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Thirsting for answers County facing critical water issues, from weakened levees to San Joaquin River flows

Published in the Stockton Record on 01/04/05

Thirsting for answers
County facing critical water issues, from weakened levees to San Joaquin River flows
* NOTE: Second in a series.

Published Tuesday, January 4, 2005

On the surface, the Jones Tract levee break was the big water story of 2004. But a judge's decision will reverberate loudest in 2005.

Legal rulings often move as slowly as the brackish waters of the San Joaquin River.

The decision that the federal Bureau of Reclamation must increase releases from Friant Dam was 16 years in the making. How to apply it will be a drawn-out legal struggle.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton wrote in August that historic salmon runs "have been destroyed" by the Friant diversion and that "there can be no dispute" that long stretches of the river are totally dry.

Karlton's ruling requires federal officials who operate the dam to comply with state law mandating enough water be released for healthy aquatic life.

However, Karlton didn't specify how they should comply.

A hearing this month will be the first round in what is sure to be a long, costly process of interpreting Karlton's ruling.

Reshaping the San Joaquin River involves cooperation from entrenched interests determined to hold their ground. It also involves overcoming misinformation about what can be done. But in 2005, the attention will shift.

"The San Joaquin never had the attention focused on it like the Sacramento River, and I think that is changing," said Paula Landis, chief of the state Department of Water Resources' San Joaquin District. "All of these things are pointing to the need for a comprehensive, cohesive look at the system as a whole, which has never been done before."

Here are three possible scenarios offered by Karlton:
* Refer the conflict to the California Water Resources Control Board.
* Appoint and empower a special state water master.
* Conduct another court hearing and get all parties to agree the presiding judge will be the final arbiter.

The San Joaquin River's fate has been controlled by southern Valley irrigation interests for 60 years. Finally, the northern region is being acknowledged, including Stockton, where the Deep Water Channel is victimized by low levels of dissolved oxygen creating conditions regulators are trying to improve.

Levees need strengthening

The weakened condition of the San Joaquin Delta's levee system was exposed when a June 3 levee break flooded Jones Tract west of Stockton.

After evacuations and repairs, it took five months to pump the island dry. State and federal emergency funds were authorized, but the ordeal raised some serious questions.

Will the fragile, aging levee system that protects rich farmland and fast-growing San Joaquin County communities finally get the attention it merits?

Will this crisis be the catalyst for needed attention? Are Southern Californians, so eager to import Delta water, finally waking up to their interests in the Delta?

The final cost of repairing the levee break will top $100 million.

It's time state officials get serious about putting together a comprehensive plan that restores and strengthens the Delta.

When most state officials refer to "infrastructure," they're thinking about highway systems or schools -- not earthen levees

Without a bold approach, levee breaks are going to reoccur. Perhaps soon.

Heavy winter rains are more likely than burrowing beavers -- cause of the Jones Tract flooding -- to weaken these barriers.

Dredging up a problem

It's a crucial year for the Port of Stockton. Responding to the levee break, port officials sold dredged soil that turned out to be tainted with metals and became embroiled in controversy. State regulators are looking more closely at the their plans to dredge the Stockton Deep Water Channel.

The increasing scrutiny over reuse of the tainted dirt has delayed expansion plans.

Port dredgings have been used for years to shore up Delta levees. State and Army Corps of Engineers officials are re-examining past practices. A lot of soil is being retested. Where will port officials store potentially tainted soil?

Dredging the channel is essential for realizing the full potential of the port's ownership of Rough and Ready Island. Expansion will be difficult until the issue is resolved.

Visionary leadership is a must

Meanwhile, efforts to recharge groundwater will continue. The CALFED Bay-Delta program still will operate, but it's not very well-funded.

While State Sen. Michael Machado, D-Linden, is an expert on state water policy, he's no longer a member of the Senate Agriculture & Water Resources Committee.

By May, the 40-mile South County Surface Water Supply Project is expected to be in operation -- bringing Stanislaus River water to four cities.

The competition between agricultural and urban interests isn't new, but it will intensify. That reality must be considered when deciding what to do about the San Joaquin River.

Despite recent rains, water is a finite natural resource. While the state's population has grown to 36 million, no new above-ground water-storage projects have been developed.

Wildlife, agriculture, fishing interests and growing cities are competing for it.

Nothing in California requires greater visionary leadership.

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