In California, federal fisheries regulators are mulling two new plans to save the state’s endangered winter-run Chinook salmon and Delta smelt—plans that could mean serious water shortages for farmers. While this year saw ample rain and snowfall in the northern half of the state, regulators warn that the precipitation wasn’t enough to make up for several years of historic drought.
Fifteen members of Congress from California wrote President Obama, saying that the plans would “significantly reduce the water supply available to Californians,” according to the Sacramento Bee.
The Chinook and smelt populations have been decimated in recent years, largely due to warm water temperatures and shallow waterways. Last year, all but 3 percent of the juvenile Chinook died. And while a decade ago millions of Delta smelt swam in the estuary, scientists believe only a few thousand remain today. But because both fish are protected by the Endangered Species Act, the onus is on federal agencies that manage California’s fisheries to do something to protect them.
To that end, the agencies involved—National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service—have devised two plans. The first calls for holding back more water behind Shasta Dam, which would provide a deep, cool pool of water that could be released when the salmon make their spawning run. The second recommends channeling more water to the Pacific Ocean through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. But both ideas mean less water for Central Valley growers, most of whom expected water regulations to ease up, given all the rain and snow this winter.
Rep. Jim Costa, who signed the letter to President Obama, told the Sacramento Bee that if the Shasta plan goes through, farmers on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley could see zero water deliveries for the third year in a row, despite being told earlier in the year to look for 5 percent of their normal allocation. And farmers on the east side, he said, may only get half of the federal allocation they were promised in April. Growers may be forced to resort to even more groundwater pumping.
“That’s not sustainable,” Johnny Amaral, deputy general manager at the Westlands Water District in the San Joaquin Valley, told the Sacramento Bee. “Pumping that much groundwater is not sustainable.”
The agencies might also decide to draw extra water from Folsom Lake for the second year in a row in order to lower salinity levels in the Delta. Some say more of that freshwater should go to millions of acres of farms and the 25 million residents of San Joaquin Valley.