Statement of Sacramento River Settlement Contractors Revised Sacramento River Operations Plan:
“The Sacramento River Settlement Contractors (SRSC’s), representing approximately 450,000 acres in the western Sacramento Valley, are evaluating the revised Central Valley Project (CVP) operations plan for the remainder of this water year. The SRSC’s continue to be committed to working with the federal and state agencies to manage water resources in the Sacramento Valley for multiple beneficial purposes that include water for cities, rural communities, farms, fish and wildlife and their habitats.
While a significant operations agreement was approved earlier this spring, recent concern about cold water availability from Shasta Reservoir and in the Sacramento River for winter run salmon have resulted in the agencies revising operations for 2015. The agencies’ new flow proposal would limit releases from Shasta Reservoir to 7,250cfs, which represents an approximate 20% reduction in July from the original operations agreement, and will severely limit operational flexibility within all regions of the CVP.
Like 2014, when the SRSC’s diverted less than 75% of their total contract supply, the SRSC’s will continue to aggressively and creatively manage their water supplies in 2015 to address the extraordinary drought conditions. In addition, the SRSC’s have made arrangements to transfer twice as much water as 2014 to provide critical water supplies to areas of need in California. The revised plan may further decrease diversions by approximately 20% in the critical crop irrigation month of July. In response to the revised plan, the SRSC’s will be taking further action to stretch available supplies to meet demands, which may include increased groundwater pumping consistent with the emergency authority approved by the Governor this year.
Regardless of the SRSC’s creative actions, there will need to be more flexible operations this summer than proposed by the agencies, including increased releases from Shasta Reservoir during the month of July to adequately meet all of these beneficial purposes in the Sacramento Valley, as well as providing critical water supplies for other parts of the state.
The SRSC’s and water suppliers throughout the region will continue to diligently work with our conservation partners to advance the Salmon Recovery Program for the Sacramento Valley and to maximize water supplies for bird habitat along the Pacific Flyway”
Source: sacriverstatement.jun2015
State Water Board’s River Temperature Plan Announcement Gives Cities and Fish Hope Says California Water Alliance
“A collective but cautious sigh of relief passed through urban dwellers and farmers alike Tuesday as they learned that the State Water Resources Control Board (SWCB) made a fair decision for controlling Sacramento River temperatures in a difficult situation,” said Aubrey Bettencourt, executive director of the California Water Alliance (CalWA).
The SWRCB announced that it would continue releases from Shasta Dam into the Sacramento River rather than cut them off in mid-summer. “It’s a small step, but it’s significant,” Bettencourt added, “Communities and water authorities are still under tremendous pressure to make this new plan work in the middle of a crisis. This is far less water than stakeholders had previously and unanimously agreed upon, but they’ll strive to try to make it work.”
The SWRCB must also consult with other federal and state agencies before it can implement its order to the major water projects to continue cold-water releases from Shasta Lake. The revised plan calls for continuous releases at least 7,250 cubic feet per second during the summer to protect endangered winter-run Chinook salmon and allow water to continue flowing to more than 70 percent of California’s population.
The plan will also target river temperatures of 57 degrees F rather than 56 degrees F, a slight difference to humans, but a major difference to fish, one that will hopefully keep them alive.
The SWRCB must consult with National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as California Department of Fish and Wildlife before it can approve the new temperature management plan for Shasta and the Sacramento River.
“Maintaining flows out of Shasta is critical,” Bettencourt continued. “It means that the Southland will continue to receive water from Northern California during this summer’s traditionally hottest and driest months, when water is at a premium.”
“Contrary to the loud nay-saying of some special interest groups, it’s also the right balance to help preserve endangered fish like the Chinook salmon that lay their eggs in June and July to hatch in September. The eggs and migrating fish need cool temperatures to survive, and the SWRCB walked a narrow line between the species’ certain death and survival.”
The announcement gives relief to communities from Redding to Bakersfield and beyond to the lower Bay Area and Southern California, a broad swath of the state that would have seen their water supplies depleted to replace Sacramento River flows if the SWRCB had cut off summer Shasta dam releases. Just last Friday, the board cut off water diversions for 114 senior water rights holders, many of them in the Sacramento River watershed.
In a plan to replace summer Delta flows through orders issued earlier this year, the SWRCB told dams from Oroville to New Malones to reserve water now and prepare to release it later. The released water would flow unrestricted to San Francisco Bay. Continued Shasta releases means added protection for the areas the other dams serve.
On Tuesday, the State Water Contractors asked the SWRCB to make sure that the water they release goes to the environment, not to diversions by Delta farmers and other users.
Planning for the management of water temperature in the Sacramento River has been, since its inception, a group effort between expert scientists, regulators, operators, districts and stakeholders.
Bettencourt stressed the decision’s many benefits, saying, “When the SWRCB signaled that it was following the recommendations of its experts, it validated their goal of striking a reasonable – if not ideal – balance between endangered species protection and the needs of California’s population and farms. We encourage the SWRCB to coordinate with stakeholders and water interests as they continue to consult with federal and state agencies. We still have lots of hurdles, but every little bit helps.”
The SWRCB had previously threatened to stop all water releases from Shasta for two months in the hottest summer months. CalWA saw new hope for compromise in their action.
“We hope this decision marks the SWRCB’s start for unwinding the tangled web of regulatory mandates and conflicting orders affecting California’s water supply before fish or people are irreparably harmed,” Bettencourt concluded.
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