Monday June 14, 2010
CSPA Protests Three Water Transfers
Source: California Sportfishing Protection Alliance
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June 14, 2010 -- CSPA filed protests and
accompanying comment letters today in opposition to petitions for three
proposed water transfers, two from Sutter County and one from Sacramento
County. The petitioners are Tule Basin Farms, Garden Highway Mutual
Water Company, and (jointly) the City of Sacramento and Sacramento
Suburban Water Company.
The Sutter County petitioners would substitute groundwater for water that would normally be diverted from surface water. Sacramento Suburban would partly forego groundwater recharge that would normally be carried out with the water that is proposed for transfer. All of the water would be transferred through the Delta pumps of the State Water Project for use in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. The transfers proposed for 2010 are virtually identical to 2009 transfers in nearly identical amounts made by the same entities to many of the same recipients. The 2009 transfers were made under the umbrella of the Drought Water Bank, which CSPA and others successfully challenged in court. CSPA’s protests of the 2010 petitions center on the fact that “temporary transfers” under Section 1725 of the Water Code by definition are of one year’s duration or less. Temporary transfers are exempt from environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act. However, since the same action is now being repeated over a second year, CSPA maintains that the transfers should be considered long term transfers, which would be subject to environmental review under CEQA. CSPA Comments - Sacramento County Protest Sutter County (Garden Highway) Protest CSPA Comments - Sutter County (Garden Highway) Protest Sutter County (Tule Basin) Protest CSPA Comments - Sutter County (Tule Basin) Protest
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