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By Gail Schickele
Improved governance, water conservation, emergency preparedness, storage facilities, and a system of dual water conveyance are key strategies to achieve water supply reliability and ecosystem restoration for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, according to the Delta Vision Committee Implementation Report submitted to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on January 2.
The report noted that achievement of goals for the Delta has eluded existing governing entities for decades. The California Bay-Delta Authority, a mix of state and federal agencies and public members created in 2003, has been judged in several independent reviews to have been largely ineffective, its failure attributed to a lack of statutory authority to enforce priorities and an inability to direct policy through a budgetary approval process. In its stead, the report proposed the establishment of an Interim Delta Policy Group composed of the Secretary for Resources; the Secretary for Food and Agriculture; the Secretary for Business, Transportation, and Housing; the Secretary for Environmental Protection; the President of the Public Utilities Commission; the Director of the Department of Water Resources; the Director of the Department of Fish and Game; the Executive Director of the State Water Resources Control Board; an elected official chosen by the five Delta counties; and federal participation at the highest appropriate level. The group would be in place for 12 months and until a long-term governance structure is in place.
The report’s recommended actions with ready authorization include near-term water conveyance improvements to Delta gates and barriers, surface storage feasibility studies and environmental assessments, development of a Delta Economic Plan, aquatic invasive species control, flood protection and emergency response improvement, and federal designation of the Delta as a National Heritage Area.
Completion of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan will benefit exported water quality, increase fish populations, and protect water supplies against earthquakes and floods. To strengthen the Delta levee system, the California Public Utilities Commission and California Department of Transportation will conduct by 2012 a comprehensive analysis of costs and benefits of infrastructure protection strategies, including those identified in the Delta Risk Management Strategy.
The Delta Policy Group will continue to work with the legislature to place a comprehensive water bond package on the next statewide ballot so that critical regional and state infrastructure and ecosystem restoration projects can move forward. Financial incentives and technical assistance through the Integrated Regional Water Management Plans and Local Groundwater Assistance Program will improve surface and groundwater monitoring and data management. Continued funding for the CALFED Ecosystem Restoration Program (ERP) and finalization of the ERP Conservation Strategy assures completion of several ecosystem projects. The Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing and the Secretary for Food and Agriculture is directed to work with Delta counties and the Delta Projection Commission to develop a Delta Economic Plan by 2011 to support increased investment in agriculture, recreation, tourism, and other resilient land uses.
Actions requiring authorization include large-scale habitat restoration, conservation improvements, expansion of surface and groundwater storage, water rights accountability, water use reporting, planning for appropriate land uses for at-risk areas, and long-term levee planning.
As previously reported in the Monitor (“Solutions for a Delta in Crisis,” October/November 2008), it has been widely recognized that the Delta region is in serious long-term crisis. To address the crisis, Governor Schwarzenegger appointed the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force in 2006 to develop the long-term sustainable vision for the Delta by December 2007, and an implementation plan by December 2008. The Delta Vision Committee evaluated this plan and used it to make recommendations in preparing its own report.