July 10, 2018 – The State Water Resources Control Board on July 6 released its final draft plan to increase water flows through the Lower San Joaquin River and its tributaries — the Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced rivers — a move praised by fishermen and environmentalists, but criticized by agribusiness representatives.
Citing nine years of research and extensive public outreach, the Board announced the increased water flows were designed to “prevent an ecological crisis, including the total collapse of fisheries,” according to a statement from the Board.
“The San Francisco Bay-Delta is an ecosystem in crisis. The Board’s challenge is to balance multiple valuable uses of water—for fish and wildlife, agriculture, urban, recreation, and other uses,” said State Water Board Chair Felicia Marcus. “Californians want a healthy environment, healthy agriculture, and healthy communities, not one at the expense of the others. That requires the water wars to yield to collective efforts to help fish and wildlife through voluntary action, which the proposed plan seeks to reward.”
Ironically, the same board that released the draft plan to increase water flows thorough the Lower San Joaquin River and its tributaries is also continuing with the evidentiary hearings for the change in point of diversion petitions by the California Department of Water Resources and the Bureau of Reclamation to build Governor Jerry Brown’s Delta Tunnels.
Read the rest at YubaNet: https://yubanet.com/california/state-wa ... ibutaries/
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