A somewhat optimistic Mark Cowin, director of the California Department of Water Resources, said the flurry of late-winter storms could cause regulators to open the flood gates of the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project ever so slightly.
It’s possible, after forecasters incorporate the new snowpack data from April 1, the SWP allocation could increase from the current 0 percent, Cowin said, meaning downstream agencies that supply water to Los Angeles and other Southern California cities may benefit during one of the worst droughts in state history.
When asked if that included the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which supplies one-third of all water to the region, he said: “Oh yes. They are our biggest contractor.”
Deven Upadhyay, group manager for water resources for MWD, said the agency may expect a 5 percent increase, which would equal 100,000 acre-feet of water, about 10 percent of the amount the agency will pull from reserves this year.
Facilitating the newly emerging water market is just one chapter in a new Drought Operations Plan that outlines possible actions from April through December used to alleviate the drought’s effect on the state’s economy and ecology. Other measures in the plan include: bolstering water supplies by relaxing the salinity standards in the Delta; keeping enough water in cities to maintain health and safety while providing cool water in Northern California rivers to protect Chinook salmon, steelhead trout and Delta smelt populations and building salinity barriers to keep salt water out of the Delta.
“This is the first time we are able to come up with one plan that will take us seven months out. That is an important milestone,” said Charlton H. Bonham, director of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Because of endangered populations of fish and birds, allocations of water through the Delta are restricted. When asked if the plan calls for a relaxation of environmental standards that protect endangered species, Bonham answered: “I would not use the word relaxation. We are trying to find the maximum flexibility using existing laws.”
Environmental groups didn’t make such a distinction and instead, heavily criticized the plan. “It calls for the Central Valley Project and State Water Project to violate upstream water temperature requirements, waive water quality standards and violate pumping restrictions in the Delta, all of which are critically important to protect California’s fisheries, Delta farmers and communities, and fishing families up and down the coast,” said Kate Poole, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
http://www.dailynews.com/article/20140410/NEWS/140419929