Governor Schwarzenegger Misses Opportunity to Fix Big Problems in the Delta

Also absent from the Governor’s comments was any acknowledgement of the importance of Delta agriculture. Conservative estimates indicate that Delta agriculture generates roughly over half a billion dollars a year for the local economy, and when using a multiplier of four to measure secondary local economic benefits, Delta agriculture contributes around 2 billion dollars annually to our economic base. Keeping the Delta sustainable is not merely an environmental concern, but rather an economic necessity for this region. The California Delta is as much a part of California’s breadbasket as are the farms in the southern part of the state which the Governor was championing during his press conference. Fresh water diversions via a peripheral canal would leave the local Delta water supply so saline that area agriculture could not be sustained, thereby undoing our region’s economy, culture, history, and way of life.

Without a doubt, the Governor is embracing a policy that would be the final death blow for Delta fisheries. With the operation of a peripheral canal, water quality would deteriorate even further leading to the death of the Delta’s ecosystem – the largest estuary of both North and South America. The construction of a peripheral canal, at best a ten-year project, will not solve the present fisheries crisis in the Delta.

By not taking immediate actions and following scientific recommendation to permanently reduce water exports and to change current pumping practices, Governor Schwarzenegger has lost the right to claim the title of environmental governor. He has bought into and is selling the notion that the peripheral canal is the environmentally superior method for water conveyance from the Delta, when in fact it is a long, drawn-out, and expensive construction project that fails to solve the problem at hand.

In addition sources have told our campaign that the Governor will be holding a similar press conference promoting his water plan in the Delta some time this week, but his office will not release the time and location of the event. After a week of courting the national press on his environmental leadership record, Governor Schwarzenegger does not have the courage to admit publicly to local Delta stakeholders that his water plan is centered on providing more Delta water to special water interests and corporate agriculture in the southern part of the state.

Of the numerous reasons that I oppose the Peripheral Canal, the primary one is that state and federal water agencies have proven time and time again that they do not operate water projects in a way that protects the Delta’s ecosystem or the needs of local Delta communities. Why should we trust these same institutions to operate a new water conveyance system in a manner that will be compatible with Delta values?

It is imperative that in order to restore the health of the California Delta while maintaining a reliable water supply for our neighbors throughout California, state and regional water agencies must aggressively implement regional water self-sufficiency measures, such as water conservation, reclamation, and water recycling. Rather than promoting a tired idea, the Governor should be envisioning a California conservation water plan that will serve as the model for the rest of the world to follow.

Restore the Delta is a grassroots campaign of residents and organizations committed to restoring the California Delta so that its waters are fishable, swimmable, drinkable, and farmable.