Californians for Water Security, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Northern California Water Association, and Restore the Delta respond to the events of the day
Governor Brown’s appearance yesterday at the Association of California Water Agencies to promote the California Water Fix project and the updated California Water Action Plan event stirred some mild reactions.
Here’s what they had to say, listed in alphabetical order:
Broad Coalition Reinforces Need for Governor’s California Water Fix as Linchpin to Accomplish California’s Water Action Plan
From Californians for Water Security:
While Governor Edmund G. Brown laid out his vision for the future of the California Water Action Plan at a statewide conference on water, organizations from across California highlighted the urgent need to implement the #CaliforniaWaterFix, the Governor’s plan to update our state’s aging water infrastructure. These organizations said the #CaliforniaWaterFix is the linchpin to accomplishing the California Water Action Plan, and reinforced that fixing the state’s water conveyance system is critical to be able to recharge groundwater aquifers, store water in existing and new storage facilities, to recycle water and for effective integrated water management.
Michael Quigley, Executive Director of the Alliance for Jobs, spoke at the conference about the need to take action on the California Water Fix in order to capture rainwater during wet years and prepare for future droughts, calling this year “perhaps the most important year in the history of the project.”“There is a strong political will to get this done now,” Quigley said. “We desperately need to replenish groundwater basins, fill up reservoirs, and recharge our existing water supplies – but without a reliable conveyance we cannot get water where it’s needed and too much water will be wasted out to sea that should be captured.”
Quigley added that all options should be on the table to address California’s water shortage crisis, but that they are ineffective without the California Water Fix.
“Expanding water storage above ground and below ground is necessary – but ineffective if there is no way to reliably transport that water across the state,” Quigley added. “Completing the California Water Fix is among the most important priorities for completing the California Water Action Plan.”
The coalition supporting the Governor’s plan includes business leaders, labor, family farmers, local governments, water experts, environmentalists and others who want to fix California’s broken water distribution system. The Governor’s plan was drafted after nearly a decade of scientific review and analysis by leading water experts and conservationists and has received input from leading scientists and engineers.
A recent poll also showed that 80 percent of Californians support the plan when voters hear information about key components and the plan’s importance to their own region. That support remains strong even after voters hear a strongly worded opposition statement, with more than two-thirds of voters supporting the California Water Fix.
Below is a list of the more than 150 organizations supporting the Governor’s plan …
Reactions to the updated California Water Action Plan …
A New and Improved California Water Action Plan?
From Kate Poole at the NRDC:
Today, Governor Brown unveiled an update to the California Water Action Plan, the Brown Administration’s roadmap for improving the state’s ailing water system. As part of this unveiling, the Administration invited feedback on how they’re doing on water issues, stating that this is the public’s opportunity to share views on whether a course-correction is needed. NRDC recently did just that – assessing the state’s performance over the last several years in a variety of areas highlighted in the Water Action Plan in a drought report card. Our assessment found that while the state has made impressive progress in some areas, including urban water conservation and improved water recycling efforts, it has a long way to go in other areas, especially in protecting the hub of California’s water system – the Bay-Delta estuary – where we gave the state an “F,” and in advancing efforts to capture water from the storms that the state is receiving now and in improving agricultural water use efficiency (where we gave the state “Ds”).
Does the updated Water Action Plan propose significant improvements in these lagging areas?
Protecting the Bay-Delta Estuary – We agree strongly with Governor Brown that we have to update California’s water system in a way that works with nature, rather than against it, and that such an approach is entirely possible. The Governor is exactly right that “ecology encompasses the economy,” so we have to respect natural systems and what they require if we want to continue to rely on these systems for our own uses. That maxim is especially true for the Bay-Delta ecosystem, which supplies a core part of the state’s drinking and irrigation water supplies, but won’t continue to do so if we don’t keep that system healthy. … ”
Read more from the NRDC here: A New and Improved California Water Action Plan?
Implementing the California Water Action Plan
From the Northern California Water Association:
“The Northern California Water Association (NCWA) applauds Governor Brown’s call to implement the California Water Action Plan (Action Plan) throughout the state to address California’s water challenges. North State water resources managers have and will continue to work diligently with state agencies to implement various parts of the Action Plan in the Sacramento Valley for the multiple benefits of cities and communities, farms, fish, birds and recreation. This includes the following actions:
- Conservation and efficient water management is a way of life in both urban and rural areas;
- Protect and restore important ecosystems, including the Sacramento Valley Salmon Recovery Program and providing water for the Central Valley Joint Venture plan for birds along the Pacific Flyway;
- Expand water storage capacity and improve groundwater management, including advancing the Sites off stream storage project, re-operating existing reservoirs for multiple benefits, and sustainable groundwater storage and conjunctive use;
- Provide safe water for all communities, including both urban and rural programs to improve water quality in the region. … “
Read more from the Northern California Water Association here: Implementing the California Water Action Plan
Restore the Delta Responds to Gov. Brown at California Water 2.0 Event
From Restore the Delta:
At the “California Water 2.0” event today at the Sacramento Convention Center, Governor Brown addressed the audience and encouraged State and Federal agencies to press forward on building twin water tunnels beneath the San Francisco Bay-Delta.
Among the claims by the Governor was that $100 million has already been spent on the Delta Tunnels, as if that is an accomplishment.
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla of Restore the Delta responded:
“Spending a lot of money isn’t much of an accomplishment if you are re-proposing a project that still cannot meet the standards required under the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act. Federal and state agencies will still be required to approve it before any construction begins, and the EPA has already given the latest version of the Tunnels a thumbs down.
“Mark Cowin, Director of the California Department of Water Resources claimed Tunnels could be used on a day like today even though outflows have been less in the past few weeks than during the drought due to so much pumping. How will the Delta ever recover if freshwaters are never allowed to flow through it, even in rainy seasons?
“Clean water standards would not ever be met for the 4 million people who live, work, farm, recreate and drink water from the Delta. In addition, CA Water Fix documents show that the new pumps would decimate juvenile salmon, so what the Governor is proposing is to save smelt while decimating our iconic salmon runs.”
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