State debates what to do with water from recent storms
SACRAMENTO, CALIF. >> Weeks after powerful storms dumped 32 trillion gallons of rain and snow on California, state officials and environmental groups in the droughtravaged state are grappling with what to do with all of that water.
State rules say when it rains and snows a lot in California, much of that water must stay in the rivers to act as a conveyer belt to carry tens of thousands of endangered baby salmon into the Pacific Ocean.
But this week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom asked state regulators to temporarily change those rules. He says the drought has been so severe it would be foolish to let all of that water flow into the ocean and that there’s plenty of water for the state to take more than the rules allow while still protecting threatened fish species.
If Newsom gets his way, the state would stop about 300,000 acre feet (370 million cubic meters) of water from flowing through the rivers. One acre foot of water is generally enough water to supply two households for one year.
Environmental group say pulling that much water out of the rivers would be a death sentence for the salmon and other threatened fish species that depend on strong, cool flows in the rivers to survive. They’re furious with Newsom, whom they view as a hypocrite for touting himself as a champion of the environment while disregarding the laws designed to protect it.
“This governor is the most anti-environmental governor, with respect to endangered species and California water, that we’ve had in my lifetime,” said Jon Rosenfield, senior scientist for the San Francisco Baykeeper, an environmental group that focuses on the San Francisco Bay and its watershed.
It’s one of the oldest disputes in California, a state that for more than a century has manipulated the natural flow of rivers and streams to transform the Central Valley into one of the most fertile stretches of farmland on Earth while also supplying some of the nation’s most populous coastal cities.