Water: Finding the Balance

Providing water for fish is the surest way to create reliable water supplies for California farms and cities

Posted: 21-Jul-2008; Updated: 10-Nov-2008

Find out more

Full report: Finding the Balance
Op-ed: Divisions and Diversions by Laura Harnish and Cynthia Koehler - San Francisco Chronicle, (7/18/2008)
News release: New Report Says Providing Water for Fish is the Surest Way to Create Water Supply Reliability for California Farms and Cities
Submit your comments or questions on our blog: On the Water Front

California's salmon are teetering on the edge of extinction and its salmon fishing industry is facing economic devastation. For the first time ever, the state has closed its salmon season ? marking another chapter in the tug of war between water for the environment and water for agriculture and cities.

Our new report says that providing a more reliable water supply for the San Francisco Bay Delta Estuary could save the fish ?and help ensure adequate water for farms and cities, too.

For decades, California has struggled to protect its fisheries while providing ever more water for agriculture and cities. Yet efforts to address each crisis have led to the downward spiral of the San Francisco Bay Delta ecosystem and the state's once flourishing fishing industry.

Policymakers need to create a stable water supply

Our report, Finding the Balance: A Vision for Water Supply and Environmental Reliability in California, outlines steps that state and federal leaders must take to end a vicious cycle of water shortages and environmental near-disasters, and instead create a stable and reliable water supply.

The report's recommendations include:

provide adequate freshwater flows to restore fisheries and habitat in the Bay-Delta, and take into account the looming effects of global warming in water levels;
guarantee stable and secure funding so key restoration projects are fully executed;
create financial incentives that will encourage more water conservation;
create legally mandated performance measures and legal safety nets; and
improve enforcement and accountability.

Why the situation now is the most severe it has ever been

California has been mired in water wars for much of its history, but the situation is now particularly severe. The state's once prolific and profitable salmon fishery is at its lowest ebb in decades, and the closing of the salmon season resulted in huge economic losses to the fishing industry.

Parts of California's famed agricultural economy also are suffering losses this summer because of drought, and courts have been forced to order water cutbacks to protect endangered fish, including salmon and the Delta smelt -- widely regarded as the "canary in the coal mine" for the health of the overall Bay-Delta system.

What policymakers are doing now

State and policy leaders have launched several efforts to address the crises, including:

creating the Governor's Blue Ribbon Delta Vision Task Force,
introducing an Assembly bill to release emergency funds raised by earlier bonds, and
proposing a new $9.3 billion water bond just announced by the governor.

A local think tank, the Public Policy Institute of California also released a report recently supporting the construction of a new peripheral canal.

These are good starts, but environmental reliability is critical if we want to pay more than lip service to restoring sustainable fisheries and maintaining healthy ecosystems. Water supplies will remain vulnerable as long as the environment remains on the brink of disaster.

Find out more

Download full report: Finding the Balance: A Vision for Water Supply and Environmental Reliability in California
Read the op-ed Divisions and Diversions by Laura Harnish, regional director for Environmental Defense Fund, and Cynthia Koehler, senior consulting attorney) - San Francisco Chronicle, (7/18/2008)
Ask questions or comment on our blog: On the Water Front
Read the news release: "New Report Says Providing Water for Fish is the Surest Way to Create Water Supply Reliability for California Farms and Cities"