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  1. #1
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Protecting the region's water supplies ( SoCal )

    Protecting the region's water supplies

    By Maureen Stapleton and Jeff Kightlinger
    2:00 a.m. August 2, 2009

    A series of federal court decisions and new federal environmental regulations have reduced water supplies from Northern California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay-Delta, the backbone of the state's water system. The decline of the Delta's fish populations is posing a threat to water supplies for 25 million Californians throughout the state.

    Water agencies are taking decisive actions to restore the Delta and the reliability of the water system. Both the ecosystem and the water system will require dramatic and historic changes.

    The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California imports supplies from the Bay-Delta for the San Diego County Water Authority and 25 other water agencies throughout six counties. Significant water losses due to the new Delta restrictions are a primary reason why Metropolitan on July 1 began limiting supplies to the Water Authority and Metropolitan's other member agencies for the first time since 1991. The Water Authority, in turn, is reducing deliveries to local water agencies and cities around San Diego County. Many have imposed water use restrictions, or water budgets, for residents and businesses.

    But water agencies are doing far more than just ordering cutbacks and mandating water use restrictions. Collectively, we are spending millions of dollars for new and expanded water conservation efforts. And in the Delta, the Water Authority, Metropolitan and other stakeholders are working on multiple fronts toward a comprehensive solution for water supplies and the environment.

    To start with, the Water Authority and Metropolitan are urging state and federal agencies to expedite improvements to the existing water system.

    The goal is to reduce conflicts between water deliveries and migrating fish species. Two new temporary barriers at key locations in the southern Delta, for example, could help to maintain a safe separation between the water pumping and key fish populations. In the northern Delta, far from the pumping, wetland restoration on available land could begin much-needed improvements in fish habitat.

    While improvements to the existing water system are needed, they can only help so much. Water supplies currently must move across the Delta in directions and times of year that are not natural. What is needed as soon as possible is a modernized water system that has the flexibility to convey water both around and through the Delta. That way, the movement of these supplies can be managed separately from a recovering estuary. This solution is now emerging through a state-federal effort known as the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan. Metropolitan and the Water Authority are urging state and federal leaders to agree to a final plan before the end of next year.

    Other stressors damaging the Delta need attention as well. Water districts are supporting better science to learn whether native, threatened species are falling prey to non-native fish species and whether wastewater treatment plants that discharge into the Delta are altering the ecosystem's food web in harmful ways. Hundreds of millions of gallons of water are pumped from the Delta onto adjacent lands without any measuring or reporting as to whether the use is within the limitations of landowner water rights. The state needs to enforce water rights in the Delta.

    On the legal front, Metropolitan is aiming to ensure that state and federal laws are properly applied. The current approach is almost single-handedly focused on reducing water supplies rather than addressing the Delta's many other problems. The overall goal in challenging certain regulatory decisions is to ensure that restrictions on water supplies are proportionate to the actual impact and are based on sound science.

    Closer to home, our agencies continue to diversify our water supply sources to reduce the impact of supply cuts from the Bay-Delta. We are accomplishing this through long-term Colorado River transfer agreements, as well as historic investments in the development of local supplies such as conservation, groundwater, recycling and seawater desalination.

    Not all of the actions being taken by water agencies garner headlines, but they are vital to protecting the health of Southern California's $600 billion economy and the quality of life for its 19 million residents.

    Stapleton is the general manager of the San Diego County Water Authority. Kightlinger is general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

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  2. #2
    ELE
    ELE is offline
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    This has to be supernatural its just so evil.

    Yea, we are running out of water, food and resources so we should import 40 million illegals and their anchors.
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