Don’t harm fish to help Big Ag
California is in its fourth year of a record drought, possibly the worst drought in a millennium. It’s compounded by the fact that for far too long, California has been depleting its water supply faster than nature can replenish it.
With today’s epic drought conditions, our system of too little supply and too much demand is finally catching up with us, leading to low water supplies for farms and cities, and drying up rivers and streams. And as climate change becomes the “new normal,” our water woes will only get worse.
Instead of adopting longterm fixes, some are calling for false solutions, such as siphoning off limited flows in critical waterways to serve a handful of corporate interests. But fish protections are not the cause of low water supplies.
The Interior Department testified that zero reductions in water supply were made for delta smelt in the 2014 water year, and protections for endangered salmon and steelhead amounted to 2% of the reduction in water supply in water year 2014, with 98% due to drought. Cutting back more jeopardizes the thousands of fishing jobs that depend on these waters and the fish within them.
We’ve already experienced the severe harm of this approach. In 2008 and 2009, the salmon fishery closed — for the first time in the state’s recorded history — costing thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars. Now, with the drought, 95% of the winter run Chinook salmon were killed last year below Shasta Dam; other native fish in the delta are on the brink of extinction.
Loosening critical environmental protections for these waterways in order to redirect those resources elsewhere will only further harm fish populations and the communities and jobs that depend on them.
The fact is, California agriculture accounts for 80% of all water withdrawn from state rivers, streams and aquifers for human use. The only way to truly support that industry’s water needs is to invest in longterm sustainable solutions that can ensure clean, healthy water supplies now and for generations to come.
Otherwise, we’re just left fighting over the last drop.