the South Delta at a maximum rate of 9,000 cubic feet per second (cfs). Those reliant on contract supplies believe BDCP will facilitate the taking of “big gulps” of water when wetter conditions permit.


Ecosystem-wise, the BDCP is seen as a way to get past the species-by- species management in the Delta that has not been effective. It is described by its developers as “a broad-based, ecosystem planning approach to pro- vide for the regional protection and conservation of fi sh and wildlife, plants, and their habitats, while continuing to allow compatible and appropriate development and growth.”


Advocates of the BDCP say it is necessary to break the gridlock that is often the hallmark of Delta convey- ance issues. “The status quo is such right now that it serves virtually no one,” said John Laird, secretary of the Natural Resources Agency at an April 30 joint oversight hearing of the Senate Natural Resources and Water Commit- tee and the Select Committee on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta at the State Capitol.


The BDCP is a lightning rod for criticism by those who say it is too big, too expensive and harmful to the Delta environment and economy. These opponents either oppose it outright or believe it needs to be scaled back considerably. “There’s a growing coalition of diverse entities that are calling for analysis of [a smaller alternative] including several urban water agen- cies that serve about 25 percent of California’s population, many national and statewide conservation groups, the Delta Counties Coalition, individual Delta supervisors and a broad array of state and federal legislators,” said Kate Poole, senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) at the ACWA conference May 9. NRDC’s “portfolio” alternative to the BDCP calls for a single, 3,000-cfs North Delta diversion facility. The fi nancial savings associated with such a project could be used for new south of Delta storage, levee improvements


May/June 2013


and habitat restoration. To be success- ful, the BDCP needs to be permitted, affordable and receive broad public support and the portfolio alterna- tive “was basically designed to frame an alternative that meets those three criteria,” Poole said. “It’s undoubtedly not the only way to meet it, but we think it has a far greater chance of success than the cur- rent BDCP proposed project that’s on the table,” she said. Water contractors say the portfolio proposal would reduce water deliver- ies substantially compared to today’s levels, and would lead to less habitat creation. “The smaller conveyance limitations are related to the magnitude of fl ow reversals in the South Delta that would continue to be a focus of the fi sh regulatory agencies into the future,” said Stephen Arakawa, manager of Bay- Delta Initiatives for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD). “In addition, further limits to the ‘big gulp, little sip’ concept, since in wet years when banking of water in storage is possible, the magnitude of gulp would be signifi cantly limited, because of capacity limits.”


The intakes and tunnels would be part of a dual conveyance option under which the state and federal projects would still rely on existing intakes in the South Delta at certain times. One of the Delta legislators con- cerned about the BDCP is Rep. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove. In a March 27 paper called A Water Plan for All of California, he wrote that the BDCP is “an outdated and destructive plumbing system,” that “does not create any new water nor does it provide the water and the ecological protection that the Golden State must have.” A “much smaller facility” of no more than 3,000 cfs could be built to deliver water to the export pumps near Tracy, the paper says.


But a group of Central and South- ern California congressional represen- tatives plus Sen. Dianne Feinstein see things differently. In a May 22 letter to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Gov. Brown they expressed their “continued


5


“For the fi rst time in the continuation of a lot of previous work that has gone before, we are ready to step forward to create the beginnings of a solution for restoring the largest estuary in the western hemisphere; for providing a reliable supply of water for Californians and also for protecting the Delta as an evolving place.”


– Chris Knopp,


Delta Stewardship Council


Watch a Delta Stewardship Council meeting with Executive Offi cer Christopher Knopp


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