Friends of the River
1418 20th Street, Suite 100
Sacramento, CA 95811
January 25, 2016
Media Teleconference
Good afternoon, I’m Bob Wright and I represent Friends of the River.
In its October 30, 2015 formal review of the Delta Water Tunnels draft environmental
documents, the EPA gave the Draft environmental documents EPA’s failing grade of “three,
inadequate.” [p. 4] The cover-up of the bad water for Flint, Michigan [Time 2/1/16 cover story
“The Poisoning of an American City”] by government was bad. The cover up by the Water Fix
agencies here of public health dangers including worsening blue green algae [microcystis] is
even worse because this cover-up is happening before the change is made reducing freshwater
flows through the Delta rather than after a change in water supply was made in the case of Flint.
When the Governor says “there is no Plan B” to the Tunnels, that is because they stack
the deck for the Tunnels by deliberately refusing to consider alternatives. The Water Fix Draft
environmental documents all create a capacity to divert more water by way of new conveyance
upstream from the Delta. They are all peas out of the same pod. At present, the water for the
exporters is taken at the south end of the Delta so the water provides environmental benefits
throughout the Delta before being taken. The Water Fix Tunnels would take that water upstream,
leading to enormous reductions of freshwater flows through the already imperiled Delta and
worsen water quality violations including blue green algae.
The EPA explained that: “Water quality and aquatic life analyses in the SDEIS show that
the proposed project may cause or contribute to violations of state water quality standards and
significant degradation of waters of the U.S. . .” [p. 4]. Like the state agencies in the Flint
catastrophe, the state agencies here are trying to ignore the red flags raised by the experts-the
EPA- of a potential water quality disaster.
This is like taking blood for a blood drive from a patient bleeding out in an emergency
room. The Delta needs more freshwater not less freshwater. The Water Tunnels are dangerous
weapons aimed at the people living in the Delta.
The failure of the BDCP/Water Fix Drafts to include so much as one alternative reducing
exports is an undeniable fact established by reading the documents.
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The Delta Reform Act establishes that “The policy of the State of California is to reduce
reliance on the Delta in meeting California’s future water supply needs through a statewide
strategy of investing in improved regional supplies, conservation, and water use efficiency.” Cal.
Water Code § 85021 (emphasis added). The Act also mandates that the BDCP include a
comprehensive review and analysis of “A reasonable range of flow criteria, rates of diversion,
and other operational criteria . . . necessary for recovering the Delta ecosystem and restoring
fisheries under a reasonable range of hydrologic conditions, which will identify the remaining
water available for export and other beneficial uses.” Cal. Water Code § 85320(b)(2)(A).
The BDCP/Water Fix omission of alternatives reducing exports to increase flows is
deliberate. The RDEIR/SDEIS admits that “the Delta is in a state of crisis” and that “Several
threatened and endangered fish species . . . have recently experienced the lowest population
numbers in their recorded history.” (RDEIR/SDEIS ES-1). The way to increase Delta flows and
improve water quality is to take less water out, not take more water out and do so upstream from
the Delta.
This BDCP/WaterFix process refusing to consider alternatives including the EWC
alternative-- A Sustainable Water Plan for California --is a bad faith violation of the CEQA
requirement for a range of reasonable alternatives.
The current Water Fix suppression of alternatives requires the preparation of a new Draft
or Subsequent EIR by the State Water Resources Control Board and a new public review period
to comply with CEQA and to act with common sense. The EWC alternative would reduce
exports, and is focused on 21st century water solutions such as urban and agricultural water
conservation, recycling, storm water recapture and reuse, and reinforcing levees. The EWC
alternative would improve Delta water quality, provide greater water security for Southern
California and would not waste the billions of dollars to build the destructive Tunnels.
I close with a question. Is it not true based on common sense that this refusal to consider
other alternatives is proof that the agencies pushing the Tunnels are afraid that the public would
prefer the EWC alternative if the public ever gets a chance to see and support it in the
governments’ Water Fix processes?
Thank you.
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