Western Water May/June 2006

• Year: 2006
• Title: Western Water
• Author: Water Education Foundation
• Description: Developing a Delta Vision
• Publications - Doc Type: Other

those in charge of water allocations
avoided some of the more knotty long-
term issues. "We basically crossed our
fingers that that assumption would
hold up and that we could manage
the system over the long term without
having to deal with some of the really
tough questions," Quinn said.
"We need to have an honest
discussion about what the future
means in California for the competing
interests, and we have not," said Gary
Bobker, program director with The
Bay Institute at the Executive Briefing.
"We've tried to indulge the fantasy
that everybody can get what they want
from the Delta and not be harmed."
One of those tough questions, the
possibility of reduced exports, was at
the heart of a lawsuit aimed at the
environmental documentation that
enabled the CALFED ROD — which
includes increased water exports from
the Delta — to go forward. Overturning
the findings of a lower court, the
California Court of Appeals last year
found that the concept of reduced
exports should have been analyzed
and thus set the stage for a reconsid-
eration of the ROD's environmental
underpinnings.
The decision is being appealed to
the state Supreme Court by DWR and
other water users, who argue the
decision is inconsistent with current
environmental law and is contrary to
existing policies that direct DWR to
assure there are adequate water
supplies to meet the growing needs
of the state.
Shortly thereafter, the State Board
issued a cease - and - desist order to
DWR and the U.S. Bureau of Recla-
mation because of the risk of failing to
meet some Delta salinity standards.
The action brought an angry response
from state and federal officials, who
said the order was unfair because of
the amount of salinity contributed to
the estuary by farm runoff and growing
urban wastewater discharges.
Topping everything off is the
threat of another lawsuit, this time by
fishing interests who believe DWR is
violating state law because it never
received an "incidental take" permit
for the thousands of Delta smelt and
Chinook salmon killed each year at
the SWP pumping facility near Tracy.
State officials say they are in compli-
ance with the law and have committed
to completing a Natural Community
Conservation Plan.
CALFED's unraveling led Gov.
Schwarzenegger to order a comprehen-
sive review of its financial, program-
matic and governance difficulties.
Among the reviewers was the Little
Hoover Commission, a legislatively -
appointed body charged with "promot-
ing economy, efficiency and improved
service in the transaction of public
business." The Little Hoover
Commission's report lauded CALFED
as "proof that political will and
leadership can resolve seemingly
intractable conflicts" but nevertheless
concluded that the program "has
demonstrated the propensity for
rudderless bureaucracies to get caught
in inescapable eddies."
In setting out to solve the prob-
lems of the estuary while "getting
better together" the CALFED program
embarked on an ambitious track where
flaws were revealed because of vague,
nondescript lines of authority that
were ill- equipped to cope with the
"hurricane -force political pressures" of
California water policy, according to
the report. Accountability among
WESTERN WATER