The dramatic shutdown will generate increased focus and finally, the only sound solution may get built, the peripheral canal, and the extreme predatory myths emanating from the movie "Chinatown" may finally be put to rest.
Editorial: A judge's landmark ruling roils Delta waters
Could ruling to protect smelt drive foes to the table to agree on restoring the Delta?
Published 12:00 am PDT Wednesday, September 5, 2007
For years, anyone watching the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has known that a smack-down was looming over endangered smelt. These tiny fish, a bellwether for the ecosystem, have declined over the last decade while water exports from the Delta have been rising.
The Endangered Species Act gives judges wide latitude in curtailing government operations that prompt the extinction of a species. And while the smelt and other Delta fish appear to face a variety of threats -- including invasive species, water pollution and loss of habitat -- it's hard for a judge to overlook the impact posed by the massive state and federal pumps that move water through the Delta.
That day of judgment has now arrived. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger issued a landmark ruling that could significantly reduce the 1.9 trillion gallons of water pumped annually through the Delta, largely to Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley. Although Wanger didn't go as far as environmental groups had hoped in restoring flows to the estuary, he issued an order that could fundamentally alter the day-to-day transport of water in California and the ways it is contracted to irrigators and other water users.
It's hard to overstate the impact of this ruling. For the first time, the most crucial valve in California's plumbing apparatus has fallen under control of the federal courts. Moreover, this takeover isn't the work of some activist judge. Wanger in the past has issued decisions favorable to irrigators.
