Acknowledging the Primary reality of providing water for one of the most productive agricultural areas in the world, the pumping resumes.
Delta's pumping volume to increase
Scarce smelt were killed in low-level transfers, but irrigation clamor is rising.
By Matt Weiser - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Water exports from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are expected to increase significantly today, despite additional smelt killed this week and a lingering risk to the threatened fish.
A sharp decline in smelt numbers prompted an unprecedented shutdown of the state's Delta water export pumps on May 31, and a reduction in federal pumping. The pump systems provide drinking water to 25 million Californians from Livermore to San Diego, and irrigation water for 5 million acres of farmland.
The state Department of Water Resources resumed limited water exports on Sunday and Monday, moving a daily average of about 100 cubic feet per second into the California Aqueduct, or less than 10 percent of normal volumes. Yet it also killed 27 smelt on Sunday and nine on Monday, even though pumping occurred for only two hours each day.
