State Water Supply is Permanently Slashed

From the State Water Contractors:

California's Primary Water Supply Slashed
Long-term Restrictions Are Devastating to Public Water Agencies
Dec. 15, 2008 09:57 PM

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Dec. 15 - Public water agencies throughout Northern, Central and Southern California now face major supply cutbacks in the latest federal regulatory blow to their ability to deliver water to customers. The restrictions point sharply to the need for a more comprehensive and sensible approach to managing the state's water supply and fish habitat concerns.
The cutbacks, effective immediately, were outlined today by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in a revised biological opinion for the Delta smelt, a threatened fish species that lives in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta). The biological opinion, or permit, sets guidelines for State Water Project (SWP) and Central Valley Project (CVP) pumping operations out of the Delta to ensure there is no long-term jeopardy to the health and habitat of the Delta smelt. The SWP and CVP are the state's primary water delivery systems and collectively deliver water to 25 million Californians and 3 million acres of agricultural land.
"California's primary water supply has just taken another big hit," said Laura King Moon, assistant general manager of the State Water Contractors. "This is a major new reduction in water deliveries that will impact families, businesses and farmers throughout California."
The timing of the new delivery cutbacks couldn't be worse. California is in a severe drought. Our state reservoirs are at their lowest levels in years. A much reduced water supply will have severe economic impacts during the worst economic crisis of our lifetime. To put this in perspective, a recent study, commissioned by public water agencies, determined that the economic impact of a 30 percent water supply cutback could range from $500 million annually to more than $3 billion during prolonged dry periods.

To read the rest of this media release, visit http://br.sys-con.com/node/778657