Environmental Defense Fund Calls on Bureau of Reclamation to Protect Colorado River Delta Wetlands

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Boulder, CO – October 15, 2008)  Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is calling on the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to ensure protection of the 40,000 acre Ciénega de Santa Clara, the largest and healthiest remaining wetland system in the delta of the Colorado River.

In written comments filed today, EDF expresses serious concerns about Reclamation’s proposed pilot operation of the Yuma Desalting Plant. To read the comments in their entirety, or get more information about the issue, click here.

“The pilot operation, as currently proposed, would significantly undermine the health of the Ciénega, which is the best remaining habitat in the Colorado River Delta,” said Mary Kelly, Vice President for Rivers and Deltas at EDF. “The Ciénega is a world class resource, and we should do everything possible to sustain it.”

The Ciénega is located in the heart of Mexico’s Upper Gulf of California Biosphere Reserve, and is a haven for birds and other animals that migrate to the southwestern United States. Reclamation’s proposed year-long pilot operation of the Yuma Desalting Plant would decrease the amount of water flowing to the Ciénega by 25%, as well as degrading the quality of the water flowing there. 

“We understand that Reclamation is under considerable pressure to operate the desalinization plant, so we have offered a solution that would allow the plant to operate while also protecting the flows to the Ciénega.” said Jennifer Pitt, Senior Resource Analyst at EDF. “We advocate using local groundwater or agricultural wastewater to maintain flows to the wetland. We believe that would be the best solution for the entire region.”

EDF also questions whether the projected $15- $19 million investment in the desalination plant makes economic sense. The funding would come from the federal government and water supply entities, including possibly the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the Central Arizona Project and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

“This plant is old and energy-intensive and the cost of the one-time water produced from this pilot will be quite high — on the order of $500 to $700 per acre-foot” said Kelly.  “We think that the entities that would get the 30,000 acre-feet of water potentially produced by the pilot operation should explore whether they could lease a similar amount of water from farmers or others. A $200 or $300 per acre-foot one-year lease might be an extremely attractive offer to many farmers.”

An acre-foot is approximately 325,000 gallons.

Environmental advocates in Mexico are also deeply concerned about the future of the Ciénega. Osvel Hinojosa, Director of the Water and Wetlands Program for Pronatura Noroeste, one of Mexico’s leading conservation groups, has been working with EDF to find solutions that will benefit both countries.

“The extensive development of the Colorado River has left very little nature in the delta, but the Ciénega is the crown jewel, harboring hundreds of thousands of shorebirds and waterbirds that migrate between Mexico and the United States,” said Hinojosa.