Officials announced Tuesday that they are temporarily waiving an endangered species protection to enable water managers to send more Northern California water south.
The move comes as fishery agencies are under increasing political pressure to take advantage of late winter storms and ramp up pumping from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the center of the state’s water distribution system.
Mark Cowin, director of the state Department of Water Resources, said the rule suspension would remain in effect for the next week or two and would increase delta exports by as much as 10,000 acre-feet a day. An acre-foot is equivalent to a year’s water supply for two households.
This marks the second time in less than a month that fishery agencies, responding to the drought, have relaxed a seasonal environmental restriction on delta pumping.
Environmentalists condemned the action.
“The increased pumping authorized today sacrifices California salmon runs and is terrible news for the thousands of men and women whose livelihoods depend on a healthy delta,” said Doug Obegi, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council.
William Stelle, regional administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service, said his agency decided to grant the state’s request for a waiver after concluding that enough other protections remained in place.
http://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-drought-pumping-20140402,0,5488934.story#axzz2xi0zmnYw
