The Delta and "All those kind of things" Or How to Party Like its 1902

News item

(06-15) 11:00 PDT Bakersfield, Calif. (AP) --

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he supports a controversial plan to build a new canal to pipe water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

The governor told a gathering of business leaders and farmers Thursday that California needs more water and should build more reservoirs and a canal.

"We need more water," he said at a Bakersfield town-hall meeting. "We need to build more storage, and we have to build conveyance, the canal, and all of those kinds of things."

It's the first time Schwarzenegger has publicly called for a canal that could divert water around the delta from Northern California to Southern California, a proposal voters defeated in 1982. The plan was envisioned as a way to preserve the delta estuary but became politically controversial when it was seen as water grab by Los Angeles-area water users.

Schwarzenegger's endorsement came after the state shut down its pumps late last month over concerns about a massive decline in delta smelt populations.

Sport fishermen and conservation groups blame the pumps for sucking in smelt and other fish as they migrate down the delta, but San Joaquin Valley farmers say authorities are overlooking other sources of stress on the fish and that restricting water could harm crops.

 

Commentary

A cheering Bakersfield crowd applauded Schwarzenegger call for a canal. The Southland, in its frenzy to acquire water, parties as like its 1902. The Ghost of Mulholland must be smiling down as he envisions the drying up of the delta in the service of Southern California. The Governor, who most recently had a near brush with wisdom, when he said that perhaps we should not build houses behind levees until the levees can protect the houses, might go that one better and say we should not be building in areas where there is no water.

The Governor who is not a full time resident of Sacramento (he lives in a hotel here while he is visiting) should stay here a while to enjoy the natural beauty of the delta and lecture Southern California on the environmental arrogance of draining one area to benefit another. Or perhaps he could fly off to a foreign country and lecture them on global warming. The problem with the delta is not the dying smelt or a canal (or, as they now call it, a conveyance) it is that too much water is being diverted from the delta and all of those kinds of things!