It is not clear if this comment box is for comments to EPIC or to go to Boxer & Thompson re the salmon/water issue. I’d like to put this info on our list serve.

The comment box at the bottom of this page is for commenting on EPIC’s blog entry. To send comments to Barbara Boxer please click the link at the top of this blog entry where it says: “Send an email to Senator Barbara Boxer asking her to oppose Diane Feinstein’s Water Grab Plan that Will Seriously Threaten North Coast Salmon Populations.”

Thanks for the alert. Can you please specify the number on the jobs bill? I’ve found in calling Congressional offices in the past that the interns they task with taking input from the public usually ask for the bill #. Thanks.

Westlands Water District does not deserve to be treated to unwarranted “rider” bill to insure a relatively few when the states salmonid populations from the Trinity River to the Sacramento River with their various tributaries and larger ecological units including the Klamath are fighting desperately to be saved from the collapses of the states fisheries. Water conservation, desalineation, water treatment policies, localized water source attribution policies, and thorough and rigorous efficient irrigation systems must be the mandates of the future of California. Already progress is being made where the money and the capital investment at reusing and thorough treatment of water resources or the localization of commiting to water demands are being seriously addressed and taken past the serious water deficits the northern part of the state has faced. Algal blooms in the reservoirs of California’s rivers of the Sierras are becoming a serious health problem that we will have to address. The San Luis Reservoir is a prime example. Over nitrification plus prolonged exposure to solar radiation and lack of flowing has created a nutrient rich broth thriving with algal blooms that are bound to be problematic. We must see this as the opportunity to rigorously apply systematic approaches to creating a more beneficial and well-developed approach where water is more equally and more thoughtfully utilized. Water wars are not the answer, we must seize the moment to improve California’s water budgets and see that tribes such as the Hoopa are guaranteed sufficient flows for healthy fish stocks of wild fish. The Central Valley is poised to repay its debts as they turn to more efficient and longer term rationales to create a more balanced water budget. Antiquated dams must be reviewed and honestly assessed to the present conditions of individual reservoirs and more holistic and prudent alternatives and answers must be brought to the table. We must recognize that there are many potential answers and not allow inefficient and failing systems to linger in political subsidies,when so many individuals and other entities are recognizing the drawbacks of the aging business-as-usual policies.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported on Feinstein’s water grab last week. The article stated that a big donor/rancher in the southern Central Valley asked Feinstein to go to bat for him, and she did. It looks like once she was bought, she stayed bought.

In the face of opposition from North Coast politicians and groups, Feinstein has put a hold on her proposed amendment. Instead she commends the Bureau of Reclamation for agreeing to a 30 percent allocation to South of Delta agricultural water users, which could turn out to be a 40 percent allocation.

What this means for North Coast water users still remains to be seen, but the issues are clear.

The Bay Delta Conservation Plan’s (BDCP) environmental impact report is due to be completed in July and a draft made public in September. The final plan is not due until mid-2011.

Yet already we know, according to the BDCP’s own website (http://www.baydeltaconservationplan.com/FactSheetLibrary/Conveyance_Fact_Sheet_-_WEB.pdf) that “the current ‘through-Delta’ conveyance method has several effects on fish.

“The pumps that pull water from the Delta into canals trap and kill fish in some locations. In addition, native fish are more subject to predation by non-native species near certain conveyance facilities.

2. The conveyance system at times changes the direction of the flow of water, which may confuse fish as they try to travel along their intended paths and also affects how far inland salty bay
water reaches.

3. Altered hydrodynamics—water movement and interaction with channel beds and banks—does not provide the proper nutrients, water temperature, water volume, water speed or water depth
to support fish species survival.”

A major impact on salmonids is forest habitat destruction through irresponsible logging, especially clearcutting.