Some of the Central Valley’s largest water organizations are pushing for specific rule that will lead to lower water supplies to be changed this year.
Westlands Water District, the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority, the Friant Water Authority and the State Water Contractors sent a letter to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the California Department of Water Resources (CDWR) asking them to revise how they manage a rule that impacts pumping in the Sacramento Delta.
The big picture: The water groups are targeting the Fall X2 provision for the 2024 water year, which is detailed in the biological opinions that govern the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project.
- The Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley and the Southern California Water Coalition penned a similar letter to the state and federal governments asking for the Fall X2 provision to be suspended.
- “[W]e believe your agencies must take decisive action to demonstrate the advancement of science-based decision-making and prevent wasteful and unnecessary water supply impacts associated with a measure shown to be ineffective to benefit Delta smelt,” the letter reads.
Go deeper: The letter highlighted a finding in a peer-reviewed journal that the Fall X2 action does not provide a critically required benefit for Delta smelt.
- Further, it is likely that very few, if any, Delta smelt survived the intense heat over the summer, according to the letter.
- Delta smelt experience sub-lethal effects at water temperatures greater than 22 degrees C (71.6 degrees F). Temperatures over 25 degrees C (77 degrees F).
- Temperatures exceeded 22 degrees C for several weeks and 25 degrees C for a few days in the north Delta arc region, where the majority of the Delta smelt were caught for monitoring in the winter and spring.
- “Recent monitoring for the Delta smelt has yielded very disappointing results, indicating that only one smelt has been observed in recent weeks,” the letter reads. “It is very possible that despite hatchery augmentation and operations of the Projects for parameters that can be controlled at reservoirs, there may not be a remaining, measurable population of Delta smelt to benefit from Fall X2 action.”
Why it matters: Last year, the Fall X2 action resulted in over 730,000 acre-feet of water lost between the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project.
- That water could have been stored, delivered to farms and cities or used for environmental purposes.
- Projects say the Fall X2 action will reduce water supplies by around 350,000 acre-feet, over $200 million worth of water on the open market.
- That water would provide nearly a 10 percent increase for south-of-Delta contract allocations. Valley farmers are currently only receiving 50 percent of their contract.
