State report supports building Delta tide barriers

By Mike Taugher
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Friday, November 11, 2005

State water officials took a big step toward fulfilling their plan to pump more water out of the Delta when they released an environmental analysis Thursday that concluded it would not significantly harm water quality or fish populations.

Those findings were immediately challenged.

The Contra Costa Water District said more Delta pumping could worsen water quality for its 450,000 customers, while environmentalists said higher pumping rates would certainly kill more fish.

"We think some of these are very, very severe (water quality) impacts and need mitigation," said Greg Gartrell, assistant general manager for the Contra Costa Water District.

Tina Swanson, a senior scientist at the Bay Institute, an environmental research group, noted that ongoing studies into the cause of a widespread decline in the Delta's fish populations are turning up evidence that higher winter pumping could be causing the ecological crisis.

If the state moves forward with plans to pump even more water, that could worsen the problem, environmentalists say.

"The environmental community has been extremely concerned about these proposed changes and has expressed unanimous opposition," Swanson said.

The release of the environmental impact report by the state Department of Water Resources comes after months of delay.

The study proposes to go forward with construction of tidal barriers in the South Delta that are designed to improve South Delta water quality and the ability of farmers in that region to get water out of Delta channels.

Once those barriers are in place, the state could then decide to ramp up the regulated capacity of pumps at Byron from 6,680 cubic-feet-per-second to 8,500 cubic-feet-per-second. Those pumps deliver water down the California Aqueduct to Kern County and Southern California.

Even if it goes forward with that plan, which is unlikely before 2009, the department says it would not fully use that capacity and only 3 percent to 5 percent more water would actually be moved out of the Delta.

The entire plan, including installing the barriers and increasing the regulated pumping capacity, would cost an estimated $110 million, the vast majority of which would be paid by state bonds.

The department, in response to the ongoing and rapid decline of several open-water fish species, agreed to put off a final decision on boosting pumping rates to 2007 or beyond.

"Let's see what the science says and then we'll have a better idea of how we move forward," said DWR deputy director Jerry Johns.

Johns said the tidal barriers are worth installing whether the state decides to move forward with higher pumping rates.

The barriers could be raised and lowered to improve water circulation in the South Delta and trap water in channels in a way that raises water levels and makes it easier for farmers to irrigate.

But a South Delta farmer who is also the engineer for the South Delta Water Agency said the plan was flawed and would not improve conditions along the San Joaquin River, where farmers like himself are forced to irrigate with salty water and often have difficulty pumping water over levees when the river is low.

"There are a lot of deficiencies in the plan. It doesn't solve my problem at all," said Alex Hildebrand. "The barriers are necessary but not sufficient. . . . The South Delta Improvement Program should look at the entire South Delta, and it doesn't."

A coalition of water agencies, business groups and farmers called California's Water Future called Thursday's release of the environmental report a step forward toward better managing Delta water.

But for Contra Costa, it could be a step backward.

Gartrell, of the Contra Costa Water District, said the report released Thursday showed no significant effect on water quality in the district only because it averaged out changes to water quality over a hypothetical 16-year period.

Looked at over the long-term, the increase in salt at Contra Costa's intakes might be small. But it could at times also be very high, Gartrell said.

Mike Taugher covers natural resources. Reach him at 925-943-8257 or mtaugher@cctimes.com