California’s perpetual, uber-complex conflict over water progresses much like the tectonic plates that grind against one another beneath its surface.
Periodically, as subterranean friction increases, there’s a sudden movement that we call an earthquake — sometimes imperceptibly small, but occasionally large enough to disrupt and endanger life at the surface.
Westlands Water District, a sprawling San Joaquin Valley farm district with ties to the Trump administration, is poised to get a permanent entitlement to a massive quantity of cheap federal irrigation supplies.
Westlands is the first in line to permanently lock in its contract for Central Valley Project deliveries under a 2016 law. Other valley farm districts are expected to follow, but as the project’s biggest customer, Westlands arguably has the most to gain.
The deal would entitle Westlands to annual deliveries that are roughly double what the entire city of Los Angeles uses in a year.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service have released new biological opinions that will have a significant impact on the administration of California water supplies. The new documents relate to salmon, Delta smelt and other native fish species that are affected by the management of the State Water Project (SWP), as well as the Central Valley Project (CVP).
“The new Biological Opinions mean that for farms, fish, and people, this is the dawn of a new science-based approach to water and ecosystem management,” California Farm Water Coalition Executive Director Mike Wade said in a news release. “The biological opinions being replaced were based on an arbitrary, calendar-based approach, and have not delivered the successful recovery of salmon and Delta smelt populations.”
