California is on the cusp of adopting a sweeping plan to manage the ecologically stressed Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, a move that Gov. Gavin Newsom deems “critical” to protecting state water supplies but critics are calling a major environmental setback.
The state’s Bay Delta Plan, years in the making, aims to moderate the amount of water that cities and farms take out of rivers and creeks, from Fresno to the Oregon border, to ensure enough is left to flow downstream to the delta. As it stands, some upstream rivers at certain times of the year see as much as 90% of their water diverted.
Last week, at three days of public hearings in Sacramento, scores of conservationists, fishermen, delta residents and Native Americans blasted the plan as doing too little to rein in water users, saying struggling fish, wildlife and water quality would not see the improvements they need. It was a last-ditch bid to derail the policy, which state water regulators appear likely to sign off on later this year.
Read MoreSource: San Francisco Chronicle