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Delta restoration decision may result in water shortages and increasing budget gap

By Richard Binder

pspan id=mn_Globalspan id=mn_ArticleFederal biologists on Monday issued new rules that will reduce the amount of water pumped to cities and farms from San Francisco Bay#39;s delta by as much as one-third in some years as part of a /span/spanspan id=mn_Globalspan id=mn_Articlecourt-ordered effort to save /span/spanspan id=mn_Globalspan id=mn_Articlethe delta smelt. /span/spanspan id=mn_Globalspan id=mn_ArticleThe long-awaited quot;biological opinionquot; from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could have a significant impact on Silicon Valley, which receives roughly half of its drinking water from the delta and the other half from local underground aquifers. br /br //span/spanThe limits come on the heels of two dry years, growing concern over diminished supplies from the Colorado River and a biological meltdown in the delta east of San Francisco.#0160; span id=mn_Globalspan id=mn_ArticleBased on how wet the winter is, the Santa Clara Valley Water District will decide by March whether to order mandatory rationing for Silicon Valley residents for the first time since 1991.br /br //span/spanspan id=mn_Globalspan id=mn_ArticleThe delta decision was not unexpected. /span/spanspan id=mn_Globalspan id=mn_ArticleU.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger, a Republican based in Fresno, ordered it last year after environmentalists won a lawsuit contending that the Bush administration violated the Endangered Species Act by increasing pumping from the delta in /span/spanspan id=mn_Globalspan id=mn_Articleways that harmed the delta smelt. /span/spanspan id=mn_Globalspan id=mn_ArticleThe tiny fish can be ground up in the massive state and federal pumps near Tracy that deliver water to 25 million Californians and that irrigate millions of acres of Central Valley farmland. /span/spanspan id=mn_Globalspan id=mn_ArticleEnvironmentalists called Monday#39;s news overdue, while others called it a travesty.br /br //span/spanA panel of the governor#39;s top advisers on Tuesday backed sweeping changes to California#39;s water system and will present Governor Schwarzenegger with recommendations by the end of the year./ppSee a href=http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-water16-2008dec16,0,1489088.storythese/a a href=http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081216/A_NEWS/812160314/-1/A_NEWS14stories/a a href=http://www.buffalonews.com/nationalworld/national/story/525111.htmlfor details/a.br /span id=mn_Globalspan id=mn_Articlebr //span/span/p

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on December 17, 2008 (boomark / email).