Some water decisions are on the horizon, others are here now. At the center are the state’s salmon runs, whose protection supports healthy rivers and the Bay Delta ecosystem.
The Trump administration, under Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, is finalizing plans to rip up restrictions on diverting Northern California water to its friends in the agricultural industry in the dry western San Joaquin Valley.
Trump also claims state environmental laws don’t apply to the federal Central Valley Project, which delivers water from the Delta to farmers to the south. That’s a threat to the State Water Project, which provides water to some farms and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. If the feds jack up water diversions, the state could be forced to ratchet back its draw on the Delta.
If the state doesn’t, wildlife populations will crash, fishing jobs will be lost and toxic blue green algae blooms will likely sweep through the Delta.
Read it all: https://calmatters.org/commentary/california-water-2/
Advertising