We agree with the need to maintain an adequate flow and water temperature in the American River as it is vital to the optimal health of the salmon, and for recreational use.
However, the reality of not enough water needs to be addressed and we have suggested this is a good reason, on top of the better one of 500 year flood protection for Sacramento, to build the Auburn Dam.
Editorial: A deal's a deal
Hey, Feds! American River needs its water
Published 12:00 am PDT Thursday, June 7, 2007
Nearly two years ago, federal and local officials ended a decades-long dispute about the lower American River when they came up with a plan to guarantee the river a minimum flow of water.
That plan was to be cemented in place through a document known as a flow standard. That standard has yet to materialize. And recent events raise the possibility that progress on finishing this flow standard could be threatened by the massive water problems facing the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
The coming weeks and months will reveal whether the deal on the American River holds firm or unravels. It should hold. Sacrificing the American River to solve a downstream problem isn't acceptable.
The American River is both a local treasure and a key part of the federal government's Central Valley Project. Folsom Dam is owned and operated by a federal agency, the Bureau of Reclamation. Water that flows down the American River eventually reaches the Delta. There, the pumps of the Central Valley Project suck water into bureau canals that provide water for millions of acres of agriculture.
