From the State Water Contractors:
The State Water Contractors (SWC) filed a complaint today requesting the State Water Resources Control Board take action to protect State Water Project releases from unlawful diversions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta). Every day this summer, public water agencies will release billions of gallons of freshwater from storage to maintain environmental and water quality standards in the Delta. Substantial, unlawful diversions by water diverters south of the San Joaquin River threaten to increase the burden on limited stored water supplies, affecting both the environment and other water users.
“These landowners in the Delta have long-standing water rights that entitle them to water when nature provides it—but those rights do not entitle them to stored water paid for by others and intended for the environment. If nature ran its course, the Delta would not be suitable for drinking or farming this summer,” said Stefanie Morris, acting general manager of the State Water Contractors.
Historical measurements of salinity indicate that the Delta does not naturally stay fresh during droughts. Today, however, state and federal water projects are responsible for maintaining freshwater conditions in the Delta year-round expressly for environmental purposes.
Landowners that continue to divert water from within the Delta are taking the stored state and federal water project supplies needed to meet water quality requirements. On any given day, landowners in the Delta are diverting three to four times as much water as the state and federal water projects combined. Estimates show that landowners last year diverted as much as 300,000 acre-feet of water in excess of their water rights. This water was paid for by other water users and released into the Delta to improve water quality. In the same year, the State Water Project received just 200,000 acre-feet for all 26 million customers and 750,000 acres of farmland.
“We’re depending on stored water to meet environmental needs, but without action from the state, keeping the Delta water fresh this summer will be like trying to fill a bucket with a hole in the bottom. We’ll be depleting reservoirs to make up for what diverters south of the San Joaquin River are taking out,” added Morris.
Historical data and extensive modeling show that the Delta would be much saltier without the state’s major reservoirs. The map below, based on modeling conducted by the State Water Contractors, is one example of what water quality in the Delta would have been last summer without the state and federal water projects:
The SWC are requesting that the State Water Resources Control Board issue an order requiring diverters south of the San Joaquin River to stop diverting in excess of their water rights. In addition to this immediate action, a long-term solution is needed as the state struggles to manage scarce resources. The Delta is the last region in California where local diverters of water do not measure their actual water use. It can be hard to manage what isn’t measured. Water supplies are stretched especially thin during drought, and absent accurate diversion measurements and an enforcement system, effectively managing California’s scarce water resources is an even greater challenge.
To read SWC’s complaint, click here.
The State Water Contractors is a statewide, non-profit association of 27 public agencies from Northern, Central and Southern California that purchase water under contract from the California State Water Project. Collectively the State Water Contractors deliver water to more than 26 million residents throughout the state and more than 750,000 acres of agricultural lands. For more information on the State Water Contractors, please visit www.swc.org.
——————————————–
Get the Notebook blog by email and you’ll always be one of the first to know!
- Sign up for daily emails and get all the Notebook’s aggregated and original water news content delivered to your email box by 9AM. Breaking news alerts like this one, too. Sign me up!
Maven’s Notebook
constantly watching over the world of California water
