City></st1:place> consulting firm
pegged the cost of restrictions at more than $500 million a year, a cost that
could soar to $3 billion in a prolonged drought. Most of that would be felt in
<st1:place w:st="on">Southern California</st1:place>, where water rates could
rise and residents see an increased likelihood of water rationing, the study
said.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Rationing is possible as early as this
summer, depending on the weather, of course. And water agencies are supporting
costly fixes that would run into the billions, despite the more than $4 billion
spent since 2000 for a plan now largely seen as mostly
failed.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">How bad is
it?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">We're looking at what could be "a water
supply and delivery crisis the likes of which Californians have not seen in
decades," said the state's top water official, Department of Water Resources
Director Lester Snow.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">He might be
right.#<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><A
href="http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_11430213?source=rss">http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_11430213?source=rss</A></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"></SPAN></FONT> </P><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">
<H1 style="MARGIN: 0pt"><B><FONT face=Tahoma color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">Tough choices on
Delta await state officials<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></H1>
<H1 style="MARGIN: 0pt"><B><FONT face=Tahoma color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">Contra Costa Times
1/12/09<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></H1>
<H1 style="MARGIN: 0pt"><B><FONT face=Tahoma color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">By <st1:PersonName
w:st="on">Mike Taugher</st1:PersonName><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></H1>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P><!--subtitle--><!--byline-->
<P class=bodytext style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"></SPAN><SPAN fd-id="default"
fd-type="end">Pushing hard to build a new canal around the Delta, the
Schwarzenegger administration rarely misses an opportunity to point out how
rickety <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place>'s water system has
become.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=bodytext style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black
size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">And in their zeal to get the expensive and
controversial aqueduct built, they occasionally
exaggerate.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">For example, when federal regulators
imposed new rules last month to protect endangered fish, the state's water
agency announced, "Delta Water Exports Could Be Reduced By Up to 50 Percent
Under New Federal Biological Opinion." <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">It was an alarmist and inflated claim. But
state water officials know the more dire the situation appears, the more support
they will get to divert billions of gallons of water around, instead of through,
the Delta. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">In fact, the water cuts are significant
only when compared to the record-breaking pumping of recent years. Even then,
the 50 percent figure represents a theoretical worst case, not a certainty or
even a likelihood.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Still, no one can deny that <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place> faces tough
decisions in the coming months and years. The Delta, as a living estuary, has
been pushed to the breaking point by an increase in water pumping and other
stressors. And the demand for Delta water continues to grow it is a growing
state that has lost water supplies in the <st1:place w:st="on">Colorado
River</st1:place> to drought and interstate agreements.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">2009 looks to be the year policymakers have to grapple
with the Delta's central dilemma: How much water can be taken from it for the
state's cities and farms and should the flow come through the Delta or go around
it? And a related but rarely uttered question: How much environmental damage in
the West Coast's largest estuary is acceptable? <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">For the governor and many water agencies,
the answer is to build a canal around the Delta even though no one knows how it
would be built or operated.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">In general, a canal would provide cleaner
water and it would eliminate the state's reliance on fragile levees to channel
water to pumps near <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Tracy</st1:City></st1:place> that kill millions of fish every
year.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">With the status quo clearly not working,
the idea has at least qualified support from many of the state's water agencies,
The Nature Conservancy, the Department of Fish and Game, and a panel of outside
experts that have been working under the auspices of the Public Policy Institute
of California.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">The flip side is that the canal would
reduce water flowing through the Delta, affecting threatened wildlife there,
increasing the concentration of pollutants and possibly causing stagnation.
Delta landowners fear that building the canal would evaporate state funding for
maintaining Delta levees and islands. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Delta residents, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Contra</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Costa</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> supervisors and others are lining
up against it.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">The issue is moving forward mostly in two
plans.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">One, known as Delta Vision, has been
forwarded to Schwarzenegger. It includes a peripheral canal in a sweeping
package of water supply and environmental initiatives that was put together by,
among others, leading opponents of the original <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Peripheral</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Canal</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, which voters rejected in
1982.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Schwarzenegger's advisers have endorsed
most of the package, but it is unclear how it would be
implemented.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">The other plan, known as the Bay-Delta
Conservation Plan, is a narrower strategy still being negotiated among water
users and regulators with strong guidance from the administration. It is meant
to get regulatory approval for a canal.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Details especially how big it would be
and how it would be used have yet to be defined, which hasn't stopped many
from declaring they are for it or against it.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">In effect, the battle lines are being
drawn but no one knows what the fight is about.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Would anyone oppose the canal if it were
made into a pipeline that was too small to substantially diminish Delta water
flows?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">What if a large, credibly regulated canal
took small amounts of water in most years, but in high-water years took more to
refill <st1:place w:st="on">Southern California</st1:place>
reservoirs?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Would water users support a small canal?
Would they support a big one that was not used much?
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Would such a tightly controlled big canal
make economic sense? Could it be credibly regulated in a state where water
interests have long had the power to get their own way? One of the biggest
questions has hardly been addressed: How much water can the Delta lose without
damaging it? <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">"The peripheral canal is the narcotic to
keep you from thinking about the tough decisions that need to be made," said
Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, a leading voice in Congress on western water
issues<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">The water supply available to a canal
might not be as much as users hope.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Federal biologists are now requiring more
water to flow through the Delta in wet years to protect Delta smelt habitat.
That's water that could otherwise be moved south and
stored.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Biologists could require that more water
flow through the Delta, not the canal, to help the struggling salmon
population.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Nevertheless, the Schwarzenegger
administration appears convinced that the canal is the way to go and state
officials have taken every opportunity to remind reporters and the general
public about the need for a "comprehensive" fix.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Which goes back to that "50 percent"
reduction.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">That applies only to state, as opposed to
federal, water contractors in dry years. And it assumes regulators crack down
hard any time there's a judgment call to be made.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">To be fair, the Department of Water
Resources also gave reporters a more realistic number: a 17 percent reduction
due to the federal biologists' ruling. That's what the agency says would be the
most likely loss of water for state and federal water agencies in average
years.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Even that figure is inflated. The state
calculated it by assuming that without the new permit water agencies would pump
more water than they ever have 6.4 million acre-feet. Charts distributed by
the agency showed contractors most likely would get about 5.3 million acre-feet
in an average year.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">That is still significantly less than the
6 million acre-feet taken from the Delta in recent years, but it is not a whole
lot less than deliveries before 2000, the year that a new Delta water strategy
was adopted and pumping increased sharply.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">In effect, it turns out, the courts and
court-ordered environmental protections so far have only modestly turned back
the clock on Delta pumping. But more restrictions are
possible.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Can a growing state accept those limits?
Can it get around them with a canal and reservoirs? What further regulatory
cutbacks might be ordered?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">So many questions. Might they be answered
this year?#<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><A href=""><FONT
color=#0000ff>http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_11438885</FONT></A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
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