Buck In Brief

A Golden Opportunity to Restore the Delta

In Brief: A ruling that could help restore the health of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has ruffled quite a few high-powered feathers.

09/19/07

On Friday, August 31, Judge Oliver Wanger, in a lawsuit brought by Earthjustice, ordered water managers to increase flows of water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in California to prevent the extinction of the delta smelt. Depending upon precipitation, the court's order could appreciably reduce the volume of water diverted from the delta and sent south to provide cheap irrigation water for Big Agriculture and drinking water to more than 20 million people.

The reaction was immediate, loud, and misguided. The governor pronounced the ruling proof that the water-delivery system in the state is broken and needs to be fixed by building more ditches and reservoirs, possibly including a canal to bypass the delta altogether. A few points:

• Although the specific issue before Judge Wanger was the fate of the endangered delta smelt, this is not just about one fish. The delta is in terrible shape. Massive diversions of water have coincided with the worst salmon season in memory, which has been a further blow to an industry already on the ropes owing in large part to federal mismanagement of the Klamath River to the north.
  
  
• A canal around the delta was first proposed at least 50 years ago and has been rejected time after time for the very good reason that it would do more harm than good. Canal proponents either ignore the plight of the delta or promise a sufficient volume of water to keep the smelt and other species healthy. Californians have heard that before. The CALFED program was entered into in 2000 with a promise to provide enough water to the delta each year to keep wildlife healthy. Instead, delta fish populations have been in a precipitous decline in the last six years while record amounts of water have been diverted.
  
  
• Numerous studies have shown that increases in efficiency (better irrigation practices, more water-wise appliances, much greater water recycling, and other improvements) can more than make up for cutbacks that may be imposed to restore the delta. The Pacific Institute calculates that by 2030, with no new canals or reservoirs, total water use in the state could decline by 20 percent even as the population and the economy continue to grow.
  
  
• There are some crops that are so water-intensive and uneconomical that their planting should be dramatically reduced in the dry, desert-like parts of California. Cotton is the biggest subsidy-receiver, with wealthy farmers raking in, by the estimate of the Environmental Working Group, a staggering $600 million in just three years. These subsidies are so great that other countries have filed trade complaints against the United States. Cotton is one of the most widely planted crops in California; converting cotton acreage to vegetables would save water and conceivably lower food prices.
  
  
• Now would be a perfect time to allow the free market to work its magic. Outdated subsidies allow huge agricultural operations to obtain water for $50 or less per acre-foot while that same water is typically worth between $150 and $200 on the open market. Remove the subsidies and the growers -- who use at least 80 percent of the water consumed in the state -- would soon find ways to reduce their water use dramatically.

Judge Wanger's ruling provides Californians with an opportunity and an incentive to develop more rational water policies for the 21st century in time to save the biologically rich remnants of the once-great Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and a salmon fishing industry driven to near extinction by profligate irrigation subsidies. Done right, we'd all come out ahead. Way ahead. 

Vawter "Buck" Parker, Executive Director
buckparker@earthjustice.org